PAUL DYER is the eyes and ears of Colchester United, the chief scout who is helping to plot the possible downfall of Chelsea in their FA Cup fifth-round tie at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. “The Butcher”, as he was known during his days as a feisty utility player at Layer Road, is honing his cleaver to glistening perfection.
“Have notebook, will travel” is Dyer’s motto and he drives the length and breadth of the country, even into Scotland, France and the Netherlands, checking out potential signings or compiling reports on opponents. Last year, he covered 32,000 miles in 36 weeks, taking in 150 matches.
“It can be a bit lonely,” Dyer said. “But I listen to music or talk on the phone to people. I’ve been on the road for 15 years and I’ve questioned myself a few times as to why I still do it. But in a way, I find that driving allows me to lose a lot of pent-up aggression. It’s a form of therapy.”
Dyer knows all about Chelsea. Who doesn’t? Yet Colchester have watched the London side four times since the fifth-round draw was made. At some stage this week, the four-man think-tank of Phil Parkinson, the manager, Geraint Williams, his assistant, Brian Owen, the first-team coach, and Dyer will convene to mull over the evidence.
“Perhaps we’ve gone a bit over the top,” Dyer said, “because we already know that Chelsea are world-class in every department. But if there’s any little chink, anything that we can exploit, then you have to go out and find it. And maybe we will.”
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John Maddison, the club’s Hartlepool-based scout, was Colchester’s man on the spot as Chelsea tumbled 3-0 against Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday. “I saw the game on TV and it looked to me like bad defensive mistakes,” Dyer said. “That could be all Chelsea’s mistakes for the next ten games. It just shows that they’re human but it shouldn’t detract from the bigger picture.”
When the tie is done and dusted, Dyer, 53, will return to trawling Premiership reserve matches for players that may suit Colchester’s needs. Parkinson has assembled a side sprinkled with top-flight “rejects”, plus a smattering of home-bred youngsters, and Dyer is an expert at separating the wheat from the chaff.
“Having been in the game a long time, I know what players can get up to,” Dyer said. “If not cheating, then certainly pulling the wool over people’s eyes. And there’s a lot of it about. Phil can spot that, too. He’s come from the lower levels, he’s played against the prima donnas, he knows what’s what. Our side is full of players with good attitude, good character, and that’s why we’re being successful.”
Home for Dyer is The Compasses, an oak-beamed pub-restaurant in the village of Great Totham, near Tiptree, in Essex. It is ideally situated for his excursions — “28 miles to the M25, 28 miles to the M11” — and when the licensee sets off on his football travels, his wife, Carol, is mine hostess at the quaint country inn.
That Dyer is not paid — he receives expenses only — does little to dampen his passion for a club that he has served in several capacities over 21 of the past 30 years. “I played for them for five years and I was reserve-team manager once,” he said. “And remember the hot summer of 1976? I painted the roof of the main stand then. I’m not a heights man but I soon got used to it.”
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The inner rage of a player, The Butcher, who could never accept second-best still burns. “I suppose, with my experience, I could get into league management,” Dyer said. “But if I saw another manager berating my players, that would get my back up. I sense that now sometimes, when I hear people having a go at our lads. It’s something I’ve had to live with. Maybe I’m better off doing what I do.”