Dion Dublin (2 Viewers)

Most influential player to play for the club in my lifetime. 72 goals in 4 years. Arguably our best centrehalf since Trevor Peake.

Legend.

Total legend and one of the most effective signings we have ever made in my tme also, his abiltiy to run a game and the talisman like logo he had, loved it.

Sterling Archer said:

He is by far and away the best striker I have ever seen play for City (first game as a naive 7 year old back in 92)

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Sterling, I must say I can't remember Dion playing as a 7 year old? .........

SkyBlueScottie said:

Dion is a legend, Keane while I suppose he is more naturally talented I would take Dion over him everytime.

Dion scored crucial goals (lots of them) led the side as Captain and also by example. We were spolit by having him.

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My thoughts exactly!

torchomatic said:

I'm in the 1% then. A player should never refuse to play for his club. You can't get more unprofessional than that. I was one of the ones who'd travelled down to Kenilworth Road too.

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I hope you have the same feelings about Eastwood. Thats near enough what he has done by not even bothering to get match fit?

legendimp:

Dion was at my work a few months back and did a speech, he said the reason Hoddle picked Ferdinand ahead of him was due to Ferdinand's pace

Bertola said:

Dion was at my work a few months back and did a speech, he said the reason Hoddle picked Ferdinand ahead of him was due to Ferdinand's pace

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Nothing to do with the fact we totally nullified him at wembley then:thinking about:

Dion was class and wins my vote of Keane anyday, Keano had raw talent but Dion made much more of an impact over his time with us. What i wouldnt give for an inform Dion now!

I thought it was a well known fact that BR tried to flog DD to Blackburn, they offered around £6M. Dublin turned it down, but this alerted Villa as someone let it leak that DD had a clause in his contract allowing him to talk to clubs, if there was a big of £4M+.

GS spent too long at the club, he took us as far as he could, BR and his cronies wrecked the squad they helped to build, flogging DD, not giving McAllister the wages he wanted, therefore causing an avalanche of players tumbling out of the club.

I was angry at the time Dublin left, but he was still a fantastic player for us, for me Dublin, Keane and McAllister were 3 of the best players i've seen play for us.

there was a clause in his contract that allowed him to talk to any club that offered more than five million:

"the choice of club was mine", Dublin said after a week in which he was ordered to train with the reserves for declining to play in a Worthington Cup tie at Luton.

"i weighed up the pros and cons of joining other clubs for a lot more money. I considered the age of players here (Coventry), the size of the place and the championship potential. Most importantly, I had my family and the location to consider. In every respect Villa were way ahead. I just want to put the events of coventry behind me and get back to playing football again."

Sterling Archer said:

This is what kind of irritates me but is understandable about the generation of Coventry fans who started supporting post relegation.

a. The poor b*stards haven't seen some brilliant footballers like myself (90's) and even more so the older Cov fans (60's, 70's, 80's) have seen.
b. The knock on effect from (a) is that players like Michael Doyle and Richard Keogh get into their best ever CCFC XI's
c. Our averagely if not dross players get bigged up to levels they are nowhere near. In another thread I saw someone say Keogh could play in a lower table Prem team like Bolton!
d. They have arguably watched the club in its worst decade out of all living Coventry City fans.

Being a teenager and watching us beat Man United after being 2-1 down with 5 mins to go, Ndlovu tearing apart Anfield, Aloisi and Boateng thrashing Villa at Villa Park, Hadji, Keane and Macca leading us to victory against Arsenal, etc. I know the 00's have been sh*t and the 10's aren't starting great but I am thankful for at least having some good memories.

Although I do wish I had been born 10 years earlier.

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I remember going to Highfield Road in the 90s as a teenager and all the great games you're referring to Sterling. After watching the likes of Dion, Keane, Huckerby, Macca etc. I remember my Dad always telling me how lucky we were and to just enjoy these great years and players while you can. Sound advice.

Only a kid when it happened, hated him then and hate him now. Judas prick. Doesn't help that my mate's a Villa fan fan, met Dion on a pre season tour this summer asked him what he thought of Cov fans hating him, he replied "I don't really care about Coventry or what their fans think of me, it's not like you ever see any of them around anyway" Wanker!

Sterling Archer said:

On a side note, I still haven't forgiven Strachan for having 5 years at the club and never once sorting out the Defence.

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I agree. We had some wonderful attacking players and what we needed was a left back and for him to stop playing Williams and Shaw when he had Konjic & Breen in his squad. The continued playing of Williams and Shaw was what finally turned me against Strachan. It was a joke.

I guess I'll go against opinion with my next comment, but Richard Shaw really was rubbish. I find it astonishing that he even made a career in the game considering his "ability", let alone spend a decade at the club and somehow won plaudits.

Kuklinski said:

I agree. We had some wonderful attacking players and what we needed was a left back and for him to stop playing Williams and Shaw when he had Konjic & Breen in his squad. The continued playing of Williams and Shaw was what finally turned me against Strachan. It was a joke.

I guess I'll go against opinion with my next comment, but Richard Shaw really was rubbish. I find it astonishing that he even made a career in the game considering his "ability", let alone spend a decade at the club and somehow won plaudits.

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DEAD ON. I went on the radio once and moaned about Shaw's ability to give the opposition at least one glaring chance a game in every game and Williams was like watching a tug turn. Edworthy at right back wasn't the best and Burrows had seen his best years at Liverpool. We were heading down if we carried on like that and what happened one year on? With Strachan who in my opinion was an excellent coach but wasn't as clued up as he makes. Breen & Konjic were by far the best pairing but due to some injuries Strachan never fancied them after that. He talked a great game but was stubborn (Gary Pendry the yes man anyone)?

I was told by a member of the staff that on the Monday it was announced that Strachan had gone there was a few happy faces glad to see the back of him.

Changeyourface said:

Only a kid when it happened, hated him then and hate him now. Judas prick. Doesn't help that my mate's a Villa fan fan, met Dion on a pre season tour this summer asked him what he thought of Cov fans hating him, he replied "I don't really care about Coventry or what their fans think of me, it's not like you ever see any of them around anyway" Wanker!

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As usual you seem to have a lack of knowledge of the history of our club. The odds are Richardson made a tidy sum for himself for selling DD. We all hated the fact he left us for Villa, but the truth slowly came out. He knew he was being sold. Didn't want to go other than the board treated him as they did. Lots of clubs would have signed him given the chance. Fantastic player. Gave his all every game. Would have been an ever present for England had he not stayed so long with us. Played just as well in defence as up front. Never heard him have a bad word to say about us. Against the board at the time is a totally different matter. Absolute legend for me.

Top striker has been mentioned once earlier though. I remember being at a game to see this short fat bloke walk on in a cov kit. When everyone left the pitch other than the team, that short fat bloke was still on the pitch No such thing as the net them days and only ever read the Pink Someone told me he was good at Newcastle. OMG could that bloke move......as long as it was over a yard or less. He stood around doing nothing nearly all the game, but if the ball came near him in the box it was in the back of the net about 90% of the time. best finisher I have ever seen. If only he had looked after himself Quinny could have gone a lot further in the game.

So many names I have not heard for years. Most of them retired but not forgotten. All them years ago, but some are still even playing like Keane and Hadji. Feeling a little emotional thinking back to the 80's. I never normaly get emotional. The best time following my team, although not always good times as it was happening. The late 80's were a little special though, not just for the cup win. Terrific spirit in the team. Would love to see that spirit come back again. Maybe it is happening at the moment.

Positives - Scored lots of goals, very versatile player, good motivator to the other players back in the day, very commanding up front and in defence, not injured often.

Negatives - Went to villa, apparentley refused to play for city once.

The positives seem to outweigh the negatives on this guy.

CCFC123 said:

DEAD ON. I went on the radio once and moaned about Shaw's ability to give the opposition at least one glaring chance a game in every game and Williams was like watching a tug turn.

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I had a few conversations with Rob Gurney about Shaw & Williams. I just didn't get the almost hero worship of them both? One conversation in particular springs to mind, I asked Gurney why Shaw/Williams were ahead of Konjic/Breen in the starting line-up? He gave me some waffled answer which was aimed more at not upsetting Shaw/Williams than placating me, so I simply replied "if Shaw and Williams were eligible to play for either Ireland or Bosnia, would they get in those National teams ahead of Konjic and Breen?" he replied "no I don't think they would" to which my response was "so how are they getting in the Coventry side ahead of Konjic and Breen every week then?".

And please don't get me started on Pendrey. I couldn't stand the man. Coventry's version of Sammy Lee on the touchline.

I dont blame Shaw and Williams to a point as they were never going to say dont play me but i do blame Strachan with his stubberness and favorites week in week out. Pendrey was a yes man who was on the gravy train who never had the guts to challenge Strachan.

If Richardson wasn't around Strachan would of gone earlier in the relegation season and we may of stayed up.

I had a dealing with Strachan once and he attempted to make me feel small because I asked him a football related question at a dinner once. A member of the coaching staff was at Strachans house in Leamington once at a party when he mentioned to a crowd in his kitchen about needing three points in the next game to which Strachan belted out without making eye contact on the lines of "COURSE WE DO" then strutted off making the guy feel guilty about attempting to make conversation with him.

Dublin might not have chose to leave but he chose to go to Villa, there were other option's even he has admitted this. That's a good enough reason to hate him add that to him bad mouthing us and I have no reason to forgive him.

As I've said about seven kajillion times. I don't have a problem with Dublin choosing Villa. I have a problem with him refusing to play. His other option at the time was Blackburn.

Whenever I have heard him say anything about our club it has been good. Why should I believe anything that contradicts this by someone I do not have a clue about? He did not want to move his family as they were settled in where they lived. However much it hurts Villa are a bigger club. If my bosses were pissing me and everyone off at work and our competitors offered me more money to work for them and I did not even hae to move house and unsettle my family I would go. Would you? most people would. He gave us great service. Good chance he would have been an England regular if he would have gone to a bigger club than us and got treated badly. Why should he have thought about us after what happened?

Astute said:

Whenever I have heard him say anything about our club it has been good. Why should I believe anything that contradicts this by someone I do not have a clue about? He did not want to move his family as they were settled in where they lived. However much it hurts Villa are a bigger club. If my bosses were pissing me and everyone off at work and our competitors offered me more money to work for them and I did not even hae to move house and unsettle my family I would go. Would you? most people would. He gave us great service. Good chance he would have been an England regular if he would have gone to a bigger club than us and got treated badly. Why should he have thought about us after what happened?

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True but what people say in the media is often quite different too what they really think. However I'm not trying to argue that anybody else should hate him, I hate him with a passion and probably always will, It might not be rational but that's football. I hate the scum up the road with an irational hatered, regardless of them relegating us, I've always hated them and definatly always will.

Dion Dublins illegitimate..................

Never had a problem with Dion leaving, he gave us 4 great seasons and was one of the best strikers I ever saw at Highfield Road. I met him at a concert in London in summer 1998, went over to chat to him & he was happy to sit & chat about Cov & football in general for a good 15-20 mins or so. Very friendly, intelligent bloke.

you know what i find this ongoing saga over Dublin pathetic. To those that hate him.. Are you off your rockers? so what if he bad mouthed the club, he didnt bad mouth the fans, so what if he refused to play .. the behid the scenes actions of the club arent being mentioned here, so what if he went to villa, he wasnt the first or last player to do that. Its do pretentious to knock him and hate him for the above issues. For goodness sake the man was an absolutely thorough professional for us week in week out, always dependable, 100 % workhorse, skillfull in all areas of the pitch and made a impression on the other players at the club. The fact players such as hadji, keane, chippo came to us was the fact he was in the team, you only have to look at what happened when he left the club. Dion was good to our fans, he was approachable and the kids adored him, he spoke to fans honestly and never tried to fool us. When he went yes he said some things that could be interpreted as badmouthing us ... by a spoilt 4 year old... he was being honest in his evaluation and opinion of his own circumstances. the club was in free fall, a better offer came along from bigger club that offered him a chance of silverware... no one player in that league at the time deserved that more than Dublin. to me he is a hero, i will never forget the effort he put into team and the matches where he was simply a class above the rest. He sets the standard that most city fans yearn to see again at our club,. How these so called fans can knock the great man is beyond me, it is the equivilent to man utd fans knocking bobby charlton, liverpool fans knocking Keegan or Rush, Arsenal fans knocking Henry..................... Dion Dublin is quite simply the best player the club has had for the past 30 years. He should be the clubs ambassador or be working within the management of the club...instead he stays away because of the little minded and uneducated comments aimed at him.. its pathetic guys give credit where credit is due ... save your knocking for the likes of Kyle, Best, manager after manager and player after player, ther are so many from the club that seriously are fair game for a serious knocking, Dion is not one of them, Jesus our fans need to get a life and be more positive. if you knock our history and the best players we have had youll take away every bit of pride we have.

Howzer, do you always sit on the fence?

Lol, I agree wholeheartedly.

For me, losing Dion was a major factor in our team's demise - we not only lost a great striker, but a great defender and our captain too!

And as for the narrow-mindedness of fans that boo him, .....they wonder why we have difficulty in attracting good players!

Maybe it's only me who can recall the strop he pulled when he was dropped for a few games when we 1st signed Noel Whelan? He wasn't pulling his weight because his ego had been knocked, and when he came on as a sub against Southampton I think, he scored and gave a 2 fingered salute to the crowd at the West End.

thats true Kullinski but the fans had turned on him. He was angry and most of us at the time couldnt blame him. I wonder if the fans would treat such a player with contempt now? I saw Westwood get into nasty abusive rows with some of our fans but everyone treated him like a hero, he isnt in the same league as Dion mate. Anyway it is the past i suppose we better move on from it ......... unfortunately.

Guys a legend and best striker we've had that i've ever seen, but still cant forgive him for joining villa - was very bitter at that.

I don't get that. A player deserves to better himself. We all do.

Let me ask you this. What is worse for you. Dublin joining Villa or refusing to put the shirt on and play? In fact, couldn't we have a poll?

ccfc_Tom said:

Guys a legend and best striker we've had that i've ever seen, but still cant forgive him for joining villa - was very bitter at that.

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sky_blue_up_north said:

Best striker.... the best one we ever had was Ian Wallace, totally natural, him and Ferguson were un stoppable. Dion was great don't get me wrong, but if you'd seen Wallace play, plus the fact we got 1million for him.. must be 25Mill in todays martket

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I remember the days of Fergie and Wally upfront and loved watching them rip up some of the best defences. If we could just get two like these I would love it.

torchomatic said:

I don't get that. A player deserves to better himself. We all do.

Let me ask you this. What is worse for you. Dublin joining Villa or refusing to put the shirt on and play? In fact, couldn't we have a poll?

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Well obviously thats just as bad i just wasnt really aware that happened at the time, didn't he score twice against us aswell for villa? salt in the wound

For you it's just as bad for me it's a million times worse. Each to their own though, eh?

ccfc_Tom said:

Well obviously thats just as bad i just wasnt really aware that happened at the time, didn't he score twice against us aswell for villa? salt in the wound

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