At 10am on pretty much every weekday you can ever imagine, a Premier League legend pops onto our TV screens.
The younger generation might not realise but those who were immersed in 1990s action know Dion Dublin extremely well.
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He wasn’t just any Premier League striker, he’s too often a forgotten member of the elite group that is the 100-club.
He got 111 goals – more than Ryan Giggs, Didier Drogba, and Emile Heskey – and has a better goals per game record (0.36) than the likes of Jermain Defoe (0.33), Teddy Sheringham (0.35), and Nicolas Anelka (0.34).
Not bad at all, Dion. But that’s not half of the story given all but 12 of his 312 Premier League appearances were for Coventry or Aston Villa.
Those other 12? They came for Manchester United.
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Oh, and he scored another 72 league goals for teams in lower divisions, like Cambridge United, Leicester, Norwich, plus a spell with Celtic.
Dublin was born to score goals. So it’s quite interesting that when he started out in his career, he was actually a centre-back.
Luckily Cambridge United sorted that swiftly and the net was bulging with regularity afterwards, although he would later reprise his role as a defender at various points during his career.
And it was with the U’s that Dublin earnt his big move – you don’t get much bigger than Manchester United.
He helped fire Cambridge up to the Second Division – becoming the first ever scorer in a Play-Off final at Wembley – as they won back-to-back promotions.
Dublin fired home goals aplenty, top-scoring for the club in three straight seasons, and netting against Arsenal in the 1990/91 FA Cup. But after failing to win promotion to the First Division via the Play-Offs in 1992, Dublin was up for grabs.
These days it seems wild that United might sign a player from Cambridge but Dublin made a striking impact on Sir Alex Ferguson during those FA Cup runs and was snapped up for a cool £1million ahead of the inaugural Premier League season.
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Someone had to fill the void left when Alan Shearer chose to sign for Blackburn Rovers, and United beat Everton and Chelsea to his signature.
“The boy has made a decision which pleases me immensely,” Ferguson said. “He is a good finisher. If we had scored a few more last season we might have won the League.”
“When you look at the quality of players who will be round me, it’s got to be the best move for my career,” Dublin said.
A debut goal was just the tonic but the best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry.
“I scored during my United debut at Southampton on the first Monday night Sky game,” said Dublin. “We won 1-0 and that went down well with the fans and the gaffer. Then, two games later, I broke my leg.
“That kept me out for about seven or eight months. They had to find somebody to fill my boots. They bought this geezer for £1.1 million: Mr Cantona!”
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In an interview with ESPN Classic he added: “I am the reason why Man United have won all those trophies – it is down to me, it really is. I break my leg and then they bring in this has-been called Cantona who just takes the world of football by storm.”
Dublin still has fond memories of his day with the club though.
“It was special being at Old Trafford,” he added. “I was with players I had only ever seen on TV. It must have taken four to five months to even realise that I was a Manchester United player! At that time United were winning titles. My Premier League medal is locked away in a safe, bolted down!”
With Cantona about and banging in the goals, Dublin was on the fringes after his return from injury and opted to leave the club in 1994 – not that he or Ferguson wanted that to happen.
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Dublin told MUTV: “He [Ferguson] said I don’t really want you to leave because, back then, the three-foreigners rule was in Europe and he said I want you to stay to play in the European games. I said I want to stay gaffer too but I ain’t going to play and would like to leave. He said no problem at all. He was great to me.”
The striker was sent to Coventry for £2million and quickly established just why Fergie hadn’t wanted to sell him.
For four straight campaigns, Dublin was the Sky Blues’ top scorer, lashing the ball home for fun.
He starred alongside the likes of Darren Huckerby, Noel Whelan, Peter Ndlovu, and in 1997/98 would jointly win the Golden Boot with Liverpool’s Michael Owen and Blackburn’s Chris Sutton, while also making 10 assists.
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So good had he been, it was a surprise Dublin missed out on England’s World Cup 1998 squad, although he would earn four caps for his nation, something which filled him with immense pride.
With Coventry’s defence getting in the way of their talented forwards, Aston Villa swooped for the ace in 1998, spending £6.75m on his services.
To say his impact was immediate is an understatement.
“I scored seven goals in my first three games but it should have been three hat-tricks,” he admitted.
“I scored two against Spurs in my first game and a third was flagged off side. The linesman apologised afterwards saying he might have got that wrong.
“The second game was at Southampton and I scored a hat-trick. The third game was against Liverpool. I scored two and missed a penalty!”
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For three of the next five seasons, he would top score for the Villans, but perhaps the most dramatic moment of his career would come in 1999.
Against Sheffield Wednesday, a clash with Gerald Sibon saw him break his neck and come just milimetres from far more serious damage.
Dublin would make a full recovery and was back playing three months later.
Another iconic moment was to be his headbutt on Robbie Savage in a 2003 Midlands derby.
“I had a stinker getting sent off at Villa Park for violent conduct to my friend, Robbie Savage,” Dublin admitted.
“When you think about it now, it was very petulant and very stupid. Robbie did what he set out to do, which was get me sent off.
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“I rose to the bait – but it was completely my fault. Robbie did nothing wrong. People ask ‘what did he say to you, what did he say to you?’ Was he racist? Not at all. He said nothing.
“It was all me. The red mist descended and Mr Dublin got sucked in. Robbie was smiling. I was grimacing.
“It happens. I’ve apologised to Robbie. We work on the BBC together. It’s not a problem. I’m a man.”
While he would also joke: “People say: ‘Any regrets?’ and I think of one regret and then another one as well. The first one is I wish I’d nutted Robbie Savage a bit harder!”
After taking on challenges at Leicester, Celtic, and Norwich, Dublin would retire in 2008 and begin his career outside of football.
First off, he began to produce his musical invention – The Dube – and not only has it impressed, even Stevie Wonder loved it when he got to try it out.
And his TV work has gone from strength to strength too appearing as pundit for the BBC, while in 2017 he became a regular member of the presenting team on Homes Under The Hammer.
So, that’s where you’ll find us at 10am on a weekday.
Watching a bonafide Premier League legend, the man who started a revolution at Manchester United, helpthe British public buy up houses at auctions.
Pass us the hobnobs and a cup of tea.
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