Stuart Dallas


Stuart Dallas is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays for Premier League club Leeds United and the Northern Ireland national team. A versatile player, most of his career appearances have been as a winger but in recent seasons he has played more often in midfield and at full-back.

Club career

Early years

Dallas attended Cookstown Primary School and Cookstown High School during his education, winning the U14 and U15 Coleraine and District League titles with the high school in 2004 and 2005. He later played for local side Coagh United as an amateur.

Crusaders

After a fine 2009–10 season for Coagh United, Dallas signed for Crusaders in the summer of 2010, training once a week and earning £70 a week. He made his debut against Donegal Celtic on 7 August 2010. He scored his first goals against Coleraine on 21 August, and his first goal at Seaview proved to be the winning goal in a 5–4 victory over Glenavon. He continued his good form with a goal against Linfield at Seaview, to help the Crues beat the Blues at home for the first time in 11 years. In his first year at Crusaders, Dallas received six prizes at the Annual Player of the Year awards ceremony. He was chosen as both the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year for the 2010–11 season. Dallas made 38 appearances and scored 16 goals during the 2010–11 season.
Dallas made two appearances in Crusaders' Europa League second qualifying round matches against Premier League side Fulham early in the 2011–12 season, starting both games as Crusaders lost 7–1 on aggregate. Dallas' final goal for Crusaders was the winning goal against Portadown on 2 January 2012, and his final match was the 2012 Setanta Sports Cup final victory over Derry City, in which he scored in the penalty shootout. Dallas made 47 appearances and scored 10 goals during the 2011–12 season. He departed the club in the summer of 2012, after making 85 appearances and scoring 26 goals during his two seasons with Crusaders.

Brentford

On 12 April 2012 it was announced that Dallas had signed a pre-contract with League One side Brentford who were managed by Uwe Rosler and he joined the club that summer. He made his debut for the Bees in a 1–0 Football League Trophy win over Crawley Town on 9 October, coming off the bench after 75 minutes to replace Scott Barron. His first start came in a 4–2 FA Cup replay win at home to Bradford City on 18 December. He made 11 appearances over the course of the 2012–13 season and scored no goals. Dallas' first three appearances of the 2013–14 season came in cup competitions and he set up two goals in a 5–3 Football League Trophy victory over AFC Wimbledon on 3 September 2013.

Northampton Town (loan)

Dallas signed for League Two side Northampton Town on a month's loan on 5 October 2013 and went straight into the squad for the Cobblers' match that day against AFC Wimbledon. After replacing Chris Hackett in the 57th minute, he scored Northampton's second goal in a 2–0 victory. He bagged his second Northampton goal in his third match for the club, following up fellow Brentford loanee Luke Norris' opener in a 3–2 defeat to Rochdale on 22 October. On 5 November, Dallas' loan was extended until 1 January 2014. He scored the only goal of the game against Accrington Stanley on 30 November. An injury suffered to Brentford's on-loan Cardiff City winger Kadeem Harris meant that Dallas was recalled early from his loan on 23 December. He made 12 appearances for Northampton and scored three goals. Of his time at Northampton, Dallas said "on a personal note my loan spell was OK. I was playing every week. It was a good experience but results did not go our way and it was hard, when you are at the bottom everything seems to go against you". He also remarked that the training was less intense than he was used to at Brentford.

Return to Brentford

Dallas signed a new two-year contract at Brentford on 13 November, which would have kept him at Griffin Park until the end of the 2015–16 season. Dallas found his minutes on the pitch limited during the early months of 2014, but he broke into the starting lineup in April, starting in six of the Bees' final seven games of the season. Dallas scored his first Brentford goal with what turned out to be a consolation in a 4–1 defeat to Colchester United on 26 April. He made it two in two games when he scored the opener in a 2–0 win over Stevenage on the final day. Dallas made 21 appearances and scored two goals in a season in which Brentford secured automatic promotion to the Championship.
On 26 June 2014, Dallas signed a one-year extension to his existing contract, potentially keeping him at Griffin Park until the summer of 2017. He opened his goalscoring account for the 2014–15 season on his second appearance of the campaign, scoring two goals in the opening ten minutes of a bizarre League Cup first round shootout victory over Dagenham & Redbridge, which finished 6–6 after extra time. He also converted Brentford's first penalty in the shootout. Dallas scored his first league goal of the season on 19 August 2014, bagging the winner in a 2–1 victory over Blackpool. A quadriceps injury suffered in a 3–0 defeat to Norwich City on 16 September ended Dallas' fine start to the 2014–15 season. He made his comeback from injury on 1 November against Derby County, replacing Jon Toral after 66 minutes. With the score at 1–1, he scored his fourth goal of the season with a dramatic 93rd-minute winner. In the following game, Dallas was pressed into service as an emergency right back for the final 25 minutes of a 3–1 win over Nottingham Forest, having replaced the injured Moses Odubajo. He later deputised on the opposite flank for the suspended Jake Bidwell in February 2015.
Dallas netted his sixth goal of the season with the only goal of the game versus Rotherham United on 10 January 2015, a performance which established him in the starting lineup. After nearly four months without a goal, Dallas scored twice in the Bees' 4–1 win over bitter rivals Fulham at Craven Cottage on 3 April. His second strike later won the club's Goal of the Season award. He failed to score again during the season, which ended in defeat to Middlesbrough in the playoff semi-finals. Dallas made 44 appearances and scored eight goals during the 2014–15 season.
On 31 July 2015, the Yorkshire Evening Post reported that Brentford had accepted a bid for Dallas of over £1m from fellow Championship side Leeds United. On 1 August 2015, new Brentford Head Coach Marinus Dijkhuizen revealed that Dallas didn't want to sign a new contract at Brentford with a year remaining of his current contract and that he was likely to leave the club.

Leeds United

In August 2015, Dallas joined Leeds United on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee, reported to be in the region of £1.3 million. He made his debut for Leeds in the Football League Championship in a 1–1 draw against Burnley on the opening day of the season, and scored his first goal for the club against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 17 December 2015. After making 49 appearances, more than any other player in the squad, he was named Leeds' 'Players' Player Of The Year' for 2015–16.
After missing the majority of pre-season training due to his participation in UEFA Euro 2016 with Northern Ireland, Dallas then had an injury hit start to the season, missing five weeks after suffering a calf strain. He returned in November 2016, and went on to make 31 appearances that season. In August 2017, Dallas signed a new three-year contract at the club keeping him at Leeds until the 2019–20 season.
Due to injuries to several fullback, including Luke Ayling and Laurens De Bock, Dallas found himself used as a right-back for periods during the 2017–18 season.
During the 2018–19 season, Dallas found himself also playing in several positions under new Head Coach Marcelo Bielsa before long-term injuries to Luke Ayling and Gaetano Berardi meant Dallas had an extended run in the side as right-back. He scored his first goal of the season on 27 November in a 1–0 win against Reading. However, on 1 December, Dallas broke his foot after picking up the injury in a 1–0 win against Sheffield United. The injury would rule him out for several weeks. However, after his return to training, Dallas was ruled out for another 6 weeks after picking up another injury in January 2019.
During the 2018–19 season, Dallas played 29 games in all competitions, scoring 4 goals. After Leeds finished the regular season in third place, they qualified for the play-offs. Dallas started both legs of the Championship play-off semi-final against Derby County, following his return from injury, due to injuries to Barry Douglas, Gjanni Alioski and Leif Davis. Leeds won the first leg of the play-off semi-final, a 1–0 win at Pride Park, but despite two goals from Dallas, Leeds lost the reverse leg 4–2 at Elland Road, seeing Derby progress to the final against Aston Villa.
In June 2019, teammate Bailey Peacock-Farrell revealed he and Dallas turned down the option of starting pre-season training a week later after featuring on international duty for Northern Ireland over the summer, in order to fight for a starting spot.
On 24 August, Dallas scored his first goal of the 2019–20 season in a 3–0 win over Stoke City, In September 2019, he signed a new 4-year contract with Leeds United.
Dallas found himself one of the first names on the first team sheet, being ever present for the first half of the season, with Dallas playing in a range of positions, including Left-back, Right-back and Central Midfield after injuries to Adam Forshaw, Jamie Shackleton, Tyler Roberts and Pablo Hernández.

International career

Due to his form for Crusaders early in the 2010–11 season, Dallas received a call-up to the Northern Ireland U23 squad for an International Challenge Trophy match versus Portugal U23 on 12 October 2010. He played the full 90 minutes of the 2–0 defeat. At the end of the 2010–11 season, along with teammates Colin Coates and Jordan Owens, Dallas received a call-up to the full Northern Ireland squad for 2011 Nations Cup games against Republic of Ireland and Wales. He made his debut against the Welsh in Dublin, coming on in the 63rd minute for Craig Cathcart. Early in the 2011/12 season, Dallas received a call into the U21 side for a 2013 UEFA European U21 Championship qualification match against Denmark on 6 September 2011. He played 65 minutes of the 3–0 defeat, before being substituted for future Brentford teammate Will Grigg.
A run of starts for Brentford since January 2015 saw Dallas called up for matches versus Scotland and Finland in late March 2015. He won his first full international cap in nearly four years versus Scotland on 25 March, playing the full 90 minutes of a 1–0 defeat. On 31 May 2015, Dallas combined with Will Grigg to score his first ever international goal in a 1–1 draw with Qatar in Crewe.
On 8 October 2015 Northern Ireland qualified for Euro 2016 in France, beating Greece 3–1. It was the first time in 30 years that Northern Ireland had qualified for a major tournament, with Dallas helping play a crucial role in qualifying.
On 18 May 2016, Dallas was selected as part of the provisional 27-man squad to represent Northern Ireland in the UEFA Euro 2016 competition. On 28 May 2016, Dallas was named in the final 23 man Euro 2016 squad for Northern Ireland.
On 12 June 2016, Dallas came on as a half time substitute for Paddy McNair in Northern Ireland's 1–0 loss in their opening UEFA Euro 2016 game against Poland. On 16 June, Dallas started in the historic 2–0 Euro 2016 victory against Ukraine, with Dallas gaining an assist for Niall McGinn's goal, which proved crucial in helping them qualify for the knockout round of 16 of the competition.
On 10 June 2017 Dallas scored the winner for Northern Ireland in their 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier 1–0 victory against Azerbaijan.

Honours

Club

Crusaders
Brentford
Leeds United

Club

International

International goals

No.DateVenueCapOpponentScoreResultCompetition
131 May 2015Gresty Road, Crewe, England41–01–1Friendly
210 June 2017Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan221–01–02018 FIFA World Cup qualification
311 September 2018Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland322–03–0Friendly