Dion Dublin (1 Viewer)

[Astute]

After taking the Clarke thread away from the subject I thought we should have our say about him here.

Dion is a hero to me. Yes he left us to go to Villa. Yes he had a clause in his contract. Yes he refused to play against Luton in the cup once the deal was done and he was more or less a Villa player. Otherwise can anyone fault him in any way at all.

I saw my first game in the late 70's. I then started going to games in the early 80's. Started going to away games about 82. And in all this time I can honestly say he is the best player that I ever saw play for us. The best striker in all these years. And for those that had the pleasure of seeing him play one of if not the best defender as well. The amount of times we played games where we could hardly get out of our own end with him stopping attack after attack for him to get a chance of going forward and scoring to get us something out of the game. He always gave 100%. We were lucky to have had a player of his caliber.

He is hated by some of our fans. The only reason for this was the way he left our club. The one thing I don't understand is that he was more or less forced to leave by Richardson. He got Dion to sign a contract when he would have been a free agent. Then he put word around he was for sale once it was signed. How can so many people know and say so much about Richardson and the way he ran our club, but knowing the facts still blame Dion for leaving us to go to Villa. Was Dion the only player to put a clause in his contract? All he wanted to do was play football and keep his family in the Midlands. He was born in Leicester. He is a Midlander. And he kept his family in the Midlands wherever he played after leaving us. He ended up playing for Norwich which was where he started his career. He traveled to Norwich every day from the Midlands.

He even now gives an insight on how our club was run. He mentions how a certain person would pay himself a bonus for our club winning relegation battles. And this is the part I don't get. The vast majority of us agree on what Richardson had done to our club. He was the one that agreed the sale to Blackburn without any input from Dion. He didn't want to go. Top English teams were interested. Liverpool reportedly wanted him as a defender. Arsenal were also interested. But he wanted to keep his family in the Midlands. An offer came in from Villa. Richardson was unhappy as this deal was worth 1m less to him. But it was the best move for Dion and his family. Things were not good between the two of them. The Contract was due to be signed the next day.....which was the day after the cup game with Luton. Dion refused to play the game for two reasons. One was his dislike of Richardson and the way he was sold. The other was not wanting to risk an injury for a club that didn't want him after everything he did for them. I was as pissed of as everyone else at the time, but thinking about it I would have done the same. He was just breaking into the England team at the time. Yet Richardson wanted to cash in on him for only 6.75m. He must have known how perilous the finances at our club were at the time. Something we all know about now. Thank you very much Mr Richardson.

To me it all comes down to what version you believe. Dion or Richardson. You don't need to be a scientist to work it out. One was great for our club. The other one had a massive hand in putting our club where it is now.

 

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[Sky Blue Pete]

Love dion. Do you believe the story that we were initially in for Paul scholes and dion was 2nd choice when man utd refused to let him go?

Lots of favourite moments but one sticks in the memory as I was married the day before the game. 21st December 1996 away at Leicester. Dion played cb and scored 2 set piece goals to win the game. We went on a great run that Christmas

 

[Astute]

We had so many false rumors coming out of the club at the time it was hard to believe any of them.

Oh yes remember the game well. Two of my brothers are Fester fans :slap: They were in our end with us. He had Heskey in his pocket all the game Think Huckers and Whelan played for us. My brothers even applauded him off the pitch. What a game from such a great player. It was games like this that made him a legend to me.

 

[Covstu]

Dion is one of my all time fav players in a city shirt also. Dion is just one of many players to leave the club for bigger and better things, I think the 2 reasons it is so sore with people is that 1) it was against villa when arguably they were are biggest rivals and 2) He was our talisman, so he left the biggest gap in the team for a long while.

I would like to think that people are big enough to get over this now and remember him for being the awesome player he was.

 

[Sky Blue Kid]

Dion, Ray Pointer, and George Hudson, in that order, are my three favourite CF Coventry players of all time. Dion was shit on from a great height by Richardson, and yes, he had a clause in his contract that said HE chose what team to join, and the price had to be over £5m. Even Strachan at that time begged Dion not to go, but also understood why he wanted to. (One of the benefits of having a younger brother who hears things whilst in a big Sky Blue furry Elephant suit)

 

[skybluetony176]

he loved the club and is a legend, regardless of his move and the circumstances.

just read this http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-I-angry-I-talk-Coventry--badly-run-club.html

 

[Hobo]

Dion was a great player for us, very dedicated and professional.

Basically I think we had our value from him.

A bit gutting he joined Villa. But why shouldn't he try and get one last good pay day for his family. Or move somewhere with more prospects of getting a winners medal.

He is definitely in the a Sky Blue heroes list for me.

 

[jesus-wept]

The Dublin transfer saga created by Richardson should have warned us all where our club was heading but lets no forget there were others on the board too.

 

[Real]

I recall him coming off the subs bench against Southampton and scoring the equaliser and sticking his twos up to the West Terrace. I remember him refusing to play too. He was a good player for us no doubt, but I can see the good and not so good ways in which he conducted himself, which gives a more balanced overall view than some of the revisionist stuff I read and hear.

 

[skybluetony176]

I recall him coming off the subs bench against Southampton and scoring the equaliser and sticking his twos up to the West Terrace. I remember him refusing to play too. He was a good player for us no doubt, but I can see the good and not so good ways in which he conducted himself, which gives a more balanced overall view than some of the revisionist stuff I read and hear.

he just wanted to let the fans that were not on his back know that he was going for a brace.

 

[Gint11]

Love Dion Dublin, a hero of mine too. Absolutely heart breaking when he went to Villa but could understand it. Even more devastated when my absolute CCFC hero Georgy Boateng left us. I still say now we had is best years.

 

[rondog1973]

After taking the Clarke thread away from the subject I thought we should have our say about him here.

Dion is a hero to me. Yes he left us to go to Villa. Yes he had a clause in his contract. Yes he refused to play against Luton in the cup once the deal was done and he was more or less a Villa player. Otherwise can anyone fault him in any way at all.

I saw my first game in the late 70's. I then started going to games in the early 80's. Started going to away games about 82. And in all this time I can honestly say he is the best player that I ever saw play for us. The best striker in all these years. And for those that had the pleasure of seeing him play one of if not the best defender as well. The amount of times we played games where we could hardly get out of our own end with him stopping attack after attack for him to get a chance of going forward and scoring to get us something out of the game. He always gave 100%. We were lucky to have had a player of his caliber.

He is hated by some of our fans. The only reason for this was the way he left our club. The one thing I don't understand is that he was more or less forced to leave by Richardson. He got Dion to sign a contract when he would have been a free agent. Then he put word around he was for sale once it was signed. How can so many people know and say so much about Richardson and the way he ran our club, but knowing the facts still blame Dion for leaving us to go to Villa. Was Dion the only player to put a clause in his contract? All he wanted to do was play football and keep his family in the Midlands. He was born in Leicester. He is a Midlander. And he kept his family in the Midlands wherever he played after leaving us. He ended up playing for Norwich which was where he started his career. He traveled to Norwich every day from the Midlands.

He even now gives an insight on how our club was run. He mentions how a certain person would pay himself a bonus for our club winning relegation battles. And this is the part I don't get. The vast majority of us agree on what Richardson had done to our club. He was the one that agreed the sale to Blackburn without any input from Dion. He didn't want to go. Top English teams were interested. Liverpool reportedly wanted him as a defender. Arsenal were also interested. But he wanted to keep his family in the Midlands. An offer came in from Villa. Richardson was unhappy as this deal was worth 1m less to him. But it was the best move for Dion and his family. Things were not good between the two of them. The Contract was due to be signed the next day.....which was the day after the cup game with Luton. Dion refused to play the game for two reasons. One was his dislike of Richardson and the way he was sold. The other was not wanting to risk an injury for a club that didn't want him after everything he did for them. I was as pissed of as everyone else at the time, but thinking about it I would have done the same. He was just breaking into the England team at the time. Yet Richardson wanted to cash in on him for only 6.75m. He must have known how perilous the finances at our club were at the time. Something we all know about now. Thank you very much Mr Richardson.

To me it all comes down to what version you believe. Dion or Richardson. You don't need to be a scientist to work it out. One was great for our club. The other one had a massive hand in putting our club where it is now.

100% spot on. I remember reading a John Gregory interview after they had purchased Dion, where he claimed Richardson was stating to the press that Dublin was not for sale. However, throughout this he was privately phoning he and Doug Ellis negotiating his sale.

 

[BurbageSkyBlues]

Dion was a great player. Not just a striker, he was an awesome influence on the pitch.

When he left, we lost our striker, our best defender, and our captain and leader. For me, the loss of Dion was the critical point that marked our demise, our fall from grace. Within a short time, we lost Mcallister, oggy and Dion from our team, and it ripped the spine out, from which we would never recover.

My favourite memory of Dion? Has to be the opening game of the season against Chelsea, that we won three two.

Don't like the boo boys that got on his back after he left. It shows a lack of respect for all the good things he did while he was here.

 

[skybluetony176]

Dion was a great player. Not just a striker, he was an awesome influence on the pitch.

When he left, we lost our striker, our best defender, and our captain and leader. For me, the loss of Dion was the critical point that marked our demise, our fall from grace. Within a short time, we lost Mcallister, oggy and Dion from our team, and it ripped the spine out, from which we would never recover.

My favourite memory of Dion? Has to be the opening game of the season against Chelsea, that we won three two.

Don't like the boo boys that got on his back after he left. It shows a lack of respect for all the good things he did while he was here.

Not replacing Mcallister was our down fall and critical in our demotion. Liverpool did the treble, we lost our premiership status.

 

[Jack Griffin]

If I was asked to speculate which of Bryan Richardson & Dion Dublin was more truthful there would only be one answer from me

 

[oscillatewildly]

I think the ill feeling towards DD over the move (let's be fair here - it was never gonna be anything other than outrage!) is well overdue being consigned to the 'forgiveness file'. I think general feeling has mellowed over recent years anyway. I agree with the OP - the bloke was simply pure class, the likes of which we had not seen at the club in years. I confronted him once in the players car park at Whitehart lane and asked him "When are you gonna start putting these chances away Dion?" (He had misses a few decent ones recently, and that day, and just bagged that sublime volley from a long ball that he let drop over his shoulder) anyway, my oversight apart, I still wanted an answer damn it! I got the only one which I deserved - "Do you think I mean to miss on purpose?" It was clear the rumours of a move had been affecting his game, one which I firmly believe now he didn't go out of his way to seek. A few years ago, a mate of mine who lived close to him at the time asked him about the move and DD took time out to have a chat with him and tell him that he "honestly" didn't ask for a move but was asked if he would be interested in talking to Villa.
I know these things are always subjective, and I've only been watching City since the mid 1970's, but in my all time fantasy team based on players I've seen play, DD and Terry Gibson would be my strike pairing. And yes, I did witness the 'real' pairing of Fergie & Wallace.
I'd heard the reason he never came back for a legends day at Ricoh was because of being unsure of the reaction he would get. Like I said, time to consign all that and take stock of what we had. Mind you, bloody awful penalty in that QF shootout against Sheffield United.

 

[hill83]

Absolute legend

 

[skybluebeduff]

Dublin, Huckerby and Whelan were the best thing to happen to Coventry in the 90's.

 

[shmmeee]

Absolute class player.

For me him and Nilsson were two of the best players I've ever seen live let alone for City. Both just oozed an effortlessness you rarely see. And Dions transition to CB was outstanding. Imagine Suarez or Aguero dropping to CB and being just as good. That's what happened, at the time he could've legitimately played for England at either position.

Obviously I hated him at the time being a teenager and not knowing that which wasn't reported at the time, but that's all forgiven in hindsight and even without the Richardson revelations above his quality still outweighs any transgressions.

Absolute City legend in every sense of the word.

 

[skybluelee]

Our most influential player of my lifetime, possibly of all time.

Absolute legend.

 

[bringbackrattles]

Dublin was class and goes down as a City legend. Not quite in the Hudson bracket for me although obviously Dion played for us at a higher level.Just wondering what do fans on here think of Neil Martin a player I admired back in time ?he was a typical old fashioned striker,but played well for us.

 

[Moff]

Our most influential player of my lifetime, possibly of all time.

Absolute legend.

Lee I respect your opinion, but our most influential player of all time is stretching it a little. The club have had many other influential players over our history that have served the club over and above what Dion did.

Equally I am one of those that thought he was a pretty good player and that's about it. I have seen plenty more better players than him, like Hutchison, Peake, Bennett, and Regis amongst others...most of those also have played at Luton for the club (joke)
Then there are the unsung players like Borrows and Gynn etc

I was more a Whelan fan than Dublin, but then that was probably influenced by meeting them both, and finding Whelan the more passionate and interested of the two both in City fans and the club itself.

(Back in the real world hope all is ok down in Dorset with all this crap weather.)

 

[nicksig]

Top class player, which is why he was capped by England. His best goal? For me it was one against spurs when he had his back to goal, flicked the ball over his shoulder, turned and stuck it in the net. The hatrick away at shef wed also sticks in my mind (probably because we still lost!)

 

[blend]

Top class player that we all loved, but pretending to have an ongoing allegiance to the club is not true. He played football for us, he had some great times here. He thought he was going on to better - he didn't. We were the peak of his career and he not only joint top scored in the prem, but also played for England. He cannot make out he loved us no matter what happened at the time. Compare how he left to when Huckerby was told he was being sold he apparently cried. You can say he was one of the legends if you like, I will just see him as a professional footballer who was great whilst he was here and then went on to 'better things'. It annoys me when he comes back as a pundit, there are a lot more players who have greater and longer ties to the club.

 

[DazzleTommyDazzle]

Dublin was class and goes down as a City legend. Not quite in the Hudson bracket for me although obviously Dion played for us at a higher level.Just wondering what do fans on here think of Neil Martin a player I admired back in time ?he was a typical old fashioned striker,but played well for us.

Neil Martin was my first "Sky Blue hero" - proper centre forward (none of this new fangled "striker" nonsense )

 

[bringbackrattles]

Got a picture in a City book of Martin on a freezing day on a snow covered pitch with his sleeves rolled up.
No silly gloves back then ! A tough scot who knew where the net was.

 

[torchomatic]

To me it comes down to one simple fact. He refused to play. Unforgivable. I see the Wolves goalie pulled a similar stunt last night. Dublin should have remembered who paid his inflated wage. We did.

To me it all comes down to what version you believe. Dion or Richardson. You don't need to be a scientist to work it out. One was great for our club. The other one had a massive hand in putting our club where it is now.

 

[torchomatic]

And part of the reason why we are where we are now. Everything has to be paid for eventually.

Dublin, Huckerby and Whelan were the best thing to happen to Coventry in the 90's.

 

[The Gentleman]

To me it comes down to one simple fact. He refused to play. Unforgivable. I see the Wolves goalie pulled a similar stunt last night. Dublin should have remembered who paid his inflated wage. We did.

Not wanting to start another row but in asking a serious question, how would you feel about the whole of our current team if they all refused to play at Sixfields again with Pressley included until Sisu sorted out a deal to play back at the Ricoh. Would you call that unforgivable ?

 

[torchomatic]

Totally irrelevant. Nothing to do with our current situation. At the time we were in the Premiership, playing in Coventry in our own ground. Dublin refused to play. No excuses.

Not wanting to start another row but in asking a serious question, how would you feel about the whole of our current team if they all refused to play at Sixfields again with Pressley included until Sisu sorted out a deal to play back at the Ricoh. Would you call that unforgivable ?

 

[Astute]

Totally irrelevant. Nothing to do with our current situation. At the time we were in the Premiership, playing in Coventry in our own ground. Dublin refused to play. No excuses.

And now we are in division 3 and playing in Northampton. No excuses.

 

[torchomatic]

Agree we shouldn't be playing in Northampton, but that's got nothing to do with Dublin refusing to play. You're just trying to deflect criticism from him. We get it you like Dublin. He was a brilliant player, no doubt about it, but the way he refused to play in a match was inexcusable. No player at any club should do that. We travelled down to Luton midweek to see our team play. He decided he didn't want to turn up and wear the shirt.

And now we are in division 3 and playing in Northampton. No excuses.

 

[Stafford_SkBlue]

And now we are in division 3 and playing in Northampton. No excuses.

and the Club is now far better run then in Dublin's day. Very strong management team from the Board to the manager.
We need to become sustainable and yes there is pain before the gain.

 

[DazzleTommyDazzle]

and the Club is now far better run then in Dublin's day. Very strong management team from the Board to the manager.
We need to become sustainable and yes there is pain before the gain.

Meanwhile in a parallel universe..........

 

[Sky Blue Kid]

@ Torchy....I also remember Thorne saying "We've got Turner to come back in the next few days" yet I said 2 weeks beforehand that Turner would never wear a Sky Blue shirt again...I was right.... He was sold to Cardiff shortly afterwards.I wonder who's decision it was not to play him again??? Thorn..Turner...or SISU? Of course nothing like what Dublin did ever happens does it?