Carl Matthew Dickinson (born 31 March 1987) is an English former professional football player who is strength and conditioning coach at National League club Hartlepool United.

A defender, Dickinson started his career at Stoke City and had loan spells at Icelandic club Víkingur and Blackpool before helping the "Potters" to win promotion into the Premier League in 2007–08.

[3] He made his senior debut on 11 December 2004, replacing Carl Asaba in the last moments of a 1–0 victory over Coventry City at the Britannia Stadium.

[7] Dickinson spent summer 2006 on loan at Icelandic club Víkingur, along with teammate Keith Thomas,[8] and played two Úrvalsdeild games.

He played four games for Stoke at the beginning of the 2006–07 season before he was allowed to join League One side Blackpool on a one-month-long loan on 20 October.

[9] Manager Simon Grayson later extended the loan for a further month, as Dickinson continued to cover for injured left-backs Danny Coid and Paul Tierney.

He made seven League One starts at Elland Road and was recalled to Stoke at the end of the loan period, despite Leeds wishing to extend the deal.

[20] After retiring, he admitted he had performed poorly at Fratton Park due to frequently travelling the long distance to visit his young family back at his Staffordshire home.

On 24 July 2013, Dickinson had his contract at Watford cancelled by mutual consent after being deemed surplus to requirements by manager Gianfranco Zola.

[39] After returning to the first-team he stated that a talk with manager Rob Page helped him to calm down as he had put "a bit too much pressure" on himself after taking over the captaincy.

[40] He remained in poor form however, but said the criticism from the fans did not affect him after providing the assist for Tom Pope in the win against nearby rivals Walsall on 14 February.

[45] Dickinson was named as Port Vale's second best left-back of the 2010s in a public poll taken in January 2020 by The Sentinel; he received 40% of the vote, 10% behind Lee Collins.

[47] He and the club endured a difficult 2016–17 campaign, which Dickinson said was the most "mentally challenging" of his career after the "Magpies" faced a change of ownership, manager and an unexpected relegation battle.

[48] He had expected to help lead a promotion charge under manager John Sheridan, but ended the season at Meadow Lane fighting on-loan Arsenal defender Marc Bola for the left-back spot under new boss Kevin Nolan.

[52] He made 37 appearances for the "Glovers" in the 2018–19 campaign but began training with former club Port Vale after he was told he was not in the Yeovil's first-team plans following manager Darren Way's sacking in March.

Yeovil were fourth in the National League and Dickinson had 29 appearances to his name by the time the 2019–20 season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England; meanwhile during the break in play his impression of former manager Tony Pulis became a viral video on Twitter.

[59] He joined Eccleshall of the North West Counties League Division One South in March 2023 to aid the club during an injury crisis.

[64] On 17 March 2021, it was reported that Dickinson had "agreed in principle" to sign a three-year contract to join North West Counties Premier Division club Hanley Town as player-manager.

[69] On 13 October 2022, Dickinson and assistant manager Dave Kevan left Hanley Town by mutual consent due to "increased business costs".