Richard Dinnis

Richard R. Dinnis (born 11 December 1942) is an English former football coach and player.

Dinnis played semi-professionally as a centre-half. Little is known of his playing career, but he signed with Bishop Auckland in 1961 after a successful trial. In the mid-1960s he was playing for Great Harwood in the Lancashire Combination. He later went into coaching, and joined Blackburn Rovers as their reserve team coach. He was caretaker manager of the club from 1973 to 1974, remaining as reserve team coach once Gordon Lee was appointed. In 1975, he joined Lee at Newcastle United, becoming the assistant manager. When Lee left the club in January 1977, Dinnis saw out the rest of the season as caretaker manager. He was appointed manager of Newcastle that summer, but was sacked after a poor start. Dinnis then spent a few years in the North American Soccer League (NASL), firstly as coach of the Philadelphia Fury, and later as assistant coach at the Vancouver Whitecaps. Following a brief return to Blackburn, he then had a multitude of coaching roles for various clubs over the next two decades, including a stint in Saudi Arabia. He also maintained a job as a physical education teacher during this time. Towards the end of the 1990s and throughout the 2000s, Dinnis worked as a football summariser and analyst for BBC Radio Lancashire, commentating on football games in North West England.

Coaching career Dinnis obtained his Football Association "A" Licence coaches badge and was then employed as reserve team coach at Blackburn Rovers from 1970 to 1975. Dinnis briefly acted as caretaker manager of the club, when Ken Furphy left to join Sheffield United. He took charge of six matches with the first team, winning three and losing three. In 1976, Newcastle reached the Football League Cup Final against Manchester City, where they lost 2–1. When Lee suddenly resigned as manager in early 1977 after only 18 months in charge, the Newcastle board first offered the job to the Bolton Wanderers manager, Ian Greaves but he turned the job down.

Later years He coached Philadelphia Fury of the North American Soccer League in 1978, but resigned mid-season and was replaced by player-coach Alan Ball. He was appointed assistant coach to the Vancouver Whitecaps head coach Tony Waiters, where they went on to win the Soccer Bowl. Dinnis returned to Blackburn three years later, assisting John Pickering. Afterwards, he joined Bristol City as chief scout, and from January and April 1982, he was assistant manager to Roy Hodgson. Following his departure from Bristol City, he gained a Diploma in Physical Education at Carnegie College, Leeds.

Dinnis returned to football, spending six months as a coach at Middlesbrough, before a short spell as a youth coach at Al-Ittihad who were then managed by Bob Houghton. He later spent time coaching at Accrington Stanley, Barrow and for the centres of excellence at Burnley and Bolton Wanderers. He also worked as a summariser and analyst for BBC Radio Lancashire up until the late 2000s, dealing with Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley and Preston North End.

Parallel to his coaching jobs, Dinnis was a physical education teacher, firstly at Canon Slade School in Bolton, and then at Clitheroe Royal Grammar School.