Dion Dublin
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Dion Dublin (born 22 April 1969, Leicester) is an English footballer. He plays for Leicester City. He was capped four times for England.
He previously played for Norwich, Cambridge United, Manchester United, Coventry, Millwall, and Aston Villa.
Whilst playing for Aston Villa against Sheffield Wednesday he sustained a life threatening broken neck as a result of which he permanently has a titanium plate holding three neck vertebrae together.
Dion Dublin began his footballing career with Norwich City on leaving school in 1985, but he never made the first team and was given a free transfer in 1988. He signed for Cambridge United, and his prolific goalscoring won them promotion from the Fourth to Second Division in successive seasons (1990 to 1991). In 1991-92, he played a big part in helping Cambridge finish in a club-best fifth place in the last ever season of the old Second Division, but when Cambridge failed to win promotion via the playoffs Dublin was put up for sale. He was sold to Manchester United for £1million, but missed most of the 1992-93 season due to a broken leg - although he did merit enough league appearances for a Premiership title winners medal.
In 1993-94, Dublin regained his fitness but his first team chances were restricted by the excellent form of Eric Cantona. He was left out of the F.A. Cup winning team and failed to merit enough appearances for another Premiership title winners medal, and soon after the end of the season he was sold to Coventry City for £2million.
In four-and-a-half years with Coventry, Dublin established himself as one of the Premiership's top strikers and during the 1997-98 season won the first of his four England full caps. That season, He equaled the Coventry City record for most goals in a Division 1/Premiership(top flight) season with 23 (18 League, 4 FA Cup, 1 Coca Cola Cup).
Dublin was left out the England Template:Wc squad, but his exploits at club level were still attracting attention and in the autumn of 1998 he was sold to Aston Villa for £4.5million. In 1999-2000, he helped Aston Villa reach their first F.A. Cup final in 43 years (although they lost 1-0 to Chelsea) despite missing a lot of the season with a broken neck.
Having regained his fitness, Dublin remained on the Villa Park payroll until his contract expired in the summer of 2004 and he was given a free transfer. He was signed by Leicester City, who have just been relegated from the Barclaycard Premiership to the newly named Coca Cola Football League Championship.
Dublin has three children.