400 Club

[frank]

This week Mark Hughes will join the tiny group of footballers who have reached 400 games as both a player and a manager. Bobby Robson tops the list of 5 and our Joe Mercer, who managed us in 282 games, as well as Man City and England, is number 3. But at number 2 is a player who achieved success with us (2 FA Cups, 96 goals in 217 games) but then went on to greatness as a player and manager with Huddersfield, Clem Stephenson. He captained Huddersfield to 3 consecutive league titles. Richard Whitehead describes the Villa board's decision to transfer him (because he refused to move house from the north east) as a "grievous and far-reaching one." Stephenson and Danny Blanchflower (and Peter Schmeichel, if we can count him as one of ours) are the only Villa players in the National Football Museum's Hall of Fame.

[Meanwood Villa]

I'm guessing that's 400 top flight games? Maybe Steve Bruce will achieve this with us in the near future.

[frank]

Yes, that's right Meanwood.
Joe Smith is at 4.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

I'm guessing that's 400 top flight games? Maybe Steve Bruce will achieve this with us in the near future.

500 top flight games as a player and he is on 392 as a manager.

https://www.premierleague.com/managers/2197/overview

[Meanwood Villa]

Re the Hall of Fame, the 1982 team is in there so that's at least 12 players, maybe more with unused substitutes!

[MoetVillan]

How is Keegan not on this list?

[PeterWithesShin]

How is Keegan not on this list?

He didn't do 400 games as a top flight manager.

[cdbearsfan]

I wouldn't read too much into the Hall of Fame. I believe they inaugurated Man City "legend" Du Wei a few years back.

The Football League did a list which was better.

Villa players were:

Archie Hunter, Sam Hardy, the aforementioned Clem Stephenson, Trevor Ford, Danny Blanchflower, Paul McGrath and, as Frank said, if we can count him, Peter Schmeichel.

Anyway, apologies for derailing the thread as usual. Stephenson is a worthy inductee whichever list you use. I believe we also forced out Frank Barson over his refusal to relocate closer to the club. Ironically, he died in Birmingham.

[rob_bridge]

A Hall of Fame without McGrath is a misnomer. Or defective.

[cdbearsfan]

How is Keegan not on this list?

He didn't do 400 games as a top flight manager.

I'd be surprised if he did 400 games as a top flight player either, having spent a fair amount of his career in Germany.

Actually, while Googling this I can see he didn't. He played exactly 500 games in England but that included 124 Fourth Division games for Scunthorpe and 78 Division Two appearances for Newcastle.

[frank]

I wouldn't read too much into the Hall of Fame.

To be fair to them, as well as including the 1982 Villa side, as Meanwood points out, they have also inducted William McGregor.

[Meanwood Villa]

Were we linked with Hughes when we appointed McLeish or Lambert. Either way he seems a better appointment with hindsight. QPR's the only job he's really failed at, although you could argue he did at Citeh given the resources, but he hasn't really achieved a lot either. Solid but unspectacular. Which would have been preferable to the crap of the last six years.

[MoetVillan]

I'm a dick!

[OCD]

Were we linked with Hughes when we appointed McLeish or Lambert. Either way he seems a better appointment with hindsight. QPR's the only job he's really failed at, although you could argue he did at Citeh given the resources, but he hasn't really achieved a lot either. Solid but unspectacular. Which would have been preferable to the crap of the last six years.

Given the state the club was being running in behind the scenes, I don't think there are many managers who would have been realistic targets and who could have kept us up.

[Billy Walker]

I think the turn of the century Villa double winning team is in the Hall of Fame too?  I could be wrong on that but I'm sure I read it somewhere.