A former pupil of Lea Manor High School, Dean joined his hometown club at the age of nine and has progressed through the Centre of Excellence, representing Luton Schools and Bedfordshire County Schools at a variety of age groups. He kept a clean sheet on his Under-19 debut as a 15-year-old in April 2001 and his impressive displays alerted the attention of several bigger clubs, including Liverpool, but Luton fought off the competition to secure his signature. A tall, commanding goalkeeper standing at six foot two, Dean is a great organiser whose voice will always be heard throughout a game. His handling and concentration are exceptional, and he is very highly regarded by members of the coaching staff at the club.

Although he didn’t make an appearance in the first-team during the 2002-03 season, Dean did find himself on the substitutes bench on a number of occasions, although Robert Beckwith pipped him at the end of the campaign for the goalkeeping spot. However, with Dean, Dino Seremet, Robert Beckwith and Zac Barrett as young goalkeepers at the club at the time, the future looked very bright for the club on the goalkeeping front.

Beginning the 2003-04 season as understudy to Robert Beckwith, Dean made his League debut when coming on as a substitute in a 0-3 loss at Oldham Athletic in September 2003 after Beckwith had been sent off.

His full League debut came some three weeks later in a 3-1 home win over eventually-relegated Wycombe Wanderers and he retained his place for the following two matches, a 1-0 win at Stevenage Borough in the LDV Vans Trophy and a 2-4 loss in the League at Brentford. He played again a fortnight later as the Hatters won at Rushden & Diamonds in the LDV Vans Trophy, and, after the disappointing form of Morten Hyldgaard, who had been drafted in towards the tail end of the season, Dean ended the campaign between the sticks, playing in a 3-2 home win over Sheffield Wednesday and in a 0-1 loss at Chesterfield on the final day of the season.

Dean continued his development with the Hatters during the 2004-05 season as he found himself in strong competition for a goalkeeping berth with Marlon Beresford, Dino Seremet and Robert Beckwith, with youngsters Zac Barrett and Michael Eade also hot on his heels.

The talented young shot stopper failed to make a first-team appearance during the course of the campaign for Luton Town, but he did enjoy a number of appearances for the Hatters Reserve side during the season.

With regular goalkeeper Marlon Beresford unavailable, Dean started the 2005-06 season between the sticks and gave an excellent account of himself for such a young goalkeeper as Luton Town stunned former Premiership outfit Crystal Palace with a 2-1 victory at Selhurst Park on the opening day of the season.

Continuing in goal for the following two matches, which saw the Hatters beat another former Premiership side, Southampton, 3-2 and draw 0-0 with Leeds United, Dean looked calm and assured for such a young age and on his return to being Beresford's understudy he had helped Luton to top spot in the Championship after the opening three games!

A regular in the Luton Town Reserve side during the season, Dean went on to make three further appearances at senior level during the campaign in a 0-1 League Cup Second Round defeat at Reading, and in 0-1 and 2-3 reversals to Southampton and Stoke City respectively.

Ousting Slovenian Dino Seremet from the number two goalkeeper's position, Dean also fought off competition from fellow young shot-stopper Robert Beckwith, which is a testament to his ability.

Highly-rated by manager Mike Newell and goalkeeping coaches Dmitri Kharine and Marlon Beresford, Dean will be looking to give Beresford strong competition to be the Hatters' number one goalkeeper during the 2006-07 season.

His first starting appearance of the 2006-07 campaign came in a 2-3 home loss to Queen's Park Rangers in November 2006 where he deputised for the suspended Marlon Beresford. Beresford had been sent off the previous week at Preston North End for a professional foul, Dean coming on to replace the veteran between the sticks and going on to concede three goals in a 0-3 loss with ten men.

However, following the loan signing of Portsmouth's Dean Kiely, Dean was pushed down to third-choice goalkeeper and in December 2006, he was loaned to League One side Gillingham, where he made 8 appearances during his month's stay at The Priestfield Stadium.

Returning to Kenilworth Road in January 2007, Dean was immediately thrown into action in a 1-0 FA Cup Third Round replay win over Queen's Park Rangers, deputising for the unavailable Marlon Beresford.

He appeared in the following match, a 0-1 loss at Coventry City, before returning to the bench to deputise for Beresford. However, in mid-March 2007, following the sacking of manager Mike Newell and the appointment of Kevin Blackwell as the new Hatters boss, Dean was thrown straight into the side at Beresford's expense and he played the final eight matches of the season.

With Luton relegated to League One, Dean looked likely to go into the forthcoming 2007-08 season as the Hatters' number one goalkeeper.

Dean had a very good season for Luton Town during the 2007-08 campaign, a season that promised so much at the start but quickly faded and ended in one of the worst campaigns for the Hatters in living memory.

Starting the season between the sticks and appearing in the opening three matches, Dean seemed to be one of the players inherited by manager Kevin Blackwell that the Hatters boss was not sure of and this was reiterated when Blackwell decided to sign two goalkeepers on loan during the first three months of the season, signing Cardiff City's David Forde and then Tottenham Hotspur's Ben Alnwick on loan. This pushed Dean into the reserves, much to the bemusement of both Dean and the Hatters fans.

A former goalkeeper himself, it seemed strange that Blackwell could not see Dean's obvious ability, although Blackwell would perhaps argue that he could see it, but felt that Dean was not yet ready to become the Hatters' number one goalkeeper. Either way, by the time Blackwell left the club in January 2008, Dean had become the regular Luton Town goalkeeper, keeping veteran Marlon Beresford out of the side and giving some very impressive performances between the sticks.

With Luton going into administration in November 2007, Blackwell was unable to sign a new goalkeeper on loan anyway, so Dean was thrown straight back in at the deep end, and from that point onwards, he never looked back. Perhaps his biggest weakness was his ability to gather crosses as well as perhaps he should have, but this would be something he would surely improve upon given time.

Dean went on to make 47 appearances in all competitions for Luton Town during the season, a campaign that culminated in the Hatters finishing bottom of the League One table.

A highly-rated young goalkeeper, Dean was linked with moves to Queen's Park Rangers, Crystal Palace and Sheffield United during the season.

Dean had a strange season with Luton Town in 2008-09, a season that began with Dean between the sticks, then dropped to the bench for a number of months, only to return to the side and play in a Wembley-winning Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final and then suffer relegation from the Football League.

Dean began the campaign as manager Mick Harford’s number one goalkeeper, playing in the opening six League Two fixtures, but a mistake that cost the Hatters the game in a 0-1 loss at Rotherham United in mid-September 2008 saw Dean replaced between the sticks with a loan goalkeeper, Leicester City’s Conrad Logan.

It meant Dean spent the following five months of the season on the bench, acting as understudy to Logan. To Dean’s disappointment, when Logan returned to his parent club, Harford moved to sign another goalkeeper on loan, Derby County’s Lewis Price.

The Hatters were struggling in the League, the 30-point deduction imposed by the FA and Football League for financial irregularities too much to overcome, but in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, Harford’s side had reached the Southern Section Final, where they faced League One Brighton & Hove Albion over two legs. After a 0-0 draw at the Withdean Stadium in the first leg, the second leg was in front of the live SKY television cameras. The match, after ending 1-1, went to a penalty shootout and Dean had to watch on from the sidelines as Lewis Price was the hero, saving two spot-kicks to book the Hatters a trip to Wembley for the final and spark a mass pitch invasion.

However, it was to be Price’s last outing for the Hatters as injury saw him depart and Dean was back between the sticks for the remainder of the season and he did his part in the final at Wembley, making some key saves as Luton Town shocked their higher Division opponents, Scunthorpe United, to claim a memorable 3-2 victory. Just days later, Dean played as Luton Town were relegated from the Football League.