Big John Carew- Cracking video.

[supertom]

Enjoy. I do miss the big man I must admit. I'd almost forgotten just how good some of his goals were. Unplayable on his day. Shame he'd get to a point in a match where the knees or back would n't stand up to much more, and he sometimes struggled to play 4-5 games on the spin because of fitness and niggling injuries.
Good times.

[supertom]

He started 106 (further 28 apps from the bench) games for us in all comps and scored 52 goals. That's a quality record.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Wonderful. And to think we only got him because Houllier wanted Baros.

[PeterWithesShin]

Like most of our strikers seem to end up, he was 1 in 3 in the league. Unplayable on his day and world class, although the 1 in 3 could also apply to months he was any use to us.

[Matt C]

Loved his penalty taking style

[Marlon From Bearwood]

I'll always remember 2 games when it really mattered, and he really was unplayable - The 5-1 demolition of SHA where he scored 2 and they couldn't live with him, and the 2-1 win at the Yawnthorns where he literally won everything in the air, scored one, and I think hit the post twice.

[supertom]

Possibly the difference between Big John (and indeed Benteke now) compared to some of our other CF's over the years such as Japes and more recently Benty, is that even when he wasn't playing very well, be it not looking interested, or the back giving him jip, his physical presence always caused the opposition problems and he could create space for others. I'm not sure even when Carew was off the boil, any center half could say they coasted in a game against him. Perhaps in the few games he played after O Niell fakked off.
Again, with Carew it could take just one hopeful ball in and he could get his noggin on it and put it away.

Again, his league record, although it reads 1 in 3, he only started 89 out of 113 matches. Granted down to his erratic form and more erratic fitness, but if we're talking goals to minutes, he'd be right up there in terms of Villa front men I reckon.

Inexplicably O Neill for a large chunk of 09/10 opted for Heskey over Carew in the league. Even on occasion when big John would come on and score, it did take a while (as it sometimes can) for O Neill to realise that Heskus wasn't offering any goal threat. I think had Carew played more that season he'd have crossed 20 goals in all comps. I think he had 17 in the end.

I think the biggest shame about Carew though is just the fact that on his day he could destroy anyone he wanted. When the body and the mind were up for it he was unstoppable but we didn't see that as much as we might have liked. Still, we were the one major club that really did take to Carew who had been nomadic to say the least. I think when he's looking back over his career outside of his home country, he'll think of us with the most fondness. Absolutely brilliant rapport with us fans.

[SoccerHQ]

Like most of our strikers seem to end up, he was 1 in 3 in the league. Unplayable on his day and world class, although the 1 in 3 could also apply to months he was any use to us.

I thought overall he wasn't far off 1 in 2 in the league.

Pretty sure he reached double figures for us in the 3 full season between 07-10 and it's not like he played all the games with the various injuries he had.

Overall a good player for us, I remember him fondly.

[SoccerHQ]

Inexplicably O Neill for a large chunk of 09/10 opted for Heskey over Carew in the league. Even on occasion when big John would come on and score, it did take a while (as it sometimes can) for O Neill to realise that Heskus wasn't offering any goal threat. I think had Carew played more that season he'd have crossed 20 goals in all comps. I think he had 17 in the end.

Carew had a great end to that season. From the middle of March he scored twice v Wolves, 1 against Sunderland and at Chelsea all in 7 days, once at Pompey and once at Man. City.

I don't think the trust between MON and Carew was ever the same after the lapdancing incident and there was a rumour going round he pulled out very late from playing in Moscow which I don't think went down at all well.

Probably what distorts his goalscoring record is not scoring at all for us in 10/11 (he left that January for Stoke) as he didn't like Houllier very much.

[supertom]

Yeah Carew had a bit of a reputation for loving the London nightlife.

[Meanwood Villa]

He wasn't perfect and there were times he didn't look arsed but that brought back some very happy memories.

[ExclDawg]

Yeah Carew had a bit of a reputation for loving the London nightlife.

He's a striker though ... they're always looking to score.

Watching that video makes me miss Young too.  Could you imagine him linking up with Benteke now?

[supertom]

Yeah Carew had a bit of a reputation for loving the London nightlife.

He's a striker though ... they're always looking to score.

Watching that video makes me miss Young too.  Could you imagine him linking up with Benteke now?

I could actually. Those were the days when he'd beat a man and could cross with either foot. He gave fullbacks a torrid time.
If we loaned him in and got him anywhere close to his best again, Benteke would be lapping up the service. I don't think he'd come back here to be honest, nor do I think we'll see Young back to that sort of form again. In both cases, that's a shame.

[supertom]

That solo goal against Bolton(?) was immense. That's Benteke class right there. 

[CyprusVillain]

My son and I caught up the the big man when he was over here in Cyprus for an international.

Very warm words for the club, I got a strong sense that in his own way he did fall in love with AVFC.