[4] He then went on to begin his professional footballing career with Norwich City after leaving school in 1985, but never made a first-team appearance and was released by the club in 1988.

Having seen Dublin in a cup tie, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson signed him for £1 million on 7 August 1992, fighting off competition from Chelsea and Everton.

[12] However, on 2 September, he suffered a broken leg against Crystal Palace in a 1–0 win at Old Trafford, after a tackle by Eric Young,[13] and was out of action for six months.

[14] By the time he had recovered, however, United had signed Eric Cantona and the Frenchman was firmly established as first choice strike partner to Mark Hughes.

[15] He managed five league appearances that season, scoring once in a 3–2 home win over Oldham Athletic in early April, his goal helping secure a vital victory in the title run-in during a spell when United started to drop points and Blackburn Rovers were closing in on them.

[16] He also managed a further goal in the Football League Cup second round first leg, as United were beaten 2–1 by Stoke City at the Victoria Ground.

He was left out of the FA Cup winning team against Chelsea and failed to make enough appearances to merit another Premier League title winners medal.

[17][18] In four years with Coventry, Dublin established himself as one of the Premier League's top strikers and during the 1997–98 season won the first of his four full England caps.

It included the likes of Noel Whelan, John Salako and Darren Huckerby to add to the already attack minded Peter Ndlovu.

The addition of Gary McAllister, following UEFA Euro 1996, should have provided mid-table stability, but the team's defensive frailties often undermined Dublin's scoring at the other end.

Despite having won away to Liverpool (Dublin scoring in the dying seconds) and at home to Chelsea at the start of April, the Sky Blues could only manage two points from their following three games.

City went into the final day second from bottom of the table, needing not only to beat Tottenham away from home, but also for results elsewhere in the league to go their way for them to escape relegation.

They achieved the most unlikely of escapes; first-half goals from Dublin and Paul Williams gave Coventry a 2–1 win at White Hart Lane, while Sunderland lost at Wimbledon and Middlesbrough could only manage a draw at Leeds.

Dublin formed an impressive partnership with Darren Huckerby which not only produced some memorable goals, but also propelled the Sky Blues to the FA Cup sixth round against Sheffield United; a game they narrowly lost in a penalty shoot-out.

Dublin was controversially excluded from the England 1998 FIFA World Cup squad, despite being the Premier League's joint top-scorer in the 1997–98 season.

Just days before suffering this injury, it was reported in the News of the World that Dublin would soon be sold by Aston Villa for a fee of around £6 million as the club looked to finance a fall in its share value as a result of manager John Gregory's heavy expenditure on players.

[25] In April 2000, a week after returning to the team, he helped Aston Villa reach their first FA Cup final in 43 years, which they lost 1–0 against Chelsea,[26] scoring a penalty in the semi-final shoot-out against Bolton Wanderers.

[27] Faced with competition for a first-team place by new signings Juan Pablo Ángel and Peter Crouch, Dublin spent several weeks on loan at First Division Millwall towards the end of the 2001–02 season.

[32] Following Millwall's elimination from the play-offs, Dublin returned to Aston Villa in time for their final game of the season, against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

He was snapped up quickly by then Celtic manager Gordon Strachan, to cover for the loss of Chris Sutton, on a contract until the end of the season.

Steve Wilson cited Dublin as the main inspiration behind Norwich's 4–1 FA Cup 3rd Round win at Tamworth, in which the striker scored two goals and set up numerous chances for other teammates.

Dublin played his final game on 4 May 2008, featuring in Norwich's 4–1 loss to Sheffield Wednesday in front of 36,208 fans at Hillsborough – the highest Championship attendance that season.