Dean Christopher Holdsworth (born 8 November 1968) is an English former professional football player and manager. As a striker he scored 193 goals in 610 league games over a 22-year career. Despite playing for 16 clubs in 19 spells the majority of his goals and appearances came at Brentford, Wimbledon, and Bolton Wanderers. He is the twin brother of David Holdsworth.
As a player, he started his career at Watford in 1986, where he spent three years before signing with Brentford, following a short loan spell. A highly successful three years followed before he was signed by Wimbledon in 1992. After an impressive five-year spell, he transferred to Bolton Wanderers. He spent six years at Bolton, before in 2003 joining Coventry City, Rushden & Diamonds and then back to Wimbledon. In 2004, he signed with Havant & Waterlooville, where he spent one season before joining Derby County as player–assistant manager. In 2006, he dropped out of the Football League for the final time, joining Weymouth. Short spells followed at Heybridge Swifts, Cambridge United, and Newport County.
His management career started at Redbridge in 2007. After one season there he took the reins at Newport County. In his second season with the club he took them to the Conference South title with 28 points to spare. In January 2011 he switched clubs to take charge at League Two side Aldershot Town until his dismissal in February 2013. He took charge at Chelmsford City in May 2013, before resigning five months later. He returned to management for a five-month spell with Brentwood Town in June 2015. In March 2016, he led a consortium to purchase Bolton Wanderers.
Playing career
Watford
Holdsworth primarily played as a striker, although in the latter part of his career he tended to play off the front man. He was a pacey striker with good shooting ability. He started his career at Watford, who finished ninth in the First Division in 1986–87 under Graham Taylor's stewardship, before suffering relegation in 1987–88 under Dave Bassett and then Steve Harrison. He was loaned out to Carlisle United towards the end of the campaign, and scored once in four Fourth Division games for Clive Middlemass. He joined John Rudge's Port Vale in March, and scored twice at Vale Park in six Third Division appearances. He started 1988–89 on loan at Terry Yorath's Swansea City, and returned to Vicarage Road after one goal in five Third Division games. He then joined Steve Perryman's Brentford on loan, before joining the club permanently for £125,000 in September 1989.
Brentford
He was to prove himself as a prolific goalscorer for the "Bees", as the club moved from 13th in 1989–90 to the play-offs in 1990–91, before Holdsworth scored 38 goals in the Third Division championship winning season of 1991–92, in a fruitful partnership with Gary Blissett. For this achievement he was named on the PFA Team of the Year. Phil Holder was unable to keep him at Griffin Park following these exploits.
Wimbledon
He signed for Joe Kinnear's Wimbledon in the middle of 1992 for £650,000. He made an immediate impact in his first season at the "Dons", becoming the club's top scorer and the Premier League's third highest scorer with 19 goals, after forming a solid partnership with John Fashanu. During his time at Selhurst Park, eccentric club chairman Sam Hammam promised to buy Holdsworth a Ferrari sports car and even a camel if he managed to score 20 league goals in a season. However, Holdsworth never quite managed to reach that target. He hit 17 league and seven cup goals in 1993–94, including a hat-trick against Oldham Athletic on 26 April 1994. He was less prolific in 1994–95, though Wimbledon still finished in ninth place. He hit 16 goals in 1995–96, to become the club's joint-top scorer, along with strike partner Efan Ekoku. He hit nine goals in 1996–97, before he was signed to Bolton Wanderers in October 1997 for £3.5million, which was a record signing for Bolton at that time.