The rapid decline of the 92/93 team

[SoccerHQ]

Wasn't it tough guy Ryan Giggs that did him at OT? I cant remember for sure, even though I was there!

It was. My claim to fame was that I was on Match Of The Day that evening - for some reason the cameras panned right in in on me while I was clapping as Fashanu was carried off after Giggs had "done him".

 I had no idea until i got home and found loads of messages on my answerphone (one of those old machines with a tape recorder fitted to capture messages). Good job I'd recorded MOTD ( on one of those old video machines). 

4.42, hey it's Chico time!

It was a nothing clash between the two. Didn't Fash get sued by Gary Mabbutt around that time (then had another day in court with Hans Sagers and Grobbalaer a few years later).

We were actually in really good form around that match, 5 wins from 6 games and 7-1 at home to Wimbledon happened a week later.

Seems in true Villa fashion that traumatic 4-4 at home to Leicester completely messed us up.  We failed to score in 7 of our final 11 games.

[Chico Hamilton III]

4 mins and 44 seconds. Fella with cropped hair and a fag in his mouth. I was a 20 a day man back the

[Damo70]

Wasn't it tough guy Ryan Giggs that did him at OT? I cant remember for sure, even though I was there!

It was. My claim to fame was that I was on Match Of The Day that evening - for some reason the cameras panned right in in on me while I was clapping as Fashanu was carried off after Giggs had "done him".

 I had no idea until i got home and found loads of messages on my answerphone (one of those old machines with a tape recorder fitted to capture messages). Good job I'd recorded MOTD ( on one of those old video machines).

I have got an old videotape somewhere of me 'giving it the big un' on SKY after we beat Spurs with a Dwight Yorke goal in the FA Cup in 1992 at White Hart Lane. The camera stayed on me for quite a while whilst Dave Bassett was summing up the game. You could clearly see me as the away end was relatively sparse around me. I wasn't aware of being on camera until a bluenose workmate told me the next day. He was drinking in the Mackadown Social with his mates, one of whom said "Whose that Villa twat"? My workmate Steve replied "I work with him"!

[Villan82]

I was trying to see if there was a discussion on here about Villa's Greatest  player of All Time?

[LeeB]

I was trying to see if there was a discussion on here about Villa's Greatest  player of All Time?

It was very short, started at "Paul..." and ended at "McGrath"

[Villan82]

I was trying to see if there was a discussion on here about Villa's Greatest  player of All Time?

It was very short, started at "Paul..." and ended at "McGrath"

I agree on McGrath, I was just wondering if fans who remember earlier eras agree.

[cdbearsfan]

There are two possible answers. Paul McGrath, and the wrong answer.

[Simon Page]

Sid and he who shall be called Brian have a call on this. Shaw would have done but for injury and Dwight Yorke was simply brilliant.

Older fans would surely stick Hitchens, Blanchflower and McParland in similar circles. Go back further and you can pick from a dozen or more.

[LeeB]

Sid and he who shall be called Brian have a call on this. Shaw would have done but for injury and Dwight Yorke was simply brilliant.

Older fans would surely stick Hitchens, Blanchflower and McParland in similar circles. Go back further and you can pick from a dozen or more.

You are of course correct, and Sid is my all time personal favourite, but there was something almost ethereal about the way McGrath played, and when you take into account his personal struggles it seems impossible that a mere mortal could be so consistently brilliant.

[Villan82]

McGrath made it look so simple. He was always so calm under pressure and could, without fuss, execute a little flick/touch to control a ball when he was under pressure.

What do we think was McGrath's best villa game? Didn't he play the '94 League cup final with a shoulder injury?

[LeeB]

McGrath made it look so simple. He was always so calm under pressure and could, without fuss, execute a little flick/touch to control a ball when he was under pressure.

What do we think was McGrath's best villa game? Didn't he play the '94 League cup final with a shoulder injury?

It's really hard to pick one that was so much better than all of the others, but the day he won the PFA award in 93 and he scored the winner away at Forest (when we were still well in the title race) lives long in the memory. We were directly in line with the path of the ball from his head to the net, a wonderful towering header, bulleted into the bottom corner.

[cdbearsfan]

Here you go mate, great day out that was.

https://m.facebook.com/avfcofficial/videos/1800434286667299/

[LeeB]

Here you go mate, great day out that was.

https://m.facebook.com/avfcofficial/videos/1800434286667299/

I've just watched that about 10 times in a row, on my work laptop with my headphones on full blast. Tremendous work, thanks pal.

Was a great day too, up the A42 in my brothers 1972 mini, playing Led Zeppelin as it was all we could hear over the engine. Seem to remember watching some of Arsenal v Spurs semi in the pub, when Gascoigne scored that mad free kick.

[Villan82]

Such a shame we didn't win that league. Those last 3-4 games...

[Damo70]

McGrath made it look so simple. He was always so calm under pressure and could, without fuss, execute a little flick/touch to control a ball when he was under pressure.

What do we think was McGrath's best villa game? Didn't he play the '94 League cup final with a shoulder injury?

He was in a lot of pain with his shoulder in the '94 final and apparently had barely slept the night before. I think it was diagnosed as a 'muscle virus'. He was still struggling with the injury when he put in a world class performance for Ireland against Italy in the '94 World Cup. I think his shoulder was pretty much paralysed in both games which must have affected his balance.