Dorigo started his career at Aston Villa where he signed on as an apprentice in July 1983. In his first season at Villa Park, the Australian-born Dorigo played just one game but flourished under Graham Turner's management the following year, making 31 appearances in the League.

The young Dorigo soon made the left-back berth at Villa his own and attracted the attention of other clubs looking to bolster their own defences.

When Chelsea made an offer of £475,000 to then Villa manager Billy McNeill for the player, Dorigo soon found himself moving down to the capital and it was at the west London club that Dorigo really made his name.

Eventually then England manager Bobby Robson handed Dorigo his chance with the full England side, using him as a substitute against Yugoslavia in the Three Lions' December 1989 friendly which saw Bryan Robson score twice to secure a 2-1 win for the home side.

The 1989/90 season saw Chelsea back in the old First Division and reach the Final of the Zenith Data Systems Cup. In an otherwise forgettable match infront of a packed crowd at Wembley, Dorigo scored the only goal of the game - a stunning 25-yard free-kick said to be one of the best goals ever seen at the old stadium.

Dorigo made further substitute appearances for England against Czechoslovakia and Denmark that season and impressed Robson enough to have his name included in the Italia '90 World Cup squad. 

With Stuart Pearce clearly Robson's first choice at left-back, Dorigo's one and only appearance in Italy came against the hosts in the Third Place Play Off in Bari. David Platt gave England some hope with a powerful header but Italy ran out as the eventual winners.

After one more season at Bobby Campbell's Chelsea, Dorigo was on the move again, this time to Leeds United for a fee of £1.3 million.

In his first season at Elland Road, Dorigo won the championship - the first time the Whites had won the title since 1974.  Inspired by Frenchman Eric Cantona, they held off a strong challenge from rivals Manchester United to win the last ever old Division One before the formation of the new Premier League.

After six years in West Yorkshire and just one season under the new management of George Graham, Dorigo found himself surplus to requirements at Elland Road and in July 1997 made the surprise move to Serie B side Torino, managed by former Liverpool boss Graeme Souness and including Gianluigi Lentini who had once been the world's most expensive player.

Six games into the new Serie B season, Souness left Turin and was replaced by Edoardo Reja who continued to use Dorigo's services as the team pushed for a return to the top flight.

Promotion from Serie B to Serie A is automatic for the top three in the division, whilst a fourth place goes to the winner of a play-off between the fourth and fifth placed teams.

Torino had a strong season and in the end finished just one point behind third-placed Calgiari and those automatic berths. Their playoff against Perugia, who had ended the season level on points with Torino, finished 1-1 after Ferrante had cancelled out Tovalieri of Perugia's opener with only ten minutes left.

With no further goals in half-time, promotion to the glamorous Serie A came down to a penalty shoot-out. 

After penalty heart-ache against West Germany in Turin eight years previously, Dorigo once again experienced the pain the shootout lottery can cause. With all nine penalties having been converted, Dorigo stepped up to take the last kick, but he let his shot drift too far wide and the ball struck the left-hand post, handing victory and promotion to Perugia.

It was an awful way for his Italian experience to end and after 30 League appearances and 2 goals (scored against Ravenna and Foggia), the former England international left Piemonte to return to England with Jim Smith's Derby County.

Dorigo wound his career up by playing in the Premiership for the Rams for two years before being transferred to Gudjon Thordarson's Stoke City, where he spent one final season.

Tony Dorigo

Nationality: English 
Date of Birth: 31 December 1968 
Place of Birth: Melbourne, Australia 
Height: 5' 9''
Weight: 10 10 
Clubs: Aston Villa, Chelsea, Leeds Utd, Torino, Derby, Stoke
Position: Defender

Year

Club

Apps.

Goals

1983/84

Aston Villa

1

0

1984/85

Aston Villa

31

0

1985/86

Aston Villa

38

1

1986/87

Aston Villa

41

1

1987/88

Chelsea

40

0

1988/89

Chelsea

40

6

1989/90

Chelsea

35

3

1990/91

Chelsea

31

2

1991/92

Leeds United

38

3

1992/91

Leeds United

33

1

1993/94

Leeds United

37

0

1994/95

Leeds United

28

0

1995/96

Leeds United

17

1

1996/97

Leeds United

18

0

1997/98

Torino

30

2

1998/99

Derby County

18

1

1999/00

Derby County

23

0

2000/01

Stoke City

36

0


Tony Dorigo's England career

1989/90: Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Italy
1990/91: Hungary, USSR
1991/92: Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Brazil
1992/93: San Marino, Poland, USA, Brazil
1993/94: Hungary

Total : 15 caps, 0 goals


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