Chelsea wanted to build a team around me - I snubbed them for Man Utd without knowing my wage

Dion Dublin says he turned down Chelsea in favour of Manchester United and didn't even know his wages when he joined. The 57-year-old admits a meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson made him desperate to sign on the dotted line.

After his father sent 92 letters to every professional football club in England, Norwich City gave Dublin a chance to begin his career in 1985. He later joined Cambridge United, where over four seasons he scored 73 goals and narrowly missed out on promotion to the inaugural Premier League.

Dublin was subsequently put up for sale and he met with Chelsea and Everton. But after a visit to Old Trafford and a conversation with Ferguson, his mind was made up and he moved for £1million. Yet things didn't work out for Dublin in Manchester.

He played only 17 times before leaving for Coventry City in 1994 due to a serious leg injury and Eric Cantona essentially supplanting him. Nevertheless, he snubbed the Blues and was so enthusiastic about the move that he says he wasn't even aware of his wages when he first joined United.

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Speaking on In The Mixer, Dublin said: "We started geographically. We started at Chelsea, Ian Porterfield was the manager. Went straight to Stamford Bridge. I turned up at Stamford Bridge with the people who were representing me at the time.

"I sat at the table. There was Ian Porterfield, eight staff and one spare chair. We sat down and he said, 'Dion, I want to build a team around you. You can have my number nine shirt.' And I thought, 'Wow, that's incredible. Chelsea.' Went to Everton, Howard [Kendall] was there, went to the training ground. Howard went, 'Come on in. Come on in.' He went and popped the champagne open.

"It was 11am, Jesus. Players were out there training! But I had a glass of champagne. Then I went to see Sir Alex. Sir Alex was waiting for me in the car park. I turned up with my reps and he turned up with the financial people and he literally went, 'Come with me, come with me. You guys go and talk about contracts. Come with me, come with me.'

"He walked me from the car park into the stadium, through the bowels of the stadium. And back in the day, the laundry was at the ground, so all the kit was there, all the boots were there and he walked through and said hello to everybody by name. Everybody. All the women doing the tea, chefs, everything. Went down to the tunnel, walked out.

"The tunnel was in between the dugouts. He walked me up the bank. Put his arm over my shoulder. Walked me to the centre spot and said, 'How do you fancy playing here once a fortnight?'

"I've looked around and gone, 'It's a bit bigger than the Abbey [Cambridge's ground].' I signed for United not knowing what I was going to earn. I couldn't be bothered, I didn't care. I was on £275 a week at Cambridge. It couldn't get any worse, could it?"

After his short-lived spell at United and iconic stint at Coventry, where he scored 72 goals in 162 games, Dublin joined Aston Villa. He also achieved cult hero status there, bagging 59 goals in 192 appearances.

Following a loan at Millwall, he finished off his career by playing for Leicester City, Celtic and finally, returning to where it all began with Norwich City. He continued, touching on his career earnings and the high wages intrinsic to the modern game.

"It was £2,500 a week at United, which was unbelievable then," he said. "Then the money just changed. Go to Coventry and you're on £5,000 or £6,000. You score a few goals, you're on £10,000 or £15,000. I left Coventry on £20,000. I went to Villa and signed for £20,000 and then after a season or two it went up to £25,000.

"The last season at Villa was the highest I ever earned. I was on £35,000 a week. At United, I was on a pittance compared to what is going on now. But at the time, I was happy with what I was getting. It started to change and the big money came in. And I'm pretty sure there was a lot of envy. Not jealousy. Just, 'Well done.'"

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