PaulC Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 17 hours ago, rjw63 said: Why always the premier league era? Why? WHYYYYYYYYY? That bugs me too because we are discounting the title and European Cup winning players and players like Gray Little and Platt who was a level above Taylor. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChesterDad Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 13 hours ago, Zatman said: If important and not on skill then Trezeguet should be high on the list. Them goals vs Palace and Arsenal were huge in our history. If we went down we would be in huge trouble especially all thesr new FFP sanctions We also wouldnt have hired Unai just 2 years later Absolutely terrible footballer - but seemed like a decent guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allani Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Harry Hampton. I remember we did a Top 10 Villa players of all time (I think when John Lerwell was busy compiling all kinds of history) and I made the case for Happy Harry. His stats are absolutely incredible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allani Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 (edited) 38 minutes ago, PaulC said: That bugs me too because we are discounting the title and European Cup winning players and players like Gray Little and Platt who was a level above Taylor. Gary Shaw - who won the award for the Best U-23 Player in Europe that season???!!!!! What a player he would have been for Villa and England. *** Editted - sorry I didn't read your post properly!!! *** Edited January 16 by allani Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caravella82 Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 23 hours ago, maqroll said: It doesn't have to be about statistics, or trophies or awards or length of service or degree of talent (but it all helps). It can also be intangible things that you think are important to a player's legacy at Aston Villa Football Club. My list in no particular order: Paul McGrath Gareth Barry Ian Taylor Jack Grealish Dean Saunders Gabriel Agbonlahor Emi Martinez Dwight Yorke Mark Bosnich Olaf Mellberg A lot of others right on the bubble, but I had to make some hard choices. I have 10 more who could be on the second team.. I will never believe that Gabby Agbonlahor belongs anywhere near the other players on your list. For me, his lack of professionalism (To put it mildly) played a massive part in the 2016 relegation and he spent far too many years at the club without making a single positive contribution. My choices though are for the Premier League Era; Jack Grealish. The single most important contributor to our 2019 promotion and the same again for the 2020 Great escape. Then of course there is the £100m cheque to help keep the FFP Cronies at bay. And for all time: Sid. Our greatest player in our greatest team. He should be mentioned alongside the greats of any football club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Townsend Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Most important since about 1989: Sid (Club legend) McGrath (World class. The GOAT of my time) Platt (Massive player, funded a new team in 1991-92) Yorke (Bargain, top player. What may have been had he stayed in 1998) Barry (Mr Aston Villa for a long time, a decade basically) Merson (The heartbeat of the team, 1998-2002. A wand of a boot) Mellberg (Just shades Laursen for longevity and games played) Benteke (Crucial goals in a bleak era) Martinez (Absolutely crucial to us since day one. World class. McGinn (Symbol of our resurgence from championship to top 4 contenders). Honourable mentions for Staunton, Bosnich, Ehiogu, Townsend, Angel and Mings. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitvilla Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 55 minutes ago, Captain_Townsend said: Most important since about 1989: Sid (Club legend) McGrath (World class. The GOAT of my time) Platt (Massive player, funded a new team in 1991-92) Yorke (Bargain, top player. What may have been had he stayed in 1998) Barry (Mr Aston Villa for a long time, a decade basically) Merson (The heartbeat of the team, 1998-2002. A wand of a boot) Mellberg (Just shades Laursen for longevity and games played) Benteke (Crucial goals in a bleak era) Martinez (Absolutely crucial to us since day one. World class. McGinn (Symbol of our resurgence from championship to top 4 contenders). Honourable mentions for Staunton, Bosnich, Ehiogu, Townsend, Angel and Mings. I must admit your prowess when it comes to financial matters, I find, wanting; but your acuity to Villa's legends is spot on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitvilla Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 55 minutes ago, Captain_Townsend said: Most important since about 1989: Sid (Club legend) McGrath (World class. The GOAT of my time) Platt (Massive player, funded a new team in 1991-92) Yorke (Bargain, top player. What may have been had he stayed in 1998) Barry (Mr Aston Villa for a long time, a decade basically) Merson (The heartbeat of the team, 1998-2002. A wand of a boot) Mellberg (Just shades Laursen for longevity and games played) Benteke (Crucial goals in a bleak era) Martinez (Absolutely crucial to us since day one. World class. McGinn (Symbol of our resurgence from championship to top 4 contenders). Honourable mentions for Staunton, Bosnich, Ehiogu, Townsend, Angel and Mings. I must admit your prowess when it comes to financial matters, I find, wanting; but your acuity to Villa's legends is spot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Townsend Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 5 hours ago, fruitvilla said: I must admit your prowess when it comes to financial matters, I find, wanting; but your acuity to Villa's legends is spot on. Thanks, I think! In my defence, I never go on threads thinking we should buy this player or that player. I think we have to be prudent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niall Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 8 hours ago, Captain_Townsend said: Most important since about 1989: Sid (Club legend) McGrath (World class. The GOAT of my time) Platt (Massive player, funded a new team in 1991-92) Yorke (Bargain, top player. What may have been had he stayed in 1998) Barry (Mr Aston Villa for a long time, a decade basically) Merson (The heartbeat of the team, 1998-2002. A wand of a boot) Mellberg (Just shades Laursen for longevity and games played) Benteke (Crucial goals in a bleak era) Martinez (Absolutely crucial to us since day one. World class. McGinn (Symbol of our resurgence from championship to top 4 contenders). Honourable mentions for Staunton, Bosnich, Ehiogu, Townsend, Angel and Mings. No Grealish on an otherwise sound list. Sorry, that smacks of petty bitterness for me. When he emerged from the under age ranks he was an absolute joy and made watching Villa fun again. Got us promoted and kept us in the league. 100 million came in handy too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubliner Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Starting ~1991 McGrath - light years ahead of any other Villa player I've ever seen. Can't see us ever having a player as good. Bosnich - loved him. Those penalty saves Yorke - best striker I've seen for us Barry - consistency personified Taylor - absolute legend and very underrated Staunton - consistency again Merson - Magic Martinez - best goalkeeper we've had in that entire period Grealish - We'll never produce another like him in the academy McGinn - the heartbeat of the current side So many more I could have picked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Townsend Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 56 minutes ago, Niall said: No Grealish on an otherwise sound list. Sorry, that smacks of petty bitterness for me. When he emerged from the under age ranks he was an absolute joy and made watching Villa fun again. Got us promoted and kept us in the league. 100 million came in handy too. Grealish gave us three and a half great seasons. He also wanted out at least three times. McGinn has been there through it all as has Mings. Grealish also had a fair few transgressions and, no, I am not a fan of him the person. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 12 hours ago, ChesterDad said: Absolutely terrible footballer - but seemed like a decent guy Important though as per the thread title 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agbonla-score Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Here we go..... McGrath - no need for explanation Spink - Kept us in the game to win the European Cup and a long great servant of the club Platt - one of the best players to ever grace the shirt, helped us to 2nd place and earned us massive transfer fees (at the time) Grealish - Helped us gain promotion, kept us up in our first season and earned us £100m in transfer fees to build the current team Withe - helped us win our last title and scored the winner in the European Cup final Barry - Was influential for us for so long and earned us transfer fees Hendrie - controversial I know but was homegrown, cost us nothing and was a great servant to the club across many seasons Ashley Young - Helped us to 3 top 6 finishes and came back for a 2nd stint and was a valuable utility player Mellberg - solid and was a great servant to the club across many seasons Tony Daley - for personal reasons, the reason I loved going to Villa Park when I was younger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethRDR Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 In terms of the sheer ratio of contribution to importance, I am making a case for Jan Bednarek. No, really, hear me out. The sum total of this man's career with us (excluding that Stevenage game): Comes on at half-time against Leeds to help see out a cagey 0-0 and get us our first points away from home. This result is also the catalyst for the first serious downturn in Leeds' form, who would lose their next 4 on their eventual slide to vacating the top-flight with hilariously extreme prejudice. Comes on at half-time against Fulham and is so unmitigatedly shite that Gerrard finally gets the sack. Manages to not shit the bed in the 8 minutes he's on the pitch against Spurs to seal a crucial 3 points on our glorious march to European football. He is simultaneously an apology of a footballer and a human sliding door. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonesy7211 Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 (edited) Had to go for 12 Jimmy Rimmer, Nigel Spink, Ken McNaught, Allan Evans, Gary Williams, Kenny Swain, Denis Mortimer, Sid, Des Bremner, Gary Shaw, Tony Morley, and Peter Withe. Simple enough reason. I do think a lot of that squad are massively underappreciated and do not have the renown they should outside of Villa simply because they were unfairly excluded from the national team because they weren't mates with the right people. Especially Mortimer, Cowans, Swain, Shaw, and Morley. Edit. I personally love Jimmy Rimmer. The first dog my Dad got after I was born was called Jimmy because of him. Edited January 17 by Jonesy7211 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Here's mine. Andy Gray. My first real Villa hero. Nobody had beaten his goal tally for us since the 76/77 season in top flight football. Brian Little. My favourite villa player ever Gordon Cowans. Two great spells at the club. Great passer of a football with either foot. Paul McGrath. Goes without saying the best cb we ever had David Platt. No better box to box midfielder and thd best finisher the club has ever had. World class footballer who has never been given the credit he deserves Peter Withe. The final.piece of the jigsaw in in our title winning and European Cup winning team Dennis Mortimer. Captain fantastic Jack Grealish. Most technically gifted player we ever had Dwight Yorke. Another wonderful footballer. Emi Martinez. Never had a better keeoer in our history. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLVillan Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 12 hours ago, Jonesy7211 said: Had to go for 12 Jimmy Rimmer, Nigel Spink, Ken McNaught, Allan Evans, Gary Williams, Kenny Swain, Denis Mortimer, Sid, Des Bremner, Gary Shaw, Tony Morley, and Peter Withe. Simple enough reason. I do think a lot of that squad are massively underappreciated and do not have the renown they should outside of Villa simply because they were unfairly excluded from the national team because they weren't mates with the right people. Especially Mortimer, Cowans, Swain, Shaw, and Morley. Edit. I personally love Jimmy Rimmer. The first dog my Dad got after I was born was called Jimmy because of him. I was tempted to post the exact-same list (without Spink and the addition of Colin Gibson). On the subject of international caps, McNaught (0), Evans (4) and Bremner (1) were scandalously overlooked by Scotland. Agreed on Jimmy Rimmer - as good as anyone in the world while he was with us. And at a time when English 'keepers were rightly considered the best in the world. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don_Simon Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 21 hours ago, Captain_Townsend said: Grealish gave us three and a half great seasons. He also wanted out at least three times. McGinn has been there through it all as has Mings. Grealish also had a fair few transgressions and, no, I am not a fan of him the person. Which we found out after he left. If you find out McGinn did the same, is he then off your list? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 19 hours ago, GarethRDR said: In terms of the sheer ratio of contribution to importance, I am making a case for Jan Bednarek. No, really, hear me out. The sum total of this man's career with us (excluding that Stevenage game): Comes on at half-time against Leeds to help see out a cagey 0-0 and get us our first points away from home. This result is also the catalyst for the first serious downturn in Leeds' form, who would lose their next 4 on their eventual slide to vacating the top-flight with hilariously extreme prejudice. Comes on at half-time against Fulham and is so unmitigatedly shite that Gerrard finally gets the sack. Manages to not shit the bed in the 8 minutes he's on the pitch against Spurs to seal a crucial 3 points on our glorious march to European football. He is simultaneously an apology of a footballer and a human sliding door. We had the Polish Cafu next to the Polish Nesta 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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