Dion Dublin

By Craig · Published 27 October 2026

Dion Dublin is a Leicester-born centre forward who scored 111 Premier League goals for Manchester United, Coventry, Aston Villa and Leicester. He shared the Golden Boot in 1998, broke his neck in 1999 and played on, and now presents Homes Under the Hammer.

Clubs

Cambridge United (1988 to 1992), Manchester United (1992 to 1994), Coventry City (1994 to 1998), Aston Villa (1998 to 2004), Leicester City (2004 to 2006), Celtic (2006), Norwich City (2006 to 2008)

Premier League

312 appearances, 111 goals

Honours

Premier League Golden Boot 1997/98 (shared), Scottish League Cup 2006, Premier League Player of the Month January and November 1998

International

England, 4 caps

Fantasy price

£10.0m in 1997/98

Who did he play for?

Norwich released him as a teenager and he went to Cambridge United, where he scored 52 league goals in four years. He scored the winner in the 1990 play-off final at Wembley and Cambridge won the Third Division the next season.

Manchester United paid £1 million for him in August 1992. He played 12 league games in two seasons and got a 1993 title medal by special dispensation.

Coventry paid a club record £2 million in September 1994. He scored 61 league goals in four seasons there, and his 18 in 1997/98 earned a share of the Golden Boot with Michael Owen and Chris Sutton. Glenn Hoddle left him out of that summer's World Cup squad anyway.

Aston Villa paid £5.75 million on 5 November 1998. He scored seven goals in his first three games and was Player of the Month. On 18 December 1999 he broke his neck in a collision with Sheffield Wednesday's Gerald Sibon, had three vertebrae plated together with titanium, and was back within three months. He scored in the FA Cup semi-final shoot-out that spring and played in the final, a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea.

He left Villa in 2004 with 48 league goals, played two seasons for Leicester, won the Scottish League Cup at Celtic in 2006, scoring in the final, and finished at Norwich, where he was player of the year in 2008. He won four England caps in 1998.

The moment: Tottenham, 7 November 1998

Villa Park, Saturday 7 November 1998, two days after signing. He scored on 31 and 35 minutes against Tottenham. Aston Villa 3-2 Tottenham, and Villa went top.

A week later at The Dell he scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 win at Southampton. Another two against Liverpool the week after that made it seven goals in his first three games for the club.

Why the streets won't forget

He shared the Golden Boot in 1998 and was left out of England's World Cup squad that summer.

He played on for another eight years with a titanium plate in his neck.

He invented a percussion instrument, the Dube, a box you sit on and play, and played it on stage with Ocean Colour Scene in 2011.

In March 2003 he was sent off for headbutting Robbie Savage in the second city derby, and apologised the next day.

He has presented Homes Under the Hammer since 2015 and has been a director of Cambridge United since July 2021.

Which seasons can you draft him in?

Nine. His first Coventry season and his United games come before the game starts.

In 1996/97 he is £7.0m for 13 goals, the cheapest forward in the top ten scorers. In 1997/98 he is £10.0m for 18 goals and 10 assists.

Want him in your retro fantasy football team for 1997/98? He'll cost you £10.0m.