tribute to a king

tribute to a king

In July 1989 the Express & Star published a story about Villa moving for a new player. It did, however, say that his arrival at Villa Park wasn't welcomed in all quarters. One supporter was quoted as saying "We've had enough of these overpaid has-beens. " In comparison Custer, the captain of the Titanic and the mayor of Hiroshima were masters of judgement.

I'd never really noticed Paul McGrath before he joined the Villa. There are two types of footballer in the world, and he belonged to the Others - those who don't play for us. But Graham Taylor was a man of sound judgement so when he paid £425,000 I was happy to go along with his belief that here was the man for the job. After all he was replacing Martin Keown, so he could only be an improvement.

The first thing remember about him was the friendly against Hibernian. Ball comes over, McGrath is waiting, knowing full well where it was going to be, and in one movement killed it and without looking delivered a first time pass into the path of a Villa player. Okay it was lan Ormondroyd so it went out for a throw in, but he wasn't to know that. And so a legend was born.

That season was a great one. The team exceeded everybody's expectations and even in such a team of outstanding performers Macca stood head and shoulders above the rest. Ironically it was his early injury that led to Taylor playing with three centre backs, as Mountfield and Nielsen had done so well in his absence that neither could be dropped, and the partnership worked superbly. One occasion in particular summed the man up. The night we won at Spurs was probably the best performance of the season. At one point McGrath went up for the ball, headed into space and walked to collect it, so certain was he that he'd placed the ball where no one else could get at it.

At the end of the season he took just about every award going from Villa, the Midland Football Writers, Sports Argus, and it was a regular end of season occurrence for McGrath to receive a multitude of player of the year awards. Eventually they started going to others, and I think that was simply because Paul was running out of room to store them all.

1990-91 was a disappointment for Villa but McGrath, if anything, improved. The emergence of David Platt as a truly world-class star took a bit of the spotlight from him, but his performances were immaculate as ever. Between them the Irish international and future England captain saved the club from relegation and I often wondered why McGrath was wasting his time with our no-hopers.

Ron Atkinson arrived, and McGrath continued to put in world-class performances. By now we were starting to wonder just how long he could go on for, but there was no let up in his displays.

Finally, the 1992-93 season saw some long overdue recognition, when McGrath was voted PFA Player of the Year. And about time too, was the general consensus. As our front cover said at the time "Player of the Year. Every Year." To round off a season in which Villa almost reached the heights, McGrath won Villa's Player of the Season award for the fourth time in a row.

1993-94 was a mixed season, with the underlying decline in the team being partly I hidden by a league cup final victory in which McGrath played despite a shoulder injury which would have sidelined a lesser man.

Atkinson's dismissal and the arrival of Brian Little was in hindsight the beginning of the end for McGrath at the Villa. Little naturally had no sentimental feeling for McGrath, using him as and when required in the fight against relegation. Last season too, he showed no hesitation in resting McGrath on occasions.

And now he's gone. This isn't the time for recriminations, there was probably fault on all sides and we don't really know what went on between Macca signing his contract last summer and his departure. Let's just remember the player.

After all, when I call him the best Villa player I've ever see it's one thing. When someone like Terry Weir, who's been going to Villa Park for over fifty years, says the same thing then that's something else.

But perhaps we're biased. In that case, I can recall several times when the sheer brilliance of Paul McGrath has crossed every possible barrier of football supporters. The week before his testimonial I was on a phone-in programme, most of the callers were Small Heath supporters, every one of them agreed that McGrath was special. Then there a was a talk with some Manchester City fans about Villa players of the past Jimmy Rimmer was a Red bastard, as was John Gidman, even though both men scarcely played for United more than a couple of dozen times each. And of McGrath, a name still synonymous in Manchester with the Robson & Whiteside school of alcohol abuse? "Great player", they chorused. Or the Rangers supporters who should have no love for the most popular Irish footballer of all, "Wish we'd got him." That was Paul McGrath.

For me the supreme McGrath moment came against QPR at Villa Park. Their forward was through, one on one with Nigel Spink. There's no way McGrath can get a tackle in without giving away a penalty. Except that he does, and not only does he stop the attack but he comes out with the ball and lays it off for a Villa player, McGrath clenches his fist, you can see him muttering "yesss" to himself, knowing the bit of magic he'd brought off. And as one, the crowd, both Villa and Rangers supporters, rise to acclaim something special.

Words like world class and genius are easy to use, so much so that they've lost their meaning. So new words would have to be invented to describe Paul McGrath and his service to Aston Villa. If you're of my age and, like me, from a family whose support of the Villa goes back for generations you'll have been brought up on tales from your grandfather of Billy Walker, of Pongo Waring and Erie Houghton. Your father will have added Johnny Dixon and Gerry Hitchens. And you'll tell those who come after you about Paul McGrath. They'll think you're exaggerating, because no footballer could possibly be that good. And so you will be. A bit.

Dave Woodhall