Signed from: Cambridge United (£1,000,000), August 1992
Debut: 1-2 loss vs Sheffield United (as sub), August 15th 1992
League Record: 4 games (+8 as sub), 2 goals
Sold to: Coventry City (£2,000,000), summer of 1994
Hard (ahem) to mention Dion without making reference to his manhood looking like “a tin of vim with an orange at the end”. So the legend goes, anyways, but by all accounts he may have been the (cough) 'longest' player we've had. The first new signing of the Premiership era as well.
An odd signing on some levels, Dion had been a big star in a Cambridge side that nearly made the top flight. His role in the team, essentially, was to get his lovely smooth head onto the end of the numerous long balls hoofed up the pitch. A record of one goal in three was apparently enough to convince Fergie to splash out a million, the fee mostly covered by selling Mark Robins to Norwich – the club Dion incidentally started his career at.
Following two defeats and a draw at the opening of the 1992/93 season, he was thrown into the fray down at Southampton and rewarded us with a late winning goal to get a first victory on the board. Instant (even in minor) place in United history assured.
Two games later, against Crystal Palace, Dion wound up breaking his leg, which pretty much ended his career with us, as a few months later someone else came in struck up a winning partnership up top with Mark Hughes. He made a few showings over the next two years, but was mainly held in reserve. He did manage to score a vital goal in the Spring of 1994 against Oldham, but understandably wanted a chance to prove himself and that summer, moved on to Coventry City. You have to give credit to the management for getting such a high fee for a player who'd hardly set the world on fire at United. All the same, by being such all-round top guy, he always got a good reception on his returns to Old Trafford.
As it turned out, Dion proved his money’s worth by becoming a prolific striker for the Sky Blues and subsequently did the business for Aston Villa too – he could also count himself unlucky not to make the squad for the 1998 World Cup, being joint top Premiership scorer that season. After short spells at Leicester City and Celtic, he finished up back where he started at Norwich, having moved down the pitch to play at centre-back.
Nowadays, he’s often seen on Match of the Day 2, when he’s not inventing musical instruments. Also worth pointing out that despite what some people might say, his dad didn’t play drums in Showaddywaddy. That was the magnificently named Romeo Challenger.
Actually Dion's another one I probably clocked before you having got a good look at him when Cambridge started their climb through the divisions. He was a bit of a comic figure on his visit to Spotland always trying a fancy turn which left him in a worse position than when the ball first came to him but Beck and Ferguson must have knocked that out of him. It must have been hard coming to United in the wake of Shearer snubbing them but as you say he had the character to rise above it.
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