Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: trevor fisher on May 22, 2017, 06:12:15 AM
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prodded by the news that Brighton are going to offer Steve Sidwell a new contract as at 34 he is still up for the Premiership, and even more annoyed by watching Gary Cahill captaining Chelsea on the final Match of the Day, a list of the ex Villa Players who were or could be playing in the Premiership suddenly appeared on my notebook. Its unlikely to be complete, but its sobering. This is the list
Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Marc Albrighton (Leicester), Gareth Barry (Everton), James Milner (Liverpool), Ashley Young (Man U), Kyle Walker (Tottenham), Ryan Bertrand (Southampton), Peter Crouch (lovely goal Peter to win the game for Stoke), Jordan Ayew (Swansea), Idrissa Gueye (Everton), Rudy Gestede, Adama Traore, Brad Guzan, Stewart Downing (Middlesborough), Tom Cleverley (Watford), and someone called Fabian Delph, a loyalist lost on the way to Manchester. And the one who really got away since I don't think he ever played for the first team, Daniel Sturridge.
We may not sign many players this close season, which is a worry. Bigger question is why so much top talent went missing.
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That lineup for Middlesbrough doesn't look so sporty to be fair..... And while I was gutted that Cleverly left at the time, has he really pulled up any trees?
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Bertrand, cleverley and walker were loans
Guzan, Traore and gestede top talents really?
Ayew was a sulk who flattered to deceive
Young, barry, milner and delph had better offers and wanted to leave
The only valid ones on that list are cahill and albrighton, having said that at the time i thought it was right for marc to go as he was stagnating. He got proper coaching and now look at him
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Isn't it great that football is a team game and some coaches manage to blend the right players with the right attitude together? It's time we did the same. Don't look back in anger.
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Missed Steve Davis at Southampton. He's the one we could have done with in the past few years.
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I think Barry turned out for Everton yesterday as well.
Now, if there is one player who we could bring back and make a real difference to us next year, it him.
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Martin O'Neill said that Gary Cahill could do everything except defend; so he sold him.
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Noticed last night that Chris Herd will be released by Gillingham.
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Bannan has looked pretty good when I've seen him lately, although I always liked him so may be biased. While I didn't particularly rate him at Villa, I heard the other day that Hogg won Huddersfield Player of the Year. Considering how far they finished ahead of us, that suggests he may have been an asset if he had been retained.
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Level we're at now the two lads at PNE would be assests in our time particularly Robinson.
Only trouble with these threads is we sold many of those players when we were at a much higher level. For example we let go of Steven Davis when we were pushing for top 4.
We let go of Bannan and all the others to the championship when we were still looking to regroup as a prem club.
Main issue for me is we've lost key players and replaced them with utter rubbish which have set us back massively. Losing Milner, Young and Downing in one year and replacing them with N'Zogbia and Ireland being a main example and then selling Benteke and replacing him with Gestede.
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Didn't Davis left because he didn't want to play out on the left? And we weren't pushing for top 4 when he left.
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Didn't Davis left because he didn't want to play out on the left? And we weren't pushing for top 4 when he left.
He left August 2007 so right at the start of our 3 year push of top 4 while finishing 6th.
He went to Fulham, didn't pull up any trees, went to Rangers where he dominated in a league even worse than the championship and then joined Southampton in August 2012 and took a while to break into the team.
Don't get me wrong he's a good player nowadays for club and country but at the level we were at I wouldn't have had him ahead of Petrov, Milner or Barry. He'd have been a good squad player but like Cahill he wanted to play every week which was understandable.
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Jonathan Hogg could be back in the PL next season. By all accounts he's been superb for Huddersfield this season. I remember his debut at Villa Park against Man Utd, probably the last time we actually gave them a game.
Edit: Bloody hell, where does the time go, just realised Hogg is 28.
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Should've kept Enda Stevens then.
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yes JD is right, I missed Steve Davis at Southampton. And I recall seeing James Collins playing for West Ham this season, he may be there next season as well.
The comments here are fair that Hogg, Bannan and others may become prem players, but at the moment its looking at people who might have worked for us in the Prem, who we cast aside, that is what is hurting. I also forgot Scott Sinclair. Next season we can see him in the champion's league, though he did not do so good at Villa, Man City or Swansea.
But Barry.... what a miss. He wanted to come back rather than Everton, we would not pay the fee, said to be £4m. I expect him to break the all time record for Premiership appearances next season. And the comment by O'Neill on Cahill..... If Cahill picks up the Cup on Saturday, O'Neill should apologise.
Some clubs pick up cheap buys and turn them into good players. We take good players and turn them into cheap buys. What goes on behind the scenes?
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Barry didn't want to come back here at all and the contract he got at Everton was way more than we could have afforded.
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A sad thread. It is time for us to start producing the next generation of heroes.
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Jonathan Hogg could be back in the PL next season. By all accounts he's been superb for Huddersfield this season. I remember his debut at Villa Park against Man Utd, probably the last time we actually gave them a game.
Edit: Bloody hell, where does the time go, just realised Hogg is 28.
Jonathan Hogg was a good player, we do let players go to quick, DJ at Preston annoys me, why did Lambert let him go, talked about young and hungry well we won the Next Gen and Lambert didn't give any of them a chance, got a 2nd Division French midfielder in, dear me!!
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I heard a rumour that O'Neill moved on Steven Davis and Aaron Hughes for being Ian Paisley supporters..
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Hogg was so good it's taken 6 years for anyone to miss him. We do tend to over exaggerate how good some of our ex players are. I would have given Johnson and Robinson more of a go though I must admit.
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I would have tried harder to keep Marc.
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do you think we're going to sign the boy from Exeter, Brian?
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I would have tried harder to keep Marc.
The reality though is he never really kicked on from his excellent debut season.
I know he had a decent end of season in his final year but can anyone think of much he did in 11/12, 12/13 or 13/14.
I always thought he was a decent player who just lost his way like many here. I didn't quite expect him to be a premier league champion but it's possible like most at Leicester it was a freak year and this season he's gone back to being a squad player at a bottom half prem team.
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Harsh - he's been one of their best players since Shakespeare took over. Seems to be freed from some of the defensive shackles under Ranieri.
He had a decent run mid-season under McLeish (I remember he scored at Bolton and some landmark PL goal at VP against Arsenal), but injuries and lack of action in the seasons you mentioned prevented him from gaining any consistency.
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and his tendency to give away silly late free kicks in dangerous areas when we were hanging on for a win/point.
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do you think we're going to sign the boy from Exeter, Brian?
I don't wish to answer for Brian but he would be perfect for us next season and wouldn't cost much. For a young lad, he is built like a brick shit house. But has pace and can score off both feet.
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Campaigning is suspended due to the Manchester atrocity. If party HQ is open in the morning I will ask about Watkins availability. Put out a few feelers. Could do with them losing to Blackpool.
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and his tendency to give away silly late free kicks in dangerous areas when we were hanging on for a win/point.
Yeah, that's gone now.
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People forget that MA's progress was hampered by ankle injuries and at least two throat operations.
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Ron Vlaar's AZ Alkmaar threw away a three goal lead to lose the Europa League play-off on penalties.
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and his tendency to give away silly late free kicks in dangerous areas when we were hanging on for a win/point.
I remember him doing that once, at Fulham. Can you think of any other examples?
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Seems as good a thread as any...
MBE for Steve Davis (the ex-Villa player not the interesting snooker star).
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Seems as good a thread as any...
MBE for Steve Davis (the ex-Villa player not the interesting snooker star).
Why? What's he done to earn that?
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Services to football.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-40303890
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Seems as good a thread as any...
MBE for Steve Davis (the ex-Villa player not the interesting snooker star).
Why? What's he done to earn that?
Yeah, seems a bit random.
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He's probably been Northern Ireland's best player over the last twenty years. Diddy countries seem to get special dispensation, see also Shaun Goater MBE.
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Plus he used to play for Rangers. Didn't take long for the DUP to make their presence felt... 😉
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Plus he used to play for Rangers. Didn't take long for the DUP to make their presence felt... 😉
Ha ha, you may have a point there.
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I heard a rumour that O'Neill moved on Steven Davis and Aaron Hughes for being Ian Paisley supporters..
When you heard that rumour, was there anybody else in the room?
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and his tendency to give away silly late free kicks in dangerous areas when we were hanging on for a win/point.
I remember him doing that once, at Fulham. Can you think of any other examples?
man u at home.
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I heard a rumour that O'Neill moved on Steven Davis and Aaron Hughes for being Ian Paisley supporters..
When you heard that rumour, was there anybody else in the room?
To be fair wasn't Ian Paisley Liverpool's most successful manager ever? ;)
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I heard a rumour that O'Neill moved on Steven Davis and Aaron Hughes for being Ian Paisley supporters..
When you heard that rumour, was there anybody else in the room?
To be fair wasn't Ian Paisley Liverpool's most successful manager ever? ;)
Trophies yes, but Bill Shankill was the best.
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He's probably been Northern Ireland's best player over the last twenty years. Diddy countries seem to get special dispensation, see also Shaun Goater MBE.
I spent the day in the company of a pal of his from the same town/village last week. His mate has a Rangers season ticket. We quickly got off football for my fear of being rude to the visitor about bigotry.
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I just read about his home town...
"In the early 1990s the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)-dominated town council banned a performance by the Electric Light Orchestra in the township, saying they would attract "the four Ds Drink, Drugs, Devil and Debauchery."
They also banned "Brokeback Mountain".
Seems a sensible place...
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Article on Steve Hunt
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40605532
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Article on Steve Hunt
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40605532
Great read
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Fantastic read.
Incidentally, the other Hunt, David (remember him?) runs a soccer school.
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Fantastic read.
Incidentally, the other Hunt, David (remember him?) runs a soccer school.
Yes had the turning circle of a cross channel ferry.
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Loved it when we got him because he was Albion's best player and he couldn't wait to sign for the Villa. The Baggie morons at my school were mortified.
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Great read it's good to know what our ex players are getting up to.