Blues legend Jason Dozzell’s autobiography, Follow the Thunder is published today and TWTD caught up with the former midfielder to talk about the book.
It’s a well-worn cliché that a life in football is one of highs and lows. For Dozzell, one of those highs came while he was still a schoolboy when he netted on his senior debut in a 3-1 February 1984 victory over Coventry at Portman Road, aged only 16 years and 57 days. He remains the youngest scorer in England’s top flight.
From there, there were other highs as well as lows, relegation playing alongside some of his boyhood heroes, England U21 caps, winning the 1991/92 Second Division title with the Blues, his hometown club literally five minutes’ walk from where he grew up in Elliott Street, to take Town into the Premier League.
After a year, there was a big money move to Osvaldo Ardiles’s Tottenham, a switch which didn’t wholly work out before a brief return to the Blues on loan in 1997 and then spells in the lower leagues with Northampton and Colchester.
The biggest low came in November 2019 when he was convicted of driving while under the influence of drugs and subsequently opened up about his struggles with mental health in interviews with TWTD and the EADT.
That was ultimately, with the help of former teammate and friend Simon Milton and therapy facilitated by the PFA, the starting point towards getting his life back on track.
And was also the catalyst for the book, which has been written with EADT journalist Stuart Watson.
"In 2019, my life was going in the wrong direction and things culminated in an incident and I had to reevaluate my life,” Dozzell told TWTD.
"I didn’t realise what the outcome [of the court case] was going to be. It was basically, ‘where can I run, where can I hide?’ during the build-up, which took six months. But Simon Milton intervened two weeks before and got everything done for me.
"When I put myself out there about the mental health stuff, I got a lot of response from that. I was really shocked how many people came out [and said they’d been through similar], even close friends of mine.
"Lots of reasons why I’ve written the book, that was one of them. Obviously, I wanted to go through the whole lot and it’s a chance for people to go through the whole lot, so they can stand in my shoes and go through that journey with me and see what they think.
"I had to go right back to my childhood because when you’re trying to join the dots together and the piece of paper is black, it’s hard.
"I went all the way back, all the way through from my life between the ages of nought and 16, and it made things a little bit easier to understand.”
Reflecting on going from anonymous schoolboy to the back pages of national newspapers overnight, he said: "When I was 16, wow! It was something special, it was something special when I made my debut. For two years I was just riding the waves.
"A schoolboy going into that changing room with characters like Terry Butcher and Paul Mariner, and I was quite shy.
"They were great with me but I was very, very reserved, but when I was on the pitch I was alright. And that was how I got their respect.”
He says life got tougher when he moved to Tottenham: "My sanctuary was on the pitch. Off it, it became a little bit more difficult when I went to London, probably.
"Everything was here in Ipswich, my family and everything. I was on my own a lot in London and I was not only going to London, I was going to the biggest playground in the world.
"In the 90s, everybody went out, it was the culture at the time. Everybody went out, everybody drank. But it wasn’t disastrous, I still got to play 100 times for them.”
And again after he retired, like many players, he found it difficult to adjust: "Taken out of school to become a player, football, football, football, then you finish and you have to do courses and coaching badges. I didn’t know how to do that stuff. It was all a bit weird.”
The book has received a lot of attention, both nationally and locally - "It’s like being back in the Premier League!” and he’s much happier now, working back with the Blues and watching son Andre playing for Portsmouth.
"I’m in a good place now,” he said. "I’m very thankful to Ipswich for getting my job back and I’ve got a nice girlfriend. I’m really content at the moment. Long may that continue.”
Follow the Thunder, published by Pitch Publishing Ltd, is available now here.