The non-selection of Jack Grealish for yet another England squad at a time when he was widely expected to be called up allows me to return to a favourite topic of Villa's international players, or in some cases, players overlooked consistently and unjustly at international level.
In the case of Grealish it seems obvious that there is a reason other than form or divisional level which causes Gareth Southgate to give ever more weak reasons (or excuses) for not calling up the Villa captain. Whether that is a personality clash, off-field issues or just the fact that he plays for Aston Villa all have been discussed by fans, journalists and pundits, as well as by Southgate himself, almost ad nauseam since the latest squad was announced on Tuesday. Grealish has chosen not to be drawn on the subject other than liking a Sky Sports' Twitter post which showed his statistics in comparison to the best Premier League players last season.
Taking each of the possible reasons for Grealish's latest exclusion they mostly do not stack up. The argument about Jack breaking coronavirus lockdown regulations in late March fall down when Kyle Walker, who repeatedly flouted the same regulations and to a far greater extent more than once, and Harry Maguire, who even as the squad was announced was in the process of being tried and convicted of multiple offences in Greece.
That Walker and Maguire, who later was withdrawn from Southgate's squad, play for the two Manchester clubs just adds fuel to those looking for a conspiracy theory. Rumours abounded that Southgate would not pick Jack until he moves to one of Sky's favoured clubs. As an aside, the begging for Grealish to join Manchester Untied on social media by fans who couldn't point Salford out on a map has been hilarious.
As Southgate pointed out, if he wasn't going to pick Villa players Tyrone Mings would not be among those chosen to face Iceland and Denmark. That the England manager felt he had to mention in the same sentence that we as Villa fans hadn't forgiven him for leaving for Middlesbrough nearly twenty years ago probably says more about his mindset than ours.
You might have won a trophy with us Gareth, and I thank you for being part of Brian Little's Villa renaissance, but you are overstating your own importance in Villa's history. If Danny Blind had joined Villa from Ajax in 1995 you would have remained an average midfielder. You owe almost your entire career to a Villa legend and were replaced by a much better defender in Olof Mellberg when you left. You may be England manager now but you would do well to remember that.
It is Southgate's ego which may provide the answer to Jack Grealish's omission and stories of him missing meetings and turning up late while the current national manager was in charge of the Under-21 side. If that is true, holding a long term grudge against a player who was little more than a teenager at the time is not a good look for a fifty year old. Lockdown misjudgement aside, Jack Grealish is not the same immature man he was when he was pictured in less than professional situations more than six years ago.
Southgate, though, is far from the first England manager to inexplicably exclude Villa players or indeed the first international manager.
Taking players from the decade from Villa's promotion in 1974-75 to Tony Barton's sacking in 1984, a period when Villa won a glut of trophies and consistently finished towards the top end of the old First Division, I've had a look at players who were obviously international standard and those who actually won caps for the home nations and the Republic of Ireland. The figures are quite stark.
Over that period of more-or-less consistent Villa success the most capped Villa player was Leighton Phillips who won 26 of his 58 caps for Wales while a Villa player with Peter Withe and Chris Nicholl sitting joint second in that list with just eleven appearances for England and Northern Ireland respectively. Nicholl won a total of 51 caps overall but for Withe his eleven constituted his entire international career.
A figure which I have always found difficult to believe is the number of Scotland appearances Andy Gray made when he was at Villa and not on the treatment table or suspended for his early MMA audition. Even so, just six games in the four years when he was tearing into top flight defences is almost criminal, especially when Scotland struggled for goals in the 1978 World Cup. Just six games for one of the most dangerous wingers in Europe in Tony Morley is equally baffling when England struggled to break down defences in the second round group four years later.
In addition to Withe and Morley of the Villa squad who won the championship and European Cup only Sid Cowans, Nigel Spink and Allan Evans won any kind of senior international recognition but still only got twelve caps between them in the relevant time frame. Sid did, however, add a couple more when he was at Bari and then made a controversial final England appearance when he replaced Paul Gascoigne in Dublin in 1990.
All of Evans' four caps came in 1982 when he played more internationals than any other Villa player except Eamonn Deacy, who also won all of his four Republic Of Ireland caps that year; missing the success in Rotterdam to tour with his country. What sums up the home nations aversion to Villa players is the fact that the most capped Villa player during 1980-81 i.e. before Villa won the league on 2nd May 1981, was... nobody! Not one Villa player played an international game when they were busy winning the league that season. Even after the season ended only Withe and Terry Donovan, who won the last of his two caps for Ireland in May 1981 despite not playing for Villa at all during the season, got any game time for their countries.
At least these players did appear at international level, which is far more than Dennis Mortimer, Gary Shaw or Ken McNaught ever did (Jack Gealish is in some esteemed company in that respect) while the man who Gareth Southgate should thank for his career at the highest level, Brian Little, played just twenty minutes against Wales for England. John Gidman also played once for England while Jimmy Rimmer did likewise but when he was at Arsenal. Alex Cropley, twice, and Des Bremner, once, played for Scotland while at Hibernian and John Gregory, Steve McMahon and Mark Walters played for England long after they had left Villa.
As Villa declined after Doug Ellis spitefully sacked Tony Barton international players, particularly for England, became fewer and further between at Villa Park with a couple of high profile exceptions, Ireland though have never had a problem selecting Villa players and our most capped player is Steve Staunton with 64 across his two spells in B6. Maybe this is the reason some have suggested Jack should revert his international declaration to Ireland.
Despite all of this, and particularly when considering the issues successive England managers have had with picking Villa players, there are two glaring ironies. Firstly, until the boardroom neglect of the last decade allowed Spurs to surpass the number, Villa had provided more England internationals than any other club.
The second irony is Villa's most capped Englishman: Gareth Southgate.
Stacy Murphy
