Lucas Digne (going to PSG)

[cdbearsfan]

Earl Barrett and Matty Cash are the best we have had in my time watching.

[Allan C]

I used to love John Gidman as a kid.

I read Lee Child once talking about how a relative took him to his first Villa game and we had a sort of swashbuckling feel to us, almost piratical.

That really resonated because that is exactly how I felt as a kid in the 70s going to matches.

John Gidman was definitely one of the players who most gave off that vibe.

I should add, I was about 10 at the time so this was in no way based on any interpretation of the quality of his play. I just thought he - and we - were really cool.

I liked Gidman too but my mate was a John Robson fan  my dad liked Robson too

[enigma]

Preferred Staunton myself

[Clampy]

Ulises Da La Cruz is up there surely?

[KingstandingVilla]

In the early 90s John Robson would occasionally visit the Kingstanding Ex Servicemens club the first time I saw him he was clapped from the bar to his seat

[Exeter 77]

I remember John Gidman but not well. My dad used to rave about how he could run on to a ball and somehow rainbow flick it over his head and back into own path. That said Charlie Aitken was his favourite player. I don't remember Aitken so left back has been historically a problem position in my almost 50 years watching Villa. Alan Wright is probably the stand out along with Staunton.

[Percy McCarthy]

Are the full-back positions the most underwhelming "best ever" choices in Villa's history?

Yes, but right back is even slimmer pickings than left back.

Mark Delaney

A good player cut down in his prime by Bocanegra but is that lanky streak of piss the best we can offer after 151 years? C'mon y'know.

Nowhere near. Spencer, Gidman, Swain, Stan the Wham.

[cdbearsfan]

Was Spencer anything like a "full back" in the modern sense? He looks more like a central defender in the graphic here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1895_FA_Cup_final

[ADVILLAFAN]

In the early 90s John Robson would occasionally visit the Kingstanding Ex Servicemens club the first time I saw him he was clapped from the bar to his seat

My Dad really liked John Robson too. Very versatile players too, sad what happened to him.

[kippaxvilla2]

Lucas is having a stinker.

[pauliewalnuts]

Lucas is having a stinker.

He hasn’t even left and he’s starting his decline already. 

[ADVILLAFAN]

Tommy Mort must have been decent for us. About 350 appearances for us and played for England too.

[Exeter 77]

Probably not. In the 2-3-5 formation there were only two defenders - the full backs. Full backs as we know them now probably only started to evolve in the 1920s when the offside law changed.

[Percy McCarthy]

Earl Barrett and Matty Cash are the best we have had in my time watching.

Yes. Earl Barrett was great. Very much a Konsa-style RB. Cash was up there last season.

[ADVILLAFAN]

In some ways that makes more sense. The deepest players being the Fullbacks.