Former Manchester United star Dion Dublin has spoken passionately about the moment that ended his time at the club.
Career-ender
Dublin had a short but eventful spell at United between August 1992 and September 1994. Sir Alex Ferguson sanctioned his signing from Cambridge United in a deal worth around £1 million.
He impressed with his prolific scoring in the lower leagues at Cambridge and turned down interest from Chelsea to play under the legendary Sir Alex.
Dublin netted United’s first-ever Premier League win: a late winner in a 1-0 victory at Southampton on 24 August 1992. It was the fourth game of the new era.
However, disaster struck shortly afterwards for Dublin and United. In his first home start for the club against Crystal Palace, he found himself on the end of an incredibly heavy tackle from Eric Young. Dublin fractured his fibula and badly damaged his ankle ligaments, ruling him out for about six months.
While sidelined, United snapped up the iconic Eric Cantona from Leeds United. The rest is history.
Speaking on In The Mixer, Dublin revealed that he has never spoken to Young and would never do so, branding him a “coward.”
Dublin’s remarks
The former Manchester United forward remarked, “On my Old Trafford debut, I broke my left leg. That was kind of my career really finished. I did play afterwards, but some geezer called [Eric] Cantona turned up and there was no way back after that.”
He said about Young, “I can’t stand him. He’s a coward. A coward. No [I’ve never spoken to him] and I would never speak to him. Never. It was a scissor tackle. So it was a cowardly tackle to be fair.”
“My left foot is planted. The ball comes into me. I controlled on the side, went to move with the outside, but my left foot is still planted.”
“I’ve tried to turn and my leg moved, but my ankle stayed on the ground and he’s just scissored me and run off. Coward. He never apologised. I can’t stand him. Can’t stand the geezer.”
The 57-year-old added, “I got to play for Sir Alex and with those players, it’s on the CV. It made me a better player. But when people say to me, ‘Have you got any regrets in the game?’ – It’s not knowing what could’ve been and what might’ve been [at Manchester United]. I was only there for like, two and a half years, would I have been there for six, eight, 12? I don’t know.”
“I relied on crosses and [Andrei] Kanchelskis was there and [Ryan] Giggs was there. All I had to do was stand in the box. Becks [David Beckham] was coming through. Lots of supply for a big unit that likes to stay in the box. It would have been perfect and I think I’d have scored a lot of goals. But we’ll never know.”
He said about his retirement in 2008, “My body was completely shot. For the last five years of my career, I had to stand in a bath and we’d put hot water up to just below my knees.”
“I had to stand like that for 20 minutes to warm up the achilles so I could go out and train and get through the session. Then I’d have to go back in the bath and recover so I could walk. I was in my 22nd season. I thought, ‘I just can’t do it anymore.’ Having had so many operations, my body was just starting to fail me. The body shuts down because of all the wear and tear. Both knees had been cleaned out. Both achilles. I had sugar injections. Double hernia.”
“Bone graft from my hip for my neck. Broke my collarbone twice. Loads and loads of operations.”
Meanwhile, United are next in action on Saturday evening when they face Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford.