Dean Bowditch
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 Bowditch in January 2015 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Dean Peter Bowditch[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 15 June 1986 | ||
| Place of birth | Bishop's Stortford, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder, forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1996–2002 | Ipswich Town | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2002–2009 | Ipswich Town | 72 | (8) |
| 2005 | → Burnley (loan) | 10 | (1) |
| 2006 | → Wycombe Wanderers (loan) | 11 | (1) |
| 2006 | → Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) | 3 | (1) |
| 2007–2008 | → Northampton Town (loan) | 10 | (2) |
| 2008 | → Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) | 5 | (0) |
| 2008–2009 | → Brentford (loan) | 9 | (2) |
| 2009–2011 | Yeovil Town | 71 | (25) |
| 2011–2017 | Milton Keynes Dons | 192 | (37) |
| 2017–2019 | Northampton Town | 31 | (3) |
| 2018 | → Stevenage (loan) | 5 | (2) |
| 2019–2020 | Stowmarket Town | 8 | (0) |
| Total | 427 | (82) | |
| International career | |||
| 2001–2002 | England U16 | 8 | (0) |
| 2002–2003 | England U17 | 5 | (0) |
| 2004–2005 | England U19 | 6 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 12:04, 20 February 2020 (UTC) | |||
Dean Peter Bowditch (born 15 June 1986) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder or forward.
He made over 200 appearances for Milton Keynes Dons and also played for Ipswich Town, Northampton Town and Yeovil Town, with loan spells at Brighton & Hove Albion, Wycombe Wanderers, Burnley, Brentford and Stevenage.
Ipswich Town
Bowditch joined the academy of Ipswich Town at the age of ten and progressed through several age groups.[3] He made his first team debut in March 2003, aged 16, when he came off the bench against local rivals Norwich City, a match in which Ipswich won 2–0.[4] The following season, he became the club's youngest player to score a hat-trick, against Watford.[5] He was named the club's 2003–04 Academy Player of the Year.[6] A series of injuries saw him feature less for the Ipswich first team and he was loaned to Burnley, Wycombe Wanderers and Brighton & Hove Albion.[2] On 22 November 2007 he signed a one-month loan deal at Northampton Town.[7]
On 11 February 2008, Bowditch agreed to re-join Brighton & Hove Albion on loan, initially for one-month.[8] On 31 October 2008, he joined Brentford on loan until January 2009, with an option to be recalled after one month.[9]
Ipswich released Bowditch at the end of the 2008–09 season.[10]
Yeovil Town
Bowditch signed a one-year contract with League One club Yeovil on 30 July 2009.[11] He scored on his debut against Tranmere but was later injured.[12] On 14 November, he returned from injury and scored as a second-half substitute in Yeovil's 1–0 win over Southend.[13] He scored his 9th goal of the season against Leeds United on 5 April 2010 in a 2–1 defeat.[13] He reached double figures for the season with the opener against Millwall on Tuesday 13 April 2010.[13] Having finished the 2009–10 season as Yeovil's top scorer, he signed a new contract with the club on 16 June 2010.[14] At the end of the 2010–11 season, he was informed by the club that he was one of seven Yeovil players who would be awarded new contracts.[15] However, rejected this contract offer and left Yeovil.[13]
Milton Keynes Dons
On 20 June 2011, Dean Bowditch signed a two-year deal with Milton Keynes Dons,[16] becoming manager Karl Robinson's first signing of the 2011–12 season. Despite playing as a striker for most of his career he has spent the majority of his spell at the Dons playing wide left, providing 13 assists and scoring 15. He has become a fan favourite for the Dons and was their top scorer and topped the assist table for the 2012–13 season, despite being primarily deployed as a winger or a wide midfielder. On 10 March 2014, Bowditch signed a new one-year deal with the club.[17]
On 25 April 2017, after 6 seasons, 227 appearances and 48 goals, Milton Keynes Dons announced that Bowditch would leave the club at the end of the 2016–17 season.[18]
Northampton Town
On 23 June 2017, Northampton Town announced the signing of Bowditch on a two-year deal effective from 1 July 2017.[19] Following limited opportunities, Bowditch joined League Two club Stevenage on loan on 31 January 2018, with the deal running for the remainder of the 2017–18 season.[20] He was later one of 8 players released by Northampton at the end of the 2018–19 season.[21]
Stowmarket Town
On 19 November 2019, Bowditch signed for Eastern Counties League Premier Division club Stowmarket Town until the end of the season.[22] Bowditch scored his first goal for Stowmarket in a 4–0 win against Stansted in the FA Vase.[23]
International career
Bowditch received his first call-up to the England U16 national team in July 2001.[24] On 26 October 2001, he scored two goals in a 4–3 win over Spain U16.[25] He was called up to the England U17 side in June 2002 for the Nationwide International Tournament.[26] He made his England U17 debut on 8 July 2002, featuring as a second-half substitute in a 2–2 draw with Italy U17.[27] He helped England to win the Nationwide Tournament.[28] In January 2004, Bowditch was placed on stand-by for the England U19 squad ahead of a friendly with Netherlands U19 the following month.[29] He was again placed on stand-by for the England U19s in March 2004, whilst also receiving a call up to the England U18 side on 12 March,[30] however he was left out of the Under-18 side that faced Belgium U18 in a friendly, following a recall request by Ipswich.[31] He featured for England U19 in a 2–0 win over Republic of Ireland U19 on 10 September 2004.[32]
Personal life
He has an older brother, Ben Bowditch, who plays for Potters Bar Town.[33]
