Dean Gerken

Dean Gerken

Gerken playing for Ipswich Town in 2015
Personal information
Full name	Dean Jeffery Gerken[1]
Date of birth	(1985-05-22) 22 May 1985 (age 39)
Place of birth	Rochford, England[2]
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[3]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Bath City (goalkeeping coach)
Youth career
0000–2002	Southend United
2002–2004	Colchester United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2004–2009	Colchester United	109	(0)
2009	→ Darlington (loan)	7	(0)
2009–2013	Bristol City	53	(0)
2013–2019	Ipswich Town	104	(0)
2019–2022	Colchester United	69	(0)
Total		342	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18:20, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

Dean Jeffery Gerken (born 22 May 1985) is an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently goalkeeping coach at Bath City.

He started his career as a youth player at Southend United. He has previously played for Colchester United, Darlington, Bristol City and Ipswich Town.

Club career

Colchester United

Gerken was born in Rochford. He started his career at Southend United as a youngster before moving to Essex rivals Colchester United.[4] As a teenager he attracted the attention of England goalkeeping coach Ray Clemence.[4] He made his first-team debut against Brentford in League One in 2004, as a stand-in for Simon Brown and Richard McKinney.[5] In the 2004–05 season, replacing first-choice goalkeeper Aidan Davison, Gerken kept four clean sheets in 17 appearances.[6][7]

More appearances in Colchester's successful 2005–06 campaign gave Gerken another four clean sheets,[8] including the crucial 0–0 draw at Yeovil Town that clinched Colchester's promotion to the Football League Championship.[9]

Gerken made the number one position his own[10] as the over-achieving[11] U's ended the 2006–07 season in tenth place.[12] Gerken was crowned Colchester's Young Player of the Year for 2007.[13] He signed an extended contract in July 2007,[10] and played 40 League games during the 2007–08 season,[14] at the end of which Colchester were relegated back to League One.[12]

Darlington (loan)

On 15 January 2009, Gerken signed a one-month loan deal with League Two side Darlington.[15] He went straight into the starting eleven for their next game, a 5–1 defeat of Luton Town.[16]

Gerken returned to his parent club soon after, due to Darlington going into administration.

Bristol City

On 30 June 2009, it was confirmed that Bristol City had completed the signing of Gerken for an undisclosed fee, to end his seven-season stay with Colchester United. Gerken was arrested on suspicion of indecent exposure in the early hours of 25 October 2009 after he was allegedly spotted urinating in public.[17]

Gerken made his final game for City on 12 January 2013, in a 4–0 defeat at home to Leicester City. His manager, Derek McInnes, was sacked after the same match due to a recent run of poor results. On 8 May 2013, Gerken was released by Bristol City along with third-choice keeper Lewis Carey.

Ipswich Town

On 12 July 2013 Gerken joined Ipswich Town on a free transfer, signing a two-year contract.[18] He made his debut for Ipswich Town in a 0–2 loss against Stevenage in the League Cup on 6 August 2013. Soon after he joined Ipswich he replaced Scott Loach as the first choice goalkeeper, starting 41 league games in his debut season at the club, keeping 10 clean sheets.[19] However, with the arrival of fellow keeper Bartosz Białkowski in 2014, Gerken's first team play time would decrease gradually. Bialkowski's form would keep him out of the team for the next few seasons. On 28 June 2017, he signed a new two-year contract with Ipswich.[20]

He made just 1 league appearance in the 2017/18 season.[21] However the following season, in a surprise move he was called back up to the starting lineup on 2 September 2018 in a match against Norwich and he remained in goal for a further 7 games before once again being dropped back to the bench following a mistake that led to a goal against QPR.[22] He would make 10 further appearances in net during the season. After making 113 appearances for the Tractor Boys, it was announced on 20 May 2019 that his contract would not be renewed and he was released at the end of the season.[23][24]

Return to Colchester United

Following his release by Ipswich Town, Gerken re-signed for his first club Colchester United on 13 July 2019 on a free transfer.[25] He made his return debut on 3 August in their 1–1 League Two draw with Port Vale.[26] On 24 January 2020, Gerken made his 300th career appearance in a league match against Bradford City, which ended in a 0–0 draw.[27] Gerken was released by the club at the end of the 2021–22 season.[28]

Coaching career

In August 2022, following his retirement, Gerken returned to former club Bristol City as the club's academy head of goalkeeping.[29] In July 2023, in addition to his role with the Championship club, he joined National League South side Bath City as goalkeeping coach.[30]

Career statistics

As of match played 28 September 2021

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Colchester United	2003–04[31]	Second Division	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	2004–05[32]	League One	13	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	17	0
	2005–06[33]	League One	7	0	1	0	1	0	5[a]	0	14	0
	2006–07[34]	Championship	27	0	1	0	1	0	—		29	0
	2007–08[35]	Championship	40	0	1	0	1	0	—		42	0
	2008–09[36]	League One	21	0	0	0	2	0	1[a]	0	24	0
	Total		109	0	5	0	7	0	6	0	127	0
Darlington (loan)	2008–09[36]	League Two	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
Bristol City	2009–10[37]	Championship	39	0	2	0	2	0	—		43	0
	2010–11[38]	Championship	1	0	0	0	1	0	—		2	0
	2011–12[39]	Championship	10	0	0	0	1	0	—		11	0
	2012–13[40]	Championship	3	0	0	0	1	0	—		4	0
	Total		53	0	2	0	5	0	0	0	60	0
Ipswich Town	2013–14[19]	Championship	41	0	0	0	1	0	—		42	0
	2014–15[41]	Championship	16	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	17	0
	2015–16[42]	Championship	26	0	0	0	2	0	—		28	0
	2016–17[43]	Championship	2	0	2	0	1	0	—		5	0
	2017–18[21]	Championship	1	0	0	0	2	0	—		3	0
	2018–19[44]	Championship	18	0	0	0	0	0	—		18	0
	Total		104	0	3	0	6	0	0	0	113	0
Colchester United	2019–20[45]	League Two	36	0	1	0	5	0	2[b]	0	44	0
	2020–21[46]	League Two	33	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	35	0
	2021–22[47]	League Two	0	0	0	0	0	0	1[c]	0	1	0
	Total		69	0	2	0	6	0	3	0	80	0
Career total			342	0	12	0	24	0	9	0	386	0

1. Appearance(s) in Football League Trophy
2. Appearances in EFL League Two play-offs
3. Appearance(s) in EFL Trophy

Honours

Colchester United

• Football League One runner-up: 2005–06[48]

Individual

• Colchester United Young Player of the Year: 2006–07[13]

References

1. "Notification of shirt numbers: Colchester United" (PDF). English Football League. p. 21. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
2. Rollin, Glenda; Rollin, Jack, eds. (2010). Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2010–2011 (41st ed.). London: Headline. ISBN 978-0-7553-6107-6.
3. "Dean Gerken". Colchester United F.C. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
4. "Soccer: Gerken Attracts Attention From England Coach". Thurrock Gazette. 14 November 2003. Retrieved 16 December 2008.^[permanent dead link‍]
5. "Brentford vs Colchester". Colchester United F.C. 12 April 2004. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2008.
6. "Deano Ready For Call Up". Colchester United F.C. 7 July 2004. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2008.
7. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 16 December 2008.
8. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2008.
9. "Yeovil 0–0 Colchester". BBC Sport. 6 May 2006. Retrieved 16 December 2008.
10. "Exclusive: Stopper Signs New U's Deal". Colchester United F.C. 14 July 2007. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2008.
11. "Colchester have earned right to be respected" (reprint). Western Daily Press. Bristol: NewsBank. 20 February 2007. Retrieved 16 December 2008.
12. "Colchester United". Football Club History Database. Richard Rundle. Retrieved 16 December 2008.
13. "Who Is Your Young Player of the Year?". Colchester United F.C. 15 April 2008. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2008.
14. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2008.
15. "Dean Gerken brought in on loan". Darlington F.C. 15 January 2009. Archived from the original on 4 July 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2009.
16. "Darlington 5–1 Luton". BBC Sport. 17 January 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2009.
17. "Goalkeeper arrested over exposure". BBC News. 28 October 2009. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
18. "Dean Joins Blues". Ipswich Town Football Club. 12 July 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
19. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
20. "New Deal for Gerken". Ipswich Town F.C. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
21. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
22. "Five observations following Ipswich Town's 1-1 draw with Norwich City". 2 September 2018. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
23. "Gerken Included in Released Blues". Ipswich Town Official Website. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
24. "Dean Gerken and Grant Ward among 10 players released by Ipswich Town". ITV News. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
25. "Dean Gerken: Colchester United re-sign keeper after Ipswich Town release". BBC Sport. 13 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
26. "Colchester United 1–1 Port Vale". BBC Sport. 3 August 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
27. "Gerken praised after reaching career milestone".
28. "Retained And Released List 2021/22". cu-fc.com. 12 May 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
29. MacGregor, Gregor (31 August 2022). "Former Bristol City and Ipswich Town player returns to Ashton Gate in new coaching capacity". Bristol World. Retrieved 2 December 2024.
30. "Staff News - Dean Gerken". www.bathcityfc.com. 21 July 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2024.
31. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
32. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
33. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
34. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
35. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
36. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
37. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
38. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
39. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
40. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
41. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
42. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
43. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
44. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
45. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
46. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
47. "Games played by Dean Gerken in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
48. "Tier Three (League One) Honours". Coludaybyday.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 October 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2022.

External links

• Dean Gerken at Soccerbase