Bruce Dyer
Bruce Antonio Dyer is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker.
His career started in 1993 with Watford, before he became the country's first £1 million-teenager when he joined Crystal Palace in 1994. He spent five years with Palace, playing more than 100 games, and then another five years with Barnsley, before he returned to Watford. After leaving Watford in 2005 he played for Stoke City, Millwall, Sheffield United, Doncaster Rovers, Bradford City, Rotherham United, Chesterfield and York City. Dyer also represented England at under-21 level, and despite scoring four goals in 11 games, he was never capped at full level, and instead played one friendly for Montserrat against Ashford Town in 2007.
Club career
Born in Ilford, London, Dyer started his career in the Watford youth system as a schoolboy in September 1990, becoming a trainee following the conclusion of his studies in July 1991. Dyer made his first team debut as a substitute in Watford's 1–0 win against Birmingham City at Vicarage Road on 17 April 1993 and he signed a professional contract with the club two days later. He made one further appearance in the First Division in the 1992–93 season, against Oxford United. He made 29 league appearances and scored six goals during the 1993–94 season before being sold to fellow First Division team Crystal Palace on 10 March 1994 for a fee of £1.1 million, which made him the first teenager in English football to be transferred for at least £1 million. He finished the remainder of the season with 11 appearances for Palace. Dyer spent his first full season at the club playing in the FA Premier League, making 16 league appearances and scoring one goal. His first hat-trick for the club came in a victory over Birmingham City on 27 February 1996. Palace were relegated back to the First Division for the 1995–96 season and he scored 13 goals in 35 league appearances. The next season saw Palace earn promotion back to the Premier League, with Dyer being top scorer with 18 goals in 51 appearances. Dyer's second and final hat-trick for Palace was in a 3–0 victory over Leicester City in the FA Cup on 24 January 1998. He finished as top scorer for the second successive season after scoring eight goals in 30 appearances in the 1997–98 season as the team were relegated to the First Division.Dyer joined fellow First Division team Barnsley for a fee of £700,000 on 23 October 1998, after having made nine appearances and scored two goals for Palace up to that point during the 1998–99 season. He finished the season with 30 appearances and eight goals for Barnsley. A proposed move to Gillingham in September 2000 was called off by Barnsley manager Dave Bassett after Dyer failed to agree personal terms with the club. He scored two goals in the 4–0 win over Birmingham City in the 1999–2000 First Division play-off semi-final first leg. He scored in the second leg, which finished as a 2–1 defeat, but saw Barnsley progress to the Final at Wembley Stadium 5–2 on aggregate. He started the Final, but was substituted for Ǵorǵi Hristov on 64 minutes, with the match eventually being lost 4–2 to Ipswich Town. Dyer was again linked with a move to Gillingham in April 2002, but their manager Andy Hessenthaler rejected reports they were preparing a bid for him. His contract at Barnsley expired in the summer of 2003, whose manager Glyn Hodges hoped he would accept a lowering in wages to remain at the club. He however failed to agree terms on a new contract and later agreed to return to Watford, who he eventually signed for on a two-year contract on 26 June.
Having returned to the club where he started his career, Dyer faced competition for a starting place from Heiðar Helguson and Danny Webber. In 2003–04 he made 18 starting league appearances, scoring three goals. His strike rate improved the following season, with 9 goals from his 21 league starts. Despite this form, Dyer did not score in any of his six appearances following the arrival of new manager Aidy Boothroyd, and was released by Watford in May 2005. After spending a week on trial at Stoke City, he signed for the Championship club on a one-year contract. He joined fellow Championship side Millwall on a two-month loan on 4 November and made his debut a day later in a 3–1 defeat to Crewe Alexandra. He scored two goals against Sheffield United, which earned Millwall a 2–2 draw, and finished the loan spell with 10 appearances. After making 12 appearances for Stoke, he was released in January and subsequently signed for Sheffield United on a contract until the end of the 2005–06 season. He scored on his debut for United against Reading, giving his side the lead after nine minutes, but a Dave Kitson equaliser three minutes later saw the match end 1–1. However, he was unable to score again in a further four appearances and joined Doncaster Rovers of League One on 2 June 2006 on a free transfer. His Doncaster debut came in a 1–0 defeat to Carlisle United on the opening day of the 2006–07 season and scored with a low 20-yard shot during his second game against Crewe, which finished as a 3–1 victory. He joined Bradford City on a month's loan on 31 January 2007 and scored eight minutes into his debut against Nottingham Forest, with the match eventually finishing 2–2. He finished the loan spell with five appearances when it ended in March. After returning to Doncaster, he featured in seven games for the team, finishing the season with 17 appearances for the team.
He made his first appearance of the 2007–08 season as a 57th-minute substitute for Mark McCammon in Doncaster's 5–1 victory over Bradford in the Football League Trophy, after which he joined League Two side Rotherham United on a one-month loan deal on 13 September 2007. With Rotherham striker Tom Cahill out injured, he went straight into the game against Wrexham, which was won 1–0, with Chris O'Grady scoring the winner. He returned to Doncaster on 4 October with a minor back injury, finishing the loan spell with three appearances. He was released by Doncaster on 31 January 2008, having made one appearance for the team during the season, after which he eventually joined Chesterfield in League Two on 27 March 2008 on a short-term contract until the end of the season. He made his debut in a 4–1 victory over Shrewsbury Town, in which he set up David Dowson for the fourth with a one-two. Manager Lee Richardson had yet to decide on Dyer's future at Chesterfield when he had issued the retained list in April, after he had made three substitute appearances for the team. Richardson later said in June that if he was not able to find a new club, he could return to Chesterfield for pre-season training.
He returned to Bradford City in October 2008, for whom he was training with and featured in a reserves game. Bradford lost 2–1 to York City of the Conference Premier, with Dyer scoring. However, manager Stuart McCall said Dyer was only with the club to regain fitness following a long-term injury, while four days after the fixture, York manager Colin Walker revealed he was interested in signing Dyer. York eventually signed him on 3 November, on a contract that would expire in January 2009. Dyer made his debut for York in a 1–1 draw against Mansfield Town in the Conference League Cup third round, being substituted off on 64 minutes for Adam Boyes, in a match that was won 4–2 on a penalty shootout after extra time. This was followed by his league debut, which finished as a 2–1 defeat to Torquay United; York's first home defeat of the 2008–09 season. A tight hamstring saw him miss York's following game, a 1–0 defeat to Cambridge United, as a precaution. He returned for the team in a 2–2 draw against Crawley Town, during which he set up Onome Sodje for the opening goal. Dyer was forced to miss training due to stiffness and was unavailable for York's game against Salisbury City, but regained fitness for the game against Barrow in the Conference League Cup. This game was postponed and his tight hamstring forced him into missing further games. He retired from football on 23 December after being limited to three games with York because of back and hamstring injuries.