All time Villa XI for Villa Park - Forwards

[AVTuco]

Hard to say Pongo when you've never seen him, but he should be there with Withe.

[ferguson1]

Going to go with who i’ve seen play.  Dalian, Dublin, Carew, Benteke, Gabby, Angel, Tammy etc, all have given me many enjoyable moments.

Special mention for Dean Saunders here. When Big Ron and Deadly Doug got him from Liverpool, I was so excited.  Always thought he’d score when on the pitch and his partnership with Dalian nearly got us the league.  Loved him at Villa.

However, have to go for Yorke. Watching him develop as a winger then moving inside, some of his play was a joy to watch.  Skill, goals, big smile. 

 

[Xela]

Yorke was the best striker we have had in the Premier League era.

I wasn't lucky enough to see Little, Gray, Shaw and Withe, so couldn't say whether he should be above those. 

The old names I recall from reading the history of the club are Walker, Hampton, Hitchens, Pongo, Broome, Devey, and many more. 

[Brumstopdogs]

Of the premier league era Dwight Yorke has been our best striker IMO and was a special talent and deserves to be included just for this song!

 

Previous to that it gets more difficult but the likes of Little, Gray, Shaw, Walker and Pongo (amongst others) must be in the conversation.

Edited April 26, 2020 by Brumstopdogs

[VillaFaninLondon]

The best strikers I've seen in my lifetime would be Yorke and Saunders, who also both won a trophy and played over 100 times for us. I only really saw Saunders play for us in his last season 94/95, it wasn't a good season but whenever I went to a game Saunders was different class. Yorke has been the best striker I've seen at Villa by far, sadly no one has got close to his level since really and that's one reason we've been so shiiiite for many years. So my vote is for these two.

 

Other decent strikers I'd mention in my lifetime that I saw would be Milosevic, Dublin, Benteke, Carew, Abraham, Angel, Bent. I suppose you can stick Gabby in there as he is our record goalscorer, though I personally think it's ridiculous he holds that accolade as while he did some good things particularly in his early 20s, he had more bad seasons than good with us. I don't think any of these strikers come close to being as complete a striker as Yorke or Saunders were: Dublin, Benteke, Carew all big strikers good in the air with not much else, Bent simply a poacher but didn't really do anything else, Tammy did well here but in the Championship so can't be judged on a level playing field as the others (plus he was only on loan and not ours). Milosevic and Angel were both skilful players that were great to watch at times, but unfortunately very inconsistent and didn't really hit top levels consistently while they were here. 

Edited April 26, 2020 by VillaFaninLondon

[Woody1000]

While he is a MASSIVE p****, Dwight Yorke was absolutely fantastic. A complete pleasure to watch. Almost exactly what we see Super Jack do on a regular basis now, but with more goals.

[Zhan_Zhuang]

In my era, has to be Yorke and Saunders...when I used to actually go see Villa those were the ones for me.

I have fond memories of Rambo McInally too, wow that goal...pity the footage is a bit grainy - https://youtu.be/V0dNKsKDQ1w

 

[Robbie09]

Saunders

Gray

Little

Withe

Yorke 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Robbie09

[John]

Of the strikers that I have had the pleasure of watching, it's Brian Little and Andy Gray for me. Honorable mentions for Gary Shaw, Dean Saunders, Peter Withe, Andy Lochhead and Dion Dublin, as well.

The forwards that played for us before my time, that come into contention in my opinion include, Billy Walker, Harry Hampton, Pongo Waring, John Devey, Joe Bache, Frank Broome, Trevor Ford and Gerry Hitchens.

Having fully taken into account the "all time" element and with reluctance, as the Little & Gray partnership was so very impressive to see in action, my two forwards are Billy Walker and Harry Hampton. These two England internationals, scored 244 and 242 goals respectively, for our football club. Billy played 531 games and "Appy Arry" 373 games for Villa. 486 goals between them, made a very compelling case for their selection! 

[GarethRDR]

Surely Little is a must-have for winning trophies as both player and manager.

[PaulC]

19 hours ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

There's many better forwards than Benteke who have played for Villa, strange how he seems to be getting the most interest.

Not strange at all really if they only go back 10 years. I watching a YouTube channel and they had Benteke at no.2 ahead of Dean Saunders. I'd have Dean Saunders ahead of Benteke. 

[Zhan_Zhuang]

Precisely the hint was in the title of the thread "All-time"...

And we seem to have established many others

[villalad21]

Yorke clearly so much better than Benteke

[Zhan_Zhuang]

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

Yorke clearly so much better than Benteke

And more consistent, for us then Man Utd. and proved it at the top level.

Benteke had his chance and blew it, nowhere near Yorke.

[John]

I mentioned to John Lerwill, that we were doing this yesterday. John has written several books on Villa and was also the club's historian. I asked him what his selections would would be. He gave me: Billy Walker and Harry Hampton.

John added "It would seem that Vaughton, Bache, Clem Stephenson and Wheldon, by the way, were regarded by a fair number of old-time supporters as being better inside-lefts than Billy Walker! Walker played at a time (the 1920s) when the standard of football had gone down - the effect of the huge losses of young men in WW1- and hence gained a greater reputation than his Villa predecessors"

Edited April 28, 2020 by John

[OutByEaster?]

List updated - this one's tough - an awful lot of our best strikers played in an age we didn't watch.

We've got twelve on the list and frankly it's hard to see who we could remove.

Apologies already to the likes of Saunders, Broome, Lockheed, Dublin, Agbonlahor, McInally and Trevor Ford who have all had mentions and don't feature.

 

[TRO]

In terms of being prolific the 2 best strikers one from the early days and one from later times are the following goal ratios 

• Tom ( Pongo) Waring.... 1 goal in 1.35 games.
• Gerry Hitchens................1 goal in 1.66 games.

Andy Gray in his first spell with us managed a goal in every 2.09 games.

I never really seen either Pongo or Gerry, but some going that.

[John]

John Lerwill has been in touch with me again. He considers John Devey, Gerry Hitchens (who are both listed) and Gabby are worth a shout. 

Edited May 1, 2020 by John

[Villarocker]

Withe, Waring. 

With because of the goals in the Championship winning side that won the league for the first time in yonks plus his shin in our only European Cup win. 

Waring because he was a goal machine. 

Edited May 2, 2020 by Villarocker

[Villarocker]

On 30/04/2020 at 16:24, TRO said:

In terms of being prolific the 2 best strikers one from the early days and one from later times are the following goal ratios 

• Tom ( Pongo) Waring.... 1 goal in 1.35 games.
• Gerry Hitchens................1 goal in 1.66 games.

Andy Gray in his first spell with us managed a goal in every 2.09 games.

I never really seen either Pongo or Gerry, but some going that.

I work on Holford Way, close to Villa Park. Every lunchtime for nearly 15 years a few of the guys used to go over to the Barn Social club to have a cob, a pint and a couple of games of snooker. We were regulars on Friday's after work too and obviously used it on match day's before and after the game. 

The snooker room was looked after by an old fella named Les. I remember talking to him one Saturday before a game. This is going back around 20 years and he was about 80+ then. He said he knew Pongo Waring and that he used to go in that club and have a drink and a game of snooker before Villa games. He said he would have his boots with him and the fans going to the game would walk to Villa Park with him on the way to play the match. He said he would then go back to the club after the game and again, walk with the fans. He would go back and have a few drinks and play more snooker. 

Imagine that happening ever again?