Thanks Ken Mcnaught

[Pat McMahon]

Ken McNaught indeed very slow to prove his worth. Replacing Chris Nicholl was not easy - from a popularity view as much as from a playing perspective - and several of his early performances were borderline awful. I remember his first Saturday home game against Everton and my mom said to me afterwards - "that McNaught is really gawky isn't he?" For a few months she was right too.

Rather strangely, the first time I ever heard his name sung was the home game following the West Ham 1980 cup quarter final (may have been a night game v Wolves but I am not sure of this), where he had handled in the box in the final few minutes to concede their winning penalty, and he ended up being an absolute rock for us.

My favourite memory of Ken was during  the infamous Super Cup Win v Barcelona in 1983. The ref finally awarded us a penalty after some prolonged brutality and the Spaniards were up in arms and gesticulating wildly at Villa players like wannabe Danny Dyers, before the kick could be taken. One of them was frothing at McNaught and he simply grinned broadly and adopted a cocky boxer try-and-hit-me-if-you-can pose. He would have eaten the dirty Barca player alive.

[richard moore]

He always had a funny little run for such a big man, a bit 'a la Pires' in looking a bit tippy toed and slightly flat footed, that's what I always remember about him.

[eastie]

Yes I remember that barcalona game - what a disgrace they were that night , wasnt it Sid who was booted in the net after scoring a pen?

[flybo]

and here it is enjoy

[The Left Side]

Yes I remember that barcalona game - what a disgrace they were that night , wasnt it Sid who was booted in the net after scoring a pen?

Correct, it was!

[The Left Side]

and here it is enjoy

Dirty Barca Bastards, I love Walter's gesture to the keeper after the 3rd goal!

[littlevillain]

loved big ken as a player but have never forgot how he was the only one to refuse me and a mate an autograph when we biked to bodymoore heath as kids. It's funny how u remember things.

[Pat McMahon]

Cheers for that flybo. Am in Singapore for work for a few days and have the rare luxury of being able to access youtube which is banned in China.

I had forgotten McNaught's header, but remember the sparring  - strange how minds work eh? And I don't think I have ever seen footage of us receiving the trophy that night. Can anybody oblige?

[SteveN]

We have the pleasure of meeting Ken Mcnaught at north walsall lions and he did not duck any questions that came his way. Also he some tails about deadly.

Share please. Excellent player Ken Mc. Played against us for Everton in the league cup final if I remember and signed him up after.

Pleased to read that someone who I thought was a really good player for us is also a top man.

Did I read somewhere that one of the reasons we signed him was because Andy Gray was asked who he found was the most difficult centre half to play against?

[eastie]

I managed to get the whole game uncut from a friend at the BBC archives , it was only shown on tv as highlights on sportsnight I believe and although the video quality is not up to today's standards it's a game I enjoy watching back on occasions.

[Pat McMahon]

We have the pleasure of meeting Ken Mcnaught at north walsall lions and he did not duck any questions that came his way. Also he some tails about deadly.

Share please. Excellent player Ken Mc. Played against us for Everton in the league cup final if I remember and signed him up after.

Pleased to read that someone who I thought was a really good player for us is also a top man.

Did I read somewhere that one of the reasons we signed him was because Andy Gray was asked who he found was the most difficult centre half to play against?

SteveN, I have similar recollection to you. Mine is that Ron Saunders had his eye on Ken McNaught and asked Andy Gray what he thought of him, and his reply was that he was a really difficult opponent, one of the toughest in the league. I think that cemented Saunders' belief, rather than him simply asking Andy Gray who was his most difficult opponent.

[monkeyboy]

and here it is enjoy

Dirty Barca Bastards, I love Walter's gesture to the keeper after the 3rd goal!

That was a great night - was the year of my first Villa season ticket, that and  the Juventus game that season, memory failing but seem to remember Boniek and Platini scoring for them with Sid getting ours - sure H&V statos will put me right if i'm wrong :-)

Happy days!!

[gervilla]

I managed to get the whole game uncut from a friend at the BBC archives , it was only shown on tv as highlights on sportsnight I believe and although the video quality is not up to today's standards it's a game I enjoy watching back on occasions.

I bought it on DVD off e-bay about a year ago. Full game and trophy presentation. Decent enough quality.

[HK Villan]

We have the pleasure of meeting Ken Mcnaught at north walsall lions and he did not duck any questions that came his way. Also he some tails about deadly.

Share please. Excellent player Ken Mc. Played against us for Everton in the league cup final if I remember and signed him up after.

Sure did. Took him a while to get the fans on-side too, though replacing Chris Nichol was always going to be a tough gig

. He eventually did it in such emphatic style - great great player.....