Our first card shows Dion Dublin in his football kit, but after leaving that field of play he joined another team entirely and became one of the presenters of the television show "Homes Under the Hammer", which aims to show that it is possible to pick up neglected properties at auction and turn them into renovated properties equal to any new build.
Mr. Dublin was born in Leicester on the 22nd of April, 1969, and started playing football with several local teams, one of whom was called Wigston Fields, which was founded in the 1950s but seems to have closed in the late 1980s, despite the fact that they competed in the F.A. Cup qualifiers right until 1987. Our man left them in 1985, and joined the youth squad of Norwich City, but strangely was not retained by them when he came of age to join the senior team in 1998 - instead he was traded to Cambridge United, and almost immediately loaned to Barnet (for one game) and then to Wycombe Wanderers (for two games). He then returned to Cambridge United, where he stayed for three years. He may have stayed longer, and he speaks openly of his regret at not staying, which was forced on the club when they failed to get through to the Premier League, they just did not have the cash to keep him.
In fact it appears his first ever cartophilic appearance came in a Cambridge United strip; that was on card 319 of Pro Set`s "1990/1991 Collector Cards".
He may have regretted it, but he soon found himself in demand by much bigger teams, and was the subject of quite a fight between Chelsea, Everton and Manchester United. He decided to go with the latter, for a transfer fee of a million pounds - though in hindsight it was not a great time, he was injured several times, and was out of the squad so much so that he did not even qualify for a league winner`s medal - though he was awarded one eventually, thanks to the generosity of the the Premier League. In fact his first appearance on a Merlin sticker shows him at Manchester United, the only set to do so - that being number 207 of their "Premier League 94" stickers" - for by the time the next edition rolled off the presses he was depicted in sky blue having been sold to Coventry City, for two million pounds; that was sticker number 100 in Merlin`s "Premier League 95" set
He remained with Coventry City until 1998, and this is where the bulk of his cartophilic appearances occur, until 1998, when British Petroleum show him in a new strip, for England. He played for them for the first time in 1998, against Chile, at Wembley Stadium, and he would play for his country three more times in that year. But he was not selected for the 1998 FIFA World Cup Squad, and in November 1998, the month of his last ever game for England, he moved to Aston Villa.
His first cartophilic appearance in an Aston Villa strip was another Merlin sticker, number U.24 of their "Premier League 99 Transfer Update" subset of sixty seven cards - and he is also on sticker U31. They have no descriptive text, they only say "These Transfer Update stickers feature all the latest players that have transferred into the Premier League, the stars that have changed clubs, and the breakthrough players that have forced their way into regular Premier League action. These stickers go in the special Merlin`s Premier League Transfer Update Album (red cover). If you`re having problems finding an Update Album call our customer services.....". The move to Aston Villa almost ended in disaster, because during a match in 1999 he broke his neck, and only survived by having extensive surgery, and a metal plate holding three of the bones together. It was predicted that it would end his career, but it did not, he returned to Aston Villa three months later, for another two years, during which he was again loaned out, to Millwall.
2004 saw him coming full circle and returning to Leicester, City. That only lasted two years, and then he was off to Celtic, which did not last either, not even a whole year, and by the end of 2006 he was sold to Norwich City, who had released him after his youth contract - and it was whilst with them that he retired in 2008. He was offered a new contact with Cambridge United, which he debated long and hard, but he was feeling the effects of his injuries and decided it was not worth the risk - though he did stay on good terms with them and was actually made a director of the club in 2021.
Also he had already started to investigate doing other things, including moving into the field of entertainment, which he did, both as a musician and a football commentator. In 2015 he joined the crew on "Homes Under the Hammer", becoming the first new regular presenter since the show began in 2003, and he much enjoyed this, developing a big interest in property developing, as well as renovating his own home. And in 2021 he took part in "Celebrity Masterchef", making the final.
As for our card, not much is known - though you can read the beginnings of a Merlin biography with our Card of the Day for the 14th of March, 2022.
Intriguingly there is also a subset, which does not fit in the album and has become known as the "Alphabet prefix" or the "Alphabet Set". It contains twenty six stickers with a large capital letter on the back, and the wording "This sticker does not have a space within Merlin`s Premier League 97 Album, but you can stick it on Merlin`s `Official` England Team Poster. See the insert in the centre of your album to learn how to claim your England Poster, FREE."