Dion Dublin

United won the league that season for the first time since 1967, but Dublin failed to make the 10 Premier League appearances required to automatically gain a title winner's medal.

However, he was given a medal as a result of special dispensation from the Premier League.

Dion Dublin (born 22 April 1969) is an English former professional footballer, television presenter and pundit.

He is a club director of Cambridge United.

As a player he was a centre-forward, notably playing in the Premier League for Manchester United, Coventry City and Aston Villa.

He also had spells in the Scottish Premiership with Celtic, in the Conference with Wycombe Wanderers, and in The Football League with Cambridge United, Barnet, Millwall, Leicester City and Norwich City.

He was capped four times for England.

Following on from his retirement, Dublin moved into the entertainment business.

He is also an amateur percussionist, and invented a percussion instrument called "The Dube".

Dublin then went on to begin his professional footballing career with Norwich City after leaving school in 1985, but he never made a first-team appearance and was released from the club in 1988.

In August 1988, he joined Cambridge United on a free transfer, as a centre-forward, which had been his position at Norwich City.

However, due to injuries he had to make a number of appearances at centre-half.

His prolific goalscoring helped United to successive promotions.

During the 1988–89 season, Dublin was then loaned out for short spells with Barnet and Wycombe Wanderers.

The 1989–90 season saw Cambridge promoted from the Fourth Division via the play-offs, when Dublin became the first ever scorer in a Wembley play-off final.

In the 1990–91 season, the club were champions of the Third Division, and the club also reached the quarter-final of the FA Cup in both seasons, with Dublin scoring at Arsenal in 1991.

In the 1991–92 season, he played a big part in helping Cambridge to their highest ever finishing position in the football league, by finishing in fifth place in the last season of the old Second Division, but when Cambridge failed to win promotion to the top flight via the play-offs Dublin was put up for sale.

He has since spoken many times of his affection for Cambridge United.

Having seen Dublin in a cup tie, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson signed him for £1 million on 7 August 1992, fighting off competition from Chelsea and Everton.

Dublin was something of a surprise purchase for United, after Ferguson had tried to sign Alan Shearer from Southampton but lost out to Blackburn Rovers.

He scored in United's fourth Premier League game of the 1992–93 season, a last minute winner in United's first Premier league victory – 1–0 against Southampton at The Dell.

However, on 2 September, he suffered a broken leg against Crystal Palace in a 1–0 win at Old Trafford, after a tackle by Eric Young, and was out of action for six months.

By the time he had recovered, however, United had signed Eric Cantona and the Frenchman was firmly established as first choice strike partner to Mark Hughes.

In the 1993–94 season, Dublin regained his fitness, but his first team chances were restricted by the successful partnership of Cantona and Hughes.

In December 1993, Ferguson agreed a deal with Everton manager Howard Kendall, that would have seen Dublin moving to Goodison Park, but a member of Everton's board of directors, apparently feeling that Dublin was not worth the money Kendall had offered United, intervened to prevent the transfer going through – this dispute sparked Kendall's resignation as manager.

Dublin would remain a United player for another nine months, but never managed to claim a regular place in the first team.

He managed five league appearances that season, scoring once in a 3–2 home win over Oldham Athletic in early April, his goal helping secure a vital victory in the title run-in during a spell when United started to drop points and Blackburn Rovers were closing in on them.

He also managed a further goal in the Football League Cup second round first leg, as United were beaten 2–1 by Stoke City at the Victoria Ground.

The goal against Oldham was the only competitive goal that Dublin scored for United at Old Trafford.

He was left out of the FA Cup winning team against Chelsea and failed to make enough appearances to merit another Premier League title winners medal.

In September 1994, he was sold to Coventry City for £2 million – a record signing for Coventry City at the time – and also one of the largest fees received by Manchester United.

Following Phil Neal's departure in 1995, the arrival of Ron Atkinson and Gordon Strachan would see Dublin fit into an attacking team in the typical Atkinson mould.

It included the likes of Noel Whelan, John Salako and Darren Huckerby to add to the already attack minded Peter Ndlovu.

The addition of Gary McAllister, following UEFA Euro 1996, should have provided mid-table stability, but the team's defensive frailties often undermined Dublin's scoring at the other end.

In four years with Coventry, Dublin established himself as one of the Premier League's top strikers and during the 1997–98 season won the first of his four full England caps.

That season, he equalled the Coventry City record for most goals in a top division season, with 23 goals in all competitions.

In 2011, he accompanied Ocean Colour Scene in a gig at the University of East Anglia, Norwich.

In 2015, he joined the presenting team on the BBC One daytime show Homes Under the Hammer and has appeared as a regular pundit for BBC Sport namely on Football Focus, Match of the Day or Final Score.

He also occasionally provides co-commentary on live televised FA Cup games.

Born in Leicester, while at school Dublin played for several Leicestershire youth teams including Wigston Fields and Thurmaston Magpies.