Alan Hutton the Scottish Cafu Retires

[pauliewalnuts]

I'm sure the full story has been pieced together over the years, but I don't understand a player on Hutton's wages told only to train, and Lambert claiming it was purely financial. Firstly, was there really that much of those wages being supplied by appearances, and secondly, why did that mean you had to put him with the under 23's?

He also said that there were others in the squad on double what he was earning, so not even as though he was on mega money and had to be moved on.

You can tell he thinks Lambert was a total weasel.

[Risso]

I'm sure the full story has been pieced together over the years, but I don't understand a player on Hutton's wages told only to train, and Lambert claiming it was purely financial. Firstly, was there really that much of those wages being supplied by appearances, and secondly, why did that mean you had to put him with the under 23's?

He also said that there were others in the squad on double what he was earning, so not even as though he was on mega money and had to be moved on.

You can tell he thinks Lambert was a total weasel.

It's nice to hear interviews like that, that back up the general mood of the fans at the time.

[curiousorange]

I'm sure the full story has been pieced together over the years, but I don't understand a player on Hutton's wages told only to train, and Lambert claiming it was purely financial. Firstly, was there really that much of those wages being supplied by appearances, and secondly, why did that mean you had to put him with the under 23's?

He also said that there were others in the squad on double what he was earning, so not even as though he was on mega money and had to be moved on.

You can tell he thinks Lambert was a total weasel.

It's nice to hear interviews like that, that back up the general mood of the fans at the time.

Reflected rather well in his own puzzlement at the Guardiola-lite playing it out from the back.

[Risso]

Interesting (if a bit odd) that he was a lot more effusive about Bruce as a manager than he was Smith. The latter he suggested was possibly a bit too nice and close to certain players.

[curiousorange]

That did give me pause. I suspect Smith was a good man-manager type just as Bruce was, but maybe Hutton was less a part of it due to his injury. After something good has been achieved without certain players, it's probably difficult for managers to see equal worth in them.

[Stu82]

Interesting point made about Villa’s first season in Prem, he felt he could be an old experienced head to help support the team. Think this would have worked well, he did intimate that Dean regretted the decision to let him go.

[curiousorange]

Interesting point made about Villa’s first season in Prem, he felt he could be an old experienced head to help support the team. Think this would have worked well, he did intimate that Dean regretted the decision to let him go.

It probably would have been a decent idea, but I'm sure if we'd have been flying he wouldn't have given a seconds thought to Hutton's experience. A case of "if I knew then..."

[pablo_picasso]

Am I being harsh in that as much I recognise he is probably a lovely bloke & worked hard as a player, but I was overjoyed when he retired. I always thought he was shit. Even "that' goal didn't change my mind... I know plenty of Villa supporting people who are lovely people & work hard, but I wouldn't want any of them playing for Villa...

[Smithy]

Is it not just a case of players always seem to prefer the managers who play them most of the time? I could be misremembering,  but wasn't Elmo Dean's preferred first choice right-back from the time we started our long winning run when Grealish returned? Not sure how much he played after that.  Always a solid player for us I thought, and yes, that Blues goal was incredible.

[curiousorange]

Let's not sugar-coat it: Hutton the person exceeds Hutton the talent. Which, on further thought, is no bad thing.

[Risso]

He was decent enough in the Championship, which I suspect was about his level really.

[curiousorange]

I do recall when he was first at Spuds he was highly-rated. But he wouldn't have been the first Tottenham signing to be overhyped.

[Simon Page]

Another one of those who gets tagged as poor when he was anything but. Not helped by the era he was with us.

I always liked him as a player, but it sometimes feels like we tend to go to the extremes in our view of full backs.

[PeterWithesShin]

Good pro, seems a decent bloke, strikes me he'd always give his all on the pitch but was a limited player. The club treated him very badly it has to be said. At the same time he was poor in the PL for us, did well for us without being outstanding in the Championship and the fact no one took him on when he left us probably says a fair bit. If every player back then had his attitude we probably wouldn't have stunk the league out for years, if every player had his ability we'd probably have dropped a lot sooner.

[Risso]

As Hutton says in the interview, there was a bit of a 'them and us' situation with the young French lads (almost certainly not helped by Eric Black) and I think Hutton at the time got unfairly lumped in with the real wasters like Lescott.