World Class Villa Players

[Toronto Villa]

McGrath was outstanding. There is no debating that. And he was absolutely a world class footballer, let alone a defender. That’s not to say John Terry, especially the version in his mid to late 20’s wasn’t. An argument can be made for both. I would throw a fit Rio Ferdinand into the mix too. We naturally look at the world through our eyes and McGrath was simply incredible especially when you consider the demons he fought. But there are other great players worthy of including in the discussion.

[SoccerHQ]

Didn't Mellberg go to Juventus after he left us?

Probably just below that world class bracket but still a very good defender for many years and also for Sweden of course.

[ASHTONVILLA]

I've been watching Villa since the late 70s, and the only world class player in my time was McGrath.

[four fornicholl]

David Geddis and Chris Nicholl, any of the fourteen, the best footballer we ever had was Brian Little!

[Steve67]

Gordon Cowans, David Platt, Martin Laursen and Paul McGrath. If not all world class, then a gnats whisker away from it. McGrath certainly was.

[curiousorange]

I always think with world class players that they're nine or ten out of ten in the majority of games that they play. Using trophies and tournament appearances is pointless because it suggests the likes of Gerard Pique were at least three times better than George Best because the former won three international tournaments in a row while Best made none during his career.

As for Villa, the only one I can personally claim to confirm was world class was Paul McGrath. Yorke was excellent but peaked and pissed the rest of his career post Man Yoo away, and Platt was my first Villa hero but was never anything other than meat and potatoes once he left us.

[dave.woodhall]

When you see threads like this you realise that history has treated Gordon Cowans kindly. He was a very good player and he had great moments. Had he not broken his leg he might have been great. But he was a bit short of world-class.

[Dave]

Platt was my first Villa hero but was never anything other than meat and potatoes once he left us.

I'm not sure that's fair. He was very good in Serie A, at a time when Serie A was comfortably the best league in the world.

And was England's best midfielder for half a decade after he left us.

[Ads]

What's people's thoughts then on God? The best I've seen but I'm 31. What about the older mob? Is he the best to ever grace our shirt?

[dave.woodhall]

What's people's thoughts then on God? The best I've seen but I'm 31. What about the older mob? Is he the best to ever grace our shirt?

When Villa supporters who were watching before the war said he was the best they'd seen, nothing more has to be said.

[ciggiesnbeer]

When you see threads like this you realise that history has treated Gordon Cowans kindly. He was a very good player and he had great moments. Had he not broken his leg he might have been great. But he was a bit short of world-class.

Agreed. But to sing his praises a little more one of the things I liked about Cowans was you could see him thinking and anticipating before each pass. Running things through his head. He played with his intelligence as well as his feet if you know what I mean. Admittedly I only saw him a couple of times at the end of his career playing but that stuck out to me.

[Toronto Villa]

What's people's thoughts then on God? The best I've seen but I'm 31. What about the older mob? Is he the best to ever grace our shirt?

He has to be up there. He was just so impressive. You knew that from the friendly vs Hibs at Villa Park that we had something incredible on our hands. And he rarely if ever fell short of those incredibly high standards.

The other player who just made it look phenomenally easy was Dwight. His misfortune (I mean this respectfully in a sports context) was playing internationally for T&T. He exceeded all expectations with us, at Man U and had he played for a more prominent football nation I think we’d be talking about him on a whole other level.

[Damo70]

I always think with world class players that they're nine or ten out of ten in the majority of games that they play. Using trophies and tournament appearances is pointless because it suggests the likes of Gerard Pique were at least three times better than George Best because the former won three international tournaments in a row while Best made none during his career.

As for Villa, the only one I can personally claim to confirm was world class was Paul McGrath. Yorke was excellent but peaked and pissed the rest of his career post Man Yoo away, and Platt was my first Villa hero but was never anything other than meat and potatoes once he left us.

You couldn't just give Paul McGrath marks out of ten. He was like Nigel Tufnel's amplifier, he went up to eleven.

[thick_mike]

I always defer to my dad who saw villa from before WWII. In his opinion McGrath was the best defender he saw in the flesh and second only to Beckenbauer.

In my experience, Yorke is the only one to come close to that standard.

[paul_e]

McGrath put in the single greatest defensive performance I think I will ever see against italy in 94.  I was 14 and football was my life at the time and it was the only time that a defensive performance by anyone genuinely blew me away.

My definition of world class is a player who just looks like they're totally in control and god made a career of that.