Players you thought would make it...who didn't

[curiousorange]

Wasn't Riccardo Scimeca touted as a future England captain?

[Virgil Caine]

Harry Forrester is at Brentford and playing regularly for the first team.

[peter w]

Stefan Beinlich and Matthias Breitkreutz . in the youth reserve setup when Big Ron was at the club, don't know if he discovered them though.

One became a Germany international the other played top-flight Bundesliga football.

I always thought Rob Edwards would be our right-back for years.

[The Left Side]

Gareth Williams, circa 1988... good left back for our promotion season then fell out of sorts.

[PeterWithe]

One not mentioned so far was Mark Blake, a powerful midfielder we sold to Wolves after his initial promise faded quite rapidly.

Luke Moore for me, I went to that youth final against Everton and there was little, at least physically, between him and Rooney.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Stefan Beinlich and Matthias Breitkreutz . in the youth reserve setup when Big Ron was at the club, don't know if he discovered them though.

I think Beinlich had a decent career in Germany.

[silhillvilla]

Luke Moore is playing PL football with a team above us so far so we can't write him off.

Fonz is in last chance saloon though.

[Meanwood Villa]

Gareth Farrelly had a great game against Everton then never seemed to play again. They proceeded to buy him off us and I don't think he did much there either.

[Richard Richard]

Stephan Moore without a doubt, his goal on his debut just oozed class and I was convinced we'd found ourselves a gem.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

I may need some help here from some of my fellow senior Villans. Around 1968/69 we had a night game against Huddersfield which we won 4-1. My uncle told me at the next game that Emmet Kapengwe was unstoppable and that The Doc had discovered a talent that would save the Villa and we had a new hero. Suffice to say that after a handful of games Kapengwe and his compatriot Mwali (?) faded from the first team and ultimately from Villa Park altogether.

We talked about Freddie Mwila a year or two back.
This article about his misfortunes at that time is from 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/3812129.stm

Most recent entry on his substantial wikipedia page.

Mwila has settled in Lusaka’s Chilanga area and has been trying his hand at farming. He recently made an appearance on Zambian television as part of the panel of analysts analyzing games during the 2012 African Cup of Nations tournament which saw Zambia win their first continental trophy.

[Virgil Caine]

Indeed ALITA- tad surprised that Freddie is alive as I had read somewhere that he had died in a car crash- seems that was his son,Freddie Jnr, very sad. Warming up for Heaven United is Emmett who did pass away in his late 40's. Shame there is no film record of either player as I am sure Kapengwe was a powerful, skilful player who just needed more time to settle in.

[silhillvilla]

Dean Glover was once described as the next Glenn Hoddle. Sadly it didn't work out.

[dave.woodhall]

Some of them played too many games too young (Jimmy Brown), some weren't big enough (Steven Cooke), some thought they'd made it when they'd only just started out (Jlloyd Samuel) and I suppose some couldn't handle being just another player after growing up being the big star and centre of attention in every team they played for (Harry Forrester?).

The one player who thought would really make it and didn't get there for some unfathomable reason was Mark Blake.

[Ron Manager]

Some of them played too many games too young (Jimmy Brown), some weren't big enough (Steven Cooke), some thought they'd made it when they'd only just started out (Jlloyd Samuel) and I suppose some couldn't handle being just another player after growing up being the big star and centre of attention in every team they played for (Harry Forrester?).

The one player who thought would really make it and didn't get there for some unfathomable reason was Mark Blake.

But Dave Stephen Cooke was about 5ft 8ins which isnt exactly small. Didnt carry much weight though and Graham Taylor didnt appear to rate him.

[dave.woodhall]

Some of them played too many games too young (Jimmy Brown), some weren't big enough (Steven Cooke), some thought they'd made it when they'd only just started out (Jlloyd Samuel) and I suppose some couldn't handle being just another player after growing up being the big star and centre of attention in every team they played for (Harry Forrester?).

The one player who thought would really make it and didn't get there for some unfathomable reason was Mark Blake.

But Dave Stephen Cooke was about 5ft 8ins which isnt exactly small. Didnt carry much weight though and Graham Taylor didnt appear to rate him.

Everyone at the club said he was a great player (Sid called him the most skilful we had) but they also said his size went against him. The fact that he vanished from sight within months would bear that out.