Dion Dublin insisted the life of a footballer is "the best job in the world" as he prepared to bring down the curtain on his career on Sunday.The 39-year-old Norwich hitman will make the final appearance of his 22-year career at Hillsborough in the last game of the Championship season.

And after spending a year in the real world when he was released by hometown club Leicester as a teenager, the former England man admits he never took the luxuries of life in the Premier League for granted.

He said: "At the age of nine I started playing at Leicester and I was there until I was 15.

"But between 15 and 17 I worked at an ice-cream factory and I know what's it like to work 60 hours a week for £80.

"I know what it's like going to work on a moped with a packed lunch.

"So being a footballer for so long has made me appreciate how lucky footballers are.

"What it comes down to is that if I had a choice of what to do on a Saturday morning I would get a group of lads together for a kick-about and I've done that for a job for 22 years.

"You can be a millionaire but you can't play football. It's the best job in the world.

"But I didn't want the job to retire me and leave on crutches. The game has been great to me financially and emotionally but I am doing this my way."

Dublin won a Premier League medal during his brief stint with Manchester United in 1992/3 and admitted he wonders what might have been.

He suffered a broken leg just four games into his career at Old Trafford following a £1million move from Cambridge and saw Sir Alex Ferguson sign Eric Cantona in his absence.

He said: "Maybe I would have got more caps for England and played for the best club in the world for longer than two and a half years.

"But it's not a regret as I had no control over that. And it took some player to replace me in Eric Cantona!

"I was never getting back in after he signed. I was fifth choice striker behind Cantona, Mark Hughes, Brian McClair and Paul Scholes and to be fair that is not a bad list.

"But Coventry offered me a lifeline and I don't regret taking it."

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