Dorigo: Anthony Robert (Tony)

1991-1997 (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Left Back

Born: Melbourne, Australia: 31-12-1965

Debut v Nottingham Forest (h): 20-08-1991

5’10” 10st 10lb (1992)

#18 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever

His family moved from Australia to Birmingham where he had trials with Aston Villa as a youngster and was taken on as an apprentice in 1981. He turned professional in January 1982 and won eleven Under-Twenty-One caps for England before he left Villa for Chelsea in July 1987 for £475,000. At Villa Park he scored once in one hundred and six starts and five as a substitute in the League. He also seven F.A. Cup ties, fourteen, and one as a substitute, in the League Cup and two in other games, without scoring. In four years at Stamford Bridge, he helped Chelsea to the 1988-89 Second Division Championship and scored the winner in the 1990 Zenith Data Systems Final at Wembley against Middlesbrough. He also won six England full caps, including four games in which he came on for the second half in place of Stuart Pearce, and seven at “B” level. At Stamford Bridge he scored eleven goals in one hundred and forty-six League games, but other than the goal in the Wembley Final, he did not score in four F.A. Cup, fourteen League Cup and sixteen other games. He was signed by Howard Wilkinson for £1.3 million in May 1991 and was an instant success being voted “Player of the Year” in United’s Championship winning season of 1991-92. He was a scorer at Wembley as Leeds beat Liverpool 4-3 to win the Charity Shield in August 1992. He continued to make progress on the International front but he was blighted by injuries in his last two seasons with Leeds. Instant control and acceleration marked Dorigo as United’s best left back since Terry Cooper. He was regular first choice until knee and hamstring problems interrupted his career and Ian Harte’s rise signalled competition for his place. Dorigo enjoyed an extended run in the side in 1996/97. After six years in West Yorkshire and just one season under the new management of George Graham, Dorigo found himself surplus to requirements at Elland Road. In July 1997 he made the surprise move to Serie B side Torino, managed by former Liverpool boss Graeme Souness and including Gianluigi Lentini, who had once been the world's most expensive player. Six games into the new Serie B season, Souness left Turin and was replaced by Edoardo Reja, who continued to use Dorigo's services as the team pushed for a return to the top flight. Promotion from Serie B to Serie A is automatic for the top three in the division, whilst a fourth place goes to the winner of a play-off between the fourth and fifth placed teams. Torino had a strong season and in the end finished just one point behind third-placed Calgiari and those automatic berths. Their playoff against Perugia, who had ended the season level on points with Torino, finished 1-1 after Ferrante had cancelled out Tovalieri of Perugia's opener with only ten minutes left. With no further goals in extra-time, promotion to the glamorous Serie A came down to a penalty shoot-out. After penalty heart-ache against West Germany in Turin eight years previously, Dorigo once again experienced the pain the shootout lottery can cause. With all nine penalties having been converted, Dorigo stepped up to take the last kick, but he let his shot drift too far wide and the ball struck the left-hand post, handing victory and promotion to Perugia. It was an awful way for his Italian experience to end and after thirty League appearances and two goals (scored against Ravenna and Foggia), the former England international left and returned to England, on October 1998, with Jim Smith's Derby County. Dorigo wound his career up by playing in the Premiership for the Rams for almost two years, scoring once in thirty-seven starts abd four games from the bench in the League, twice in four F.A. Cup starts and also made four starts in the League Cup. On 12th July 2000 he was transferred on a free to Gudjon Thordarson's Stoke City, where he spent one final season. He started thirty-five and came off the bench twice in the League, ans also started one F.A. Cup tie and three League Cup ties without scoring, before retiring on 1st June 2001. In his career he won fifteen Full, seven “B” and eleven Under-Twenty-One Caps for England. After retiring from football he was involved in a failed Real Estate enterprise in the Algave, which fell victim to the World financial crisis. He joined Al Jazeera and ESPN as a pundit and also did general pundit work with several Radio and TV programmes, including a spell with Radio Aire.