DIXIE – The Goal King……Our Journey.
- John Keith
- Mar 20
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 25
By John Keith
It was on a chilly Woodside Promenade, Birkenhead, with the world famous Liverpool skyline across the river, that I was made aware of just how important it was to pay permanent tribute to William Ralph “Dixie” Dean in the form of a film documentary.
If that leaves you guessing I will explain later…..
For Freestand Films, comprising cameraman/director Michael Wishart, producer/administrator Gill Beattie and myself, as writer and presenter, the path from idea to fruition has taken many years, including a lengthy pause during the Covid epidemic, yet the journey has been hugely memorable. Our material-gathering process uncovered delightful treasures covering many parts of the British Isles and stretching to Australia to record interviews and recollections about the legendary Dixie.
It was a personal ambition of mine to make a film of his life and career having had the privilege of knowing the great man, writing his biography and having the poignant experience of taking him to Goodson on that fateful day of March 1st,1980, where England’s greatest centre forward died watching his beloved Everton play Liverpool in the Mersey derby .
My path in life crossed with Gill’s theatrical talents, both artistic and technical, when I had the idea of writing and appearing as narrator in a stage show about Dixie earlier this century. Gill came on board with the idea and “The Dixie Dean Story” was born, first with Ken Cope playing the “spirit of Dixie” in the famous white suit from his still popular TV role in “Randall and Hopkirk Deceased” and then with Steve Hazlehurst playing Dixie quite brilliantly from a young boy to an elderly man.
After many stage shows at many theatres up and down the land which included “The Bill Shankly Story”, “Kendall’s Kings” and “Bob Paisley: Reluctant Genius”, Gill and I met Michael Wishart when he was filming one of our rehearsals for a TV news programme. Michael had been involved in filming for major broadcasting platforms on sporting and news events travelling the globe but it was in a small rehearsal room in Southport that Gill and I were first introduced to Michael. Fate had declared the triumvirate was complete. The three of us set up FreeStand Films and decided that a Dixie documentary would go into production.
So let’s go back to where we came in …….the Woodside promenade where Michael was filming a piece to camera with myself. It seemed a simple operation. But we had failed to factor in the Dixie Dean phenomenon. Every passer-by stopped to ask what we were filming. When we told them it was for a Dixie documentary the replies were unbelievable in the sense that everyone without exception claimed some kind of connection with the legendary Everton and England centre forward, however obscure.
“Well, my wife’s father’s uncle had a nephew who spoke to Dixie once when he met him in a shop,” was typical of the responses. Or “My father in law saw him play as a youngster for Tranmere and said he knew he’d go on to become a great player.” And another was “my mother in law met Dixie on a train and he smiled at her.”
In other words Dixie Dean was not just a legend of football. He was – and remains – a people’s legend and our FreeStand Films journey with Dixie reached a memorable staging post with Everton FC posting our documentary trailer on their official website on Friday, March 21, 2025 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the great man’s debut for the club.
He would, of course, go on to write indelible entries in football’s record books, including the awesome, unsurpassable feat of scoring 60 League goals in season 1927-28.
The journey for Michael, Gill and I has been, and continues to be, one of deep appreciation of a player and a man for all seasons. He’s left us, but his achievements live on as evidenced in that filming session on the banks of the Mersey. The Dixie roar continues along the river of time.
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