Dion Dublin

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Dion Dublin
Personal information
Full name	Dion Dublin
Date of birth	April 22, 1969 (age 37)
Place of birth	Leicester, England
Height	6 ft 2 in/1.88 m
Nickname	Dubs, Big Man, Tuppeli
Playing position	Centre Half/Striker
Club information
Current club	Norwich City
Number	9
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1987 - 1988 1988 - 1992 1992 - 1994 1994 - 1998 1998 - 2004 2002 2004 - 2006 2006 2006-present	Norwich City Cambridge United Manchester United Coventry City Aston Villa → Millwall (loan) Leicester City Celtic Norwich City	000 0(0) 156 (52) 012 0(2) 145 (61) 155 (48) 005 0(2) 058 0(5) 011 0(1) 025 0(4)
National team2
1998	England	004 0(0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 2007-3-17. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of May 7, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

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.

Contents 1 Early career 1.1 Sent to Coventry 1.2 Moving to Villa 1.3 To Leicester 1.4 North to Celtic 1.5 Back to Norwich 2 External links

[edit] 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 two successive promotions from the Fourth to Second Division (1989-90 and 1990-91), the club also reached the sixth round of the FA Cup in both seasons.

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. He was sold to Manchester United for £1million, but missed most of the 1992-93 season due to a broken leg - and he did not merit enough league appearances for a Premiership title winners medal having only played 7 games.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Moving to Villa

Dublin 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 his first 3 games for the club, he would score 7 goals including a memorable hat-trick against Southampton in only his second game for the Villans. 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Back to Norwich

On 20 September 2006, 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 September 2006 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 October 2006 at Loftus Road. Steve Wilson cited Dublin as the main inspiration behind Norwich's 1-4 FA Cup 3rd Round win at Tamworth, in which the striker scored two goals and set up numerous chances for other team mates.

[edit] External links

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

Preceded by Alan Shearer

Premier League top scorer 1997-98 Shared with Michael Owen & Chris Sutton

Succeeded by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink Michael Owen Dwight Yorke

Norwich City F.C. - Current Squad
1 Marshall | 2 Louis-Jean | 3 Drury | 4 Shackell | 6 Huckerby | 7 Croft | 8 Thorne | 9 Dublin | 10 Earnshaw | 11 Chadwick | 12 Warner | 14 Brown | 15 Safri | 16 Fotheringham | 17 Hughes | 18 McVeigh | 19 Lappin | 20 Etuhu | 21 Gallacher | 24 Colin | 25 Rossi Jarvis | 26 Eagle | 27 Doherty | 28 Spillane | 29 Halliday | 31 Cave-Brown | 34 Arnold | 35 Martin | Manager: Grant