Ex-QPR: Dichio Happy in North America...Cochrane Looking for Contract...Bircham's Injury

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UPDATE: See Also: QPR America and QPR USA


Toronto Star - Dichio starting to feel at home in Toronto
Richard Lautens/Toronto Star
Toronto FC star forward Danny Dichio, with sons Franco, left, and Luca, is known as a hard-nosed player on the pitch and devoted family man at home.

BORN: Oct. 19, 1974 Hammersmith, London, England
HEIGHT: 6-3 WEIGHT: 209 lbs.
Year/Team
1993-97: QPR (1994 – Barnet on loan)
1997-8: Sampdoria (1997 – Lecce on loan)
1998-01: Sunderland
2001-04: West Brom (2003 – Derby on loan)
2004-05: Millwall
2005-07: Preston North End
2007-present: Toronto FC
Source: Soccerbase.com

English soccer veteran has found new life in Canada and the MLS

Aug 25, 2007 Cathal Kelly Sports Reporter
Off the field, the most frightening thing about Danny Dichio is his Canadian accent.
The lanky, English-born Toronto FC forward is recounting the latest unfortunate intersection of his new home and his west London upbringing.
"I was in a restaurant the other day and I asked, `Can I have some water?' The waitress, she's just lookin' at us. She said `Pardon?' So I started repeatin' meself – `Water. Water. Water.'"
Dichio mimes picking up a glass and drinking. No luck. Of course, what Dichio is saying is not `water'. It's `wah-uh.' Finally, he sighs deeply to indicate total surrender.
"So I tried it like a Canadian. `Waaah-turrr.'"
This comes out somewhere between Father Guido Sarducci and Sgt. Sam Steele – a flat nasal whine with a strange lilt at the end.
"She says, `Ooooh, WA-ter.' My kids started laughing at me. `Say it again, Dad' they were saying."
Having seen Dichio's uncommonly menacing style of play, it's surprising he didn't leap to his feet and knock a few diners out of the way in a bull's rush to the water station.
"Guys don't like to play him," his coach, Mo Johnston, said. "With very, very good reason."
"Kicking, shoving, biting," teammate Carl Robinson summarizes Dichio's hierarchy of violence. "But at the end of the game, he'll shake your hand. He's a gentleman. He's actually quite timid, a family man."
A long-time husband to Claire, a father of three, a 32-year-old suburban soccer dad. A gentle soul hidden behind a malevolent, on-field glare.
"It's been blown up a little out here, the physical stuff, because obviously they haven't seen that side of how I play," said Dichio, who is starting his first game since July 29 tonight against D.C. United after recovering from a hip injury. "Maybe they've put two and two together and got six."
There is also much more to Danny Dichio than sharp elbows on the pitch. He has featured on top sides alongside the best players in Europe. But over a 15-year career, he's been on a long search for a home. He feels he's found it in Toronto. Listen to the fans howl whenever he touches the ball at BMO Field and you know the feeling is mutual.
Dichio was raised near London's posh Portobello Road ("more to the grimy side"), the son of an Italian immigrant and an English mother.
He first learned the game from his father, a centre back straight out of the Bill Shankly school.
"A hatchet man, a WWF wrestler," Dichio remembers with a wry smile. "Back when clotheslines were still standard practice in football."
As a 9-year-old, the lanky kid was invited to join the youth academy of his local rooting interest, Queen's Park Rangers.
At 16, he left school and took a full-time scholarship with QPR. Two years later, he was invited to join the senior team.
"The club I grew up with, the one I supported," Dichio said. "It was a dream come true."
Over four years at QPR, he developed into a dependable target man.
In 1997, he walked out of his comfort zone and into a huge opportunity. Dichio was invited to join Sampdoria, at the time an Italian powerhouse.
But only weeks after Dichio's arrival, Sampdoria coach Sven Goran Eriksson left for Lazio. The big Englishman was soon loaned to Lecce, a smaller town where Dichio's young family could not settle. By 1998, they were back in England.
He caught on with Sunderland, more a religion than a team in northeast England, and helped them gain promotion to the Premiership. Then it was on to West Bromwich Albion. Once again, he was part of their promotion push.
However, his family was back living in London while Dichio drove two hours each way to the Midlands to practise each day.
His dissatisfaction was growing. As early as 2001, he began thinking about a move to Major League Soccer. By 2004, he was ready to go.
"My agent said I was stupid to do it so soon, because we could still do a lot more over (in England). I said it's not just about the football for me at the moment. It's about getting away," Dichio said. "I was kind of pissed off with life in that country at that time and the way that footballers were getting portrayed. There was a lot of stuff going on in the papers with footballers and rapes and drink stuff and drug stuff and I didn't want that for my kids."
Instead, a friend from the old neighbourhood, Dennis Wise, lured Dichio to another working-class London club – Millwall.
Dichio helped spearhead the team's improbable run to 2004 FA Cup final against Manchester United. But he missed the big game after being red carded in the semis – "a crushing disappointment." Millwall lost 3-0.
Once more, the urge to cross the ocean was calling him.
He was convinced to move north one more time, to Championship side Preston North End, in 2005. That move sealed his desire for new surroundings. Dichio changed agents and began to plan his departure.
Dichio's first choice was Chicago. The feeling was mutual. But once he arrived for talks, problems cropped up. Green cards, immigration forms.
Meanwhile, Johnston was lurking. When he found out the Fire could not seal the deal with Dichio, he swooped.
"Coming home from Chicago, I got a call from Mo. He said there's no green card problem out here. We'll have you straight away," Dichio said.
Johnston offered Dichio a sight-unseen contract. Dichio accepted a handshake deal. He's never had cause to regret it.
"It's a whole different league. There's not as much off-the-field pressure – media-wise, fan-wise. I came here, loved the field. And I thought, `This is where I can enjoy my football again,'" Dichio said.
There was still the problem of adapting to a new team in mid-season. FC had played three miserable games when Dichio arrived and hadn't managed to score a goal.
Dichio debuted April 28 against the Kansas City Wizards, FC's first home game. Twenty minutes in, the ball flew past him at midfield. He gave chase and touched it on. But before he could latch on to it again, an opponent drifted into his sights. Dichio gave up his pursuit of the ball, chased his target upfield and clotheslined him. Shades of dad. While his man crumpled to the ground, Dichio veered back toward the ball.
It was a brash and roughhousing display. Nasty, even. The stands erupted. The fans had found their man.
"It was just a fantastic atmosphere," Dichio said after the game, somewhat awestruck.
In their next match two weeks later, Dichio scored the first goal in franchise history. Twenty minutes later, he got the team's first straight red card. A hockey player on grass. Now they sing his praises in the 24th minute of each game to commemorate the instant when he marked the club's first tally.
He's notched four more times, making him the club's leading scorer. Injuries have slowed him, but the fight is still there.
Before the club's big game against the L.A. Galaxy, Dichio offered to take cortisone injections so he could suit up and help the team.
"I would not take that sort of risk with him, but that is the sort of player I want," Johnston said.
In the winter, Dichio plans to help out at the field coaching kids. He'd like to move it to coaching full-time some day.
He'd also like to do it in Canada. He, Claire and the kids have already started the process to obtain Canadian citizenship.
"I have wanted to play in this league for a long, long time. I wanted to bring my family out here to enjoy this lifestyle," Dichio said. "There have been many great experiences since coming here – match days, coming to the ground, seeing the fans. But just settling as we have in a country that's miles and miles from home ... that's been the most pleasing for me." The Star

Western Daily Press - COCHRANE: DEAL ME IN By Nathan Jones
Justin Cochrane is hoping to win a contract so he can help Yeovil Town match their form of last season.
Defeat in the opening game of their League One campaign - which was followed by a 4-1 Carling Cup hammering at League Two Hereford - had made another promotion push appear unlikely.
But consecutive victories - 1-0 at home to Port Vale and 2-1 away to Northampton Town - have raised new hope.
Fewer than half the current team were at Wembley when Yeovil lost last season's play-off final to Blackpool - but they have helped lift the Glovers to sixth place in the table.
"The standard has been set high from last year," said Cochrane, who set Yeovil on the way to victory at Northampton on Saturday with a well-taken goal.
"We want to reproduce that same sort of form, so we need to be winning at places like Northampton."
The short-term deal Cochrane agreed with the club just before the season opener at Huddersfield Town is due to run out before Tranmere Rovers visit on Saturday.
"I am hoping to win something longer," said the 25-year-old midfielder. "I will just have to wait and see. Northampton was the last game (of the deal) so if I am going to be eligible for next week I will have to sign something in the week - we will see what happens."
Cochrane has already made a strong case, having got the only goal of the game against Vale. On Saturday, Yeovil were pegged back by Poul Hubertz's equaliser but Lloyd Owusu got the winner in stoppage-time.
Glovers manager Russell Slade will continue his efforts to sign another forward before Friday's transfer deadline.
With Terry Skiverton still sidelined and Darryl Knights on compassionate leave, Slade was down to 17 players on Saturday.
"There are one or two irons in the fire and there is still the loan system you can use after August," said the manager. Western Daily Press

YEOVIL OFFICIAL SITE - MARK BIRCHAM's RECOVERY
"...Finishing off, Jim discussed the latest on Marc Bircham, who is still having problems getting over a hamstring problem.
"As we said last week he'd been doing quite well," Jim said.
"However, he felt some tightness last Thursday.
"That has settled down now, but we did a repeat ultrasound scan on the hamstring.
"That's shown that the small tear he suffered just over three weeks ago is healing, but it's not quite there yet, so we have to take a bit of a step back with him.
"He's back working in the gym at the present time, and we will get him back into running next week,
"But because of the little set back, I think we really need to get him absolutely fully fit, then give him a week of full training before he starts to think about playing games.
"So we are probably looking at a minimum of two, possibly as much as three weeks, before he's in contention to play matches." Yeovil

Yahoo- CHRIS DAY UPDATE - Day hoping to keep Lions place
Millwall's Chris Day is hoping his good early-season form will help him keep his place in the side when Lenny Pidgeley returns to fitness.Day, who had been out for 11 months with injury himself, has been in inspired form this season with former Chelsea stopper Pidgeley sidelined with a toe injury.
And now the 32-year-old former QPR stopper is hoping to use his opportunity to cement his place in Willie Donachie's side.
"It's been good for me to get a few games under my belt, and I've enjoyed that," Day told the South London Press.
"Everyone wants to play but you know in a squad of 22, that not everyone can be on the park. But now I need to take my chance." Report