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All time Villa XI for Villa Park - Midfielders


OutByEaster?

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2 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

@John wasn't McParland a centre forward?

(Also Johnny Dixon)

 

Johnny Dixon was an inside forward, although he was versatile and played in every forward position for us, other than outside left. Peter McParland was primarily a left winger, although he did play some games as a centre forward as well.

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8 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

Lists updated - it seems there's something of a gap down our left hand side!

Mark Walters?

 

I’ve never seen a better player at 15 than him. He won the FA Youth cup for us in 1980

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8 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

Lists updated - it seems there's something of a gap down our left hand side!

Mark Walters?

 

I'd happily stick Barry out there. Tony Morley as well!

 

EDIT - both on the list I see 😃

 

I think Young could go on the list. Four years with us and for two he was probably the best winger in league after Ronaldo.

Edited by Tomaszk
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I think Clem Stephenson (1910-1920) was mentioned somewhere by @John. A left-sided "inside forward", I reckon he qualifies for the left midfield role and is one Villan who is already in the National Football Museum's Hall of Fame (largely for his later titles at Huddersfield, granted, but ten years and two FA Cups at Villa gives us a sizeable claim on him too).

In the 1913 Cup Final on the Villa Boy You Tube channel, a youthful Stephenson can be seen making a cheeky little no-look pass (1:46) and being hacked down for a penalty (2:00) – sadly missed by both Villa and the cameraman.

Two other candidates for the All Time XI: Forwards can also be seen pressing their claim. Joe Bache skins a couple of Sunderland players (1:33 and 1:57) – I also love how he dominates the coin toss – while Harry Hampton sticks the ball in the roof of the net (2:22) only for it to be disallowed for a dodgy offside.

(The footage looks even better if you click in the top right and change the playback speed to 0.75x).

https://youtu.be/9pT3WmTJ5EQ

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7 hours ago, Five Ken McNaughts said:

I think Clem Stephenson (1910-1920) was mentioned somewhere by @John. A left-sided "inside forward", I reckon he qualifies for the left midfield role and is one Villan who is already in the National Football Museum's Hall of Fame (largely for his later titles at Huddersfield, granted, but ten years and two FA Cups at Villa gives us a sizeable claim on him too).

Indeed I did, when posting John Lerwill's all-time players. He named Clem, as one of the players that "were regarded by a fair number of old-time supporters as being better inside-lefts than Billy Walker!" 

Funnily enough, John has just given me some other names that he considers are worthy of consideration. These include: 

Charlie Athersmith (listed), Billy Garratty, Dennis Hodgetts, Charlie Wallace, Eric Houghton, Arthur Dorrell, Jimmy Gibson, Dicky York, Danny Blanchflower, Vic Crowe and Gareth Barry.   

Edited by John
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22 hours ago, John said:

Funnily enough, John has just given me some other names that he considers are worthy of consideration. These include: 

Charlie Athersmith (listed), Billy Garratty, Dennis Hodgetts, Charlie Wallace, Eric Houghton, Arthur Dorrell, Jimmy Gibson, Dicky York, Danny Blanchflower, Vic Crowe and Gareth Barry.   

I love how much Villa history I am learning by looking up some of the names in your posts, @John. Cheers!

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I think James Milner should be added. Obviously there may be some recency bias but I thought he was incredible for us. Just nips in at the 100 appearances. 

At that time I used to believe we could beat anyone on a good day.

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6 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

Best midfielders I've seen in a Villa shirt. 1, Cowans. 2, McMahon. 3.Bremner. 4, Cropley. 5,Milner. 6, Townsend. 7, Richardson. 8, Delph. 9, Hodge. 10, Carradous. 

Wheres Denis the menace 😉

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5 hours ago, PaulC said:

Wheres Denis the menace 😉

That's shameful. Captain Marvellous, the finest midfielder never to win an England cap. I don't think he ever lost form. Never shirked a challenge either. 

I'm putting Dennis at number 2. Carradous has been red carded from the top 10. I always had a soft spot for Frank, he would sometimes dribble his way from one end of the pitch to the other and then with just the keeper to beat, the ball would end up in Witton station. Great days, indeed. 

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On 29/04/2020 at 22:40, PaulC said:

I’ve never seen a better player at 15 than him. He won the FA Youth cup for us in 1980

His performance for the televised England schoolboy game was something else. 

The Huns still revere him to this day.  Another snappy dresser. I would sometimes see him in Night rider boozer on the Town, quite partial to a bit of Burberry, as I remember. 

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1 hour ago, sheepyvillian said:

That's shameful. Captain Marvellous, the finest midfielder never to win an England cap. I don't think he ever lost form. Never shirked a challenge either. 

I'm putting Dennis at number 2. Carradous has been red carded from the top 10. I always had a soft spot for Frank, he would sometimes dribble his way from one end of the pitch to the other and then with just the keeper to beat, the ball would end up in Witton station. Great days, indeed. 

Me too Frank Carradous was full of energy and running and part of the 76/77 side which I still regard as the most exiting in villas history. We blew most of the top teams away at villa park. The 5-1 against Liverpool, not televised was unbelievable 

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