Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Villa Memories => Topic started by: Aston Villa on October 11, 2012, 05:34:03 PM
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With the debate over the current crop of young players (Clark, Albrighton, Bannan, Fonz etc.) and as to whether they will good enough to make the grade at Villa. I wanted to hear which players you thought would go on to be really big or even just be good enough to be involved in the first team when they were young. Basically, players who didn't end up as you expected them to. For me, Luke Moore is the one that comes to mind. Always thought he would go one to a top club and become an England international. I suppose compared to some, he hasn't done too badly though.
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Lee Williams - i think is his name. Moved to Peterborough I think.
Hendrie didn't make it? Apart from playing for us for over 10 years and being an international? Bloody-hell the benchmark is set a tad highly on this one.
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David Hughes, while never thinking he'd be a superstar I figured he'd have a good career. Same goes for Graham Fenton. Still had to believe that Fenton barely made 100 appearances in his career considering how useful he looked with us for a while.
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Lee Williams - i think is his name. Moved to Peterborough I think.
Hendrie didn't make it? Apart from playing for us for over 10 years and being an international? Bloody-hell the benchmark is set a tad highly on this one.
Poor wording on my part. I should have said players who didn't go on to fufill your expectations of them. I think many thought Hendrie would go on to become perhaps one of the best English midfielders of his generation.
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The wording of the OP has been edited now.
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Graham Fenton springs to mind
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David Hughes, while never thinking he'd be a superstar I figured he'd have a good career. Same goes for Graham Fenton. Still had to believe that Fenton barely made 100 appearances in his career considering how useful he looked with us for a while.
Just Googled Fenton to see what he's up to and he looks exactly the same (but with a beard).
Was also going to say Hughes. He was fantastic on his debut (or was it just his home debut?) against Liverpool, I really thought he was one for the future.
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Martin Carruthers & Stephen Byfield also never really made it.
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Bernie Gallacher. I thought he was going to be awfaul but he only reached 'shit'
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maybe Mark Burke also.
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Anyone remember Stephen Cooke? For some reason I thought he would go on to become a good player for us. I remember we won quite alot together on Championship Manager too.
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I think both the Moore brothers fall into this category. When you think that at one time Stefan was being mentioned in the same breath as Rooney. If only!
If you go back to the youth team that supplied Brian Little and John Gidman. Brian's brother, Alan, and Jake Findley spring to mind, though in fairness to Findley, I always thought he was useful, he was never given a proper chance.
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My old man is still convinced that Albrighton's the best player at the club right now. I'm not sure that I'd go that far, but I certainly think he will mature into a fine player.
As for players who didn't make it, I'd contest Moustapha Salifou being the 'next Zidane'.
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Wasn't Ni Lamptey dubbed the new Pele ?
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Stefan Beinlich and Matthias Breitkreutz . in the youth reserve setup when Big Ron was at the club, don't know if he discovered them though.
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As for players who didn't make it, I'd contest Moustapha Salifou being the 'next Zidane'.
I think the term used was 'the Togolese Zidane'. He may still be the closest thing they have produced to Zidane though so you can't say he didn't live up to his tag.
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Jlloyd Samuel - when he came through I was convinced he was going to make the England left back spot his own for a decade. How wrong I was!!
The Moore brothers are the worst example by a country mile though - Luke scoring a hattrick in the FA Youth Cup final where Rooney scored one and Stephan ending up playing for St Neots. What a terrible waste of talent.
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charles n'zogbia, what the feck is he doing???
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I really thought that Steve Froggett would be a Villa legend for many years.
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I really thought that Steve Froggett would be a Villa legend for many years.
You just beat me to it.
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Jlloyd Samuel - when he came through I was convinced he was going to make the England left back spot his own for a decade. How wrong I was!!
Plays in Ayatollah Land now doesn't he?
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I always thought Stephen Foley (part of the Youth Cup winning team vs Everton) looked a real talent. I know he went to Bournemouth and Yeovil but don't know where he is now.
On the other hand, though Gabby would play no more than 10/15 games for the first team
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Oscar Arce. The Sports Argus had a four page picture special of his ball juggling skills. I put those pictures on my bedroom wall.
Jimmy Brown. The Doc said when he made is his debut at 15 he would be captain of Scotland.
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Graeme Hogg
Isaiah Osbourne
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Jimmy Brown. The Doc said when he made is his debut at 15 he would be captain of Scotland.
I was at Bolton (Burnden Park) the night Jimmy Brown made his debut at 15 years old. Still the youngest Villa debutant I think. That was the night also that put the idea into my head that Tommy Docherty was losing it, literally. I'd been wandering around outside before kick off and as I was on my own decided to walk over to the players entrance. A lad was outside and began talking to me and a couple of other Villa fans. It turned out it was a youth/reserve team player by the name of Greg Fellows, I don't think he ever played for the first team and was released and ended up being taken on by Manure of all clubs. He didn't make it there either. Anyway, he went in and came out with complimentaries which he gave to me and the other lads so we had good seats in the main stand.
This is where it got strange, as we were sat directly behind Charlie Aitken who, for our younger posters was arguably Villa's best player for years. He'd been dropped, never heard of before. Villa lost 2-1 with I thnk Bruce Rioch scoring our goal and Jimmy having a pretty good debut for a 15 year old.
After the game I was again hanging around outside waiting for the coach when Docherty came out. Well we all surrounded him like flies around shit and he then came out with the little gem that, and I quote, "I can never understand why Charlie Aitken was ever allowed to play so many games for Villa". Charlie was not only a great, loyal servant to Aston Villa but a damn fine full back too. It's not surprising that he arguably went on to play his finest football for Villa after Docherty left when Villa's ship finaly began to come in.
Sorry for the long post.
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"Lucky" Greg Fellows . I had almost forgotten him, and Tony Betts! I too thought Jimmy Brown at 15 would be some player.He had confidence,power and the right attitude but for some reason it seemed to slide away.
Remember Stephen Cooke being the star of the 2000 Hong Kong tournament. I really thought he would crack it but he didnt.
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I remember seeing a kid called Frank Pimblett make his Villa first team debut in the mid 1970s and I thought he looked a star of the future. I don't think I ever saw him or read about him again!
More recently Stephen Cooke really looked the business whenever I saw him playing for the Reserves. He never got a chance of a run in the first team for some reason.
The best Villa youngster I've ever seen was Luke Moore. I saw him as a 15 year old make first teamers look mugs in training. I really thought he was destined for super-stardom. To be fair, he's still playing in the Premier League so his career hasn't taken a complete nosedive.
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I may need some help here from some of my fellow senior Villans. Around 1968/69 we had a night game against Huddersfield which we won 4-1. My uncle told me at the next game that Emmet Kapengwe was unstoppable and that The Doc had discovered a talent that would save the Villa and we had a new hero. Suffice to say that after a handful of games Kapengwe and his compatriot Mwali (?) faded from the first team and ultimately from Villa Park altogether.
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That's about right sir. I was at that match. We played Cardiff the following Saturday and lost, can't remember the score, but it was the only time in his managerial career at Villa that Docherty picked the same eleven for two games running. I think the other fellows name was Freddie Mwilla IIRC.
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Remeber when we all used to rave about Harry Forrester and that he was going to be the next big thing.
Think he is at Bournemouth now.
Just goes to show, how you have to put in the hard work, effort and dedication for your whole career.
I cannot believe professional footballers throw their skills away. The career last twenty years at most. Is it too much to ask?
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Wasn't Riccardo Scimeca touted as a future England captain?
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Harry Forrester is at Brentford and playing regularly for the first team.
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Stefan Beinlich and Matthias Breitkreutz . in the youth reserve setup when Big Ron was at the club, don't know if he discovered them though.
One became a Germany international the other played top-flight Bundesliga football.
I always thought Rob Edwards would be our right-back for years.
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Gareth Williams, circa 1988... good left back for our promotion season then fell out of sorts.
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One not mentioned so far was Mark Blake, a powerful midfielder we sold to Wolves after his initial promise faded quite rapidly.
Luke Moore for me, I went to that youth final against Everton and there was little, at least physically, between him and Rooney.
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Stefan Beinlich and Matthias Breitkreutz . in the youth reserve setup when Big Ron was at the club, don't know if he discovered them though.
I think Beinlich had a decent career in Germany.
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Luke Moore is playing PL football with a team above us so far so we can't write him off.
Fonz is in last chance saloon though.
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Gareth Farrelly had a great game against Everton then never seemed to play again. They proceeded to buy him off us and I don't think he did much there either.
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Stephan Moore without a doubt, his goal on his debut just oozed class and I was convinced we'd found ourselves a gem.
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I may need some help here from some of my fellow senior Villans. Around 1968/69 we had a night game against Huddersfield which we won 4-1. My uncle told me at the next game that Emmet Kapengwe was unstoppable and that The Doc had discovered a talent that would save the Villa and we had a new hero. Suffice to say that after a handful of games Kapengwe and his compatriot Mwali (?) faded from the first team and ultimately from Villa Park altogether.
We talked about Freddie Mwila a year or two back.
This article about his misfortunes at that time is from 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/3812129.stm
Most recent entry on his substantial wikipedia page.
Mwila has settled in Lusaka’s Chilanga area and has been trying his hand at farming. He recently made an appearance on Zambian television as part of the panel of analysts analyzing games during the 2012 African Cup of Nations tournament which saw Zambia win their first continental trophy.
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Indeed ALITA- tad surprised that Freddie is alive as I had read somewhere that he had died in a car crash- seems that was his son,Freddie Jnr, very sad. Warming up for Heaven United is Emmett who did pass away in his late 40's. Shame there is no film record of either player as I am sure Kapengwe was a powerful, skilful player who just needed more time to settle in.
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Dean Glover was once described as the next Glenn Hoddle. Sadly it didn't work out.
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Some of them played too many games too young (Jimmy Brown), some weren't big enough (Steven Cooke), some thought they'd made it when they'd only just started out (Jlloyd Samuel) and I suppose some couldn't handle being just another player after growing up being the big star and centre of attention in every team they played for (Harry Forrester?).
The one player who thought would really make it and didn't get there for some unfathomable reason was Mark Blake.
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Some of them played too many games too young (Jimmy Brown), some weren't big enough (Steven Cooke), some thought they'd made it when they'd only just started out (Jlloyd Samuel) and I suppose some couldn't handle being just another player after growing up being the big star and centre of attention in every team they played for (Harry Forrester?).
The one player who thought would really make it and didn't get there for some unfathomable reason was Mark Blake.
But Dave Stephen Cooke was about 5ft 8ins which isnt exactly small. Didnt carry much weight though and Graham Taylor didnt appear to rate him.
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Some of them played too many games too young (Jimmy Brown), some weren't big enough (Steven Cooke), some thought they'd made it when they'd only just started out (Jlloyd Samuel) and I suppose some couldn't handle being just another player after growing up being the big star and centre of attention in every team they played for (Harry Forrester?).
The one player who thought would really make it and didn't get there for some unfathomable reason was Mark Blake.
But Dave Stephen Cooke was about 5ft 8ins which isnt exactly small. Didnt carry much weight though and Graham Taylor didnt appear to rate him.
Everyone at the club said he was a great player (Sid called him the most skilful we had) but they also said his size went against him. The fact that he vanished from sight within months would bear that out.
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Indeed ALITA- tad surprised that Freddie is alive as I had read somewhere that he had died in a car crash- seems that was his son,Freddie Jnr, very sad. Warming up for Heaven United is Emmett who did pass away in his late 40's. Shame there is no film record of either player as I am sure Kapengwe was a powerful, skilful player who just needed more time to settle in.
Kapengwe turned in a terrific performance in a mid week game against Leicester City (I think it was) at Villa Park 1969 in the pouring rain.
So the Doc dropped him!
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Has been mentioned before, really thought Frank Pimblett would become a very good player, really dont know what happened to him.
Anyone remember Charlie Young, the centre half circa 1976, am sure he played against Liverpool in the 5-1 game. Another who disappeared. Another centre half who i think was captain of Youth Cup winning team was Roy Stark
A player who it isnt fair by any stretch to say he didnt make it, but who I am sure would have become a top player but for injury was Keith Leonard.
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Indeed ALITA- tad surprised that Freddie is alive as I had read somewhere that he had died in a car crash- seems that was his son,Freddie Jnr, very sad. Warming up for Heaven United is Emmett who did pass away in his late 40's. Shame there is no film record of either player as I am sure Kapengwe was a powerful, skilful player who just needed more time to settle in.
Kapengwe turned in a terrific performance in a mid week game against Leicester City (I think it was) at Villa Park 1969 in the pouring rain.
So the Doc dropped him!
Bloody hell, the year before i was born. Remember it well.
One of the things i love about this forum is the lads and lasses who have been going to the Villa long before i was even around on this planet. You have the facts and figures and the knowledge that i can only dream about. I do, however, intend to come back home before i get to 60 and hope for at least 15 years of sitting back on the Holte watching my team again.
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Ray Walker - I thought he would be the new 'Mortimer'.Ended up pottering about in the potteries.
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Ivor Linton anyone :)
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Ray Walker - I thought he would be the new 'Mortimer'.Ended up pottering about in the potteries.
He even looked crap in the reserves.
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Ray Walker - I thought he would be the new 'Mortimer'.Ended up pottering about in the potteries.
He even looked crap in the reserves.
He could pass a ball,and errr that might be it.
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Zoltan Steiber- thought he was going to become a star. To be fair, he has gone on to a Bundesliga club and become an international. Also that Irish player who got a couple of caps before he had even played for the first team (when Staunton was Ireland's manager I think). Can't remember what he was called now.
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If it's Gareth Farrely, that's well before Staunton's time.
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Neil Cox ? Had all the attributes of a seasoned international without the application.
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If it's Gareth Farrely, that's well before Staunton's time.
Nah I meant Stephen O'Halloran. His name came to me in the end.
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If it's Gareth Farrely, that's well before Staunton's time.
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Willie Young.
That forward from Ross County
Daryl Duffy
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That forward from Ross County
Neil Tarrant.
He's played for something like 20 different clubs in his career, he was at Darlington Railway Athletic last season.
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Stefan Beinlich and Matthias Breitkreutz . in the youth reserve setup when Big Ron was at the club, don't know if he discovered them though.
Remember Breitkreutz's debut (or one of his early games at least) versus Norwich in 1992. Looked a real player, nutmegged one of their players not once but twice and had a brilliant delivery with that left peg- possibly even better than Staunton for corners.
Not sure whether he failed us or we failed him- possibly a combination of the two.
Thought he was twice of player the other German lad was - and yet it was Beinlich who went on to have the better career, playing in the Champions League and playing for Germany. Shows what I know.
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Remember that Willie Young playing v Man Ure (was it 3-3 game with Jordan scoring in last minute) and he looked a real top player
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Neil Cox ? Had all the attributes of a seasoned international without the application.
I saw him the other way around, limited talent but tried hard.
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Cox didn't have a bad career in the end.
I thought Richard Walker may have made it, but from memory was just a bit too slow. Foraged a decent career in the lower leagues.
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Possibly the most talented player that I thought would go on to greatness was Mark Walters. Yes, I know he had a decent career but seeing him play for our youth team, I really thought he'd be something extra special.
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Noel Blake could have probably done a lot better if he hadn't developed sticky fingers at an early age down B6.
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I may need some help here from some of my fellow senior Villans. Around 1968/69 we had a night game against Huddersfield which we won 4-1. My uncle told me at the next game that Emmet Kapengwe was unstoppable and that The Doc had discovered a talent that would save the Villa and we had a new hero. Suffice to say that after a handful of games Kapengwe and his compatriot Mwali (?) faded from the first team and ultimately from Villa Park altogether.
The 4-1 knobbing of Huddersfield was earlier in the season, the 1-0 defeat to Leicester even earlier.
Kapengwe made his debut in a midweek 1-0 win against Carlisle, and looked an absolute find. He played the following Saturday alongside Freddie Mwila, making his own debut. We were slightly the better team in a 0-0 against Blackpool. Both were promptly dropped, Mwila didn't make another appearance for the first team, Kapengwe came on as a sub in one game under Vic Crowe but both soon departed.
It pissed it down in one of the games, I think it was the Blackpool one.
This has been discussed in a thread elsewhere but I can't for the life of me think where.
Talking of this era and unfulfilled promise, John Phillips, anyone?
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Steve Kapengwe played on the right wing against Leicester City under floodlights in torrential rain. I thought he had a tremendous game
but the Doc didnt and promptly dropped him. It must have been around late 68 or 1969.
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I thought student, Andy Comyn was going to make it after seeing him make his debut (I think against Man Utd). He ended up only making a handfull of appearances before being shipped off to Derby. He then ended up in the lower leagues at Plymouth, West Brom and Hednesford.
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Steve Kapengwe played on the right wing against Leicester City under floodlights in torrential rain. I thought he had a tremendous game
but the Doc didnt and promptly dropped him. It must have been around late 68 or 1969.
Definitely Carlisle :)
The Leicester game was a midweeker, but early season, August. Either 2nd or 3rd home game. We lost 1-0.
Kapengwe and Mwila didn't appear until November. Kapengwe's debut was in a winning game.
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I really thought that Steve Froggett would be a Villa legend for many years.
You just beat me to it.
To be fair, he was playing really well until he was nobbled in the 3-2 win at Wimbledon when Saunders was on a roll. Was never the same player after that.
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Cox didn't have a bad career in the end.
I thought Richard Walker may have made it, but from memory was just a bit too slow. Foraged a decent career in the lower leagues.
Richard smegging Walker. I had money on us at 12-1 to beat Watford 3-0 and that smegger scored to make it 4-0 late on. I got some funny looks when I called him a wanker for scoring rather than celebrate.
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I thought student, Andy Comyn was going to make it after seeing him make his debut
I was living in Manchester at th time Comyn started playing for us. A girl I worked with lived next door to Comyn and his mother in Cheshire somewhere and she knocked on the door and got me his autograph ( there's something to treasure, a signed photo of Andy Comyn).
Anyway, what was much more interesting was the fact that Andy Comyn's mom, Cherie, used to be one of the backing dancers for the Black and White Minstrels in the 1970s.
Younger posters on here may wish to "Google" the Black and White Minstrels as I'm not articulate enough to explain just how un-pc they were.
I always thought Gareth Williams would be a first team star for many years. I think he ended up as a postman on the Isle of Wight?
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I thought Vassell would go on to have a better career then he has ended up having.
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Ivor Linton
Tony Daley - in a way, love the player, but he could have been so much more
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Vassell and Daley? The pair of full-England international playing losers.
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Vassell and Daley? The pair of full-England international playing losers.
I did say I expected him to have a better career then he has had. Not that he was a loser.
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Well quite. But better than playing for club and country? maybe a Booker Prize?
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Vassell always played better for England than for us, sort of the anti-John Barnes.
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Well quite. But better than playing for club and country? maybe a Booker Prize?
From what I saw in his early seasons with us, I didn't think he would be spending his prime being a squad player at Man City (when they were average), at an average Turkish club and in the Championship.
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Luke Moore.
Well in as so much as I rated him a lot more than his brother.
He was doing o.k anyway until his shoulder went at Chelsea and MON never really played him much after that.
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Always thought the young winger Dave Farrell would make it big time. Bobby Campbell and Tony Betts are also a couple from the past who i thought would go on to be Villa regulars
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Bobby Campbell is a great shout pooligan, really thought he could be a better Sammy Morgan
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Is Vassell still at Leicester?
If so, let's hope he scores a last minute winner this afternoon.
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I remember when we signed Mark Burke as a 15 yr old, he was the Wayne Rooney of his generation, and was the headlines on the back of the Evening Mail.Never really done it at VP, was ok at Wolves.Like Luke Moore, seemed to have it all, but not enough of anything to be a really good player.
Mark Blake rings a bell but i can't remember a great deal about him.Glover, Farrelly, and Walker were all touted as the next big thing, but unfortunately never quite made it
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Luke Moore for me, knew his Mum and followed his and Stef's rise to the 1st team. Really thought he was going to be the next big thing on the international stage
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I remember when we signed Mark Burke as a 15 yr old, he was the Wayne Rooney of his generation, and was the headlines on the back of the Evening Mail.Never really done it at VP, was ok at Wolves.Like Luke Moore, seemed to have it all, but not enough of anything to be a really good player.
I remember watching Burke score a hat trick at Wembley in a schoolboy international vs Holland I think - thought he was gonna be a superstar at the time
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Andy Comyn
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I remember when we signed Mark Burke as a 15 yr old, he was the Wayne Rooney of his generation, and was the headlines on the back of the Evening Mail.Never really done it at VP, was ok at Wolves.Like Luke Moore, seemed to have it all, but not enough of anything to be a really good player.
I remember watching Burke score a hat trick at Wembley in a schoolboy international vs Holland I think - thought he was gonna be a superstar at the time
My sister-in-law taught Mark Burke as a five-year old on Castle Vale. When we moved here to Ireland I met a man who supported Wolves, Mark Burke was playing for them at the time. My sister-in-law was also living here at the time too. This man was the father of twin boys who had also been taught by my sister-in-law and when I told him this he approached my sister-in-law who gave him a photo. On his next trip to Wolves he managed to get to speak with Mark Burke and show him the photo. Mark remembered my sister-in-law with fondness and the bloke and his sons had a nice memory. It's a small world.
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Going back a bit but one who failed to live up to the early promise( albeit for Wolves and Liverpool) was Alun Evans who was really quite crap for the Villa. For a forward he seemed to spend a lot of his time with his back to goal in the wrong part of the pitch. Don't know what his Villa stats were but I can only think they were phenomenally ordinary. Can't remember what happened to him but if memory serves he was the first £100,000 teenager when Liverpool bought him from Wolves ( where he was very good with the soon to become Jehovah's Witness, Peter Knowles).
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I remember when we signed Mark Burke as a 15 yr old, he was the Wayne Rooney of his generation, and was the headlines on the back of the Evening Mail.Never really done it at VP, was ok at Wolves.Like Luke Moore, seemed to have it all, but not enough of anything to be a really good player.
I remember watching Burke score a hat trick at Wembley in a schoolboy international vs Holland I think - thought he was gonna be a superstar at the time
My sister-in-law taught Mark Burke as a five-year old on Castle Vale. When we moved here to Ireland I met a man who supported Wolves, Mark Burke was playing for them at the time. My sister-in-law was also living here at the time too. This man was the father of twin boys who had also been taught by my sister-in-law and when I told him this he approached my sister-in-law who gave him a photo. On his next trip to Wolves he managed to get to speak with Mark Burke and show him the photo. Mark remembered my sister-in-law with fondness and the bloke and his sons had a nice memory. It's a small world.
Small world indeed, Mark Burke lived in the flat next to me on the vale, used to play footy all the time on the green growing up, he was always brilliant he used to run rings around us all. Then when I moved to Castle Bromwich and went to smiths wood comp, Dave farrell was our star player for our school team, he too went on to play for the Villa.
Wish I could have had an ounce of their talent!!!!!
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Does anyone remember us signing a kid from Fulhams reserves called Terry Bullivant for a daft price for a reserve at the time,(i think it was about £200K, a huge amount for a reserve) apparently, he was going to be the bollox, that was just before he faded into obscurity.
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Does anyone remember us signing a kid from Fulhams reserves called Terry Bullivant for a daft price for a reserve at the time,(i think it was about £200K, a huge amount for a reserve) apparently, he was going to be the bollox, that was just before he faded into obscurity.
I recognise the name but I can't think why.
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Bullivant was proof that every manager can drop a clanger, even Ron Saunders. I remember his name from when I was a nipper, but I can't remember him in the slightest as a player. Mind, I was probably only 10 at the time.
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Isaiah Osbourne. I went to what I believe may have been his debut at Godison Park and he seemed to ooze class in the centre of midfield both attacking and defensively and I remember coming home and raving to everyone about ths new young centre midfielder we had.
Every time I saw him after that he was shit. I believe he hung around with very much the wrong crowd.
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Does anyone remember us signing a kid from Fulhams reserves called Terry Bullivant for a daft price for a reserve at the time,(i think it was about £200K, a huge amount for a reserve) apparently, he was going to be the bollox, that was just before he faded into obscurity.
Saunders signed a small number of duffers - Bullivant, Joe Ward, Tommy Craig spring to mind.
We would probably only sign 1-2 players a season so a poor signing would stand out if they ever made the first team ( only Craig of the above was a regular) but he generally was a very astute judge of players. I saw Bullivant play but can remember nothing of him.
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Does anyone remember us signing a kid from Fulhams reserves called Terry Bullivant for a daft price for a reserve at the time,(i think it was about £200K, a huge amount for a reserve) apparently, he was going to be the bollox, that was just before he faded into obscurity.
Saunders signed a small number of duffers - Bullivant, Joe Ward, Tommy Craig spring to mind.
We would probably only sign 1-2 players a season so a poor signing would stand out if they ever made the first team ( only Craig of the above was a regular) but he generally was a very astute judge of players. I saw Bullivant play but can remember nothing of him.
I remember Tommy Craig (abrasive midfielder) who looked very good indeed at Newcastle . Bullivant was nothing to talk about but Joe Ward! not a thing. Where did he play Pat?
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Terry Bullivant a very very average player.
Tommy Graig a lot less so. We never got the best out of Craig, past his sell-by date by the time he came to us. Didn't Tommy Doc try and sign Craig for £100k but he chose that much bigger club Sheffield Wednesday instead?
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Does anyone remember us signing a kid from Fulhams reserves called Terry Bullivant for a daft price for a reserve at the time,(i think it was about £200K, a huge amount for a reserve) apparently, he was going to be the bollox, that was just before he faded into obscurity.
Saunders signed a small number of duffers - Bullivant, Joe Ward, Tommy Craig spring to mind.
We would probably only sign 1-2 players a season so a poor signing would stand out if they ever made the first team ( only Craig of the above was a regular) but he generally was a very astute judge of players. I saw Bullivant play but can remember nothing of him.
I remember Tommy Craig (abrasive midfielder) who looked very good indeed at Newcastle . Bullivant was nothing to talk about but Joe Ward! not a thing. Where did he play Pat?
Ron, IIRC ( caveats about age etc!) he was a centre forward signed from Scotland (Hibs?). I don't think he ever made the first team.
To be fair, even Ken Swain was a very average forward / midfield utility player who turned into a wonderful full back. I am sure Mr Saunders did not sign him on those grounds but was clever enough to see his potential.
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Ward did play for the first team, 2 starts and a sub appearance apparently.
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If I remember right he didn't come from Hibs but went there as part of the Des Bremner transfer.
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He came from Clyde in 1978 and went to Hibs in 1980.
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He was a centre forward, bit of a gamble that didn't work, a bit like a few at that time like Kevin Ready and Willie Young.
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Nii Lamptey. i thought Big Ron had signed a worldbeater.
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Stewart Downing, played for England but he's destined to fall into the lower leagues.
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He came from Clyde in 1978 and went to Hibs in 1980.
Cheers gents.
Sounds just about familiar...
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And I'm sure he made his debut at Old Trafford......
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Does anyone remember us signing a kid from Fulhams reserves called Terry Bullivant for a daft price for a reserve at the time,(i think it was about £200K, a huge amount for a reserve) apparently, he was going to be the bollox, that was just before he faded into obscurity.
I recognise the name but I can't think why.
Something to do with photography?
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One of the best home debuts I've ever seen was from a young boy from Liverpool called Frank Pimblett, who ran the game from centre midfield.
That game, I think against Sheffield United, I was sure I'd seen the birth of a new Villa star, such was his dominance in the middle, outshing experienced pros and wanting the ball in all positions.
He went on to play only a handful of games under Ron Saunders before being released and decided to emigrate to Oz, where he became somewhat of a cult figure.
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Does anyone remember us signing a kid from Fulhams reserves called Terry Bullivant for a daft price for a reserve at the time,(i think it was about £200K, a huge amount for a reserve) apparently, he was going to be the bollox, that was just before he faded into obscurity.
I recognise the name but I can't think why.
Something to do with photography?
I saw Terry Bullivant play a couple of times. I'm not sure why I even remember though, as he was utterly anonymous.
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Those who said Isaiah Osbourne clearly weren't alone:
http://fourfourtwo.com/interviews/boysabitspecial/119/article.aspx
Looking at some of the other articles down the side is fascinating. I don't recall Bradley Wright-Phillips ever looking like setting the world alight though... Interesting to see Fabian Delph in there - the jury's still out on that one, I feel.
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Those who said Isaiah Osbourne clearly weren't alone:
http://fourfourtwo.com/interviews/boysabitspecial/119/article.aspx
Looking at some of the other articles down the side is fascinating. I don't recall Bradley Wright-Phillips ever looking like setting the world alight though... Interesting to see Fabian Delph in there - the jury's still out on that one, I feel.
I find it spooky how young everyone in those pictures looks. Shaun Maloney looks about 9.
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I think we bought Terry Bullivant from Charlton for around £220,000. He never established himself as a first team regular and only got a sniff of a game when we had injuries or suspensions in midfield.
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Does anyone remember us signing a kid from Fulhams reserves called Terry Bullivant for a daft price for a reserve at the time,(i think it was about £200K, a huge amount for a reserve) apparently, he was going to be the bollox, that was just before he faded into obscurity.
Saunders signed a small number of duffers - Bullivant, Joe Ward, Tommy Craig spring to mind.
We would probably only sign 1-2 players a season so a poor signing would stand out if they ever made the first team ( only Craig of the above was a regular) but he generally was a very astute judge of players. I saw Bullivant play but can remember nothing of him.
I remember Tommy Craig (abrasive midfielder) who looked very good indeed at Newcastle . Bullivant was nothing to talk about but Joe Ward! not a thing. Where did he play Pat?
Tommy Craig got injured after just a few games for us, a bit like Mike Pejic. Joe Ward, was he the guy at Brighton who briefly made headlines back in the 80s?
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I remember, and still have somewhere, the programme with Tommy Craig on the cover. And although I was only a nipper my memory tells me I was at a game where he hit the crossbar with a thunderbolt. No idea why it's stuck in my mind as I was only about 8 at the time, or indeed if it even happened. Anyone able to remember if it did actually happen or not?
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Has anyone mentioned Stephen Cooke yet? I thought he was going to be a real talent. Superstar for the youth team/reserves for a while, eventually got a game in Sir Graham's second tenure (I think) but wound up at Bournemouth and then into lower leagues.
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I remember, and still have somewhere, the programme with Tommy Craig on the cover. And although I was only a nipper my memory tells me I was at a game where he hit the crossbar with a thunderbolt. No idea why it's stuck in my mind as I was only about 8 at the time, or indeed if it even happened. Anyone able to remember if it did actually happen or not?
PWS, I remember him scoring an absolute cracker from about 30 yards against Everton (I think) in a 1-1 home draw around 1978. It may have gone in off the bar, so that may be the one you are thinking of.
If you can remember, it was quite similar to Pat Heard's winner at Albion a couple of weeks before Rotterdam.
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I remember that goal. Tommy Craig was an earlier incarnation of Thomas Hitzlsberger. He had a fantastic left foot and a rocket of a shot but was pretty anonymous overall.
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We signed Joe Ward from Clyde for pea-nuts - i was up in Glasgow for a stag do and this stag do coincided with his. He had his stag approx 3 weeks before his wedding because he was signing for us. I met him on this stag night and it was if he put his stag on hold to talk to me for a couple of hours on all things Villa and Ron Saunders - the gulf between Clyde, where he was a fairly prolific scorer and Villa proved too much unfortunately and i think he only made 2 or 3 starts for the first team.....but a really nice guy.
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3 goalies.Kevin Keelan who I first saw in the youth team and was so agile and featured in the first team at 19. Another 15 years later, after being released into non- league football,he was playing in a LC final against us for Norwich.In a similar vein was Colin Withers who admittedly was a hero of the Holte for a while but somehow lost confidence when he was at the best age for a keeper. Lastly,one who didn't achieve anything was Mark Kendall,schoolboy and youth international ,who seemingly just couldn't be bothered .
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I remember, and still have somewhere, the programme with Tommy Craig on the cover. And although I was only a nipper my memory tells me I was at a game where he hit the crossbar with a thunderbolt. No idea why it's stuck in my mind as I was only about 8 at the time, or indeed if it even happened. Anyone able to remember if it did actually happen or not?
PWS, I remember him scoring an absolute cracker from about 30 yards against Everton (I think) in a 1-1 home draw around 1978. It may have gone in off the bar, so that may be the one you are thinking of.
If you can remember, it was quite similar to Pat Heard's winner at Albion a couple of weeks before Rotterdam.
You could well be right Pat. My memory isn't the greatest as it is so trying to remember something from when I was that young and that far back means I could be easily out on some details.
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Luke Moore, I was convinced he'd be a world beater.