Sky Blue Kid
Well-Known Member
Definitely should have played more games for England than the two he did. Both games he played in he showed sheer class.
20 years ago today since.... (13 Viewers)
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Definitely should have played more games for England than the two he did. Both games he played in he showed sheer class.
Sky Blue Kid
Well-Known Member
Dublin CF.... Wise CM... Curtis CB...Glazier GK.. What a spine of a team that would have been.
Covstu
Well-Known Member
Dion was just class. For the money we paid, he was the bargain of the century for us without a doubt. Continual work rate on and off the ball gave us something we hadn't had for years (and never had since). Gutted the day he left us but if anyone deserved the 'big money move' then it was Dion. Although I still remember that cold night in Luton expecting him to play!
Roland was another one which oozed class even at the age we had him.
Roland was another one which oozed class even at the age we had him.
NortonSkyBlue
Well-Known Member
His replacement at MUFC? Eric Cantona. I don't SAF will think he made a mistake! Do you?It was the one mistake that SAF made. He thought Dublin would never be as good as he was before he broke his leg... Thanks SAF
Astute
Well-Known Member
But what would Dublin have done at Manure if he could be Prem top scorer with Coventry City whilst also playing in defence? If he would have stayed at Manure he would have been 1st choice for England. We had him at his peak.
Grendel
Well-Known Member
Stein only averaged a goal in every 4 games. Never really cut it in the English game.
Londonccfcfan
Well-Known Member
Very similar player to Sheringham and he forged a career at man united. And he got a lot more England caps than Dion.
Yes agree.
Adge
Well-Known Member
No it wasn't for that reason! :emoji_grin:
Just reading through some of the posts it seems the majority appreciate the impact he had in our team/club. It's only the morons who don't/haven't seen it.
Londonccfcfan
Well-Known Member
Haha, must be a coincidence as Walker never signed a single coloured player.
Yes as one other poster mentioned earlier....there’s some things you remember, and I remember that evening feeling gutted when he wasn’t in the cov teamsheet for some cup match.
RegTheDonk
Well-Known Member
To compare him to Hutch is a bit unfair, it was a different era, a different pace, different team mates and different styles - both of them are legends and enjoyed watching them both play.
Wasn't there H but glad he still was able to come up for set pieces and use his noggin. Recall the cup match at blues our lad was sent off (think it was Daish?) and Dion went and played in his position. I and a few others thought WTF must have been the first time he was called on to play there, but the bloke was immense. Childish of me to be honest, but I was miffed when he went to Villa, more down to having work colleagues rubbing it in and Gregory's attitude of dismissing us and saying how great Man U were, rather than being p'd at Dion. I thought maybe the reason he wanted a move was kept being asked to play defence when all he wanted to do was be a striker...didn't realise it was Richardson, must have been jealous of his cock
hill83
Well-Known Member
Adge
Well-Known Member
Yeah I was at that game-it was v Luton at Kenilworth Rd and I was also mad when he "refused to play" for us. That wasn't the case as I found out from the great man himself (he lived opposite me for years until fairly recently) that Villa as part of the deal didn't want him cup tied which obviously would have been if he had played.
DannyThomas_1981
Well-Known Member
Agree with most of this except the commentary on Huckerby. He was absolutely unplayable in many games and a complete 'game changer'. His partnership and understanding with Dublin was lethal. Huckerby was one of my favourite ever players and I would place him right up there with Dublin. No headless chicken Riyad despite that being a fashionable retrospective view!
Irish Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
Colin Stein's only English club was Coventry. Therefore if he didn't cut it in England, he didn't with us. That simply isn't true. Stein was a class player for us forming a formidable partnership with Brian Alderson and playing his part in one of the most exciting Coventry teams I have seen. The only reason he left here was because of the fire sales at the time due to financial difficulties.
Sky Blue Kid
Well-Known Member
What's that word again?.... Hindsight! SAF didn't buy Cantona until after Dublin broke his leg. He would never have bought him if Dublin was injury free
NortonSkyBlue
Well-Known Member
Huckerby was a fantastic talent but too easy to read. He had one trick and exploited it magnificently until defenders worked him out.
He dropped his shoulder and cut inside and ran.
He didn't do well at City or Leeds and found himself again at Norwich in the second division where he was fantastic against players who hadn't come across him or were less talented.
That said it was his amazing ability to get caught offside time and time again that counts against him for me.
He was amazing on his day and I couldn't believe our luck that Newcastle let him go.
NortonSkyBlue
Well-Known Member
We will never know but do you think he regrets letting Dublin leave to play football once he was fit? He stated Dublins attitude meant he had to let him go. He was superb, dedicated and a great guy in the dressing room but needed to be playing.What's that word again?.... Hindsight! SAF didn't buy Cantona until after Dublin broke his leg. He would never have bought him if Dublin was injury free
bawtryneal
Well-Known Member
Agree with all the DD comments
A great No 9 but could have played for England as a CB
Played CB for us on a small number of occasions and his reading of the game was excellent. John Terry ( in his prime) like.
A great No 9 but could have played for England as a CB
Played CB for us on a small number of occasions and his reading of the game was excellent. John Terry ( in his prime) like.
bawtryneal
Well-Known Member
He was also the longest in the shower according to Ferguson.
NortonSkyBlue
Well-Known Member
By half a metre apparently
Colin Steins Smile
Well-Known Member
Agreed. He made space for other players and worked incredibly hard. He was also really tough. I remember him having a really bad injury and because we had used our one substitute he stayed on although he was hopping about on one leg.....and then scored the winning goal with a header. I can't think of too many of todays players that would have the guts to do that.
Grendel
Well-Known Member
Don’t agree. Alderson also had a poor scoring record and the club suffered from lack of goals at the time. Cross was a better player and I don’t get the fire sale bit - didn’t the club sign Collier and Jones for a small fortune in 76? Anyway stein and Alderson weren’t fit to lace the boots of the real striking duo of the 70’s - Wallace and Ferguson.
DannyThomas_1981
Well-Known Member
Riyad you make some fair points. I do think it's very harsh to describe him as a one trick pony though. Huck read the game well and it wasn't just by good fortune that he was in the right place for flick ons from Dublin. In addition to his pace and sense of where the ball was going, he was lethal in front of goal from all angles. Anyway I guess we have lots of areas of agreement here. Also good to see another City fan in the Middle East, I've been in Qatar for 3 years and shortly moving to Abu Dhabi. I noticed a young guy walking around in a City shirt in Doha not so long ago. We're not alone!
M&B Stand
Well-Known Member
As much as I liked Dion, Sheringham was different class.
Irish Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
I think that might have been against Newcastle. He had a heavily bandaged leg, could hardly walk but still managed to head home a far post header at the West End. The game was televised but can't find it on YouTube.
pusbccfc
Well-Known Member
This.
We had some outstanding kits in the 90s when we allowed smaller brands to make them.
Have we actually had a shirt in the past 15 years that would score any higher than a 7/10?
Irish Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
Disagree. Alderson came through the youth system and when he first broke into the team he was played as a winger. Only later on did he play as a striker. When Stein and Hutch arrived, we were transformed that season playing wonderful football until Wolves knocked us out of the Cup in the 6th round at Molineux. The fire sales were caused because Gordon Milne had signed Larry Lloyd with the expectation that he would recoup the money by selling Willie Carr to Wolves. Carr failed his medical and although he later joined Wolves it was for a much reduced fee. Stein returned to Rangers and Dennis Mortimer was sold to Villa. The one consolation during this time was that we kept hold of Hutch. Yes, David Cross was a good player and yes Fergie and Wallace were probably the best combination we have ever had. Doesn't take away from Stein and Alderson.
Collier joined after this period, late 70s early 80s?when finances had recovered.
All about opinions but I think a lot of City fans who were around at that time would agree as to the prowess of Stein and Alderson.
NortonSkyBlue
Well-Known Member
Stein gave us something we were missing and although not prolific chances came because of his presence. Anderson was top dog for a while before Stein and Hutch came and he needed support.
It was the lack of goals in 74-75 that hurt us and Milne looked to change things and brought in Cross and promoted Alan Green and tried Nardiello.
When you look at some of the players we had you can see that we were punching above our weight.
Peter Hindley, Neil Ramsbottom, Alan Dugdale, John Craven????
That said Carr, Mortimer, Hutchison and Stein were some of our best ever.
That Wolves game in 73 really affected the team for a long period.
Sky Blue Kid
Well-Known Member
Sky_Blue_Daz
Well-Known Member
Completely agree
DazzleTommyDazzle
Well-Known Member
Agree with all that except that the version I'd heard was that the Lloyd transfer was to be funded by the sale of Jimmy Holmes to Spurs, but just as it was about to happen the Spurs manager (I think it was Bill Nicholson) was sacked and so the deal fell through.
Irish Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
You could be right! Might have got the two transfers mixed up.
pusbccfc
Well-Known Member
I'd say yes. Once. The copy retro kit of our proper sky blue kit from the 60's.
Yep, definitely the best we've had in recent times.
Not wanting to put a negative slant on this... but even in our Premier League "glory years" there was so much negativity from the fans. People calling up Mercia saying they're never going again, after a narrow loss to a Spurs, Everton, etc.
Perhaps if they had known what would ensue in the next 20 years they might have looked on it differently.
I also remember the outrage whenever we sold one of our better players. Considering we had to do it in the Premier League to survive, I do wonder when people get outraged now when we have to sell on our best talents to teams in leagues above us. That's how football works unfortunately.
For me, Dublin was the best I've seen (since I started going up in 1992). When he was sold I was gutted, and gave him loads of abuse (as did the whole City end) when we stuffed villa 4-1 away, but I was a young 15 year old who knew no better. I also remember being utterly heartbroken when he didn't get in the squad for the 98 World Cup, that was a travesty.
I also have to say that in the season or two that Strachan played for us he was absolutely fantastic and seemed to have the ability to dictate every game he played.
Perhaps if they had known what would ensue in the next 20 years they might have looked on it differently.
I also remember the outrage whenever we sold one of our better players. Considering we had to do it in the Premier League to survive, I do wonder when people get outraged now when we have to sell on our best talents to teams in leagues above us. That's how football works unfortunately.
For me, Dublin was the best I've seen (since I started going up in 1992). When he was sold I was gutted, and gave him loads of abuse (as did the whole City end) when we stuffed villa 4-1 away, but I was a young 15 year old who knew no better. I also remember being utterly heartbroken when he didn't get in the squad for the 98 World Cup, that was a travesty.
I also have to say that in the season or two that Strachan played for us he was absolutely fantastic and seemed to have the ability to dictate every game he played.