The Unsung Heroes Aston Villa xi

[LeeB]

George Boateng, one of my all time favourite villa midfielders. Hard as nails.

Gascoigne broke his arm trying to hit him.

[Steve67]

I think Ian Ormondroyd might need a place in the squad somewhere as well.  Decent player, ungainly fucker, but had a good season before disappearing under Venglos.

I think Crouch has a shout too.

[David_Nab]

Vassell

Solid Partnership with Angel , not a great goalscorer mind you

[Clark W Griswold]

Can't really think of wingers that fall into this category so gone with a 4-3-1-2 formation.

James - He did drop a bollock in the cup final but otherwise i thought he was pretty flawless for the 2 years he had with us, he didn't really seem to get much praise.
L Young - I thought he was a really good right back, but MON clearly didn't considering he played a center back there most of the time, and the Villa fans didn't give him the credit he deserved.
Wright - Struggling a bit with the left back side but i'll say Wright as he played a lot of games for us and didn't always get as positive a response as he might.
Mountfield - Quality player, was overshadowed by McGrath, but he's rarely mentioned in the years since.
R Johnson - I couldn't quite believe how good he was considering the age when we signed him. Another one that was largely forgotten.
Kevin Richardson - He was great for us until the last season, i think he even had an England call at a fairly late stage of his career whilst with us. Probably overshadowed by some bigger names back then.
Boateng - He did used to get on my wick a bit with the sideways and backward passes but he was a very important part of the team breaking up the opposition and i seem to recall we missed him once he left.
Hourahane - Up until the start of last year i thought he's been a let down as many others did, but during that run we had at the end of last season he was really good, finishing with a MOM performance in the play off final. He's continued to do well this season in the PL when called upon and i don't think he's fully appreciated by Villa fans.
Draper - Seems to have a degree of ridicule in a lot of Villa fans eyes but he was excellent in his first season, decent in his second and then did go off the boil in his third. Still, he was an important part of that 95-96 team.
Angel - i know a lot of Villa fans appreciated him but there were plenty that didn't. He had a tough start to his Villa career but got going shortly after and although he was a bit up and down but he had a lot of personality and he was entertaining to watch. This was a bit scarce in the Gregory and O Leary teams so was very welcome.
Olney - His Villa career was pretty brief but i'll put him in there because it was decided to buy a replacement in the form of Tony Cascarino for the last dozen games or so of the 89-90 season. With the benefit of hindsight that proved to be a proper cock up and i think manager and fans had wished we'd stuck with him.

[Small Rodent]

Franz Carr. A handful of appearances but one goal which took us to an FA Cup semifinal. Younger Villa fans might have never heard of him but always going to be a cult figure for that alone.

I remember seeing the goal on Sportsnight in a Cardiff pub.


For his short time would include Benito Carbone. Should have started with him at Wembley.

[KevinGage]

John Burridge - keeper in a legendary side but less-remembered than the four regular number ones that followed.
Mark Delaney - one of Gregory's best signings and a real miss when injured.
Gary Williams - probably the least spoken about member of 80-82.
Leighton Phillips - proper skipper, proper centre half.
Derek Mountfield - overshadowed by his central defensive partners but vital to SGT's three.
Paul Birch - I don't think you can have an unsung heroes line-up without him.
Kevin Richardson - every side needs one.
Mark Draper - just for 95/6 when he was over-shadowed by more popular names, but brilliant nonetheless.
John Deehan - much needed back-up to the often injured Andy Gray.
Ian Olney - appalling goals per game record, but what a job he did to create space for Platt.
Mark Walters - simply stunning, worthy of similar praise to the wingers who sandwiched him, Morley and Daley.

Good looking side, that.   

Budgie Burridge was a wee bit before my time, so I'll go with Michael Oakes rather than him. As good a keeper as Bosnich was, I was never too worried when Oakes had to deputise for him.

[Damo70]

I think Ian Ormondroyd might need a place in the squad somewhere as well.  Decent player, ungainly fucker, but had a good season before disappearing under Venglos.

I think Crouch has a shout too.

I remember being at Villa Park in 1987/88 for the 0-5 Simod Cup tie against Bradford. We couldn't handle Ormondroyd that night, he had a blinder and clearly caught the eye of SGT. He was in the mould of SGT's former strikers at Watford Ross Jenkins and George Reilly, although less physical. Ormondroyd struggled at first but in his second season SGT realised that playing 'Sticks' wide on the left gave us the option of hitting long
high balls out to him and the full backs who were usually about a foot shorter than him struggled to compete against him. I think he scored a couple of crucial goals at Derby and Spurs in 1990 when we were going for the title. Ormondroyd was like a prototype Peter Crouch but unfortunately not so prolific.

[SoccerHQ]

Franz Carr. A handful of appearances but one goal which took us to an FA Cup semifinal. Younger Villa fans might have never heard of him but always going to be a cult figure for that alone.

I remember seeing the goal on Sportsnight in a Cardiff pub.


For his short time would include Benito Carbone. Should have started with him at Wembley.

We did didn't we? He had a shot cleared off the line in our one real shot on target. Pretty sure Joachim came on as sub. Perhaps Dublin shouldn't have started given it was only a month since his return from a broken net but he'd scored a few goals in that period.

[Deano's Mullet]

Franz Carr vs Forest 1996

[Clark W Griswold]

I went to that Forest game, and yes, Carbone did start the 2000 cup final. Unfortunately like the rest of the team he never really got going. Good player though and i was gutted we didn't sign him permanently.

[Border villan]

I went to that Forest game, and yes, Carbone did start the 2000 cup final. Unfortunately like the rest of the team he never really got going. Good player though and i was gutted we didn't sign him permanently.

I remember being at Everton for the FA cup in 2000 when Carbone scored and was also sent off. Merson had a blinder that day.

[Small Rodent]

Franz Carr. A handful of appearances but one goal which took us to an FA Cup semifinal. Younger Villa fans might have never heard of him but always going to be a cult figure for that alone.

I remember seeing the goal on Sportsnight in a Cardiff pub.


For his short time would include Benito Carbone. Should have started with him at Wembley.

We did didn't we? He had a shot cleared off the line in our one real shot on target. Pretty sure Joachim came on as sub. Perhaps Dublin shouldn't have started given it was only a month since his return from a broken net but he'd scored a few goals in that period.

Yeah, I've got the short front men back to front.

[dave.woodhall]

Please, please someone tell me what was so good about Benito 'fanny merchant par excellence' Carbone.

[CT]

I think Ian Ormondroyd might need a place in the squad somewhere as well.  Decent player, ungainly fucker, but had a good season before disappearing under Venglos.

I think Crouch has a shout too.

I remember being at Villa Park in 1987/88 for the 0-5 Simod Cup tie against Bradford. We couldn't handle Ormondroyd that night, he had a blinder and clearly caught the eye of SGT. He was in the mould of SGT's former strikers at Watford Ross Jenkins and George Reilly, although less physical. Ormondroyd struggled at first but in his second season SGT realised that playing 'Sticks' wide on the left gave us the option of hitting long
high balls out to him and the full backs who were usually about a foot shorter than him struggled to compete against him. I think he scored a couple of crucial goals at Derby and Spurs in 1990 when we were going for the title. Ormondroyd was like a prototype Peter Crouch but unfortunately not so prolific.

Wow, that brought back some memories. Me and mate went to that and knew the crowd would be sparse (5000)? So for a laugh, we sat with the few Bradford fans who were there, and yep, they won 5-0!

[SoccerHQ]

Please, please someone tell me what was so good about Benito 'fanny merchant par excellence' Carbone.

Well Leeds at home in the cup is one of the most memorable games I've ever been to. Carbone with his hat-trick (that second goal is also one of the best I've seen scored at VP) and Merse with a divine set up for the third goal (spilling blood for the cause) more than played their parts. I remember him fondly for that game.