Alan Dodd was born on 20 September 1953 and is an English former professional footballer who played in England for Stoke City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Port Vale; he played in Sweden and the Republic of Ireland.
17 Facts About Alan Dodd
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Alan Dodd was voted Stoke's Player of the Year in 1980.
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Alan Dodd spent the remainder of the 1980s with various clubs across Europe, playing for IF Elfsborg, Port Vale, GAIS, Cork City, Landskrona BoIS, and Rocester.
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Alan Dodd won promotions to the Swedish top flight with both Elfsborg and GAIS.
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Alan Dodd was signed by chief scout Cliff Birks and played for the reserves at centre-half but made his first-team debut in midfield due to a large number of injuries to first-team players.
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Alan Dodd took his chance with ease, putting in some impressive performances, and on Bloor's return manager Tony Waddington was unable to drop Dodd so moved him to right-back.
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Alan Dodd was a very versatile player and occupied all outfield positions bar centre-forward during his time at Stoke.
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Alan Dodd made six appearances for the England under-23 team.
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From 10 January 1976 to April 1978, Dodd made 102 consecutive appearances, which was ended when new manager Alan Durban brought in Manchester City's Mike Doyle.
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Durban's decision irked Alan Dodd, who said: "It took the fun out of the game for me we only spoke about the opposition rather that how we were going to play, it was not good to watch or to play in".
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Still, Alan Dodd felt undervalued and was transfer listed after refusing a new contract.
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Alan Dodd was granted a testimonial match against Port Vale in April 1982.
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However, Alan Dodd played well enough to win the club's Player of the Year award.
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Alan Dodd helped Elfsborg win promotion out of the Division 2 Sodra into the Allsvenskan in 1985.
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Alan Dodd achieved the same feat with GAIS in 1987.
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Alan Dodd returned to Staffordshire in December 1986, playing three times on loan at Third Division side Port Vale during the Swedish mid-winter break and played in Ireland for Cork City in December 1987.
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Alan Dodd later played non-League football in Staffordshire for Rocester, Goldenhill Wanderers and Ball Haye Green.