Danny Dichio has worked his way up the coaching ladder since retiring from playing in 2009.Photo illustration The Globe and Mail. Source photo Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
In the 15 years since Danny Dichio last pulled on a Toronto FC jersey, the team has gone from strength to strength, lifting the Supporters’ Shield, an MLS Cup and coming within a few penalty kicks of winning the CONCACAF Champions League.
But there is one franchise first that the former English Premier League striker can always call his own, and it occurred 17 years ago this Sunday, when Dichio turned in a cross against the Chicago Fire to score the team’s first goal in Major League Soccer. That strike, which precipitated a cascade of seat cushions as fans at BMO Field joyously frisbeed the promotional giveaways, is forever etched into club lore, and was in many ways the team’s defining moment through the first few painful seasons.
Now 49, and in his first season as head coach of Detroit City FC in the USL, Dichio has worked his way up the coaching ladder since retiring from playing in 2009. From a head coach in the TFC academy to an assistant with Sacramento Republic FC in USL, to working under John Herdman with the Canadian national team, the Englishman has put in his time.
But he always has an eye on his former club to the north, particularly watching the team’s struggles in the past couple of years. And he feels that Herdman, with his meticulously detail-oriented approach to the sport, is the person to turn the team’s fortunes around.
“If he can get a group of players to buy into that, which he did with the national team, along with the brotherhood that he speaks very highly about, and is very passionate about, I think the team’s only going one way. I really do.”
When and where were you happiest in your life?
Making my debut for QPR in front of my family and friends was a real bright spot for me early on in my career and just it really proved to me that all the hard work and dedication from a young age, breaking into playing for my hometown club and in front of my family and my friends, was all worth it – and scoring on my debut in the Premier League. Then the four years that I had up at Sunderland. It’s just such a fantastic club to play for. Very passionate fan base. I think everyone has either heard of or seen the Sunderland ‘Til I Die documentary on Netflix and it pictures very clearly how much the community buys into the club. So those are two very big highlights for me in England. Then, obviously, living in Toronto and being part of that club for 15 years, which is the longest I’ve ever lived somewhere since I left home at a young age.
When you joined Toronto it was a brand-new team just trying to establish itself. What was that like?
To be quite honest, it was brand new to me as well because in England we don’t have any such things as expansion teams or new teams stepping into a league. So it was a really exciting time to be part of a new club and not only be a player but to help and advise certain departments within the club.
You’ve worked in Sunderland, London, California, Detroit, you played in Italy. You’re a very well-travelled athlete, but where would you most like to live if you had your choice?
As I’m getting older, I really enjoy the quiet. Where we lived in California was totally different than most people see California with the sandy beaches and the ocean. We lived in a beautiful part in Northern California, which actually reminded me a lot of up north in Canada where you’ve got the greenery, the mountains and the lakes. That’s where I really love it.
Whereabouts in California were you?
So we lived in Folsom, which is renowned for a big jail there called Folsom Prison, where Johnny Cash did his concert. So really interesting note as well, as a club at Sacramento Republic, we did an outreach program where we went in as staff and players once a month to play with the inmates. So that was really eye-opening to me, just going to play a pickup game with some inmates that had obviously been on good behaviour. We were treated very well in there and they loved having us in to have different conversations and just speaking to different people within the lines of a sport that they were interested in.
Who or what inspires you these days?
Lately, I’ve really been getting back into my faith and going along the lines of just finding myself again on the religious side. I have not gone really deep into it, but I’ve found it a really interesting part of history and something that I really was not interested in at a younger age, even though I did go to church occasionally. I’m involved with football so much and my family means a lot to me and being away from them [they still live in California with the youngest kids in school], just having different aspects of looking at something differently and taking my mind off football for whether it be that hour or two hours of the day.
What is your greatest extravagance?
My family, just making sure that they’re always okay and that they’ve got everything they need. We’re not a very materialistic family to be quite honest. We know that we’ve got each other; we came across from England when our two oldest boys were young. My daughter was born in Preston but moved across at a young age so she sees herself as being Canadian. And then my youngest, Lorenzo, was born in Toronto. We don’t have any immediate family here in North America so we became very close and we know that we always look out for each other. That is our biggest kind of expense. We have a close-knit family that a lot of people wish they would have.
What is your most treasured possession?
I have my medals from when we were champions in the [English] Championship with Sunderland, I have my England cap from when I was an under-21 that I gave my nan who’s passed away now. My mum’s got it and my England jersey and stuff like that, but that’s just more for memories for my kids and my family. I’ve got my two dogs that I love very much and I don’t get to see them much. They’re probably the most loyal things that you have in the world. If you’re a dog owner, you’ll know that, but again, my most prized possessions are my kids and my family.
Any favourite writers who stand out?
I read a lot of different stuff. I’m reading a really good book at the moment by Tony Dungy, who’s the ex-Colts coach who just speaks about his faith and how it aligns with the way you live every day. Reading two or three different books. I’m reading a book by Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters. It’s called The Storyteller, which is a really interesting book. I like to read three or four different books at once because sometimes you’re in the mood for something different, something that aligns with your work. I just finished another book, called The First 100 Days: Lessons in Leadership from the Football Bosses, and it’s a very cool book, just explaining the do’s and don’ts about your first 100 days in a new job. I use a lot of my time for reading.
What is your current state of mind?
I’m super excited. [Being a head coach is] something I’ve been waiting for a long time. I remember speaking to the late great Paul Mariner, who I had a lot of respect for being an Arsenal centre forward, and Ipswich centre forward and an England centre forward. When he came to Toronto, we used to have good chats and we used to talk about different stuff. He would speak about [me] wanting to be a coach one day. ‘You’d be a great coach, you have a lot of wisdom and knowledge to pass on.’ And he said, it will happen at the right time. I think he was right; this has happened at the right time for me.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
I signed with QPR at nine years old, so I’d been with them since I was nine years old. And then to be told at 16 that ‘Listen, you need to have this major back operation to save your dream,’ and at the same time, the surgeon was telling me ‘Listen, you’ve probably got another six, maybe seven years in you after you have this operation,’ was kind of a double-edged sword. And to have the career I had for another 16, 17 years playing at the level I played at was something I will never look back on and take for granted. It was a lot of boys’ dreams to play in the Premier League, to play for their country, to play in multiple different places within England but then in Italy and then in North America as well. So someone was definitely looking down on me. I was truly blessed.