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Top 5 Villa players in your lifetime


Johnnyp

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11 hours ago, MentalM said:

As someone born in 86 and abroad the ninties and early 2000 was difficult to both remember and watch, my list would be something like this:

Grealish, Benteke, Milner, Young, Barry

This would be mine as well but I think given Milner only really did it for us for about a season or so I'd put Martinez in over him.

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1. Cowans

2. McGrath

3. Yorke

4. Benteke

5. Walters

If you have never seen Gordon Cowans play football, treat yourself to a few YouTube videos. I have never seen anyone who could hit a first time pass with such vision, accuracy and control. He was better than the media darling Hoddle in my view. He owned the football which did exactly what it was told when Sid was in charge. He was truly magic.

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17 hours ago, Follyfoot said:

We got back to our car at the Yew tree and turned the radio on and the game was still playing 🤦‍♂️ Bruce got both of them if I recall 

Yes, we had walked past Aston Hall and were on our way back into town, to celebrate drawing level with them at the top, but we all knew he was going to play on for as long as it took, it's my fault I had said that as we were leaving the Holte End exit:rolleyes:.  

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3 hours ago, M_Afro said:

1. Cowans

2. McGrath

3. Yorke

4. Benteke

5. Walters

If you have never seen Gordon Cowans play football, treat yourself to a few YouTube videos. I have never seen anyone who could hit a first time pass with such vision, accuracy and control. He was better than the media darling Hoddle in my view. He owned the football which did exactly what it was told when Sid was in charge. He was truly magic.

Did David Platt not say it was his ambition to make a run that Sid never saw but his never happened 

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3 hours ago, M_Afro said:

1. Cowans

2. McGrath

3. Yorke

4. Benteke

5. Walters

If you have never seen Gordon Cowans play football, treat yourself to a few YouTube videos. I have never seen anyone who could hit a first time pass with such vision, accuracy and control. He was better than the media darling Hoddle in my view. He owned the football which did exactly what it was told when Sid was in charge. He was truly magic.

Bit surprised you would include Benteke ahead of Gray or Withe. Walters was the best youth player I have ever seen. At 15 he won the FA youth cup for Villa. Cowans would get my number 1 too. He had everything and. Skill, tenacity, and a great range of pass with either foot. Hed have got 100 caps nowadays. People knock Southgate but nobody got a chance in them days. Hoddle was picked ahead of Robson and Cowans. Then you had losers like Brooking being constantly picked. 

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2 minutes ago, PaulC said:

Bit surprised you would include Benteke ahead of Gray or Withe. Walters was the best youth player I have ever seen. At 15 he won the FA youth cup for Villa. Cowans would get my number 1 too. He had everything and. Skill, tenacity, and a great range of pass with either foot. Hed have got 100 caps nowadays. People knock Southgate but nobody got a chance in them days. Hoddle was picked ahead of Robson and Cowans. Then you had losers like Brooking being constantly picked. 

Gray had 15 more goals for Villa and played about 70 games more in probably a better squad than Benteke

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On 05/01/2023 at 17:43, ferguson1 said:


McGrath - quite simply the best of the best for us in my time to date.  Didn’t train all week and was then majestic on match day. Just loved watching him.  He had the first couple of yards in his head before anyone else and just snuffed the danger out. Not many got the better of him. 

Platt - He was an absolute bargain and was fantastic whilst with us. Would ghost into the box and score all the time.  Before Italia 90 I remember the chant from the Holte, which was - “we all agree, Platty’s better than Gascoigne”. 

Yorke - Was so raw when he started on the wing but you could see the talent. When he then moved to a central forward he became one of the best in the league and earned his move.  

Barry - was just unflappable. Super talented and never seemed to give the ball away. 

Grealish - the game was easy to him. Would drift past players at ease and won us games singlehanded. During that period with Smith he was unstoppable on the pitch. 

Honourable mention to………Birch, Walters, Cowans, Daley, Saunders, Atkinson, Staunton, I Taylor, Merson, A Young, Gabby and Benteke.

Agree with everything you post except Gabby truly awful footballer, he wouldn’t make my top 100 and an even worse servant to the club.

Nice thought about Birchey - I wasn’t his greatest fan to be honest with you - however his attitude and application each week, could never be questioned 👍🏻

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24 minutes ago, PaulC said:

Bit surprised you would include Benteke ahead of Gray or Withe. Walters was the best youth player I have ever seen. At 15 he won the FA youth cup for Villa. Cowans would get my number 1 too. He had everything and. Skill, tenacity, and a great range of pass with either foot. Hed have got 100 caps nowadays. People knock Southgate but nobody got a chance in them days. Hoddle was picked ahead of Robson and Cowans. Then you had losers like Brooking being constantly picked. 

I only saw Gray when he came back and he was at the end of his career then. I think I was maybe too young to appreciate Withe fully but I think Benteke was a better all round player. 
I loved Wally. He was my very first football hero. His step overs were a thing of great beauty. Wonderful player.

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1 hour ago, Follyfoot said:

Did David Platt not say it was his ambition to make a run that Sid never saw but his never happened 

Yes that’s right. Cowans was out of this world. Alex Cropley was also a wonderful midfielder who is often forgotten. I met him in his own pub, Cropley’s Bar, in Edinburgh. I think it was 1986, he’s a really lovely bloke. He had framed Arsenal, Scotland and Villa shirts on the wall. 

Edited by DaveAV1
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31 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

Yes that’s right. Cowans was out of this world. Alex Cropley was also a wonderful midfielder who is often forgotten. I met him in his own pub, Cropley’s Bar, in Edinburgh. I think it was 1986, he’s a really lovely bloke. He had framed Arsenal, Scotland and Villa shirts on the wall. 

I can still remember the cracking noise of his leg 🤦‍♂️

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2 hours ago, Follyfoot said:

I can still remember the cracking noise of his leg 🤦‍♂️

Me too against the Albium. Me and my Dad used to sit downstairs in the Trinity then. The fella sitting the other side of me said, “Did you hear that? That was his leg breaking.” I was just a kid, you could have been the old bloke to my left. 😂

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7 hours ago, Zatman said:

Gray had 15 more goals for Villa and played about 70 games more in probably a better squad than Benteke

You can't just look at stats and make that comclusion. I was there and saw it. Gray had much the bigger impact 

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58 minutes ago, PaulC said:

You can't just look at stats and make that comclusion. I was there and saw it. Gray had much the bigger impact 

Did Andy Gray play with poor players like Tonev, Bacuna or Delph?

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