Sid's Dream Team

[Rudy65]

                   Bosnich

Barrett Mcgrath Laursen Staunton

                    Barry

          Cowans       Merson

                     Platt   

               Yorke  Saunders

** I'm 30

I wouldnt agree with you as my best all time first 11 but thats a great team

[dave.woodhall]

You'd be surprised, or maybe not, that the Champions side tend to think that their team-mates were the best they've ever played with.

[kippaxvilla2]

Dennis Mortimer has to be in any of the sides.  Paul Mortimer doesn't however.

[dcdavecollett]

McGrath is the best single centre-half to play for us, Allan & Ken are the best partnership.

[Matt Collins]

I've only seen Ken mcnaught on video and highlights can be unfair on defenders for obvious reasons. But the player I saw is nowhere near McGrath's level.

[Mister E]

I wasn't old enough to have seen him, but I do get told that Cropley was some player, and would have been one of our best ever if not for injury.

Just how good was he/could have been?

Well, he was capped twice for Scotland but his career suffered from the two broken legs that he endured. Some could say that his combative tackling style contributed to his injury record, others that he was unlucky.
He actually only played for us around 60 times but he is associated with perhaps the most exciting Villa team in recent times - the one that beat L''The Mighty Reds YNWA' 5-1 in Dec 1976 (my favourite Villa memory after the European Cup win).
How good was he? - Sid's accolade says it all.
How good could he have been? - who knows! Arsenal rejected him in 1974, but we found a slot for him and he blossomed. Sid's emergence may have ousted him from the team. Difficult to say.

[Villan For Life]

I've only seen Ken mcnaught on video and highlights can be unfair on defenders for obvious reasons. But the player I saw is nowhere near McGrath's level.

No he wasn't but as a partnership McNaught & Evans were solid, reliable and the best pairing that I've seen.

[Damo70]

                                  Bosnich

                  Swain     McGrath     Laursen     Staunton

                  Young     Mortimer    Cowans     Morley

                                Yorke         Withe

[dave.woodhall]

I've only seen Ken mcnaught on video and highlights can be unfair on defenders for obvious reasons. But the player I saw is nowhere near McGrath's level.

No he wasn't but as a partnership McNaught & Evans were solid, reliable and the best pairing that I've seen.

I'd go along with the general consensus here although others don't.  "Too busy doing other peoples' jobs to do his own properly" was one opinion of McGrath.   

[Neil Hawkes]

Brian Little anyone?

[Breezeblock]

Spink

Gidman  McGrath Laursen Aitken

Bremner Mortimer Cowans

Deehan Little Gray

[tomd2103]

                   Bosnich

Barrett Mcgrath Laursen Staunton

                    Barry

          Cowans       Merson

                     Platt   

               Yorke  Saunders

** I'm 30

I went to my first game in '85 and my team would be pretty similar to the one above.  I would want some wide players in the side though, so would probably go with:

                      Bosnich

Barrett   McGrath   Laursen   Staunton

            Cowans       Townsend

Daley                Platt                  Young

                        Yorke

[Damo70]

                              Turner's Tots

                                 Poole

       Norton       Elliott         Glover        Gallagher

       Bradley      Walker        Robinson     Burke

                            Kerr       Stainrod (for leadership and to set an example)

[Holte L2]

                   Bosnich

Barrett Mcgrath Laursen Staunton

                    Barry

          Cowans       Merson

                     Platt   

               Yorke  Saunders

** I'm 30

I went to my first game in '85 and my team would be pretty similar to the one above.  I would want some wide players in the side though, so would probably go with:

                      Bosnich

Barrett   McGrath   Laursen   Staunton

            Cowans       Townsend

Daley                Platt                  Young

                        Yorke

I really wanted to play Townsend but just couldn't fit him in.  He was such a good player.

[rob_bridge]

Brian Little anyone?

Yes but as others have sited he seems to have gone for combinations.

Sid, McGrath and Little be the first 3 names on my Villa team - 1978 to present day.