Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Toronto Villa on April 04, 2020, 06:07:25 PM
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Fortunately for this thread and unfortunately for us as supporters of Aston Villa we have gold mine to pick from in terms of absolute rubbish who have worn our proud colours over the years. The same format as Legion's thread (all items nicked) but the opposite - obviously
Birthdate -
Started Supporting -
Manager/Coach -
Keeper -
Defender -
Defender -
Defender -
Defender -
Midfielder -
Midfielder -
Midfielder -
Midfielder -
Attacker -
Attacker -
Subs
Keeper -
Defender -
Defender -
Midfielder -
Midfielder -
Attacker -
Attacker -
Feel free to change the formation and post your all-time, ultimate Aston Villa line-up.
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I think you need to kick this one off!
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1972
1980
Gabor Kiraly
Habib Beye
Aly Cissokho
Joleon Lescott
Paul Elliott
Kieran Richardson
Sasa Curcic
Alex Tonev
Simon Dawkins
Rudy Gestede
Jordan Bowery
Subs: McCormack, Postma, Richards, Djemba-Djemba, Crespo, N'Zogbia, Hogan
Manager: Eric Black
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I think you need to kick this one off!
I tried man. This is really hard. I've missed out loads of utter, utter shit we've had on the books.
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1983
1994
Enkleman
Beye
Lescott
Richards
Shorey
Thompson
Djemba Djema
Berson
Curcic
Tonev
Balaban
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1971
1977
Eric Black
Andre Moreira
David Norton
Jolyeon Lescott
Paul Elliott
Bernie Gallacher
Nigel Callaghan
Stephen Ireland
Tommy Craig
Robert Hopkins
Malcolm Allen
Grant Holt
Kevin Poole
Steve Foster
Jose Angel Crespo
David Hunt
Alexander Tonev
Rudy Gestede
Simon Stainrod
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It’s really difficult trying to separate the crap players from the absolute twats.
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1979
1985
Enkleman
Cissoko
Lescott
Richards
Bacuna
Holman
Salifou
Hodge (C)
Sylla
Tonev
Balaban
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Isiah Osbourne as captain, then fill your boots.
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God we've had some shit
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Kalinic
The late Vaclav Drobny
Richards
David Unsworth and Mrs Unsworth
Luna
Habib Beye
Mathieu Berson
Tonev
The Djemba Twins
Helenius
Dawkins
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Since 1977
Les Sealey
Cissoko
Brendan Ormsby
Steve Foster
Bernie Gallagher
Nigel Callaghan
Sasa Curcic
Paul Mortimer
The Djemba Brothers
Rudy Gestede
Bosco Balaban
Subs
Kiraly
Andy Comyn
Paul Elliott
Andy Gray (no not that one)
Alan Curbishley
Didier Six
Simon Stainrod
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I don't think Brendan Ormsby belongs here!
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2015/16.
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I don't think Brendan Ormsby belongs here!
He was crap.
After several seasons of Evans and McNaught he was a very poor understudy. An accident waiting to happen in every game.
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He got a good uppercut in on Steve Bull.
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I don't think Brendan Ormsby belongs here!
He was crap.
After several seasons of Evans and McNaught he was a very poor understudy. An accident waiting to happen in every game.
I agree he wasn't of the same quality as Evans and McNaught, but who was? But 136 first team appearances would suggest he doesn't belong alongside the likes of Steve Foster.
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I don't think Brendan Ormsby belongs here!
He was crap.
After several seasons of Evans and McNaught he was a very poor understudy. An accident waiting to happen in every game.
I agree he wasn't of the same quality as Evans and McNaught, but who was? But 136 first team appearances would suggest he doesn't belong alongside the likes of Steve Foster.
Gave his all , lacked a little finesse but who wouldn’t compared to Mcnaught Evans. Harsh to say he was crap.
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I don't think Brendan Ormsby belongs here!
He was crap.
After several seasons of Evans and McNaught he was a very poor understudy. An accident waiting to happen in every game.
I agree he wasn't of the same quality as Evans and McNaught, but who was? But 136 first team appearances would suggest he doesn't belong alongside the likes of Steve Foster.
Gave his all , lacked a little finesse but who wouldn’t compared to Mcnaught Evans. Harsh to say he was crap.
No he was crap.
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Aly Cissokho
I have no memory of him at all so I looked him up on wikipedia and apparently he played for us 55 times. Recently too. I must be losing my mind.
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Aly Cissokho
I have no memory of him at all so I looked him up on wikipedia and apparently he played for us 55 times. Recently too. I must be losing my mind.
He was amazingly shit. It looked his torso was attached to somebody else's legs.
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Aly Cissokho
I have no memory of him at all so I looked him up on wikipedia and apparently he played for us 55 times. Recently too. I must be losing my mind.
He was amazingly shit. It looked his torso was attached to somebody else's legs.
I remember him (vaguely) but I would never have guessed he played for us anywhere near 55 times.
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55 appearances. Aly Cissokho. Holy mother of fuck.
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Aly Cissokho
I have no memory of him at all so I looked him up on wikipedia and apparently he played for us 55 times. Recently too. I must be losing my mind.
It boggles the mind how much clubs spent on him over the years. Absolute fucking mince and for me at the top of a very decent sized list of shit LB’s we’ve had at the club.
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He's played for France! He must have won his cap in a raffle.
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I don't think Brendan Ormsby belongs here!
He was crap.
After several seasons of Evans and McNaught he was a very poor understudy. An accident waiting to happen in every game.
I agree he wasn't of the same quality as Evans and McNaught, but who was? But 136 first team appearances would suggest he doesn't belong alongside the likes of Steve Foster.
Three things spring to mind when I hear the name Brendan Ormsby apart from the very sad fact I believe he had a stroke and now needs constant medical care.
He took Ken McNaught's number five shirt when Ken McNaught moved to Albion a week before the start of the 1983 season and then scored the winning goal in a 4-3 victory over McNaught's new club Albion.
He scored a goal for Villa at Upton Park from pretty much the half way line in the mid eighties but I don't think their is any TV footage of it.
In Ian Snodin's autobiography 'Snod This For A Laugh' he reckons when he shared a Leeds dressing room with Brendan Ormsby, Brendan had the biggest cock he had ever seen.
Too much information?
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1978
1987
Sherwood
Enckelmann
Luna
Defender -
Defender -
Cissokho
Bacuna
Sanchez
Penrice
Tonev
Balaban
Cascarino
Subs
Oakes
Watson
Calderwood
J Cole
Drinkwater
Helenius
Hogan
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You could name a shit squad of 25 players from the 'young and hungry' AKA 'cheap and cheerful' Turner and Lambert years.
Kevin Poole
David Norton
Dean Glover
Brendan Ormsby
Ray Walker
Phil Robinson
Mark Burke
Paul Kerr
Joe Bennett
Jordan Bowery
Joe Cole
Phillip Senderos
Kieran Richardson
Yacouba Sylla
Karinm El Ahmadi
Antonio (play with your arms behind your back) Luna
Niklas Helenius
Aleksander Tonev
Leandro Bacuna
Okay it's only nineteen but I was too depressed to carry on.
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I know Stainrod was a lazy sod but he did get 20 odd goals in one season, to keep us up. If memory serves.
That said, we really had some utter gash.
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55 appearances. Aly Cissokho. Holy mother of fuck.
we have had so many utterly dreadful fullbacks over the past 25 years
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I can only assume we have accidentally been inserting "play really shit" bonus clauses into full backs' contracts. Not possible we could buy so many bad ones.
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He's played for France! He must have won his cap in a raffle.
👏👏👏That made me Chortle
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Cascarino. Objectively better than some of the players we’ve had recently. But in the context of the time, worse than useless.
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We should have pumped him full of drugs like Marseille did. He was good again when he played for them.
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In Ian Snodin's autobiography 'Snod This For A Laugh' he reckons when he shared a Leeds dressing room with Brendan Ormsby, Brendan had the biggest cock he had ever seen.
Too much information?
Brendon was the biggest cock in a Villa shirt I have ever seen.
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1938
1945
Eric Black
Withers
Norton
Ulises de la Cruz
Elliot
Amos Moss
Alpay
Wylie
Myerscough
Curcic
Herbie Smith
Tonev
Balaban
Milosevic
Subs 2 of the above plus Burridge, Penrice, Bowery and Reo Coker.
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Plus Callaghan
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Brian - I never saw him play, but you can't have Myerscough in there, when he was in the team that won the FA Cup in 1957, and when he scored the only goal in the semi-final replay win against Albion, and he laid on our late equaliser for McParland in the first game.
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Brian - I never saw him play, but you can't have Myerscough in there, when he was in the team that won the FA Cup in 1957, and when he scored the only goal in the semi-final replay win against Albion, and he laid on our late equaliser for McParland in the first game.
Or Budgie, two league cups.Fake news sorry,only the one, don't know what made me think that. I still loved him as a kid though.
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I wouldn't put Savo in there either, that's a tad harsh. He was a pretty decent footballer.
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Savo Brian! I loved him, surely you could put Grant Holt or Nathan Delfouneso in front of Savo - he did score that belter in the 96 league cup final too!
Each to his own though 👍
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I'd make David Hunt captain, he was trully awful.
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Can’t see anyone voting for Warren Aspinall yet, he was dire. Others include Paul Kerr, Dean Glover, Steve Sims, Mark Lillis.
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No way Savo should be in on the list! He was a decent player. Good at international level.
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1959
1967
Billy McNeil
I could go back to our really dark days but I don't think it's fair to compare players I thought were hopeless in the late 1960s to those in more recent times. In fact I'm only going to list the worst six players I've ever seen in a Villa shirt in the last 40 years:
G Kiraly
B Gallacher
J Bennett
S Foster
A Tonev
R Gestede
All utterly hopeless excuses for footballers. Foster actually had a good career and won England caps until he came to Villa but he was consistently awful for us.
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Enkelman is a harsh inclusion in peoples teams. Judgement is clouded unfortunately by that horror show at The Sty. Overall though he was much better than that. In fact he pretty much kept us in the Premier League one season.
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I was unfortunate enough to have witnessed one of the few appearances in the early 60's of Fred Potter in goal. We have had many in the utter dross category but for me he is by far the worst.
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1972
1980
Gabor Kiraly
Habib Beye
Aly Cissokho
Joleon Lescott
Paul Elliott
Kieran Richardson
Sasa Curcic
Alex Tonev
Simon Dawkins
Rudy Gestede
Jordan Bowery
Subs: McCormack, Postma, Richards, Djemba-Djemba, Crespo, N'Zogbia, Hogan
Manager: Eric Black
I saw Sasa Curcic play a couple of good games for us (at Villa Park against Leeds & Forest I think). I thought he was going to be great for us but I think he quickly went downhill and seemed a bit crazy.
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Enkelman is a harsh inclusion in peoples teams. Judgement is clouded unfortunately by that horror show at The Sty. Overall though he was much better than that. In fact he pretty much kept us in the Premier League one season.
I was at the sty for his howler but didn't actually see it until I got home and watched SKY as I had momentarily lost concentration on the game and was tying my laces as I thought the ball had gone dead. I looked up when I heard the commotion caused by the goal and ad to listen to the comments around me to piece together what had happened. He made a mistake in the return game at Villa Park too and I seem to recall him making a howler (a mix up with Alpay I think) against Southampton that ended in a goal. The problem being all three of those games went out live on SKY.
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Stop advertising Sky!
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Cascarino. Objectively better than some of the players we’ve had recently. But in the context of the time, worse than useless.
Although he didn't score until the last couple of games when the title was already lost I remember Shilton making a great save from him on his debut at Derby and he set up the winning goal for Chris Price at Highbury and I think he set up a winning goal for Sid at home to Chelsea. Plus his two vital goals in the relegation six pointer at Roker Park the next season and his goal at The Holte around the same time against Derby in another relegation six pointer (even though I think he only scuffed it in from about six inches). I also remember him flashing a header wide in the San Siro too which would have put us 1-0 up.
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1972
1980
Gabor Kiraly
Habib Beye
Aly Cissokho
Joleon Lescott
Paul Elliott
Kieran Richardson
Sasa Curcic
Alex Tonev
Simon Dawkins
Rudy Gestede
Jordan Bowery
Subs: McCormack, Postma, Richards, Djemba-Djemba, Crespo, N'Zogbia, Hogan
Manager: Eric Black
I saw Sasa Curcic play a couple of good games for us (at Villa Park against Leeds & Forest I think). I thought he was going to be great for us but I think he quickly went downhill and seemed a bit crazy.
Leeds and Derby I think. After the Leeds game I very naively said to my old Man, he could be like Cantona for us. Not my greatest moment.
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Isn't the name Paul Mortimer usually rolled out on threads such as this?
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I know Stainrod was a lazy sod but he did get 20 odd goals in one season, to keep us up. If memory serves.
That said, we really had some utter gash.
Aside from scoring four on his debut at Exeter his finest moment was recreating the famous Ernie Hunt/Willie Carr donkey free kick goal with Steve Hunt in a 2-0 win over Leicester at Villa Park.
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1977
1982
Kiraly
Beye
Lescott
Richards
Gallagher
Callaghan
Curcic
Kinsella
Mortimer
Balaban
Cascarino
Subs; Cissoko, Bowery, Djemba Djemba, Heath, Given, Tiler, Penrice
Graeme Turner
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Isn't the name Paul Mortimer usually rolled out on threads such as this?
He's made my XI.
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Can’t see anyone voting for Warren Aspinall yet, he was dire. Others include Paul Kerr, Dean Glover, Steve Sims, Mark Lillis.
Kerr and Glover were two poor players in a poor Graham Turner team. They made a living in the second tier eventually. Steve Sims and mark Lillis were two experienced players brought in by SGT because we were woefully short on players and Blair and Evans were suffering from long term injuries when he took over. To be fair to Aspinall I think he was our top scorer in the promotion season and scored a vital winner against Shrewsbury in our penultimate home game.
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Isn't the name Paul Mortimer usually rolled out on threads such as this?
I think for the likes of Paul Mortimer we need a 'blink and you missed them' thread. We have had a number of candidates for that category over the years.
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Isn't the name Paul Mortimer usually rolled out on threads such as this?
I think for the likes of Paul Mortimer we need a 'blink and you missed them' thread. We have had a number of candidates for that category over the years.
Steve Foster says hello !!
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1959
1967
Billy McNeil
I could go back to our really dark days but I don't think it's fair to compare players I thought were hopeless in the late 1960s to those in more recent times. In fact I'm only going to list the worst six players I've ever seen in a Villa shirt in the last 40 years:
G Kiraly
B Gallacher
J Bennett
S Foster
A Tonev
R Gestede
All utterly hopeless excuses for footballers. Foster actually had a good career and won England caps until he came to Villa but he was consistently awful for us.
I was at Steve Foster's debut at Filbert Street and then his home debut against Manure (the Manure fans were taunting him about missing the FA Cup final against them through suspension and then returning for the battering in the replay) They sang "Stevie Foster what a difference you made". I would dispute the fact he was consistantly awful for us. For a start he only played fifteen games and as a striker converted to defence he scored twice for us in those fifteen games.
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Gollini
Crespo
Richards
Lescott
Luna
Tonev
Mortimer, P
Heath
Callaghan
Hogan
McCormack
Subs:
Schmeichel
Cissokho
Kinsella
Ireland
N'Zogbia
Helenius
Balaban
Unlike the "best ever" team, I've only picked those that I've seen.
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I find it strange that he ( Foster ) never did well for us, as the two towns i've lived in ( Luton and Brighton ) he's seen as a legend. Must have been a timing thing as the whole club stunk from 84 to 87.
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Stop advertising Sky!
I think in the grand scheme of things regarding Enckelman the fact that he made three bad mistakes in a short period of time in three live TV games (two of them local derbies) is a big part of the story. Had none of them been shown live on SKY the media attention on him and his resulting lack of confidence which I don't believe he ever fully recovered from would have been less damaging to him and the team. Therefore I mention SKY as a valid and important part of the story.
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I find it strange that he ( Foster ) never did well for us, as the two towns i've lived in ( Luton and Brighton ) he's seen as a legend. Must have been a timing thing as the whole club stunk from 84 to 87.
Foster was bought by Tony Barton from Brighton around March time then in the close season Graham Turner replaced Barton and Turner transfer listed him. If I remember right we paid about £200,000 for Foster then flogged him to Luton for £70,000 six months later. We then spent about £400,000 on Paul Elliott to replace Foster. The same Paul Elliott that had lost his place in the Luton team to Steve Foster!
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I find it strange that he ( Foster ) never did well for us, as the two towns i've lived in ( Luton and Brighton ) he's seen as a legend. Must have been a timing thing as the whole club stunk from 84 to 87.
Foster was bought by Tony Barton from Brighton around March time then in the close season Graham Turner replaced Barton and Turner transfer listed him. If I remember right we paid about £200,000 for Foster then flogged him to Luton for £70,000 six months later. We then spent about £400,000 on Paul Elliott to replace Foster. The same Paul Elliott that had lost his place in the Luton team to Steve Foster!
Wow. I always thought it was a swap deal. Amazing how two centre backs who had good careers were so useless for us. Nice one Turner ( and Doug ).
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Tonev has to be in there!
And the LB that scored at the Emirates on debut - forgotten his name he was that memorable!
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Cissokho was monumentally shit. Couldn't attack, defend, pass, run, he was clumsy and never had the ball under control.
Remarkable that he played for clubs such as Porto, Lyon, Valencia and Liverpool, Also had over £24m spent on him in transfer fees.
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Gollini
Crespo
Richards
Lescott
Luna
Tonev
Mortimer, P
Heath
Callaghan
Hogan
McCormack
Subs:
Schmeichel
Cissokho
Kinsella
Ireland
N'Zogbia
Helenius
Balaban
Unlike the "best ever" team, I've only picked those that I've seen.
Was Gollini that bad? I remember him costing us a crucial goal at Leeds and Bruce number him soon after. Playing in the champions league these days and Italy.
So many dire full backs - Cuellar, De La Cruz, Beye, Hutton (in prem), Lowton...... Stevens, Shorey, Bennett, Luna, Cissokho, Richardson, Targett, Taylor
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I recall we had a collection of dreadful players 84 -87,many of whom came through the youth ranks - Norton, Gallagher, Hopkins, Hunt. We also managed to get the worst out of Martin Keown before he became a top player. I never liked Geoff Vowden in the early 70s for some reason I can't recall, and in the late 60s we had some keepers like Withers and Hughes and Dunne who all seemed to be full of errors. In recent times I'd add Guzan to that list. I'd also find places for Beye, Balaban, Callaghan, Kachloul, De La Cruz, Bacuna, Tonev, Sylla, Dawkins, Bowery and my latest "can't see what he offers" figure, Trezeguet.
As for managers, take your pick from Tommy Cummings, Sherwood, Turner, McNeill, Lambert, and if we're counting caretakers, McDonald and Eric Black. Venglos was no great shakes either.
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Gollini
Crespo
Richards
Lescott
Luna
Tonev
Mortimer, P
Heath
Callaghan
Hogan
McCormack
Subs:
Schmeichel
Cissokho
Kinsella
Ireland
N'Zogbia
Helenius
Balaban
Unlike the "best ever" team, I've only picked those that I've seen.
Was Gollini that bad? I remember him costing us a crucial goal at Leeds and Bruce number him soon after.
He played about half a dozen games and gave away about half a dozen goals as far as I recall. I see lots of people including Kiraly who, as far as I can remember, only ever made one error while he was with us.
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I’m surprised Guzan hasn’t made anyone’s team. That season we went down the bloke spilled just about everything that came at him. The Wycombe affair was the crowning glory. Wanker.
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He was, generally, quite good before that season. I met him a couple of times and he seemed decent and pretty humble. Not "a wanker". I think the players were under tremendous strain in that horrific season and several acted poorly under that intense scrutiny. Doesn't make them the Devil Incarnate.
Bacuna would be another example. He had some poor games, a whole lot of okay games and some quite good games, with some memorable goals, especially from free kicks. We have had far worse and he doesn't belong in anyone's worst ever squad.
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1989
1995
Sherwood (statistically not the worst, but a twat).
Think I've blotted the worst ones from my memory, so my XI isn't comprehensive, but is a mixture of those I have the worst memories of at Villa Park, those I dislike, and those who would fill me with least confidence when I saw their names in the starting XI.
GK: Taylor
RB: Bacuna
CB: Richards
CB: Lescott
LB: Shorey
RM: Tonev
CM: Djemba Djemba
CM: Gary Gardner
LM: N'Zogbia
CF: McCormack
CF: Balaban
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Manager: Eric Black
Mark Bunn
Tony Luna
Aly Cisshoko
Steve Foster
Joleon Lescott
David Hunt
Eric Djemba-Djemba
Alexandr Tonev
Simon Dawkins
Carlton Cole
Bosko Balaban
And also an underachievers XI
Peter Schmeichel
Micah Richards
Joleon Lescott
Paul Elliot
Mike Pejic
Tommy Craig
David Ginola
Didier Six
Stephen Ireland
Stanley Collymore
Gabby Agbonlahor mk II
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Aly Cisshoko
Steve Foster
Joleon Lescott
David Hunt
Eric Djemba-Djemba
Alexandr Tonev
Simon Dawkins
Carlton Cole
Bosko Balaban
And also an underachievers XI
Mike Pejic
No way. Pejic only played 12 games for us, before his career was ended by injury at the age of 29. He looked to me a bloody good player. Not fair to label him an underachiever.
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Aly Cisshoko
Steve Foster
Joleon Lescott
David Hunt
Eric Djemba-Djemba
Alexandr Tonev
Simon Dawkins
Carlton Cole
Bosko Balaban
And also an underachievers XI
Mike Pejic
No way. Pejic only played 12 games for us, before his career was ended by injury at the age of 29. He looked to me a bloody good player. Not fair to label him an underachiever.
Fair enough. Poor memory. Just remember he arrived with a big reputation and an international and then didn’t do anything. You’ve cleared up why. I’ll go for Jordan Amavi then.
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Amavi was fairly good, got injured, was okay, then got sold. Far from "shit", imo.
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Birthdate - 1968
Started Supporting - 1990
Manager/Coach - Eric Black
Keeper - Kiraly
Defender - Gallacher
Defender - Lescott
Defender - Richards
Defender - Richardson
Midfielder - Bacuna
Midfielder - Lansbury
Midfielder - Birch
Midfielder - Mortimer
Attacker - Penrice
Attacker - Hogan
Subs
Keeper - Moreira
Defender - Cissokho
Defender - Elphick
Midfielder - Kinsella
Midfielder - Djemba-Djemba
Attacker - Olney
Attacker - Gestede
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Birchy ?
No
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Birchy ?
No
Sorry but in my era he only turned up 1 game in half a dozen if you were lucky. That game he turned up in he was good but the rest, Blues.
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Birchy ?
No
Sorry but in my era he only turned up 1 game in half a dozen if you were lucky. That game he turned up in he was good but the rest, Blues.
173 appearances and 22 goals from midfield in a difficult period for the club would suggest a decent player - my recollection is of a player who never gave less than everything he could - an overachiever if ever there was one.
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Birch is the worst choice on the entire thread. Nobody ever worked harder. Marked Lothar Matthaus, the best player on the planet, out of the game.
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Birch is the worst choice on the entire thread. Nobody ever worked harder. Marked Lothar Matthaus, the best player on the planet, out of the game.
With you mate. Can not understand why he is included.
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Birch is the worst choice on the entire thread. Nobody ever worked harder. Marked Lothar Matthaus, the best player on the planet, out of the game.
And didnt get within 10 yards of him in the return leg which everyone conveniently forgets. Listen I realise for some it’ll be controversial but I’ve done it on what I’ve actually witnessed which was Sept 90 onwards.
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Matthaus wasn't that amazing in the second leg, either. Inter's star men were, by an absolute mile, the officials.
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Matthaus wasn't that amazing in the second leg, either. Inter's star men were, by an absolute mile, the officials.
And Cascarino had a blinder for them.
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Birthdate - 1968
Started Supporting - 1990
Manager/Coach - Eric Black
Keeper - Kiraly
Defender - Gallacher
Defender - Lescott
Defender - Richards
Defender - Richardson
Midfielder - Bacuna
Midfielder - Lansbury
Midfielder - Birch
Midfielder - Mortimer
Attacker - Penrice
Attacker - Hogan
Subs
Keeper - Moreira
Defender - Cissokho
Defender - Elphick
Midfielder - Kinsella
Midfielder - Djemba-Djemba
Attacker - Olney
Attacker - Gestede
Mortimer ????? Did we have another one ? Otherwise, what the absolute f**k ???
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Birthdate - 1968
Started Supporting - 1990
Manager/Coach - Eric Black
Keeper - Kiraly
Defender - Gallacher
Defender - Lescott
Defender - Richards
Defender - Richardson
Midfielder - Bacuna
Midfielder - Lansbury
Midfielder - Birch
Midfielder - Mortimer
Attacker - Penrice
Attacker - Hogan
Subs
Keeper - Moreira
Defender - Cissokho
Defender - Elphick
Midfielder - Kinsella
Midfielder - Djemba-Djemba
Attacker - Olney
Attacker - Gestede
Mortimer ????? Did we have another one ? Otherwise, what the absolute f**k ???
Paul.
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Oh yeah forgot about him ! Fair enough 😊
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Mortimer
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BBC online showing the 2002 Celtic v Rangers cup final and Celtic’s team comprises three names that belong on here, maybe four, you decide -
Lambert, Thompson, Sutton, Agathe, Petrov
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Birch is the worst choice on the entire thread. Nobody ever worked harder. Marked Lothar Matthaus, the best player on the planet, out of the game.
Yep, Birchy was man of the match that night and also very consistant in our promotion season under SGT. He scored a couple of cracking goals at home to Plymouth and a decent one away at Bradford if I remember right.
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BBC online showing the 2002 Celtic v Rangers cup final and Celtic’s team comprises three names that belong on here, maybe four, you decide -
Lambert, Thompson, Sutton, Agathe, Petrov
Lambert as manager, maybe. Thompson was okay. Sutton was okay but got injured. Agathe was shite, but we did sign him when he was past it, to be fair. After a brilliant debut, Petrov's early days at Villa weren't always great, but he got better and better, becoming our best player before his illness.
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Kiraly
Unsworth
Elphick
Lescott
Richards
Djemba Djemba
Agathe
Jenas
Pires
McCormack
Carlton Cole
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I know it's all about opinions but Birchy is the worst choice so far.
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Too depressing a topic for me, but what I do know is N'Zogbia would be captaining my team, the talent wasting lazy spunk trumpet.
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Birthdate - 1968
Started Supporting - 1990
Manager/Coach - Eric Black
Keeper - Kiraly
Defender - Gallacher
Defender - Lescott
Defender - Richards
Defender - Richardson
Midfielder - Bacuna
Midfielder - Lansbury
Midfielder - Birch
Midfielder - Mortimer
Attacker - Penrice
Attacker - Hogan
Subs
Keeper - Moreira
Defender - Cissokho
Defender - Elphick
Midfielder - Kinsella
Midfielder - Djemba-Djemba
Attacker - Olney
Attacker - Gestede
Some great choices but can't agree with Birch, who was solid, or Olney, who was superb for six months.
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You could almost do an entire team of the shit left backs we've had in the last ten years.
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Too depressing a topic for me, but what I do know is N'Zogbia would be captaining my team, the talent wasting lazy spunk trumpet.
Complete waste of space, thought he was a good singing at the time, mind.
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I might have missed him but if not I'm suprised to see no mentions for Salifou, great song and became a cult hero but he was an incredibly limited player. It's going some to not a front 3 of Hogan, McCormack and Gestede, that's £30m of absolute dross.
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Any room for Grant Holt in this side?
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1975, 1988.
OK, first team for the shittest players, and i'm not including anyone who's only played a match or two, i.e. Balaban, anyone who's not played in the top flight for us, i.e. Elphick or anyone who it's fair to say is a fucking nutcase, i.e. Curcic who in actual fact had the ability of most of those in my best Villa side.
These are purely just really shit players who weren't close to being good enough and who had been given a bit of a chance at least.
Manager - Sherwood
1. Enkelmann
2. Beye
3. B Gallagher
4. Ridgewell
5. Baker
6. Djemba Djemba
7. Keiron Richardson
8. Brett Holman
9. C Cole
10. Cascarino
11. Tonev
Cascarino included mainly for the pretty big fee we paid at the time for such an apparent lack of football ability.
Can't be bothered with subs for that team, let 'em struggle.
Second team is 'Aston Villa ****** 11, 1988-2020'. Can include anyone on the books at any point...
1. Guzan - gobbing ******
2. Beye - 40k a week useless ******
3. Lescott - rub your nose in it ******
4. Alpay - badge kissing turncoat ******
5. Richards - screeching, injured ******
6. Delph - lying ******
7. N'Zogbia - biggest ****** of the lot
8. Ireland - never wanted to come in the first place and boy did it show ******
9. Gabby - Gave up half way through his career ******
10. McCormack - Non fence hopping ******
11. Downing - nursed back from injury and fucked off at the first opportunity ******
Subs;
1. Bosnich - contract run down and sign for Man Utd for free ******
2. Collins - Good first season and then fucking gormless carthorse ******
3. Dunne - Fat ******
4. P Mortimer - Holte end disrespecting ******
5. Callaghan - moody, useless ******
6. Collymore - silly ******
7. Yorke - Man Utd badge kissing, signed for the Heathens down the road to add insult to injury ******
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Cher’s for the laugh CGW. Great post.
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7. N'Zogbia - biggest ****** of the lot
Amen to that.
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Yep, it's a beauty.
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I think Ireland was the biggest c*** of all. Worse than N'Zogbia. At least CNZ didn't look like he'd already decided not to bother trying by the end of his first press conference. I think Ireland slagged off the area too. Bellend-headed minge face.
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I honestly cant remember seeing Habib Beye playing to make any kind of judgement on just how shit he was.
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Any room for Grant Holt in this side?
Yes. But to be honest until you posted his name I had totally forgotten about him. So he qualifies for the double honour of being on the shit players list and on the forgotten he even played for us list.
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1974
1979
Manager McNeill
GK Kalinic
LB Gallagher
RB Crespo
CB Konsa
CB Richards
RW Pires
LW Sinclair
CM Sanchez
CM Drinkwater
CF Wesley
CF Holt
Subs
Bunn
Bree
Hause
Richardson
Bakuna
Stainrod
Fashanu
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Still struggling to narrow it down to eleven but Mark Kinsella is a shoe in. (His sideways passing made Westwood look like Iniesta).
Surprised no-one has mentioned Carl Tiler. I thought he was woeful during his brief stay under Brian Little.
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Konsa & Cresto?
They’ve only played a few minutes
And Paul Birch? Hang your head
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Kiraly is just remembered for the error in his last game (and his bizarre matchday outfit!) Was fine in the other games like 0-0 v Chelsea which was the league game before Man. United in the cup.
He was just a short term fix when the first two were injured, Mark Bunn much worse than him for a start. After his England error Carson was pretty poor for the rest of 07/08 aswell.
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Amazed Tonev isn't making more 11s. Worst outfield attacker I've seen play for us by a long way. Looked like a half time prize winner when he came on.
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Kiraly is just remembered for the error in his last game (and his bizarre matchday outfit!) Was fine in the other games like 0-0 v Chelsea which was the league game before Man. United in the cup.
He was just a short term fix when the first two were injured, Mark Bunn much worse than him for a start. After his England error Carson was pretty poor for the rest of 07/08 aswell.
Bunn was probably the worst keeper I can recall aswell. His display during the cabbage fest against Preston will live long in the memory. Genuinely looked too short to play in goal. Nyland was woeful in the championship but redeemed himself a bit this season.
So many non entities in GT2 stint alone, Allback, Leonhardsen, Gudjohnson, Hadji, Kachoul, Kinsella, Crouch was laughably poor too . That was a truly awful team.
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Kiraly is just remembered for the error in his last game (and his bizarre matchday outfit!) Was fine in the other games like 0-0 v Chelsea which was the league game before Man. United in the cup.
He was just a short term fix when the first two were injured, Mark Bunn much worse than him for a start. After his England error Carson was pretty poor for the rest of 07/08 aswell.
Bunn was probably the worst keeper I can recall aswell. His display during the cabbage fest against Preston will live long in the memory. Genuinely looked too short to play in goal. Nyland was woeful in the championship but redeemed himself a bit this season.
So many non entities in GT2 stint alone, Allback, Leonhardsen, Gudjohnson, Hadji, Kachoul, Kinsella, Crouch was laughably poor too . That was a truly awful team.
Crouch had a blinder on his Villa park debut (against Newcastle I think) when every opposition defender seemed to be booked because they couldn't handle him. Then that twat O'Leary decided to loan him to Norwich and then flog him to Southampton and replace him with the useless Carlton Cole (27 games, 3 goals). Wasn't it Gregory who signed Hadji and Kachoul?
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I always rated Carlton Cole, great debut.
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Kiraly is just remembered for the error in his last game (and his bizarre matchday outfit!) Was fine in the other games like 0-0 v Chelsea which was the league game before Man. United in the cup.
He was just a short term fix when the first two were injured, Mark Bunn much worse than him for a start. After his England error Carson was pretty poor for the rest of 07/08 aswell.
Bunn was probably the worst keeper I can recall aswell. His display during the cabbage fest against Preston will live long in the memory. Genuinely looked too short to play in goal. Nyland was woeful in the championship but redeemed himself a bit this season.
So many non entities in GT2 stint alone, Allback, Leonhardsen, Gudjohnson, Hadji, Kachoul, Kinsella, Crouch was laughably poor too . That was a truly awful team.
Crouch had a blinder on his Villa park debut (against Newcastle I think) when every opposition defender seemed to be booked because they couldn't handle him. Then that twat O'Leary decided to loan him to Norwich and then flog him to Southampton and replace him with the useless Carlton Cole (27 games, 3 goals). Wasn't it Gregory who signed Hadji and Kachoul?
Yes, John Gregory wouldn't be beaten for Kachloul particularly. Terrible acquisition, bloody awful.
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Kiraly is just remembered for the error in his last game (and his bizarre matchday outfit!) Was fine in the other games like 0-0 v Chelsea which was the league game before Man. United in the cup.
He was just a short term fix when the first two were injured, Mark Bunn much worse than him for a start. After his England error Carson was pretty poor for the rest of 07/08 aswell.
Bunn was probably the worst keeper I can recall aswell. His display during the cabbage fest against Preston will live long in the memory. Genuinely looked too short to play in goal. Nyland was woeful in the championship but redeemed himself a bit this season.
So many non entities in GT2 stint alone, Allback, Leonhardsen, Gudjohnson, Hadji, Kachoul, Kinsella, Crouch was laughably poor too . That was a truly awful team.
Crouch had a blinder on his Villa park debut (against Newcastle I think) when every opposition defender seemed to be booked because they couldn't handle him. Then that twat O'Leary decided to loan him to Norwich and then flog him to Southampton and replace him with the useless Carlton Cole (27 games, 3 goals). Wasn't it Gregory who signed Hadji and Kachoul?
Exactly as I remember Crouch, DOL the twat.
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Konsa & Cresto?
They’ve only played a few minutes
And Paul Birch? Hang your head
I didn't pick Birch, he was one of my favourite players back in the day. Presume you mean Gallagher is still the worst player I have seen at fullback even with the stiff competition offered up in recent years.
Konsa has been truly dreadful thus far. Could have gone for Okore, Ridgewell, Cooper plenty to choose from. Crespo was a head scratching signing.
To be honest this is a much harder team to pick than the best one! I didn't read through other peoples teams until after I posted but there are some god awful players I left out. Hellenius, Tonev, Holman, Djemba Djemba. Ugh.
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Still struggling to narrow it down to eleven but Mark Kinsella is a shoe in. (His sideways passing made Westwood look like Iniesta).
Surprised no-one has mentioned Carl Tiler. I thought he was woeful during his brief stay under Brian Little.
Both made my team !!
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GK - Mark Bunn
FB - Bernie Gallagher
FB - Tony Luna
CB - Micah Richards
CB - Steve Foster
MF - Mark Kinsella
MF - Alex Tonev
MF - Neale Cooper
MF - Eric Djemba-Djemba
CF - Rudy Gestede
CF - Geoff Vowden
Subs
Thomas Sorensen
Jean Makoun
Giles de Bilde
Nigel Callaghan
Bosko Balaban
Ulises De La Cruz
Steve Sims
Manager Billy McNeil
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No no way Geoff Vowden. He made Andy Lochhead tick.
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Kiraly is just remembered for the error in his last game (and his bizarre matchday outfit!) Was fine in the other games like 0-0 v Chelsea which was the league game before Man. United in the cup.
He was just a short term fix when the first two were injured, Mark Bunn much worse than him for a start. After his England error Carson was pretty poor for the rest of 07/08 aswell.
Bunn was probably the worst keeper I can recall aswell. His display during the cabbage fest against Preston will live long in the memory. Genuinely looked too short to play in goal. Nyland was woeful in the championship but redeemed himself a bit this season.
So many non entities in GT2 stint alone, Allback, Leonhardsen, Gudjohnson, Hadji, Kachoul, Kinsella, Crouch was laughably poor too . That was a truly awful team.
Allback saved us really in the run in with a goal spree out of nowhere. Leonhardsen chipped in with a few goals so think those two are harsh. Was actually quite excited when we got in Hadji (and to lesser extend Kachoul) as they were decent players in premier league but both amounted to little here.
I always feel one of GT's mistakes second time around was breaking up the Vassell-Angel partnership that was flourishing nicely in 01-12 (they'd scored around 25 goals that season) although Dublin did get into double figures in 02-03.
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I thought a Neal Cooper was good just injury prone.
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No no way Geoff Vowden. He made Andy Lochhead tick.
Correct, he also weighed in with a few vital goals. If people are looking for a shit full back, then I give you Barry Lynch. He only played two games circa 1968/69 but he was simply awful.
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GK - Mark Bunn
FB - Bernie Gallagher
FB - Tony Luna
CB - Micah Richards
CB - Steve Foster
MF - Mark Kinsella
MF - Alex Tonev
MF - Neale Cooper
MF - Eric Djemba-Djemba
CF - Rudy Gestede
CF - Geoff Vowden
Subs
Thomas Sorensen
Jean Makoun
Giles de Bilde
Nigel Callaghan
Bosko Balaban
Ulises De La Cruz
Steve Sims
Manager Billy McNeil
Some good shouts in there John.
Kinsella was absolutely horrendous, he made Ashley Westwood look like a combination of Zidane and Roy Keane.
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Kinsella, forgot about him. He was very shit and a strong consideration for the worst ever 11. I also forgot about Drinky who contends heavily for the most shit and the team of c***s.
Konsa, don't agree with that one at all. I think he's a young player with real promise. I can think of many players just in his position that were a lot worse.
Karim El Ahmadi was one i considered, another player that played way too many times for us.
Leonhardsen was certainly one of the most underwhelming deadline day signings but he actually did quite well on the right side of midfield. I think he scored 3 goals in maybe 10 games and always looked capable of setting others up, i think he did have a few assists.
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Since 1996. Based entirely on performances rather than personality (hence Elphick). Might do a wanker XL as well.
Kiraly
Richards Elphick Lescott Richardson
Sanchez Drinkwater
Routledge Kinsella Tonev
Balaban
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Wanker XL;
Schmeichel
Collins Alpay Lescott
Richards Ireland Delph Drinkwater Downing
Yorke McCormack
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Konsa & Cresto?
They’ve only played a few minutes
And Paul Birch? Hang your head
I didn't pick Birch, he was one of my favourite players back in the day. Presume you mean Gallagher is still the worst player I have seen at fullback even with the stiff competition offered up in recent years.
Konsa has been truly dreadful thus far. Could have gone for Okore, Ridgewell, Cooper plenty to choose from. Crespo was a head scratching signing.
To be honest this is a much harder team to pick than the best one! I didn't read through other peoples teams until after I posted but there are some god awful players I left out. Hellenius, Tonev, Holman, Djemba Djemba. Ugh.
Putting Wesley in is harsh for a young, existing player in his first season; and has scored a few goals. Give the kid a chance, FFS!
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Konsa & Cresto?
They’ve only played a few minutes
And Paul Birch? Hang your head
I didn't pick Birch, he was one of my favourite players back in the day. Presume you mean Gallagher is still the worst player I have seen at fullback even with the stiff competition offered up in recent years.
Konsa has been truly dreadful thus far. Could have gone for Okore, Ridgewell, Cooper plenty to choose from. Crespo was a head scratching signing.
To be honest this is a much harder team to pick than the best one! I didn't read through other peoples teams until after I posted but there are some god awful players I left out. Hellenius, Tonev, Holman, Djemba Djemba. Ugh.
Putting Wesley in is harsh for a young, existing player in his first season; and has scored a few goals. Give the kid a chance, FFS!
Cooper was a midfielder, not a defender. Difficult to remember as he hardly played (didn't their used to be a poster here called Cooper's Injury?). There was a lot of hope when he came, as he was a decent and very hard midfielder at Aberdeen, and won the Cup Winners Cup there. Tragically of course he died a couple of years ago.
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Kinsella, forgot about him. He was very shit and a strong consideration for the worst ever 11. I also forgot about Drinky who contends heavily for the most shit and the team of c***s.
Konsa, don't agree with that one at all. I think he's a young player with real promise. I can think of many players just in his position that were a lot worse.
Karim El Ahmadi was one i considered, another player that played way too many times for us.
Leonhardsen was certainly one of the most underwhelming deadline day signings but he actually did quite well on the right side of midfield. I think he scored 3 goals in maybe 10 games and always looked capable of setting others up, i think he did have a few assists.
I remember John Blackwell trying to convince us that Leonhardsen was one of the greatest 10 players to have ever played the game.
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Kinsella, forgot about him. He was very shit and a strong consideration for the worst ever 11. I also forgot about Drinky who contends heavily for the most shit and the team of c***s.
Konsa, don't agree with that one at all. I think he's a young player with real promise. I can think of many players just in his position that were a lot worse.
Karim El Ahmadi was one i considered, another player that played way too many times for us.
Leonhardsen was certainly one of the most underwhelming deadline day signings but he actually did quite well on the right side of midfield. I think he scored 3 goals in maybe 10 games and always looked capable of setting others up, i think he did have a few assists.
I remember John Blackwell trying to convince us that Leonhardsen was one of the greatest 10 players to have ever played the game.
We had the Norwegian Eirik Bakke around the same time to. Someone I can hardly remember.
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Kinsella, forgot about him. He was very shit and a strong consideration for the worst ever 11. I also forgot about Drinky who contends heavily for the most shit and the team of c***s.
Konsa, don't agree with that one at all. I think he's a young player with real promise. I can think of many players just in his position that were a lot worse.
Karim El Ahmadi was one i considered, another player that played way too many times for us.
Leonhardsen was certainly one of the most underwhelming deadline day signings but he actually did quite well on the right side of midfield. I think he scored 3 goals in maybe 10 games and always looked capable of setting others up, i think he did have a few assists.
I remember John Blackwell trying to convince us that Leonhardsen was one of the greatest 10 players to have ever played the game.
Ha ha, John Blackwell, fucking hell.
On the topic of Kinsella, whilst he was clearly not the required standard, am I imagining it or did someone post on here that he is apparently a huge Villa fan and was overjoyed to just have the chance to pull on the jersey?
To be fair, he played like a fan that had won a competition.
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I think Wesley must be in with a shout of being on the list.
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I don't think current players should be included, especially youngsters and/or those who have only been playing for us for a few months. Plenty of time to improve. Angel and Petrov would have been contenders based on their starts, for instance. It would be ludicrous to include them now. Just as it would be mad to include Ehiogu based on that disastrous debut against Norwich.
Obvious exception of Hogan who is, quite clearly, never going to play for us again.
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I don't think current players should be included, especially youngsters and/or those who have only been playing for us for a few months. Plenty of time to improve. Angel and Petrov would have been contenders based on their starts, for instance. It would be ludicrous to include them now. Just as it would be mad to include Ehiogu based on that disastrous debut against Norwich.
Obvious exception of Hogan who is, quite clearly, never going to play for us again.
That’s effectively trolling, you know that don’t you?
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Kinsella, forgot about him. He was very shit and a strong consideration for the worst ever 11. I also forgot about Drinky who contends heavily for the most shit and the team of c***s.
Konsa, don't agree with that one at all. I think he's a young player with real promise. I can think of many players just in his position that were a lot worse.
Karim El Ahmadi was one i considered, another player that played way too many times for us.
Leonhardsen was certainly one of the most underwhelming deadline day signings but he actually did quite well on the right side of midfield. I think he scored 3 goals in maybe 10 games and always looked capable of setting others up, i think he did have a few assists.
I remember John Blackwell trying to convince us that Leonhardsen was one of the greatest 10 players to have ever played the game.
Ha ha, John Blackwell, fucking hell.
On the topic of Kinsella, whilst he was clearly not the required standard, am I imagining it or did someone post on here that he is apparently a huge Villa fan and was overjoyed to just have the chance to pull on the jersey?
To be fair, he played like a fan that had won a competition.
He was a solid player for Charlton and ROI. Our first choice was Matt Holland wasn't it but he didn't want to uproot his family. He then actually moved to Charlton to effectively replace Kinsella.
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I think Wesley must be in with a shout of being on the list.
Even if you limit this to the last 10 years there is no way Wesley deserves to be considered even top 5 when compared to Helenius, Gestede, McCormack, Hogan, Bowery and Holt. There's probably others ahead of him as well, I stopped thinking about it when I got to 6 because it was making me annoyed by the amount of shit forwards we've signed.
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I don't think current players should be included, especially youngsters and/or those who have only been playing for us for a few months. Plenty of time to improve. Angel and Petrov would have been contenders based on their starts, for instance. It would be ludicrous to include them now. Just as it would be mad to include Ehiogu based on that disastrous debut against Norwich.
Obvious exception of Hogan who is, quite clearly, never going to play for us again.
That’s effectively trolling, you know that don’t you?
Rumbled. ☹
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Kinsella, forgot about him. He was very shit and a strong consideration for the worst ever 11. I also forgot about Drinky who contends heavily for the most shit and the team of c***s.
Konsa, don't agree with that one at all. I think he's a young player with real promise. I can think of many players just in his position that were a lot worse.
Karim El Ahmadi was one i considered, another player that played way too many times for us.
Leonhardsen was certainly one of the most underwhelming deadline day signings but he actually did quite well on the right side of midfield. I think he scored 3 goals in maybe 10 games and always looked capable of setting others up, i think he did have a few assists.
I remember John Blackwell trying to convince us that Leonhardsen was one of the greatest 10 players to have ever played the game.
Ha ha, John Blackwell, fucking hell.
On the topic of Kinsella, whilst he was clearly not the required standard, am I imagining it or did someone post on here that he is apparently a huge Villa fan and was overjoyed to just have the chance to pull on the jersey?
To be fair, he played like a fan that had won a competition.
He was a solid player for Charlton and ROI. Our first choice was Matt Holland wasn't it but he didn't want to uproot his family. He then actually moved to Charlton to effectively replace Kinsella.
From memory i think they played together in the 2002 WC for Ireland and looked a really good pair. We wanted both but only managed to get Kinsella, who i actually couldn't believe was so shit for us after watching him for Ireland.
EDIT: And no, Wesley shouldn't be in there although you knew at least one or two would. He has disappointed so far in truth but the story is not over and he's not as bad as Carlton Cole or Cascarino (under the circumstances), or Gestede for that matter. Probably plenty of others i could think of.
I laughed earlier when someone put Carlton Cole's stats up, something like 3 goals ion 27 games. He scored 2 on his debut v Southampton from memory and looked unplayable. 1 in 26 after and looked like he needed a lie down.
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I don't think current players should be included, especially youngsters and/or those who have only been playing for us for a few months. Plenty of time to improve. Angel and Petrov would have been contenders based on their starts, for instance. It would be ludicrous to include them now. Just as it would be mad to include Ehiogu based on that disastrous debut against Norwich.
Obvious exception of Hogan who is, quite clearly, never going to play for us again.
That’s effectively trolling, you know that don’t you?
Rumbled. ☹
He’d make my ultimate shit Aston Villa debut XI.
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Noone will ever have such a good debut as Spink in 1982.
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Noone will ever have such a good debut as Spink in 1982.
It was his second game. I think the first was Boxing Day 1979 at home to Forest. I would imagine he clocked up an impressive amount of appearances in the Central League/reserves. To be fair he eventually racked up a lot of first team appearances too, despite competition from Day, Poole, Butler, Sealey and Bosnich.
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I don't think current players should be included, especially youngsters and/or those who have only been playing for us for a few months. Plenty of time to improve. Angel and Petrov would have been contenders based on their starts, for instance. It would be ludicrous to include them now. Just as it would be mad to include Ehiogu based on that disastrous debut against Norwich.
Obvious exception of Hogan who is, quite clearly, never going to play for us again.
That’s effectively trolling, you know that don’t you?
I don't think there is any denying Ugo had a mare in that game against Norwich. I remember following Villa home and away whilst Ugo was still trying to establish himself and was often a sub. It was always great fun waiting to hear the latest pronunciation of his name from the home stadium announcer. I lost count of the different versions of his name I heard read out. Some of the guys on the PA systems bottled it completely and just quickly mumbled something totally intelligible. Those of us in the away end looked forward to hearing their attempts every other week. It was a big part of the away day experience for a while.
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Noone will ever have such a good debut as Spink in 1982.
It was his second game.
I feel such a fool! 😥
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Noone will ever have such a good debut as Spink in 1982.
It was his second game.
I feel such a fool! 😥
To be fair it was his European Cup debut ;)
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Wait, have I ended up trolling myself? 🤔
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Wait, have I ended up trolling myself? 🤔
It is better than soiling yourself. ;)
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You're assuming I haven't done that, too...
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Noone will ever have such a good debut as Spink in 1982.
It was his second game. I think the first was Boxing Day 1979 at home to Forest. I would imagine he clocked up an impressive amount of appearances in the Central League/reserves. To be fair he eventually racked up a lot of first team appearances too, despite competition from Day, Poole, Butler, Sealey and Bosnich.
Apologies for the nerdism (nerdity? nerdishness?) but Spink’s debut was at the City Ground On Boxing Day 1979 not Villa Park
Edit - which means his first game for us was against the European Cup holders and his second game was in the European Cup final. Bit of triv.
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Going on about Kinsella and Leonhardsen earlier, i decided to do the following lists. Yes, i'm bored.
1-11 players that didn't come up to the expectations i had of them when they signed. This is purely on football performances for us and not off field stuff and general cuntishness that i've covered previously;
Schmeichel
S Watson
Shorey
Tiler
Vlaar
Djemba
Kinsella
Bjarnasson
Lansbury
Hogan
Allback
1-11 players that exceeded my expectation from when we signed them, some quite significantly;
James
Delaney
R Johnson
Teale
A Wright
Leonhardsen
I Taylor
Petrov
Benteke
Regis
Ormondroyd
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1985
1989
Gerard Houllier
Kiraly
Richardson, K
Lescott
Richards
De La Cruz
N’Zogbia
Gueye
Drinkwater
Tonev
Balaban
McCormack
Subs:
Moreira
Sanchez
Jenas
Carrol
Holt
Penrice
Baston
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I see you've wrote Baston off already. :-) LOL
You're probably right but lets wait and see!
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Kinsella was so bad I'd make him captain.
Neale Cooper was much sought after & was branded as the new Duncan Edwards, if my memory serves me. He was shite & when he wasn't shite he was injured.
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I see you've wrote Baston off already. :-) LOL
You're probably right but lets wait and see!
Was a toss up between him and Pires and I seem to remember him scoring in the cup which influenced my decision!
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Not sure how you can put gueye in there, in that season he was one of the only players that came out with any credit and he was easily our best midfielder through the season.
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Not sure how you can put gueye in there, in that season he was one of the only players that came out with any credit and he was easily our best midfielder through the season.
While I acknowledge that he’s developed into a quality player, I thought he was absolutely awful for us.
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Another name that qualifies for the double of both a place in a shit Villa line up and the 'blink and you missed him' club - Adrian Heath, 9 games 0 goals.
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And talking of good 80's strikers that 'did he play for us briefly on his way down, it rings a bell but i'm not certain' how about Frank McAvennie?
I've just checked, apparently he did play for us 3 times in 1992. I have absolutely no recollection of that happening and i had a season ticket at the time and also went away a lot. Can anyone remember the games that he played in?
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MacAvennie played against Southampton, Chelsea, and Crystal Palace, all at home, at the start of 1992/93 as effectively a triallist. I remember him setting up Dalian Atkinson for our goal against Southampton.
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We had a Danish lad on trial around the same time that never played, was it Henrik Larson? Not the Swede obviously.
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Yes, a midfielder of the same name as the Celtic one but in the Jan Molby mould i think. He'd played for the international team as well so was worth a punt but it didn't work out.
I think Palace was my first game of that season as i'd been on holiday so that's why i don't remember much about McAvennie. Palace was the one where BFR came on the pitch with a microphone telling us the Saunders signing was close. He signed in time for the next game, Leeds away which i went to.
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https://www.astonvillaplayerdatabase.com/775.html
I always thought he was on trial but this suggests we had him on loan. Thirteen games for the reserves would have been quite a long trial.
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It rings a bell that we went down and watched him play for the reserves. I'm sure there was a time when the reserves played at Bescot and we went to a fair few.
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Jordan Bowery up front. Probably the worst footballer I’ve ever seen in a Villa shirt. He was so out of his depth in the PL I felt sorry for him.
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Bowery is the worst I can remember. Very poor.
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Yeah Bowery was way out of his depth, He was a 50k punt from the 4th division and played like it.
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Kinsella was so bad I'd make him captain.
Neale Cooper was much sought after & was branded as the new Duncan Edwards, if my memory serves me. He was shite & when he wasn't shite he was injured.
After SGT's first game at Portman Road (we had travelled by car) three of us waited outside for the players. Neale Cooper appeared pissed and nearly got run over by a car, after which he fired off a load of expletives towards the driver. Fast forward five years and my female boss told me she went out with Cooper for a while. She reckoned after a Barbeque at his house he got pissed and when they were in bed later that night he wet the bed. I think we bought him in the summer of 1986 and it was around January 1987 when he played his first game for us.
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Another blink and you'll miss them player. Michael Boulding.
Probably the only professional tennis player on our books. In the top 20 British players on e. Saying that I'm 21st and have a wooden racket lying dormant in the shed.
Played one intertoto game.
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Pretty sure I saw Boulding score.
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Didn't he score in the InterToto, in his only appearance?
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Yeah just checked, He scored in a 3-0 win against FC Zurich. Allback scored a superb volley in off the under side of the cross bar in the same game.
While were on the subject of players that hardly featured, I remember getting excited about us signing Fabio Ferrarasi because he had an exotic sounding name. I dont think he started a single competetive game for us.
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Nii Lamptey was one of the most highly rated teenagers of his era but didn’t look special here, played a handful of games, looked too weak and disappeared.
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Theres a thread on here somewhere about players you had forgot had played for the Villa
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Nii Lamptey was one of the most highly rated teenagers of his era but didn’t look special here, played a handful of games, looked too weak and disappeared.
Wasn't he suppose to be 'The Ghanaian Pele'?
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Pretty sure I saw Boulding score.
Fifteen love? ;)
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Kalinic
Norton
Sissokho
Ormsby
Davies
Six
Bacuna
Lansbury
Holman
Bowery
Helenius
Jeez, what a horrible side!
Managed by Graham Turner or Tim Sherwood.
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I havent really thought about a full side but my front 3 would undeniably be McCormack, Collymore and Hogan. £31m spent on those 3 with fuck all return. That's £24m in the 2nd division and £7m in 1997, fuck knows what that would get us now.
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Yeah just checked, He scored in a 3-0 win against FC Zurich. Allback scored a superb volley in off the under side of the cross bar in the same game.
While were on the subject of players that hardly featured, I remember getting excited about us signing Fabio Ferrarasi because he had an exotic sounding name. I dont think he started a single competetive game for us.
That Israeli guy we signed around the same time was similar.
Of course Alan Wright was super consistant with not getting injured but even so I can hardly remember him in the cups either. Jloyld was coming through at that time so we let him go at the end of that season none the wiser.
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Gharayib or suchlike, I remember him being fast and that’s about all.
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Yeah just checked, He scored in a 3-0 win against FC Zurich. Allback scored a superb volley in off the under side of the cross bar in the same game.
While were on the subject of players that hardly featured, I remember getting excited about us signing Fabio Ferrarasi because he had an exotic sounding name. I dont think he started a single competetive game for us.
Ferrarasi was regarded as one of the best young players in Italy when we signed him but he just never improved. He's probably a victim our us being very poor at taking talented 17-18 year olds and making top professionals out of them.
The other youngster I remember hearing big things about was the Finnish forward we signed, Aaritalo. Was touted as a future super star but just never broke through. He was fucking brilliant on football manager for a year or 2 though.
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Nii Lamptey was one of the most highly rated teenagers of his era but didn’t look special here, played a handful of games, looked too weak and disappeared.
Wasn't he suppose to be 'The Ghanaian Pele'?
I think that vacancy was probably filled by Jordan Ayew's dad.
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Najwan Ghrayib, fucking hell. There is a blast from the past. Apparantly highly rated when we signed him, we beat Spurs to his signature but they were shite at the time.
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Yeah just checked, He scored in a 3-0 win against FC Zurich. Allback scored a superb volley in off the under side of the cross bar in the same game.
While were on the subject of players that hardly featured, I remember getting excited about us signing Fabio Ferrarasi because he had an exotic sounding name. I dont think he started a single competetive game for us.
Ferrarasi was regarded as one of the best young players in Italy when we signed him but he just never improved. He's probably a victim our us being very poor at taking talented 17-18 year olds and making top professionals out of them.
The other youngster I remember hearing big things about was the Finnish forward we signed, Aaritalo. Was touted as a future super star but just never broke through. He was fucking brilliant on football manager for a year or 2 though.
I have no recollection of that Finnish guy at all, I remember around 2003-2004 developing us on LMA Manager were by Whittingham, Cooke and the Moore brothers developed into superstars.
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Bowery is the worst I can remember. Very poor.
I had the pleasure of watching Gustavo Bartelt twice....could trap a ball 25 yards
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I did say at the beginning that this would be a gold mine of utter, utter shit. It’s much harder to fill this than the best side.
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Najwan Ghrayib, fucking hell. There is a blast from the past. Apparantly highly rated when we signed him, we beat Spurs to his signature but they were shite at the time.
Roy Maclaren said he was the best left-back he'd ever seen.
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Yeah just checked, He scored in a 3-0 win against FC Zurich. Allback scored a superb volley in off the under side of the cross bar in the same game.
While were on the subject of players that hardly featured, I remember getting excited about us signing Fabio Ferrarasi because he had an exotic sounding name. I dont think he started a single competetive game for us.
Ferrarasi was regarded as one of the best young players in Italy when we signed him but he just never improved. He's probably a victim our us being very poor at taking talented 17-18 year olds and making top professionals out of them.
The other youngster I remember hearing big things about was the Finnish forward we signed, Aaritalo. Was touted as a future super star but just never broke through. He was fucking brilliant on football manager for a year or 2 though.
Did Fererassi have any sort of career back in Italy? I remember around the same time WBA signed Enzo Maresca and he did very well in his career at likes of Sevilla.
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Just checked on Ghrayib btw. Funny how football works....
September 2000
SRAELI international left-back Najwan Ghrayib levelled an astonishing parting shot at Aston Villa manager John Gregory, after he left the Midlands on Tuesday to join former club Hapoel Haifa at a cut-rate price.
In a scathing attack, the outspoken player blamed Gregory's proclivity towards regular Alan Wright for his lack of first-team opportunities.Ghrayib bemoaned: "If Alan Wright signed for Hapoel Haifa he would not get a game. He is good only defensively and yet he is God-like to John Gregory."
2009-10
Between 2009-10, he was the assistant manager at Maccabi Ahi Nazareth to John Gregory, his former boss at Aston Villa
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Yeah just checked, He scored in a 3-0 win against FC Zurich. Allback scored a superb volley in off the under side of the cross bar in the same game.
While were on the subject of players that hardly featured, I remember getting excited about us signing Fabio Ferrarasi because he had an exotic sounding name. I dont think he started a single competetive game for us.
Ferrarasi was regarded as one of the best young players in Italy when we signed him but he just never improved. He's probably a victim our us being very poor at taking talented 17-18 year olds and making top professionals out of them.
The other youngster I remember hearing big things about was the Finnish forward we signed, Aaritalo. Was touted as a future super star but just never broke through. He was fucking brilliant on football manager for a year or 2 though.
Did Fererassi have any sort of career back in Italy? I remember around the same time WBA signed Enzo Maresca and he did very well in his career at likes of Sevilla.
Nah, I think he bounced around Serie B and Serie C for a while but he never played for anyone decent. To be fair I'm probably being unfair on the club with him, I thought he was with us for a few years but it looks like it was only a season.
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There's a very reliable story that says we thought we were signing Maresca when we bought Ferraresi.
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Graham Fenton weren’t great
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There's a very reliable story that says we thought we were signing Maresca when we bought Ferraresi.
Blimey, that's some buyers remorse.
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Graham Fenton weren’t great
I seem to recall he was a Newcastle fan who scored a crucial goal for Blackburn against Newcastle in a live game which pretty much ended Newcastle's title hopes one year.
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Birthdate - NOYB
Started Supporting - 1980
Manager/Coach - Billy McNeill , Paul Lambert (Assistant)
Keeper - Mark Bunn
Defender - Joe Bennett
Defender - Stephen Warnock
Defender - Paul Elliot
Defender - Joleon Lescott
Midfielder - Steve Stone
Midfielder - Paul Mortimer
Midfielder - Stephen Ireland
Midfielder - Aleksander Tonev
Attacker - Bosko Balaban
Attacker - Rudy Gestede
Subs
Keeper - Brad Guzan
Defender - Steve Foster
Defender - Ally Cissoko
Midfielder - Nigel Callaghan
Midfielder - Leandro Bacuna
Attacker - Grant Holt
Attacker - Ross McCormack
I defy any team in the world not to be able to beat this shower.
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Birthdate - NOYB
Started Supporting - 1980
Manager/Coach - Billy McNeill , Paul Lambert (Assistant)
Keeper - Mark Bunn
Defender - Joe Bennett
Defender - Stephen Warnock
Defender - Paul Elliot
Defender - Joleon Lescott
Midfielder - Steve Stone
Midfielder - Paul Mortimer
Midfielder - Stephen Ireland
Midfielder - Aleksander Tonev
Attacker - Bosko Balaban
Attacker - Rudy Gestede
Subs
Keeper - Brad Guzan
Defender - Steve Foster
Defender - Ally Cissoko
Midfielder - Nigel Callaghan
Midfielder - Leandro Bacuna
Attacker - Grant Holt
Attacker - Ross McCormack
I defy any team in the world not to be able to beat this shower.
Small Heath's best XI.
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Birthdate - NOYB
Started Supporting - 1980
Manager/Coach - Billy McNeill , Paul Lambert (Assistant)
Keeper - Mark Bunn
Defender - Joe Bennett
Defender - Stephen Warnock
Defender - Paul Elliot
Defender - Joleon Lescott
Midfielder - Steve Stone
Midfielder - Paul Mortimer
Midfielder - Stephen Ireland
Midfielder - Aleksander Tonev
Attacker - Bosko Balaban
Attacker - Rudy Gestede
Subs
Keeper - Brad Guzan
Defender - Steve Foster
Defender - Ally Cissoko
Midfielder - Nigel Callaghan
Midfielder - Leandro Bacuna
Attacker - Grant Holt
Attacker - Ross McCormack
I defy any team in the world not to be able to beat this shower.
Small Heath's best XI.
Do moral victories count?
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Following on from my 'Formative Greatest ever which I can only be positive about, here is the corollary (i.e. the worst in my view).
The names are those I have an opinion about, there will of course be worse that I didn't see, don't remember, or don't have an opinion of. I had quite a lot of gap years as an armchair watcher between 81/2 and our dismal tail end in the prem last time.
Here goes then.....
Manager Lambert (still hasn't been found out at other clubs even though when the mumbling starts the game is up)
Guzan
Engels, Konsa (sorry just average championship quality)
Ireland, Collins, Lescott, Senderos, Dunne (way too slow)
Downing, Agbonlahor ('cos he didn't give a shit), Heskey
Subs
Kalinic, Given
N'Zogbia, Richards
Hepburn-Murphy, Jota, Nakamba (only ever passes sideways/backwards), Luiz
McCormack
In the Waiting Room
Mgr - Smith
Suliman
Mings (too casual, only one foot)
Lansbury
O'Hare
Wesley
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Some very poor choices there tbh.
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Some very poor choices there tbh.
Yes very strange.
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Some very poor choices there tbh.
I think you've been extremely kind with "very poor".
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Not enough centre backs in that team.
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Think there has to be some kind of separation between players who simply weren't good enough and those who probably were more than good enough and just mugged the club off. I do have some sympathy for some who would reside the former group, as some of them might have been decent enough lads who saw a great move for them turn sour or might have been past or not quite yet reached reached their best when they arrived. Those that reside in the latter group are the ones who deserve to be on a list like this.
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That is a truly shit team, not sure if Brad deserves a place on the bench though.
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Is the Russian in based on that video on his thread this week where he smashed a ball through an upstairs window while playing by himself in lockdown mode?
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Jordan Bowery up front. Probably the worst footballer I’ve ever seen in a Villa shirt. He was so out of his depth in the PL I felt sorry for him.
Yeah, dreadful, but he did have one very good game, which was Hull at home. That’s probably one more than Balaban or Holt.
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Problem with Bowery was being a player his club valued at £250,000 for whom we paid £500,000.
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Problem with Bowery was being a player his club valued at £250,000 for whom we paid £500,000.
Crikey that’s a thread that’ll keep us going out of the lockdown: most over priced purchases/under valued sales.
Is it me or does that envoke MON transfer business, (along with refusing to play the people you sign)?
Then a presumably much shorter McGinn/Grealish/Downing crowned bargain/grow your own/took them to the cleaners thread...
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Problem with Bowery was being a player his club valued at £250,000 for whom we paid £500,000.
Crikey that’s a thread that’ll keep us going out of the lockdown: most over priced purchases/under valued sales.
Is it me or does that envoke MON transfer business, (along with refusing to play the people you sign)?
Then a presumably much shorter McGinn/Grealish/Downing crowned bargain/grow your own/took them to the cleaners thread...
It was obviously bollocks, but I remember the rumour that we'd faxed our bid to Bradford for Ormondroyd, and they replied asking if it was a mistake because there were too many zeros.
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Jordan Bowery up front. Probably the worst footballer I’ve ever seen in a Villa shirt. He was so out of his depth in the PL I felt sorry for him.
Yeah, dreadful, but he did have one very good game, which was Hull at home. That’s probably one more than Balaban or Holt.
Played well in the stoke game when Lowton scored the worldie aswell.
He was a 500k signing from a league 2 team so not sure what sort of expectation there was on him anyway. Most were wondering why Lambert was bothering.
Little different to someone with Tonev who was s*** but came with some sort of apparent reputation and had some bundesliga clubs wanting him.
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Kirally
Cuellar at RB
Foster
Elliot
Cissoko
Djemba Twins
Hunt
Tonev
Lillis
Hogan Ballaban
Manager Turner
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Good shout for the Manager
Totally out of his depth, but I think we had worse, Dick Taylor or Tommy Cummings ?
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Good shout for the Manager
Totally out of his depth, but I think we had worse, Dick Taylor or Tommy Cummings ?
They had a much worse situation to deal with. For example, when Dick Taylor was manager the only qualified coach at the club was Phil Woosnam, and he was a player.
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Manager MON - Given more funds than any other manager we have had and spunked it on crap , we what he had at his disposal he did less than he should of.
GK - Carson , likes of Bunn technically worse but they were just back ups , Bunn was essentially a 3rd choice squad player
LB-Shorey - Bouma Injured MON based on recommendation from Sidwell buys Shorey who was so poor IIRC we ended up with Luke Young playing LB
RB - Habib Beye - Just awful
CB - Lescott past it when we signed him and acted an utter tosser
CB - Sendaros , a cheap signing but useless
LM Tonev - Decided to shoot from anywhere and never got near the goal
CM- Kinsella - supposed to come to play alongside Matt Holland , the latter didn't sign and the £5 mi to purchase him disappeared leaving Kinsella who was spent alot of time pointing and not much else
CM-Djemba Djemba , a random signing to start with and never performed at any level
RM-Holman , few goals but not good enough
ST - McCormack makes the list as he cost a fortune and simply couldnt be assessed
ST - Cole - good start then usless , makes list as he played so many games
GK - Stuart Taylor - made a career of never player a game
CB - Elphick , did better on his return but still never the player I thought we were getting
CB - Richards was never that good , one of those players whose physical attributes got him out of trouble ( till his knee went ) but positioning was all over the place
CM- Lansbury - utter waste of time , quite amazing he still manages to get on the bench
CM - Ireland - So much talent but rarely produced it
LM- N'Zogia - see Ireland , had the ability just never produced it
ST - Gestede - Put some balls into the box in the air and he is a handful but utterly hopeless with the ball at his feet
ST- Baros I recall the summer chased to buy him , we sold Vassell to accomodate him and he was no better in front of goal he best contribution was being part of the deal to bring in Carew
ST-
Tried to pick players who played a good amount of games and where poor rather than players who couldn't even get a game.
CB -
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Senderos was good in his few appearances. We kept clean sheets at Stoke and Liverpool in the handful of games he started. Then got injured around the October and we never saw him again.
Pretty much all the others are in the shake up.
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Baros wasn't a world beater but a million miles away from being among our worst players.
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Senderos was good in his few appearances. We kept clean sheets at Stoke and Liverpool in the handful of games he started. Then got injured around the October and we never saw him again.
Pretty much all the others are in the shake up.
Senderos was a weird one. He did, as you say, start off well then got what seemed an innocuous injury and vanished.
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Baros wasn't a world beater but a million miles away from being among our worst players.
Scored against Blose.
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Lansbury is a good shout in this thread. Dreadful player for us even in the championship.
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Baros was a tidy player with a questionable attitude in a shit team. If's and but's i know but had his attitude and our team been better, he would have done very well. As it was he was mediocre, but i wouldn't have him near a worst ever team. Can't argue with the rest though.
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Perhaps they should look at this OG at Luton....
Former Aston Villa defender Jores Okore could be involved in a match fixing scandal at his current club AaB Aalborg according to Ekstra Bladet.
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Perhaps they should look at this OG at Luton....
Former Aston Villa defender Jores Okore could be involved in a match fixing scandal at his current club AaB Aalborg according to Ekstra Bladet.
If I was looking to fix matches he'd be the last player I'd choose, every touch he took looked like a candidate for a "What happens next?" showreel.
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A quick read of the story implies unusual betting patterns around him getting a yellow card, and he assaulted an opposition player in stoppage time, somewhat out of character with his performance in the rest of the game.
AaB was on their way to a 1-0 victory when Okore, in a situation around the center line - for two minutes of extra time - almost stamped the visitors' Oliver Lund in the chest.
It was Jores Okore's first free kick, but the action was unusually violent, and referee Sandi Putros immediately pulled the yellow card.
https://ekstrabladet.dk/sport/jores-okore-i-soegelys-i-matchfixingsag/8129215
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Perhaps they should look at this OG at Luton....
Former Aston Villa defender Jores Okore could be involved in a match fixing scandal at his current club AaB Aalborg according to Ekstra Bladet.
If I was looking to fix matches he'd be the last player I'd choose, every touch he took looked like a candidate for a "What happens next?" showreel.
So very us to buy a player that looked fucking awesome in that CL game vs Chelsea and then turn into poop. A bit like Carlos Sanchez marking Messi out of the game for Columbia and playing like he couldn't mark a road cone in the 60 minutes he seemed to be healthy and upright for.
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To be fair, Okore had some bad injuries.
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To be fair, Okore had some bad injuries.
He needed them to mask his performances.
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Hadn't even thought about him in years. Another of those mid-2010s Villa players who was so bad you assume they can't have lasted more than half a dozen games before getting punted, then Google them and find out they played for us about fifty times.
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Okore got a really bad injury in only his second game for us.
He actually then came back and played well with Clark for a spell in 14/15 but then was really struggling at the end of that season. Less said about his performance in the cup final but he was in good company that day.
Then can barely remember him featuring in 15/16 and the comical own goal finished him off.