.jpg) Dublin withNorwich City in 2008 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Dion Dublin[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1969-04-22)22 April 1969 (age 56)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Leicester, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[3] | ||
| Position(s) | |||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Cambridge United (Club Director) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Wigston Fields | |||
| 1985–1988 | Norwich City | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1988–1992 | Cambridge United | 156 | (52) |
| 1988 | →Barnet (loan) | 1 | (0) |
| 1988 | →Wycombe Wanderers (loan) | 2 | (0) |
| 1992–1994 | Manchester United | 12 | (2) |
| 1994–1998 | Coventry City | 145 | (61) |
| 1998–2004 | Aston Villa | 155 | (48) |
| 2002 | →Millwall (loan) | 5 | (2) |
| 2004–2006 | Leicester City | 58 | (5) |
| 2006 | Celtic | 11 | (1) |
| 2006–2008 | Norwich City | 70 | (12) |
| Total | 615 | (183) | |
| International career | |||
| 1998 | England | 4 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Dion Dublin (born 22 April 1969) is an English former professionalfootballer, television presenter andpundit. He is a club director ofCambridge United.
As a player he was acentre-forward, notably playing in thePremier League forManchester United,Coventry City andAston Villa. He also had spells in theScottish Premiership withCeltic, in the Conference withWycombe Wanderers, and inThe Football League withCambridge United,Barnet,Millwall,Leicester City andNorwich City. He wascapped four times forEngland.
Following his retirement from football, Dublin moved into the entertainment business. He is also an amateurpercussionist, and invented a percussion instrument called "The Dube". In 2011, he accompaniedOcean Colour Scene in a gig at theUniversity of East Anglia,Norwich. In 2015, he joined the presenting team on theBBC One daytime showHomes Under the Hammer and has appeared as a regular pundit forBBC Sport onFootball Focus,Match of the Day andFinal Score. He also occasionally provides co-commentary on live televisedFA Cup games.
Dublin was born inLeicester. While at school he played for several Leicestershire youth teams, including Wigston Fields and Thurmaston Magpies.[4] He then went on to begin his professional footballing career with Norwich City after leaving school in 1985, but never made a first-team appearance and was released by the club in 1988.
In August 1988, Dublin joined Cambridge United on a free transfer,[5] as a centre-forward, which had been his position at Norwich City. However, due to injuries he had to make a number of appearances at centre-half.[citation needed] His prolific goalscoring helped United to successive promotions. During the1988–89 season, Dublin was then loaned out for short spells in the Conference withBarnet andWycombe Wanderers.[6][7] The1989–90 season saw Cambridge promoted from theFourth Division via theplay-offs, when Dublin became the first ever scorer in a Wembley play-off final.
In the1990–91 season, the club were champions of theThird Division, and the club also reached the quarter-final of theFA Cup in both seasons, with Dublin scoring atArsenal in 1991.[8] In the1991–92 season, he played a big part in helping Cambridge to their highest ever finishing position in the football league, by finishing in fifth place in the last season of the oldSecond Division, but when Cambridge failed to win promotion to the new Premier League via theplay-offs, Dublin was put up for sale. He has since spoken many times of his affection for Cambridge United.
Having scored against them in a League Cup tie the previous autumn, Manchester United managerAlex Ferguson signed Dublin for £1 million on 7 August 1992, fighting off competition fromChelsea andEverton.[9] Dublin was something of a surprise purchase for United,[10] after Ferguson had tried to signAlan Shearer fromSouthampton but lost out toBlackburn Rovers.[11]
He scored in United's fourth Premier League game of the1992–93 season, a late winner in United's first Premier league victory as they beat Southampton 1–0 atThe Dell.[12] However, on 2 September, he suffered a broken leg againstCrystal Palace in a 1–0 win atOld Trafford, after a tackle byEric Young,[13] and was out of action for six months.[14] By the time he had recovered, however, United had signedEric Cantona and the Frenchman was firmly established as first choice strike partner toMark Hughes. United won the league that season for the first time since 1967, but Dublin failed to make the 10 Premier League appearances required to automatically gain a title winner's medal. However, he was given a medal as a result of special dispensation from the Premier League.
In the1993–94 season, Dublin regained his fitness, but his first team chances were restricted by the successful partnership of Cantona and Hughes. In December 1993, Ferguson agreed a deal withEverton managerHoward Kendall, that would have seen Dublin moving toGoodison 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 dispute sparked Kendall's resignation as manager. Dublin would remain a United player for another nine months, but never managed to claim a regular place in the first team.[15]
He managed five league appearances that season, scoring once in a 3–2 home win overOldham Athletic in early April, his goal helping secure a vital victory in the title run-in during a spell when United started to drop points andBlackburn Rovers were closing in on them.[16] He also managed a further goal in theFootball League Cup second round first leg, as United were beaten 2–1 byStoke City at theVictoria Ground. The goal against Oldham was the only competitive goal that Dublin scored for United at Old Trafford. He was left out of theFA Cup winning team against Chelsea and failed to make enough appearances to merit another Premier League title winners medal.
In September 1994, he was sold to Coventry City for £2 million, which, at the time, was a record signing for Coventry City and one of the largest fees received by Manchester United.[17][18]
In four years with Coventry, Dublin established himself as one of the Premier League's topstrikers and during the1997–98 season won the first of his four full England caps. That season, he equalled the Coventry City record for most goals in a top division season, with 23 goals in all competitions as they finished 11th.
FollowingPhil Neal's departure in 1995, the arrival ofRon Atkinson andGordon Strachan would see Dublin fit into an attacking team in the typical Atkinson mould. It included the likes ofNoel Whelan,John Salako andDarren Huckerby to add to the already attack mindedPeter Ndlovu. The addition ofGary McAllister, followingUEFA Euro 1996, was expected to provide mid-table stability after two narrowly won relegation battles, but the team's defensive frailties often undermined Dublin's scoring at the other end. This culminated in possibly one of the greatest escapes in Premier League history in May 1997. Despite having won away to Liverpool (Dublin scoring in the dying seconds) and at home to Chelsea at the start of April, theSky Blues could only manage two points from their following three games. City went into the final day second from bottom of the table, needing not only to beatTottenham away from home, but also for results elsewhere in the league to go their way for them to escape relegation. They achieved the most unlikely of escapes; first-half goals from Dublin andPaul Williams gave Coventry a 2–1 win atWhite Hart Lane, whileSunderland lost atWimbledon andMiddlesbrough could only manage a draw atLeeds.[19] Coventry finished the season in 17th place, one point outside the relegation zone.[20]
The following season, the Sky Blues improved at home and enjoyed a season of mid-table security. Dublin formed an impressive partnership withDarren Huckerby which not only produced some memorable goals, but also propelled the Sky Blues to the FA Cup sixth round againstSheffield United; a game they narrowly lost in a penalty shoot-out.
On 8 November 1997, Dublin scored one of the most bizarre goals in Premier League history. Early in the match againstNewcastle, goalkeeperShay Given collected a cross from the right and placed the ball in front of him. The ball was still in play, and Dublin, who had attempted to meet the cross and was now behind Given, reappeared and calmly slotted the ball into the empty goal. This led to the joke:"Shay Given, the only Irishman who doesn't know where Dublin is." The match ended 2-2, with Dublin also scoring City's second goal in the second half.[21]
The 1997–98 season also saw Dublin share elite status as the Premier League's top scorer withBlackburn Rovers'Chris Sutton andLiverpool'sMichael Owen – each Englishman scoring 18 league goals. During this season, Blackburn managerRoy Hodgson tabled a bid which Dublin rejected. He remained atHighfield Road and contributed to Coventry's best finish to date in the Premiership (11th).
Dublin was controversially excluded from the England1998 FIFA World Cup squad, despite being the Premier League's joint top-scorer in the 1997–98 season. However, his exploits at club level were still attracting attention from other clubs, and in November 1998, the 29-year-old chose to move to Aston Villa for £5.75 million.[22] In his first four games for the club, he would score seven goals, including a memorable hat-trick against Southampton in only his second game for Villa. As a result, he is one of only six players to score in the first four consecutive games for a Premier League club.[23]
In December 1999, while playing for Aston Villa againstSheffield Wednesday, he sustained a life-threatening broken neck,[24] as a result of which he permanently has atitanium plate holding three neckvertebrae together. Just days before suffering this injury, it was reported in theNews of the World that Dublin would soon be sold by Aston Villa for a fee of around £6 million as the club looked to finance a fall in its share value as a result of managerJohn Gregory's heavy expenditure on players.
However, the injury did not end Dublin's career and he was back in action three months later.[25]
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 againstChelsea,[26] scoring apenalty in the semi-final shoot-out againstBolton Wanderers.[27]
Faced with competition for a first-team place by new signingsJuan Pablo Ángel andPeter Crouch, Dublin spent several weeks on loan atFirst DivisionMillwall towards the end of the 2001–02 season. In his time there, he scored two goals, againstStockport County[28] andGrimsby Town[29] in five league matches to help them into theplay-offs, where despite Dublin's goal in the first leg of the semi-final,[30] againstVilla's arch rivalsBirmingham City,[31] Millwall lost 2–1 on aggregate.[32]Following Millwall's elimination from the play-offs, Dublin returned to Aston Villa in time for their final game of the season, against Chelsea atStamford Bridge. He replacedDarius Vassell in the 84th minute and scored Villa's third goal in a 3–1 win.[33]
Dublin once again found himself a first-choice striker at the start of the 2002–03 season, partnering Vassell up front. In March 2003, he was sent off atVilla Park for a headbutt onRobbie Savage in theBirmingham derby match, which ended 2–0 to Birmingham City.[34]
When his contract expired in the summer of 2004, he was given afree transfer. He was signed by Leicester City, who had been relegated from the Premier League to theChampionship.[35] In his first season with the club, he scored only four goals in 38 competitive matches. During the2005–06 season, Dublin lost his place as the team's main striker, but continued to appear as a defender. His contract at Leicester City was terminated by mutual consent on 30 January 2006.
He was snapped up quickly by then Celtic managerGordon Strachan, to cover for the loss ofChris Sutton, on a contract until the end of the season.[36] At Celtic, Dublin achieved double success, withScottish League Cup andScottish Premier League winner's medals. On 19 March 2006, Dublin came on as a substitute and scored the final goal as Celtic defeatedDunfermline 3–0 to win theScottish League Cup final,[37] 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 againstKilmarnock on 9 April 2006 in a 4–1 win atRugby Park.[38] Despite one or two decent performances for the Parkhead outfit, Dublin was released by Strachan in May 2006.
On 20 September 2006, Norwich City announced that Dublin had joined them until the end ofthe 2006–07 season. It marked a return, almost 20 years after leaving, for Dublin to the club where he began his career. He made his debut on 23 September 2006 when he came on as substitute againstPlymouth Argyle. He scored his first competitive goal in Norwich City colours in a 3–3 draw againstQueens Park Rangers on 14 October 2006 atLoftus Road.Steve Wilson cited Dublin as the main inspiration behindNorwich's 4–1 FA Cup 3rd Round win atTamworth, in which the striker scored two goals and set up numerous chances for other teammates.
Dublin was an important figure in Norwich securing safety from relegation to League One and the supporters recognised his contribution by voting him in second place in theNorwich City player of the year award, and on 23 May 2007 he ended speculation about his future by signing a new one-year contract at Norwich, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2007–08 season. On 2 September 2007, while working as a pundit on a match between Aston Villa andChelsea, Dublin said that this season would be his last as a professional footballer, citing the fact that his "bones have started to talk to him" as the reason, meaning that he did not think his body can handle another season.[citation needed]
"It was incredible at Hillsborough. If you think of the stadia I could've retired at, away from Norwich of course, with the history and the feeling, then Sheffield Wednesday was the perfect place".
In the spring of 2008, Dublin was approached byJimmy Quinn, then manager of Cambridge United (now in the Conference National), about joining his old club for the 2008–09 season. However, the player would not change his mind about retiring. He was voted the club'sPlayer of the Year and awarded theBarry Butler trophy on 26 April 2008 in his final season as a footballer, at his penultimate game, and on his final appearance atCarrow Road. Dublin played his final game on 4 May 2008, featuring in Norwich's 4–1 loss to Sheffield Wednesday in front of 36,208 fans atHillsborough – the highestChampionship attendance that season.[39] When he was taken off in the 66th minute, Dublin received a standing ovation from both sets of supporters and players, and refereeMark Clattenburg.
The 28-year-old earned his firstcap forEngland on 11 February 1998, playing the whole 90 minutes in the 2–0friendly defeat toChile atWembley Stadium.[40] In the run-up to the1998 FIFA World Cup, Dublin played in theKing Hassan II International Cup Tournament in May, starting in the 1–0 win againstMorocco,[41] and coming off the bench in 0–0 draw withBelgium, a game England lost onpenalties.[42] Despite showing good form and versatility throughout theseason, including finishing joint top scorer in thePremier League with 18 goals,Glenn Hoddle included Les Ferdinand ahead of Dublin in his22-man squad for the tournament in France.[43] On 18 November, he started in the 2–0 friendly win against theCzech Republic at Wembley Stadium.[44] This turned out to be Dublin's last cap for his country.[45] He won four caps for England but did not score any goals.[45]
Since retiring from football, Dublin has worked in the media as a pundit forSky Sports. As well as appearing onFord Super Sunday withRichard Keys, Dublin has commentated on a number of games including theUEFA Champions League games withMartin Tyler. He has also been a member of the panel onBBC Radio 5 Live'sFighting Talk. He has also co-presented606 on BBC Radio 5 Live, Match of the Day 2 and was also a regular onBBC One'sLate Kick Off in the East region. He joinedLucy Alexander andMartin Roberts onHomes Under the Hammer in 2015.[46]
Also for theBBC, he has appeared as a regular pundit forBBC Sport namely onFootball Focus,Match of the Day orFinal Score. He also occasionally provides co-commentary on live televisedFA Cup games.
In August 2021 it was announced that Dublin would be a competitor on BBC'sCelebrity MasterChef.[47] He reached the final.[48]
Away from football, during his spell with Norwich,[49] he invented a percussion instrument called The Dube,[50] a form ofcajón. In 2011, he accompaniedOcean Colour Scene during a gig at theUniversity of East Anglia.[49][51]
In July 2021, Dublin was appointed as a club director at former clubCambridge United.[52][53]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Manchester United | 1992–93 | Premier League | 7 | 1 | – | – | – | 7 | 1 | |||
| 1993–94 | Premier League | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1[b] | 0 | 9 | 2 | |
| Total | 12 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 3 | ||
| Coventry City | 1994–95 | Premier League | 31 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | – | 32 | 13 | |
| 1995–96 | Premier League | 34 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | – | 34 | 14 | ||
| 1996–97 | Premier League | 34 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | 34 | 13 | ||
| 1997–98 | Premier League | 36 | 18 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | – | 41 | 20 | ||
| 1998–99 | Premier League | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | – | 10 | 3 | ||
| Total | 145 | 61 | 13 | 7 | 11 | 4 | – | 162 | 72 | |||
| Aston Villa | 1998–99 | Premier League | 24 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 11 |
| 1999–2000 | Premier League | 26 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 35 | 16 | |
| 2000–01 | Premier League | 33 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3[c] | 1 | 40 | 9 | |
| 2001–02 | Premier League | 21 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7[d] | 1 | 30 | 6 | |
| 2002–03 | Premier League | 28 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 2[c] | 0 | 35 | 14 | |
| 2003–04 | Premier League | 23 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | – | 28 | 3 | ||
| Total | 155 | 48 | 7 | 1 | 15 | 7 | 15 | 3 | 192 | 59 | ||
| Millwall (loan) | 2001–02 | First Division | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 5 | 2 | |
| Leicester City | 2004–05 | Championship | 37 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | 42 | 6 | |
| 2005–06 | Championship | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 23 | 0 | ||
| Total | 58 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | 65 | 6 | |||
| Celtic | 2005–06 | Scottish Premier League | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | 12 | 2 | |
| Norwich City | 2006–07 | Championship | 33 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | – | 38 | 7 | |
| 2007–08 | Championship | 37 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | – | 41 | 9 | ||
| Total | 70 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | 79 | 16 | |||
| Career total | 456 | 127 | 33 | 9 | 32 | 13 | 16 | 3 | 505 | 151 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 1998 | 4 | 0 |
| Total | 4 | 0 | |
Cambridge United
Manchester United
Aston Villa
Celtic
Individual
