Steve Hunt

[Deano's Mullet]

Claret and Blue have just done an excellent podcast interview with Steve Hunt who has a book out shortly about his time in football and growing up in Witton. He left after a second spell  the season before I started going. What’s the general consensus on him - was he popular, did people like him as a player etc etc? Seems a decent bloke on the podcast but is he one of those in the relegation season who earned his keep or is he a step below Steve Hodge in the unpopularity stakes? I’d be interested to see what Villa fans think.

[WarszaVillan]

I saw him play in his second spell at Villa and he was a classy player. He was one of the only players to come out of that period with his reputation intact. The Chrissy Price song (no hair and we don't care) was originally sung for him.

[dave.woodhall]

He was very much a player's player - as I've said on here before, Gordon Banks was with us briefly as a goalkeeping coach and said he could never understand why Hunt had never had a chance at one of the top clubs or played for England regularly.

[dr.chekov]

I really liked him. Good player in a bad team. Remember Brian Clough saying if he could sign somebody like Hunt Forest would be title challengers again.

[LeeB]

The relegation season was my first proper season going down, my memories are a bit vague but he was certainly one of our few decent players.

He also lived up the road from me on the Old Chester Rd in Castle Bromwich, me and my mate knocked on his door for an autograph one Sunday morning and he opened it wearing nothing but a pair of red shorts, the 80's style ones that Alan Partridge 'pops out' of.

Fair play to him, he obliged, I'm not sure I'd be so forthcoming in the same situation.

[Flamingo Lane]

Time I'm afraid has dimmed my memory of him being with us for two different spells, but I remember him as a decent player with a good left foot.

[Damo70]

When we re-signed both Hunt and Blair in the old March transfer deadline in 1986 the two of them were massive in keeping us up. I met Hunt briefly once at Portman Road after SGT's first game in charge and the one thing that has always stuck in my mind is that he was smoking a fag.

I also remember Hunt and Simon Stainrod recreating the Ernie Hunt/Willie Carr 'donkey' free kick in a 2-0 win against Leicester at Villa Park in 1986.

[DYWTBAU?]

Agree with the opinions of others, a classy, hard-working player, with a good eye for a pass. He looked good when rejoining us in 1986 and was one of the few players to come out of relegation the following season with any credit. Played a part early on in the season we came back up too, before his knee injury caught up with him and SGT brought in the Grays and Mark Lillis, who often played a similar midfield role to that which Hunt had.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Long before my time watching Villa, but I remember we had the board game Team Tactics and he was the highest value Villa player.

I think he was valued at 500K.

[sid1964]

If my memory is correct saw him score a late winner at a "very wet" Huddersfield in SGT first season in charge

[PeterWithe]

I was always a bit underwhelmed by him, he seemed to have a very good reputation when playing for the Albion but I was never that impressed. Maybe one of those 'right player, wrong time' instances.

[JD]

A decent player who always gave 100%. In darker times he was a shining light.

[Nunkin1965]

He looked a really good player in a struggling side and was.one  of the few players at the time that seemed consistently good however badly the team performed.
Something positive was always likely to happen when he had possession of the ball.

[VILLA MOLE]

When we re-signed both Hunt and Blair in the old March transfer deadline in 1986 the two of them were massive in keeping us up. I met Hunt briefly once at Portman Road after SGT's first game in charge and the one thing that has always stuck in my mind is that he was smoking a fag.

I also remember Hunt and Simon Stainrod recreating the Ernie Hunt/Willie Carr 'donkey' free kick in a 2-0 win against Leicester at Villa Park in 1986.

I used to see Andy Blair run a market stall in Stratford when growing up ,  couldn’t get my head around it  .  I had a picture of him on my wall with the team winning the European cup .  ( not that there is anything wrong with running a market stall obviously)

[Nev]

If my memory is correct saw him score a late winner at a "very wet" Huddersfield in SGT first season in charge

Yep, that's what I think of when his name is mentioned.

You can keep your "that night in Barcelona" and "that night in Istanbul", that afternoon in West Yorkshire is amongst my fondest memories.