wolves in for leon clarke (16 Viewers)

[covcity4life]

he was on a luton-free diet

 

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[Gaz]

Dion should have been a Cov legend but after refusing to play for us and then moving to our biggest rivals at the time really has stopped him.

 

[fernandopartridge]

Who said anything about Wiki?

Middlesboro didn't try and sign him until 2000. Richardson agreed a deal with Blackburn without Dion having a say. Dion refused to sign. This alerted other clubs that Richardson wanted to sell him. He did say at the time what was going on. But your hatred of Dion has always shown through your posts of him. He resigned for us when he didn't have to. He could have gone anywhere. But Richardson just wanted the money. It was only at a later date that we saw how much our club needed the money to stay afloat. The best dead Dion could get without uprooting his family was Villa. Richardson was unhappy as he got 1m less for him than he had already agreed with Blackburn. And I don't blame Dion for not playing in that cup game. Richardson treated him like shit and the deal was already signed. Why should he have shown loyalty to Richardson after what he did to him?

He could certainly have chosen a better club to move to from us, but we have to remember it was a forced move.

You do realise that Dublin had a release clause in his contract?

 

[duffer]

Much as I dislike our owners, I think if someone comes in with a substantially bigger wage offer then Leon is likely to want to leave. SISU don't really have much control over that, in fairness.

From that point on it's just about maximising the fee that we can get for him, or negotiating to see if we can convince him to stay until June.

Obviously if our owners hadn't mismanaged us into our current situation, and we were (say) a promising Championship club on the cusp of something bigger, things might be different - but even then we're always destined to lose our truly outstanding players in the long run. For better or worse, players have all of the power now, imho.

 

[fernandopartridge]

So he could have got a lot more money but wanted to stay in the Midlands.........but is a greedy c**t? :facepalm:

He did get a lot more money at Villa and stayed in the Midlands.

 

[Astute]

He did get a lot more money at Villa and stayed in the Midlands.

So Dublin was happy at our club. His family were settled in the Midlands. His contract ran out. He had a choice of clubs he could have signed for. He chose to sign for us when he could have earned more elsewhere. Shortly afterwards Richardson tried selling him to Blackburn for 6.75m without Dion having a say. Do you agree with all of this so far or would you like to twist some of it again like saying Middlesboro or something?

He was left in no doubt that he was going to be sold. We were all in no doubt he was going to be sold. Villa was the only club in the Midlands that could afford him and bid for him. Was he greedy because they offered slightly more money he was on when other clubs were offered much more? Was it his fault Richardson needed to cash in on him?

Saying that it isn't a shock you can't see what actually happened. You sometimes struggle to see the truth.

 

[sky blue zam]

https://mobile.twitter.com/TransfersToBe/status/418855370023784448

 

[hill83]

Dion should have been a Cov legend but after refusing to play for us and then moving to our biggest rivals at the time really has stopped him.

Still a legend to me

 

[Sky Blue Pete]

Yep, legend for me too

 

[Covstar]

Thought this was a thread about Dion Dublin for a minute... Anyways Back on topic, hope we keep hold of Leon and as some have suggested b4 Wilson's injury may actually have left us with no choice but to say No to any offers for Leon until the end of the season at least because it will be suicidal if we do as he, along with Wilson are crucial to any promotion plans we have for this season.

 

[Moff]

More proof he didn't want to leave or move for the money?

Dion made his 100th league appearance for Coventry on the first day of the 1997/98 season. He marked this occasion with a hat-trick to give Coventry a 3-2 victory over the highly fancied Chelsea. The Sun speculated on 17th December 1997 that Dublin was a target for Bryan Robson's Middlesbrough. Leicester City and Crystal Palace were also rumoured to be interested as Coventry sought to regain some of their money spent on Romanian international striker Moldovan. Dion's impressive form for Coventry City earned him a surprise call-up to Glen Hoddle's England squad for the pre-World Cup friendly against Chile in February 1998 and made his debut in the 2-0 defeat. He seemed to jump above Robbie Fowler, Stan Collymore, Emile Heskey and Chris Sutton in England's pecking order. As transfer deadline day approached, Dion was linked with £ 5million moves to Blackburn and Liverpool (who supposedly were keen on his defensive abilities).

The end of the season saw Dion finish joint top Premiership marksman. His 18 goals being equaled by Chris Sutton and Liverpool's Michael Owen. This resulted in increased transfer speculation with champions Arsenal the media's favourite for Dublin's next destination. According to the Daily Mirror, new Newcastle boss Ruud Gullit has supposedly made a £7million bid for Dion to partner Alan Shearer. The News of the World reported on October 25th 1998 that Blackburn are lining up a £6million bid for Dublin who is supposedly angry with Coventry about new book "Staying Up" written with the approval and co-operation of Coventry chairman Bryan Richardson. In one section, Richardson is involved in alight-hearted conversation with Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson over the size of Dublin's manhood. Although Coventry and Blackburn agreed a £6.75million transfer, Newcastle, Leeds and Aston Villa entered the race making improved offers for Dion's services.

Despite better personal terms offered by Newcastle and Blackburn, Dion opted for Aston Villa so not to disrupt his family as they could stay in the Midlands. He transferred eventually for £5.75 million and made his debut for Villa in the 3-2 home victory over Tottenham on 7th November 1998 where Dion scored twice. A hat trick followed in his second game which was a 4-1 victory over Southampton before getting two in Villa's 4-2 defeat at home to Liverpool.

Are you his dad?

 

[blend]

I thought he insisted on a release clause in his 'new' contract, although I could be wrong. I don't like the bloke was there at Luton that night as well and had not long before got a cheap shirt with Dublin across the back - so someone knew something!! I heard he tempted Boateng to Villa as well.

 

[blend]

So Blackburn offered 6.75m, 3 other clubs entered the race for him offering more for his services and we ended up selling him for 5.75m despite the race for his signature and he ended up with less wages! Hmm not sure I'm buying that to be honest!!

 

[skybluefred]

They'd be insane to sell him.

That's him gone then.

 

[TheParsonsHose]

Dion should have been a Cov legend but after refusing to play for us and then moving to our biggest rivals at the time really has stopped him.

Dion was a club legend. Think about it without the emotion that we all felt when he left for Villa.

Legend.

 

[hutch1972]

So Blackburn offered 6.75m, 3 other clubs entered the race for him offering more for his services and we ended up selling him for 5.75m despite the race for his signature and he ended up with less wages! Hmm not sure I'm buying that to be honest!!

The problem he caused was that we broke the club wage structure to give him his 20k pw and then he cleared off weeks later leaving behind a spiral of pay rises which has a large bearing on where we are today,
The clause was 1p over 5 mill which Villa bid to start negotiations.

 

[ccfcway]

I thought Gary Mcallister was our 1st £1 million a year in wages player ?