An outside-left who set up many of Ted Calland’s goals in 1958/59 Gordon Dale played for Exeter City between 1957 and 1961. He joined the club from Portsmouth and later played for Chelmsford. He had earlier moved from Chesterfield to top-flight Portsmouth for a £20,000 fee in 1951 where he proved to be a popular player in a city where he was to spend most of the rest of his life.

He began his Football League career in February 1948 when Chesterfield paid a fee of £500 to Worksop Town for his services. He quickly established himself as a first-team player and went on to make 92 league appearances scoring three goals. In July 1951 Portsmouth signed him for £20,000 - a record receipt for Chesterfield at the time - and he was to score 18 goals in 114 league outings for the Fratton Park club.

Exeter City parted with £5,000 in signing Gordon in October 1957, a fugure that was reported as £7,000 contrary to what appeared in the club's accounts. Making his debut at Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic in a 2-1 defeat, he proved to be a hugely-successful signing as he made 31 appearances in what remained of 1957/58 followed by 41, 26 and 26 in the following seasons. Never a regular goalscorer, his best return for Exeter came in 1959/60 when he scored on five occasions in league fixtures. Always a popular fugure during his time with the club, Gordon became fondly-remembered for his part in helping Ted Calland score 27 times in 1958/59.

Entering his early thirties, Gordon was one of a number of players who left Exeter at the end of the 1960/61 season but only after - having missed the home tie which was City's inaugural game in the competition - he had appeared in the League Cup replay against Manchester United at Old Trafford on 26 October 1960.

After his departure from St James' Park he soon signed for Chelmsford City and, upon his retirement from football, opened a newsagents and tobacconist in Portsmouth where he died in 1996.