Dean Boyle (Michael Ryan) 2003-2005

First Regular Appearance: 7.1 (#293) Groundhog Day  Sunday 28th September 2003

Last Regular Appearance: 8.32 (#356) Play Off  Sunday 29th May 2005

Duration: EP: 293 - 356  |  SE: 7.1 – 8.32

Position: Harchester United Chairman (2004) / Chief Executive (2004-2005)

Last Seen: Gaining the lads’ forgiveness following his role in the thrown Lazio game, before joining them on the doomed coach.

From Liverpool, Dean had a kind nature and always tried to stay on the right side of the tracks, with the one thing, if only, he shared with his father was their love for Everton football club. When Tony Boyle married his second wife Karen, Dean is introduced to her sister Donna, and thinks he’s struck gold, though Donna is just as taken with what’s in Dean’s wallet. By this point, Dean had grown ever more disappointed with his father’s lack of devoted time and support, and does not see Tony for the next two years.

Karen, who is closer in age to Dean, is determined to get father and son back together, finding the perfect opportunity with Dean’s twenty-second birthday on the same day as the Everton final replay against Harchester. With Donna, the four arrive at the Dragon's Lair, and Tony sends Dean off with £600 to find the tickets he neglected to pick up beforehand. Dean buys Clyde Connelly’s comps from ticket tout Steve and the Boyles end up in the home end with the Dragons fans. When Harchester prevent Everton reaching Europe, Dean thinks his birthday is ruined, until Phil Wallis raffles the club off to the winning seat - which Donna is sitting in.

Dean’s road to becoming Chairman is met with the competition of Clyde arguing his tickets were stolen, and Matt Webster, who had owned seat #61 as a season ticket holder. Having to wait for the court case, the Boyles receive greater merit when Dean and Tony witness Ryan Naysmith accidentally kill Steve, thus protecting their claim further. And although Dean loses Donna to Clyde, he ends up solely fighting her in court for the club when Matt’s claim is thrown out. That Christmas Dean sees a reconciliation with Donna on the cards after Tony destroys her marriage to Clyde. Donna however has revenge on her mind, and exposes Tony to Dean and Karen for how he has always wanted her for himself, contributing to Tony collapsing dead from a heart attack.

When Dean and Donna are awarded 50% shares each in Harchester United, Dean vows to bring Donna and the club down. Karen convinces Dean that Tony was to blame just as much as Donna, and it takes her leaving and a rollocking from Stuart to make Dean see sense. He promises to take his new responsibility as Chairman seriously, but there is soon trouble when the club falls below its warned position of sixth place in the League, and Coopers Bank liquidates Harchester United! With the support of Curtis, the two refuse to let the club die, and together convince the rest of the lads to play for free until the end of the season. Dean’s passionate plea for the nineteen other Premier League chairmen to allow them to play on goes Harchester’s way, and Coopers allow the club to continue.

With the bank now in charge, Dean and Donna part ways when they are required to sell their shares for £1 each, only the lads stand by Dean by choosing him as their new Chief Executive. When Marcel Sabatier’s death causes Pilar to admit responsibility for the club’s liquidation, Dean is relieved when the FA decide not to punish the club. But when Jeff comes to him with news that UEFA are deciding further sanctions in Geneva, the two fly out for Dean to once again plead the club’s case. Dean gets the news he was dreading; UEFA decide to relegate Harchester from the Premiership to the First Division, and a final appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport fails, forcing them to accept they will be spending the next season in the Championship.

Millionaire gambling magnet Eli Knox buys the club, and appoints former Wigan manager Don Barker as new manager. To his surprise, Eli keeps Dean on as Chief Exec, but soon has Dean betraying his friends in order to keep them from leaving the club, including taking away Curtis’s dream move to Charlton. When a depressed Clyde dies by suicide, Dean believes he can lift the mood by bringing back Dragons legend Karl Fletcher, although the now overweight Fletch is seen to be another in a line of cock-ups made by Dean.

When Don pressurises Dean to blackmail rebel fans to get a Champions League game against Lazio awarded in Harchester’s favour, it backfires when the main two thugs are arrested. They arrive home, believing Dean has betrayed them, and beat him so badly he is left unconscious in hospital. Following this, Dean plots with Fletch to remove Barker from United, but in the face of Don blackmailing Nicole Caskey into bed, Eli backs Don as his man in charge, and Dean is forced to resign. Dean moves in with Curtis and Ryan, refusing his job back when Eli asks him to consider returning after Barker has been forced out.

At the Play Off final in Cardiff, Dean is one of the few who learns Fletch has been found dead in Barker's car, and is there to comfort Gina. Later, as the team celebrate their return to the Premiership, Dean asks them, in particular best friend Curtis, to let him make it up to them for his part in the Lazio fixing. Dean joins them in the celebrations on board the team coach. Knowing he has been connected to the death of Fletch, Barker gains access to the wheel again and drives into the coach, causing a massive explosion. Dean is killed with the team and remembered as a Harchester legend from then on.