Jason Dozzell has had a beady eye on Max Dowman ever since August, when Arsenal’s newest teenage sensation made his Premier League debut nonetheless 4 months in need of his sixteenth birthday.
‘I noticed him and thought, “That’s it, the file’s gone”,’ Dozzell says. ‘The oldest of my three boys, he’s an Arsenal fan, and he’s been doing my nut in, winding me up with messages, “Dowman’s on the bench”, “Dowman’s approaching”, “Dowman’s taking part in”. It’s ruined my weekends to be trustworthy.’
Dozzell is joking. At the very least half-joking. He’s smiling anyway, and nonetheless proud to be the youngest participant to attain within the high tier of English soccer. His file has been intact for 42 years and counting.
‘My saving grace was his damage in December,’ he tells Day by day Mail Sport as we meet in Ipswich, three days after Dowman scored his first for Arsenal, a superb solo objective, the second in a 2-0 win in opposition to Everton.
At 16 years and 73 days, the Essex schoolboy turned the youngest to attain within the Premier League, simply 16 days older than Dozzell was when he got here on to attain his first Ipswich objective, in February 1984.
‘I’ve nonetheless obtained the file, however this boy goes to be particular,’ purrs 58-year-old Dozzell. ‘He can go on to be a participant for England on the world stage for a few years to return.
Jason Dozzell this week in Ipswich – 42 years after he turned the youngest goalscorer within the English high flight
‘I made my mark and I’ve a spot within the historical past books,’ says Dozzell, who performed greater than 400 video games for Ipswich. ‘I’ll take that every one day lengthy’
‘Every part about him is good. His steadiness, his mentality. The composure, the energy, the tempo, the ft. It wasn’t simply the objective. He modified the sport. You’ll be able to’t deny him proper now. How will you maintain him again? I believe he begins the subsequent one.’
The subsequent one is the Carabao Cup closing in opposition to Manchester Metropolis on Sunday.
‘Let him journey the wave,’ smiles Dozzell. ‘There’s no concern at that age. You’re not considering of something apart from soccer. Let him journey it. See the place it takes him and perceive he’ll come down off that wave, when he does, while you see a little bit of tiredness creep in or no matter, then go from there.
‘You’ll be able to’t maintain him again when he’s in that zone. It’s like a celebrity was born on Saturday.’
Dozzell’s record-breaking objective, the third in a 3-1 win in opposition to Coventry at Portman Street, is seared into his thoughts. ‘Terry Butcher, free-kick on the midway line,’ he recollects. ‘Huge diagonal to John Wark, he’s headed it down and there’s a race, me and a defender and I stretched out a leg, obtained there first and whipped it over the keeper, proper foot.’
Dozzell had grown up within the shadow of Portman Street. He was on the terraces on the age of six, and at Wembley on the age of 10 to see Ipswich carry the FA Cup. He noticed Bobby Robson’s workforce evolve into UEFA Cup winners in 1981, and twice runners-up within the outdated Division One.
‘The ‘81 workforce was among the best within the nation,’ he says. ‘In the event you’d informed me in three years I’d be taking part in with them, I’d have stated you want locking up, however it occurred. In my final yr in school, I used to be delighted to be within the youth workforce. Two months later, I’m within the reserves. Two months later, the primary workforce.’
The objective in opposition to Coventry modified his life immediately. He was smuggled residence hidden at the back of Russell Osman’s jeep and when he reported subsequent day for his Sunday League workforce he was greeted with such a melee of media consideration he agreed to not play. There have been cameras at his college on Monday the place all of the pupils and employees got here out at break to observe him carry out keepy-uppies within the yard.
‘Every part about Max Dowman is good,’ says Dozzell. ‘His steadiness, his mentality. The composure, the energy, the tempo, the ft’
‘I’d come out with a grand in money in an envelope (every month). I simply spent it, had fun. I had a expertise however was not psychologically ready for every little thing that got here with it’
Quickly, Ipswich had taken him out of college to deal with coaching. He didn’t even return for his O-Stage exams, an omission that resurfaced when soccer spat him out on the different finish of his taking part in profession. ‘It’s unsuitable isn’t it?’ he says. ‘Would by no means occur now.’
Extra instantly got here the burden of expectation to supply extra as among the legendary gamers left and Ipswich have been relegated. ‘You virtually turn out to be a prisoner to that objective,’ says Dozzell. ‘For just a few years it felt like I couldn’t high that however on the identical time it was gone and also you wanted to perform extra.’
There have been additionally the distractions of prompt fame and fortune, the traditional pitfalls for soccer’s wonderkids. ‘We have been on £25 every week within the youth workforce till I used to be 17 however they gave me the bonuses and so they have been £200 a sport,’ says Dozzell. ‘So, if I performed 5 instances in a month, I’d come out with a grand in money in an envelope.
‘I simply spent it, had fun. I had a expertise however was not psychologically ready for every little thing that got here with it.’
Dozzell was raised by his mom and sister. His father, an American who labored at an airbase in Suffolk, had returned to america and so they weren’t reconciled till he was into his 20s. House life might be chaotic and soccer in these days was a fiercely macho tradition. There was no scarcity of camaraderie and loads of ingesting however little or no in the way in which of emotional help.
‘It may turn out to be tough with out the proper construction round you,’ says Dozzell, who was capable of share his classes of the rollercoaster when his son Andre, now at Portsmouth, burst into the Ipswich workforce a decade in the past and scored on his debut on the age of 16, identical to his dad.
‘I didn’t imagine in destiny however to see him try this was loopy. My experiences got here in useful, however Andre had a really totally different pathway to me. His upbringing has been secure with loads of love round him. He’s a really totally different animal to me.
‘You have a look at Max Dowman and simply know he’s going to be wonderful. You recognize he’s obtained good folks round him.’
Regardless of his personal issues, Dozzell did go on to perform rather more. There have been 9 England Underneath-21 caps and he captained Ipswich, for whom he went on to make greater than 400 appearances. He scored 16 objectives within the 1991-92 promotion marketing campaign and helped them survive within the inaugural Premier League earlier than a £1.9million transfer and 4 years at Tottenham.
Dozzell moved to Tottenham from Ipswich in 1993, spending 4 years with the membership
Dozzell with Day by day Mail Sport’s Matt Barlow this week. After a tricky time together with his psychological well being, Ipswich have discovered their former participant a job within the Basis
Dozzell’s son, Andre, who’s now at Portsmouth, additionally got here via the ranks at Ipswich. Like his dad, he additionally scored on his debut as a 16-year-old
Accidents hastened retirement in his early 30s, and the minefield of life after soccer triggered a gradual descent right into a psychological well being breakdown. He missed the companionship and the thrill. ‘The sensation of strolling out of the tunnel and the group goes up…’ he says. ‘It’s a sense I can’t clarify. It’s simply magical.’
Dozzell turned to drink and Class A medicine to deal with anxiousness and panic assaults till a conviction for driving below the affect of cocaine in 2019 shocked him into motion.
Mates and outdated team-mates rallied to assist, and he discovered to speak about his issues. One key a part of remedy was to jot down his autobiography. Observe the Thunder is a brutally trustworthy and compelling account.
Ipswich discovered him a job within the Basis, the charitable arm of the membership, and he threw himself into teaching and neighborhood duties. On Saturday, he shall be within the company suites at Portman Street for a promotion conflict with Millwall.
There are just a few regrets for Dozzell. He needs he had taken O-Ranges. And the way in which he left Ipswich for Spurs nonetheless doesn’t sit comfortably. However there aren’t any regrets about that objective. Nor the slightest trace of what may need been had his profession unfolded on a gentler trajectory. He wouldn’t commerce that.
‘No, I’m not taking that objective away,’ he says. ‘I made my mark. I performed greater than 400 video games for my membership, performed within the Premier League, performed for Spurs and I’ve a spot within the historical past books. I’ll take that every one day lengthy. I can dwell with the remainder.’
