Raymond John Deakin was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 footballer, whose playing position was left-back.

Biography

Born in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, Deakin began his career at Everton

Everton F.C.

Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...

, where he signed his first professional contract in 1977. However, he never made any appearances for Everton's first team, and was released in 1981. He then joined Port Vale

Port Vale F.C.

Port Vale Football Club is an English football club currently playing in Football League Two. They are based in Burslem, Staffordshire — one of six towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The club's traditional rivals in the city are Stoke City, and games between the two clubs are known as...

, where he spent one season. He was initially a regular in the team, but lost his place in October 1981 and struggled to break back into first-team contention thereafter.

Deakin joined Bolton Wanderers

Bolton Wanderers F.C.

Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....

 on a free transfer in May 1982. Following three seasons at Burnden Park

Burnden Park

Burnden Park was the home of English FA Premier League football club Bolton Wanderers who played home games here between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting an FA Cup Final replay it was the scene of one of the greatest disasters in English football and the subject of an L. S...

, Deakin signed for Burnley

Burnley F.C.

Burnley Football Club are a professional English Football League club based in Burnley, Lancashire. Nicknamed the Clarets, due to the dominant colour of their home shirts, they were founder members of the Football League in 1888...

 in 1985. At Burnley, he was ever-present during his first two seasons at the club, and was eventually given the captain's armband. In May 1987, he captained Burnley at the lowest point of their history, when the club almost dropped out of the league

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

, and only survived on the last day of the season.

Following the near-relegation, Deakin stayed at Turf Moor

Turf Moor

Turf Moor is a football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire. It is the home ground of Burnley Football Club, which has played there since moving from its Calder Vale ground in 1883. The stadium, which is situated on Harry Potts Way, named so after the club's longest serving Manager, has a capacity of...

 another four seasons, before leaving Burnley and retiring from football at the end of the 1990–91 season.

In 2008, Deakin was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and died on Christmas Eve that year, at the age of 49.