 Dear played his last game for the club on 19 December 1970, wearing the number 9 shirt against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.The following month, he and three West Ham teammates – Bobby Moore, Jimmy Greaves and Clyde Best, along with the club's trainer – were all fined a week's wages and banned for two games by West Ham manager Ron Greenwood after going out drinking in a nightclub until the early hours of the morning prior to an FA Cup third-round tie against Blackpool.