Dion Dublin

Dion Dublin

Personal information
Full name	Dion Dublin
Height	6 ft 2 in/1.88 m
Position(s)	Striker/Centre-back
Team information
Current team	Norwich City
Number	9
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of May 7, 2006

Dion Dublin (born 22 April 1969 in Leicester) is an English footballer currently with Norwich City. He was capped four times for England. Dublin started his career and made his name as a goal-scoring centre forward but in recent years has shown his versatility by becoming an accomplished defender. He previously played for Norwich City, Cambridge United, Manchester United, Coventry City, Millwall, Aston Villa, Leicester City and Celtic.

Early career

Whilst at school in Leicestershire, Dion Dublin played for Wigston Fields; the local team in a small South Leicester village. Dublin began his professional footballing career with Norwich City on leaving school in 1985, but he never made the first team and was given a free transfer in 1988. He signed for Cambridge United, and his prolific goalscoring won them promotion from the Fourth to Second Division in successive seasons (1990 to 1991). In 1991-92, he played a big part in helping Cambridge finish in a club-best fifth place in the last ever season of the old Second Division, but when Cambridge failed to win promotion via the playoffs Dublin was put up for sale. According to the book, Playing Away, The A-Z of Soccer Sex Scandals by Matthew Clark, at Cambridge he met a married housewife Beverley Murray who gave birth to their lovechild Adam in October 1989 leaving her unsuspecting husband James Murray gobsmacked as he knew nothing about the affair and was shocked about the half black baby.He was sold to Manchester United for £1million, but missed most of the 1992-93 season due to a broken leg - although he did merit enough league appearances for a Premiership title winners medal.

Sent to Coventry

In 1993-94, Dublin regained his fitness but his first team chances were restricted by the excellent form of Éric Cantona. In December 1993, Alex Ferguson agreed a deal with Everton manager Howard Kendall that would have seen Dublin moving to Goodison Park, but a member of Everton's board of directors, apparently feeling that Dublin was not worth the money Kendall had offered United, intervened to prevent the transfer going through - this incident led directly to Howard Kendall's resignation as Everton manager and Dublin ended up staying at Old Trafford until the end of the season. He was left out of the FA Cup winning team and failed to merit enough appearances for another Premiership title winners medal and soon after the end of the season he was sold to Coventry City for £2million.

In four-and-a-half years with Coventry, Dublin established himself as one of the Premiership's top strikers and during the 1997-98 season won the first of his four England full caps. That season, he equalled the Coventry City record for most goals in a Division 1/Premiership (top flight) season with 23 (18 League, 4 FA Cup, 1 Coca-Cola Cup). He shared status as the Premier League's top scorer with Blackburn's Chris Sutton and Liverpool's Michael Owen - each Englishman scoring 18 league goals.

Moving to Villa

In the new book "Staying Up", written with the approval and co-operation of Coventry chairman Bryan Richardson to the annoyance of the player, the chairman is involved in a light-hearted conversation with Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson over the enormous size of Dublin's penis as it was joked about by the his teammates.He was surprisingly left out the England 1998 FIFA World Cup squad, but his exploits at club level were still attracting attention and in the autumn of 1998 he chose to move to Coventry's arch-rivals Aston Villa for £4.5million. In December 1999 whilst playing for Aston Villa against Sheffield Wednesday, he sustained a life threatening broken neck as a result of which he permanently has a titanium plate holding three neck vertebrae together. In April 2000, a week after returning to the team, he helped Aston Villa reach their first FA Cup final in 43 years (which they lost 1-0 to Chelsea) scoring a penalty in the semi-final shootout with Bolton Wanderers.

To Leicester

Having regained his fitness, Dublin remained on the Villa Park payroll until 2002, when faced with competition for a first team place by Juan Pablo Ángel and Peter Crouch, Dublin spent several weeks on loan at First Division Millwall, scoring 3 goals in 7 league matches. Returning to Villa, he found himself again a first choice striker, partnering Darius Vassell up front. When his contract expired in the summer of 2004 and he was given a free transfer. He was signed by Leicester City, who had just been relegated from the Barclaycard Premiership to the newly named Coca Cola Football League Championship. In his first season with the Foxes, he scored only 4 goals in 38 league and cup matches.

North to Celtic

During season 2005-06 he lost his place as the team's main striker to Mark de Vries, but continued to appear as a defender. His contract at Leicester City was terminated by mutual consent on January 30 2006. Later the same day he signed for Celtic on a short term deal until the end of the season. Dublin achieved double success, with Scottish League Cup and Scottish Premier League winner's medals. He came on as a sub and scored the final goal as Celtic won the Scottish League Cup final^[1], and also played enough matches with Celtic to merit a title medal . In the league, he made three league starts and eight substitute appearances for Celtic, scoring once.

Back to Norwich

On 20 September2006, Norwich City announced that Dublin had joined them until the end of the 2006-07 season. It marks a return, almost 20 years after leaving, for Dublin to the club where he began his career. He made his debut on 23 September2006 when he came on as substitute against Plymouth Argyle. He scored his first competitive goal in Norwich City colours in a 3-3 draw against Queens Park Rangers on 14 October2006 at Loftus Road.

External links

• Dion Dublin at Soccerbase
• Information on player
• Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk