With a substitute's appearance on the first day of the 2003-04 season, Dean Marney sparked interest that made people sit up and take notice.
Many of those who attended reserve team fixtures at Stevenage Borough or were followers of Swindon Town and QPR will have already known about the ability of the young right-sided player. He had shone in the match against DC United at White Hart Lane the previous season, playing in Stephen Carr's right wing-back position.
The Barking born lad showed great maturity and not a little determination in his brief first team outings to that date, but he obviously hoped he would feature a lot more in the years to come, as the group of players in the reserves strove to fulfil their promise.
Deano made his break into the first team with a start and two goals in a New Year's Day game against Everton in 2005 when he became a player who was in and around the squad for the rest of the season. However, with the signing of a number of midfielders in the summer of 2005, Dean slipped down the rankings and was loaned out to Norwich City for the 2005-06 season, but his time at Carrow Road was cut short by injury.
Having failed to break through into the midfield, Dean was allowed to join Hull City in July 2006 for an undisclosed fee. Was part of the Hull City team that won promotion to the Premier League in 2008 through a play-off win, with a couple of seasons in the top flight under his belt, it was a shock when the Tigers were relegated in 2010, but he left in the summer of that year to join fellow relegated side Burnley.