Kevin Edward Dawson, the middle brother of three who are currently players in the Football League, was born in Northallerton on 18th June 1981 and like his elder brother Andrew (24), he was spotted playing Sunday football for Northallerton Town by a Nottingham Forest scout and was signed up by the City Ground Club, a path also taken by Michael, now 19 and a regular in Forest's team as well as the England Under 21 set up. Andrew is currently at Hull City having also played fro Scunthorpe United.
"The three of us are all good mates" says Kevin, "We have a chat two or three times a week but we don't really compare notes. Michael's doing really well at the moment, I watched him on TV in the Under 21 game against Portugal earlier this week but didn't actually go to Everton for the game, I hope he can do as well as he can, he hopes the same for me".
Dave Bassett was the Forest Manager when Kevin signed, "I got on alright with him" remembers Kevin, then Ron Atkinson came in, though he had little to do with Kevin who was coming through the ranks at the time and finally David Platt became Forest boss, Kev's contract was coming to an end and the former England hero offered the youngster a new deal which was duly signed.
December 15th 1999 saw the then 18 year old grace a League game for the first time, it ended Forest 0 Fulham 0 and Paul Peschisolido and Geoff Horsfield were the new boys direct opponents. Gus Uhlenbeek was at Fulham at the time but didn't play that day. "My debut came as a bit of a shock" recalls the defender, "I didn't know I was playing until the morning of the match, we'd got a few injuries, I'd been in the squad a few times before without being involved so I knew there was an outside chance, but when I went in that morning I was quite delighted, a bit nervous as well and the game went well, we kept a clean sheet and were unlucky not to win".
Game number two brought another clean sheet and a win, 1-0 against Birmingham City, "Your first few games of football all seem easier than once you've made your mark, you play without any fear, but then after that you've got to keep to the levels you set."
One game that wasn't so easy was early in 2000, at 2-2 at Grimsby Town Forest had both Dave Beasant and Jon Olav Hjelde sent off and Kevin & Co lost 4-3, "It was a game that all of us that played that day would rather forget for different reasons, we got beaten, had two sent off, didn't play well as a team but it was all part of my experience in the early part of my career."
In March of 2001, with Kevin rarely featuring in the Forest team, he felt he needed some more games under his belt and he asked for a loan, ending up at Barnet for a month, an eventful one it was, "I signed under Tony Cottee, I played one game under him and then he resigned, so it was a bit of a shock really, but I had more games and went back to Forest fitter and got back into the squad so the purpose of the loan had been achieved."
"In my final season at Forest I only got a few games, my Contract was running out and I thought, more than likely I'd be leaving, so when the offer from Chesterfield came in I jumped at the chance to play regular first team football."
Kevin went straight into the Chesterfield line up on the opening day of last season at QPR, "We were a bit unlucky that day in what was a new challenge, it's still a new challenge, I've enjoyed every minute of it here and I just hope I can play to the best of my ability and help get the team up the table".
There were two shocks for Kevin last season, an operation and an illness. "I had a bit of a pain, it felt like a groin strain, it didn't stop me playing, it had been nagging me for a couple of weeks but at Brentford the pain increased and I just couldn't carry on, I was gutted initially and then a couple of weeks later I discovered I had to have an operation, but you've just got to get on with it, it's the worst thing I've had and if it remains the worst I ever have, I'll be happy!"
However a bigger shock was the news that Kevin was diabetic, "That was a very big shock at the time for the diabetes is something I'll have for the rest of my life, it'll always be there and I'll always have too be careful whether playing football or out socialising. I have to take four injections a day but it's not stopped me playing football, which is what I love, people like Gary Mabbutt got by very well and I know you can have a lot of things worse that diabetes, so I just get on with it. I eat more sugary things now to get me through a game but that's been easy to get used to, I don't mind eating!"
With his non stop action, never say die approach and his level headed approach to his medical problems, Kevin Dawson is a great inspiration to many and is fully deserving of the accolades he's received in his year and a bit at Saltergate.
By Phil Tooley
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