Agreed, McGrath was the perfect scenario for us. Few injury and off the field problems, Sir Graham to nurture him thrpough and in return we got a truely world class footballer.And I mean world class, if Mars had challenged Earth to a match i'm sure he would have been in the squad. Will we ever be able to say that about a Villa player again??And if anyobne is under any doubt, search you tube for some highlights of the Ireland v Italy game at the World Cup in 94 - quite simply it was the the finest individual defensive display by one player I've ever seen (and Italy were no mugs).
Laursen was good, as was Mellberg. Southgate was also class IMO, but none of them come close to McGrath.
In 50 years I will still be saying that McGrath was the best player I have ever seen in a Villa shirt. He was that good.