Michael Richard Dawson is an English centre back who plays for London side Tottenham. He is a vice-captain of his team. The player was capped four times for the Three Lions. Michael was born in Northallerton, North Yorkshire. He is the brother of Hull City defender Andy Dawson and former Chesterfield player Kevin Dawson.
Michael began his career in a local team that was called Northallerton Junior Football club. At the age of 14, he was invited to Nottingham Forest youth team.
In November 2000 Dawson started to play for the youth team of the club, but his debut in the first team was on 1 April 2002. Forest lost 3-2 to Walsall. The following season the back secured his place of a regular and developed a partnership with veteran Des Walker. That season ‘The Reds’ took 6th place in the Championship and had all chances to get the Premier League promotion, but they were stopped in the first playoff match against Sheffield United (4-3). Dawson failed to finish that game due to a leg injury.
At the end of 2002/2003 the footballer caught glandular fever while playing for the England national U-21 team and missed the beginning of 2003/2004 season. That disease gave start for continual injuries that haunted the player in Nottingham Forest.
In 2004/2005 Forest was relegated to the third league. After that, Dawson and his teammate Andrew Reid, who plays as a winger, signed for Tottenham. Spurs paid £8 million for both players and the signing was officially completed on 31 January 2005. On 16 April 2005, the back made his debut for his new team in the match against Liverpool, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
In 2005/2006 Dawson revealed his skill and began to play at rather high level. The coaching staff was really glad to have him with Spurs. The back showed fantastic heading abilities and tackling skills. On 28 March 2006, he prolonged his contract with the club till the summer 2011.
Main centre back Ledley King got a blow soon after. The only thing Tottenham could do was to count on their young talented centre back. Michael lived up to the club’s expectations and became the new pivot of the team’s defense. He perfectly replaced King, proving his skills and talent once more. Due to his performance, Dawson became a favourite of White Hart Lane fans.
On 5 November 2006, the English back kicked his first goal for the club in a 2-1 win over Chelsea. Michael scored an equalizer and a bit later Aaron Lennon netted the winner. The same season Dawson first captained the team, when Tottenham had another match against ‘The Blues’, but in the FA Cup quarter-finals. However, that was a forced measure, because three Spurs leaders Paul Robinson, Robbie Keane and Ledley King failed to take part in the match. On 11 May 2007, the English footballer was asked to sign a new contract, although the former agreement was for 4 years.
Thereby, Dawson became the key centre back and a vice-captain of Tottenham. His last contract extension was on 27 January 2010, when it became known that Michael was staying at White Hart Lane till the summer 2015. However, the back does not always come on the pitch being prone to blows.
Considering international level, Dawson was noticed by Sven-Göran Eriksson who included the back in England squad for the World Cup in 2006. The following head coach of the Three Lions Steve McClaren decided not to reject the footballer’s help, but let him on the field only in friendly matches. The player was named in the national squad for the 2010 World Cup due to Rio Ferdinand’s injury, but Michael did not take part in any of the matches during that tournament. Dawson made four appearances for the main national team, two appearances for England B and 13 appearances for the England U-21 squad.
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