Dion visits Coventry (4 Viewers)

BornSlippySkyBlue

Well-Known Member
Anyone that went to Luton that night he refused to play had good reason to be peed off! That has to rate as one of the worst away games I’ve ever been to.

And yes, I hated him at the time, but have zero animosity towards him now. Was a great player for us and a nice bloke.

Villa tho...
 

CCFC54321

Well-Known Member
Should of hung on to the end of that season and then gone to a bigger club than villa. Seemed like he grabbed at the first serious offer on the table at the time.
 

NortonSkyBlue

Well-Known Member
Anyone that went to Luton that night he refused to play had good reason to be peed off! That has to rate as one of the worst away games I’ve ever been to.

And yes, I hated him at the time, but have zero animosity towards him now. Was a great player for us and a nice bloke.

Villa tho...
Serious question: why Villa though?
 

hill83

Well-Known Member
Anyone that went to Luton that night he refused to play had good reason to be peed off! That has to rate as one of the worst away games I’ve ever been to.

And yes, I hated him at the time, but have zero animosity towards him now. Was a great player for us and a nice bloke.

Villa tho...

Went to that game.

Got to say though. Never hated him or any player. Don’t really understand that mentality.

Edit: Just remembered Bellamy.
 

Tommo1993

Well-Known Member
My old man always says I loved Dion Dublin before I loved City. Guess he’s my City hero. Of course not a patch on his heroes: Ernie Hunt and Tommy Hutchison!
 

NortonSkyBlue

Well-Known Member
What, why was it particularly galling he went to villa?
Yes. It made no difference if he had joined any of the teams in the top flight. He was looking after his family and future.
We basically pushed Dennis Mortimer to Villa Park against his wishes, bought Ray Graydon and had Steve Hunt so it was not as though trading between the clubs was unheard of.
 

Tommo1993

Well-Known Member
I sat with Phil Neal just after we signed Dion, and he raved about how good the guy was. Said he was almost as good with his left foot as he was with his right. He also said we'd be better in midfield when Lee Hurst got fit after his knee injury. Then he made a sexist comment about netball on the TV, and my uncle followed up with a sexual remark about Roy Wegerle imagining naked ladies on the goal line with their legs akimbo. Weird conversation, to be fair.

That’s a reminder
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BornSlippySkyBlue

Well-Known Member
Yes. It made no difference if he had joined any of the teams in the top flight. He was looking after his family and future.
We basically pushed Dennis Mortimer to Villa Park against his wishes, bought Ray Graydon and had Steve Hunt so it was not as though trading between the clubs was unheard of.
Oh I fully agree that rationally it made no difference, and from his own personal perspective it was a great move — bigger club (sorry!), more money, more chance of winning stuff etc etc.

But at that particular time villa were the team most hated by most of our fans. We hadn’t been playing Leicester, the dog heads or any of the other local teams consistently as they’d all been in lower divisions and it just felt particularly painful to think that our talisman was going to our main rivals. Surprised it needs explaining tbf!
 

RegTheDonk

Well-Known Member
Anyone that went to Luton that night he refused to play had good reason to be peed off! That has to rate as one of the worst away games I’ve ever been to.

And yes, I hated him at the time, but have zero animosity towards him now. Was a great player for us and a nice bloke.

Villa tho...
Yeah same, didn't go to Luton but it was the way the move seemed to have instigated presumably by his agent and you had Gregory smarming all in the press and TV about the price of baked beans, and Dion going on about he wants to win things (a fair comment I guess but it really riled me). I laughed my head off the following year when they lost at Wembley and he flung the ball in anger when the conceded a goal.

Unlike some Sunderland fans, can't carry a grude for that long - all water under the bridge, we've grown up and can now look back now at what a good player he was. Think it was a midweek cup game Vs Blues at St.Andrews when Daish got sent off, Dion had to play at the back and had a blinder, must have been his first time as we all were going WTF?

Just seen the football focus item, he seemed to genuinely like coming back to the Lodge and it was a nice piece on us. Lucky there wasn't any stairs in sight.
 

the rumpo kid

Well-Known Member
I've just watched this ,recorded, did any body else notice the bloke taking a piss at the back of the lads sprinting ?
Genuinely , if you have it recorded watching back , there's a guy pissing on the blue sight screening at the back.
 

BornSlippySkyBlue

Well-Known Member
Yeah same, didn't go to Luton but it was the way the move seemed to have instigated presumably by his agent and you had Gregory smarming all in the press and TV about the price of baked beans, and Dion going on about he wants to win things (a fair comment I guess but it really riled me). I laughed my head off the following year when they lost at Wembley and he flung the ball in anger when the conceded a goal.

Unlike some Sunderland fans, can't carry a grude for that long - all water under the bridge, we've grown up and can now look back now at what a good player he was. Think it was a midweek cup game Vs Blues at St.Andrews when Daish got sent off, Dion had to play at the back and had a blinder, must have been his first time as we all were going WTF?

Just seen the football focus item, he seemed to genuinely like coming back to the Lodge and it was a nice piece on us. Lucky there wasn't any stairs in sight.
I’d pushed all memories of Gregory out of my mind, but yes — it certainly didn’t help to have that nauseating prick gloating about it.

Didn’t he have a £5m release clause or similar resulting in a bid of £5,000,000.5p or something. Or did I imagine that?
 

Terry Gibson's perm

Well-Known Member
I may be wrong on this but was Richardson trying to move him out of the club?
 

Frostie

Well-Known Member
As my avatar probably gives it away, Dion is my favourite all time player & childhood hero.

Richardson is guilty of forcing him out to an extent too.
 

COVKIDSNEVERQUIT

Well-Known Member
Dion Dublin back in Cov, don't tell Shay Given, haha.

Great memories.
 

Danceswithhorses

Well-Known Member
I’d pushed all memories of Gregory out of my mind, but yes — it certainly didn’t help to have that nauseating prick gloating about it.

Didn’t he have a £5m release clause or similar resulting in a bid of £5,000,000.5p or something. Or did I imagine that?
Wasn't that the jailbait scumbag that is Lee Hughes...fee was £5,000,001 ?
 

rob9872

Well-Known Member
Probably the best striker the clubs ever had tbh
And defender!

My all time favourite player and simply the best player I've ever seen pull on a city shirt. Yeah it was Villa, but a purely financial decision for him fair play. We bought off 2m, had great service and sold for 6m, what's not to like? If only it always worked like that.
 

Ring Of Steel

Well-Known Member
I think John Gregory had his comeuppance- got sacked, failed at Derby, reputation shot to pieces with talk of dodgy deals & backhanders and sort of faded into the background. A tainted manager.

The thing with Dublin was that he’d been on the same emotional rollercoaster as us- the last day wins & the survival struggles & the chest beating- we saw him as one of us. But the way he left was a very timely reminder that although some players do care for the club they’re at, the second a better offer comes in they’ll leave and show the same emotional attachment to the new club as they did their old club, leaving the former club- ie us- feeling like the jilted ex.

It’s different for them, they’re not fans, and even though we know it, it still hurts when ‘one of us’ moves on.

That’s why I think it hurt- not because it was Villa but because it was a very harsh reminder that none of the players genuinely care like we do, and at any time any one of them could & probably would leave if something better came along.

When he left the whole club seemed to go into shock, it was a huge jolt and that Luton game was one of the worst away showings I ever saw, they all looked like they were lost.

You couldn’t say he was the best attacker we ever had- he wasn’t, he wasn’t the best defender either, but he was without doubt one of the biggest presences & stabilising influences we’ve ever had on the pitch, he was immense and the players clearly respected him massively, he was our rock- they looked like kids without him.
 

rob9872

Well-Known Member
Leicester born and came via cambridge and manure, never expected him to be one of us, but gave his all whenever he wore the shirt and that's good enough for me.
 

rob9872

Well-Known Member
People should also consider the impact when slaughtering one of our own too when they moan at players for leaving. I know Shippers wants to spend his entire career with us if possible unless the unlikely event Liverpool come in for him, but I also know how hurt and upset he was when Facebook put a poll up last season of if he was the worst ever to play for us and it received approx 400 likes. Completely and rightly distraught as a young lad giving his all and no matter how many times you say it's just trolls who rarely if ever go to games, it's only human to feel some anger back.
 

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