Zatman Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 Collymore was never a great player, Heskey was a bloody better striker in his prime than Collymore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 not great yet but Gollini has had a bloody good career since leaving Except Pires i cant think of us signing many players in recent times that were top players but shit for us, even Ginola had his moments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villadevon Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 Milan Baros Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentVillan Posted May 17, 2020 Author Share Posted May 17, 2020 40 minutes ago, Zatman said: Collymore was never a great player, Heskey was a bloody better striker in his prime than Collymore Total prick, but he was class at Forest, and really wasn't that bad at Liverpool. Much better player than Heskey on his day, but Heskey was a better pro. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meregreen Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 (edited) Tommy Craig. Tommy Docherty tried to sigh him as an 18 year old from Aberdeen in 1968 for £100,000, a big fee in those days. But Tommy went to Sheffield Wednesday. Docherty bought Bruce Rioch instead. Tommy was sold to Newcastle and had developed into a top class midfielder. In 1977 Ron Saunders finally brought him to Villa Park. He was a big signing who came with a big fee, 27 years old, at his peak........he was crap. After all those years, what a disappointment. Rioch was a great signing though. Edited May 17, 2020 by meregreen 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 I don't think we've had any "great" players who fit the bill. We've had excellent players, that were past their best when they joined us and players who didn't set the pulse racing when they signed, or when they played for us either. We've had a few that were good at their precious club or clubs, that stunk the place out on coming to us though. Sasa Curcic, Nigel Callaghan and Bosko Balaban, stand out for me in that category. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Steve Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 There's a lot of subjectivity, especially when it comes to signing players with big reputations for lengthy contracts and fees. Plus, there are factors beyond our control - be it injuries or players not adpating to the league. Some players were simply past their prime. The great 'what if' due to that horrendous injury will always be Luc Nilis. Other players who signed and went on to be successes in more recent times were part of a very toxic dressing room and culture. Good players won't prosper, especially surrounded by bad attitudes and average coaching, management, and other players. Sometimes, you strike lucky, look at the change in fortunates once we swapped Baros for Carew. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam100 Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 27 minutes ago, John said: I don't think we've had any "great" players who fit the bill. We've had excellent players, that were past their best when they joined us and players who didn't set the pulse racing when they signed, or when they played for us either. We've had a few that were good at their precious club or clubs, that stunk the place out on coming to us though. Sasa Curcic, Nigel Callaghan and Bosko Balaban, stand out for me in that category. Brilliant John! I was just about to mention Nigel Callaghan! He was playing when I made my first visits to Aston Villa in 1989. We nearly went back down that year! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethRDR Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 Obligatory Stefan Beinlich shout. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferguson1 Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 Sasa Curcic. Very excited about him joining us, but turned out to be a dud. Shame, as seemed really talented. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meregreen Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 (edited) Neale Cooper was a really good player we signed from the great Aberdeen side that Alex Ferguson put together in the early eighties. He was very tenacious a typical Billy Bremner Graeme Souness type of Scottish midfielder. Injuries blighted his time atVilla Park, so we never saw the best of him. Sadly he passed away in 2018 aged just 54. He wasn’t crap as the thread might imply, but it really was sad that his potential was never realised at VP. Edited May 18, 2020 by meregreen 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepyvillian Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 Adrian Heath and Frank Mcavennie, I don't think neither scored a goal for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 Not great players but others that did better elsewhere Crouch, Hadji, Kevin Phillips, Joe Cole, Veretourt, Traore, Pires Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Silvers Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 Trezeguet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristchurchVillan Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 (edited) 40 minutes ago, Zatman said: Not great players but others that did better elsewhere Crouch, Hadji, Kevin Phillips, Joe Cole, Veretourt, Traore, Pires Hassan Kachloul Promised much but was a total disappointment. Edited May 18, 2020 by ChristchurchVillan Spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentVillan Posted May 18, 2020 Author Share Posted May 18, 2020 2 hours ago, Zatman said: Not great players but others that did better elsewhere Crouch, Hadji, Kevin Phillips, Joe Cole, Veretourt, Traore, Pires Pires and Cole stand out as the players who came closest to “greatness” in their primes. Crouch is probably the biggest disappointment because all the other failures can be easily explained by joining too early / late in their career. Crouch should have been much better for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 (edited) 19 hours ago, Villadevon said: Milan Baros Good shout. I thought he would do well for us but 05-06 overall was a fairly poor season. Thought its relative as I would be delighted if could come 16th again. I think that season we had Baros, Angel, Phillips and Luke Moore as backup up front which on paper sounded a lot better than what actually happened. Swapping him for big John Carew was one of MON's better transfer moves. Edit- Baros is still an active player. Unbelievable Jeff, thought he retired years ago! Did Villa have both leading goalscorers of Euro 2000 (Savo) and 2004 (Baros) on the books? Edited May 18, 2020 by The Fun Factory 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 4 hours ago, KentVillan said: Pires and Cole stand out as the players who came closest to “greatness” in their primes. Crouch is probably the biggest disappointment because all the other failures can be easily explained by joining too early / late in their career. Crouch should have been much better for us. Forgot about Cole, yes a very talented player who was poor for us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 Alan Thompson should get a mention too. Thought he would fit right in but only saw glimpses of what he could do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 19 hours ago, meregreen said: Tommy Craig. Tommy Docherty tried to sigh him as an 18 year old from Aberdeen in 1968 for £100,000, a big fee in those days. But Tommy went to Sheffield Wednesday. Docherty bought Bruce Rioch instead. Tommy was sold to Newcastle and had developed into a top class midfielder. In 1977 Ron Saunders finally brought him to Villa Park. He was a big signing who came with a big fee, 27 years old, at his peak........he was crap. After all those years, what a disappointment. Rioch was a great signing though. I think we got the better deal with Bruce who of course went on to be a Scottish International and play a major part with Derby winning the league championship. Tommy Craig was a misfit at Villa too slow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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