U31: Dion Dublin, Aston Villa, Merlin’s Premier League 99 Official Sticker Collection, Transfer Update Edition

Anyone who claims to have only started watching ‘Homes Under The Hammer’ because of lockdown is a liar. If you haven’t found yourself sitting in front of the telly with your breakfast waiting to find out if some rotting beams and a damp kitchen on the outskirts of Dudley are going to be transformed into a delightful family home then what have you been doing? Obviously if you have a life please feel free to ignore that question. The jewel in the BBC’s mid-morning crown has been convincing us we have a clue about home renovation since 2003 and has longstanding links to the world of football. Former Wimbledon midfielder Stewart Castledine is married to original presenter Lucy Alexander. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get his sticker in 1995 so here’s some stuff about Dion Dublin instead.

Fans of auction-based action will know that Dion Dublin joined the ‘Homes Under The Hammer’ presenting team in 2015 as the BBC looked to shake things up with three up front. His versatility with residential and commercial property made him an instant hit with Hammer’s fans and his ability to point out stairs up to bedrooms showcased his potency with two-storeyed buildings. The departure of veteran presenter Alexander in 2016 allowed Dublin to take on greater responsibility and provide support for new signing Scottish international Martel Maxwell and the pair have linked up well with burly stalwart Martin Roberts.

Dublin had cut his showbiz teeth in the music industry in the late 2000s. Not content with the constraints of existing percussion instruments, and eager to engage a younger audience, he invented the Dube. According to the official website the Dube is “a stylish cube percussion instrument, with four playable sides each producing their own unique sound” and can be enjoyed by anyone from professional musicians to schoolchildren. Dublin’s percussion ability was noticed by indie legends Ocean Colour Scene in 2011 and they were quick to secure his signature for a performance at the University of East Anglia.

That’s about as far as I can labour the career digest without talking about football which is why we’re all here in the first place. In a career which took in nine clubs Dublin scored the first ever goal in a Wembley play-off final, earned a Premier League Golden Boot, scored 111 Premier League goals, played in an FA Cup final, won the Intertoto Cup and won a Scottish Premier League and League Cup double. Not bad for a man who started off at Norwich City as a centre-half. As we’ve seen with Bobby Mimms and David May, the rules about Premier League medals are stupid, but they were relaxed in 1992/93 to allow Dublin to collect one after his debut season at Manchester United was curtailed by a broken leg.

What’s most impressive about Dublin’s achievements are the fact he earned them without spending much time at particularly glamorous clubs and despite injuries that would have ended a lesser man’s career. He won his Golden Boot playing for a Coventry City side that regularly flirted with relegation and broke his neck in December 1999 but returned three months later to help steer Aston Villa to an FA Cup final. Dublin’s willingness to fill in at centre-half, his original position, allowed him to extend his career and he played a crucial role in keeping Norwich City in the Championship in the 2006/07 season. He eventually retired in 2008, stating that “his bones had started to talk to him” and received a standing ovation from both sets of fans as Norwich suffered a 4-1 defeat away at Sheffield Wednesday.

What this reveals is that Dion Dublin is a man of many talents and his self-deprecating approach to his punditry on football as well as houses has secured him regular appearances on the BBC’s coverage of the beautiful game. I might be biased, as he was one of the first footballers who took the time to sign my programme on a cold night outside Selhurst Park, but I get the impression that Dublin’s one of football’s good guys and one who really earned the admirable list of accolades listed above. And even if he isn’t, he’s exactly the man you need if you want directions to the bedrooms.