Born in Livingston on 1 November 1972, he joined Arsenal as a teenager and learned his trade under George Graham’s unforgiving standards, making 21 league appearances and scoring three times while shuttling between first-team cameos and formative loans to Luton Town and Brighton & Hove Albion, where he showed the predatory, bustling edge that would become his signature — five goals in eight at Brighton hinting at the finisher within.

After six years around Highbury’s fringes he moved to Manchester City in 1996, the decision that would bind his name permanently to one of English football’s most replayed goals: in May 1999, at Wembley, with City staring at a 2–0 defeat to Gillingham in the second-tier play-off final, Dickov lashed in a stoppage-time equaliser to make it 2–2; City won on penalties and began their climb back up the leagues. That one swing of the right boot would later be condensed into a single identity — 'the goal that saved City' — but it rested on years of persistence, 33 league goals across his first spell, and a reputation in sky blue as an irritant defenders loathed to face.

Dickov left City in 2002 for Leicester City and immediately clicked, leading the line with a blend of street-fighter’s grit and sharp penalty-box instincts. Thirty-plus goals in two seasons told the story of a forward who never stopped moving and never stopped believing; Leicester were promoted as 2002/03 champions and Dickov’s workrate, harrying and eye for a second-ball finish made him a crowd favourite at the Walkers Stadium.

A move to Blackburn Rovers in 2004 kept him in the Premier League and he returned double figures in his first season at Ewood Park before injuries nibbled at his rhythm. By May 2006 he chose emotion over comfort, re-signing for Manchester City on a two-year deal despite Blackburn offering him terms; he called City 'the club I support', a choice that endeared him to supporters even as goals proved elusive during a season interrupted by back, knee and toe injuries.

Loan stints at Crystal Palace and Blackpool in 2007/08 followed; the latter reignited his touch — six goals in 11 Championship games — before he re-joined Leicester in League One, helping them win the 2008/09 title. A productive autumn 2009 loan at Derby County (16 league games, two goals) showed there was still fuel in the tank.

That winding road led to the brief, curious Leeds United chapter that Leeds fans of a certain vintage still recall as a tiny but telling thread in a pivotal season.

Released by Leicester on 1 February 2010, Dickov trained with Leeds through February while also spending time with Toronto FC. There was a snag: he had already played for two clubs that season. Leeds sought and received FIFA dispensation, and on 3 March 2010 he signed a short-term deal to the season’s end. The intent was clear — inject hardened nous into a forward unit carrying the strain of a long promotion race.

He debuted three days later as a 79th-minute substitute against Brentford at Elland Road, a cameo that fitted the template of what Simon Grayson wanted from him: fresh legs, cynical game-management, and a veteran’s guile to protect leads or unsettle tiring centre-halves.

Over the next two months he would make four league appearances, all brief, all without a goal, but all within a promotion run-in that became more fraught by the week as nerves and form wobbled.

The 2009/10 season around him was turbulent and taut. Leeds had exploded out of the blocks, knocked Manchester United out of the FA Cup in January, then endured a sticky spring that turned a seemingly nailed-on promotion into a scrap decided on the final afternoon. Jermaine Beckford remained the talismanic goalscorer; Luciano Becchio brought ballast; Max Gradel’s electricity and occasional volatility added chaos; and in March and April Grayson layered in experience — Dickov among them — to steady a squad learning on the job what pressure really felt like.

In that ecosystem Dickov’s value was not in volume but in nuance: a nudged centre-back under a high ball, a cheap free kick won to release pressure, a noisy presence in the technical area and dressing room reminding younger players that anxiety could be channelled into edge. Sky Sports’ straight-to-the-point line on the day he signed — experience to 'clinch promotion back to the Championship' — was exactly the thesis.

If you judge a striker only by goals, his Leeds line reads like a footnote. But zoom out and the context sharpens. Leeds, a club heavy with expectation, needed not just another runner beyond the last man but a streetwise organiser who knew every dark art a promotion chase demands. Dickov’s contribution arrived in those untelevised moments: delaying a throw to re-shape a block, jostling just enough at a near-post corner, dragging a centre-half under a dropping ball to let midfielders squeeze up ten yards.

Leeds staggered to the finishing tape, a 2–1 comeback win over Bristol Rovers on 8 May sealing second place and automatic promotion, and while Dickov did not feature in the decisive moments, his four late-season cameos were part of the physical, psychological load-sharing that got them there. He left quietly at the end of his deal, with nothing much for the scrapbook and yet a line on the CV that mattered: part of a promotion squad at Elland Road.

Internationally, he wore Scotland’s dark blue ten times between 2000 and 2004, scoring once, an international career that mirrored his club life: honest, industrious, and trusted by managers to tilt tight margins without needing headline billing.

The coda to his playing days came immediately after Leeds. In June 2010 Oldham Athletic handed him his first managerial job — player-manager on a one-year deal — effectively formalising the leadership traits that had been visible for two decades in every sly block and backed-in duel.

He retired from playing in 2011, staying in the Boundary Park dugout until February 2013 — his tenure highlighted by an FA Cup upset of Liverpool — then took charge of Doncaster Rovers from May 2013 to September 2015.

In the years since he has remained around the game as a pundit, ambassador and mentor, often returning to themes that defined him as a footballer: persistence, preparation and the preciousness of marginal gains.