Savo.

[SoccerHQ]

25 years ago he joined Real Zaragoza and so ended a very eventful three year spell here.

Elsewhere there's a discussion about Villa players long since departed who are looked back more favourably now and I'd argue on the pitch at least he'd be one of them.

Of course the spitting incident was deplorable and he was never going to stay but on the pitch he did o.k didn't he?

12 prem goals and a magnificent cup final goal in his first season.

Hit double figures in 96/97 and set up a fair few for Yorke aswell.

97/98 he was more a rotation forward with Joachim and Collymore so fewer prem goals but played very well in the european games.

So all in all he did far better than many other forwards we've signed since. I actually think he'd get a decent reception if he was every invited back to VP as time heals and the mid 90s team is still fondly remembered and he was a key part of that.

[Monty]

Sure made Villa fans look a bit weird in the 90s, saying 'you know what, I like that Milosevic'.

[LeeB]

"He's wanted in Holland but he's not keen on moving there"

[Risso]

Transfer fee set by an international tribunal.

[Rotterdam]

He had a very fit girlfriend.

[PeterWithe]

Did he make his home debut for us at the Hawthorns in a European game when VP was closed for some reason?

I was never a fan, always thought he was far too slow in both movement and thought. His goal in the cup final aside he was pretty much a massive disappointment

[dave.woodhall]

Did he make his home debut for us at the Hawthorns in a European game when VP was closed for some reason?

I was never a fan, always thought he was far too slow in both movement and thought. His goal in the cup final aside he was pretty much a massive disappointment

We played them in a pre-season friendly there.

[LeeB]

Did he make his home debut for us at the Hawthorns in a European game when VP was closed for some reason?

I was never a fan, always thought he was far too slow in both movement and thought. His goal in the cup final aside he was pretty much a massive disappointment

We played them in a pre-season friendly there.

The day the new kit came out and we were hopeless

[LeonW]

Savo was a talented player who just lacked consistency with us. Not a surprise really considering his age and moving countries. As he showed as his career progressed, he blossomed in Spain and had a good career. I’d love to see a better goal in cup final from a Villa player as that thunderbolt in 1996.

[algy]

Remember the summer he signed, we went to go and visit my grandad, who would've been in his mid 70s then. Worked on farms all his life, so he was quite outdoorsy but had the first signs I guess of starting to become a bit frail. I would've been 13 at the time.

He lived in his childhood home in a little village, Donnington, in the Cotswolds. We'd walked up from the nearest bus stop, which was about
 a mile away. Really typical village for the area, windy single track road working its way up a hill through a cluster of yellow Cotswold stone houses. No shop, no bus stop, just a handful of houses, couple of farms, and a big country house belonging to some toff or other.

All very quiet, where everyone knew everyone. Houses passed through generations, where 150 years ago the same folks great great grandparents would've lived in the exact same houses and largely been doing the exact same things, unhindered by the march of technology elsewhere in the world. It was all very sedate.

We made this walk up every month or so since I could remember - used to visit my great gran there before she passed away & he moved back. It was all very familiar, walk up the hill, go round the back garden, then in through the back door. Only the vicar, the lord of the manor, or the queen would've gone through the front door.

Anyway, we turned the last corner before we got to the house and there was my grandad, standing on top of the septic tank (which was right up against the wall and about the same height), in a Villa bandana chanting "Savo! Savo! Savo!" at the top of his voice. My gran said that he'd been wearing this bandana for the past fortnight and Mrs Bostock, who lived next door, had asked my gran if he was alright!

One of my favourite memories of my grandad, and of the Villa.

[Meanwood Villa]

My brother and I were inaugural and, to the best of my knowledge, still the only remaining members of the Savo and Gary Charles fan club. Formed the night of Bordeaux at home to offer solidarity to maligned players.

Lovely post algy BTW

[LeeB]

Yeah, that's a great post algy

[Risso]

If they measured assists back then like they do now, he'd have been a lot more highly regarded. He was an excellent player, but in those days most teams still played 4-4-2 with two out-and-out strikers, so somebody who did his best work around the edges of the box was still something of an oddity.

[Brend'Watkins]

My brother and I were inaugural and, to the best of my knowledge, still the only remaining members of the Savo and Gary Charles fan club. Formed the night of Bordeaux at home to offer solidarity to maligned players.

Lovely post algy BTW

Yes, great post about your Granddad algy.

I was always a Savo fan, yes, he was a bit wayward with his shooting at times but he was a player who excited me the way he could glide past players and had a great drop of shoulder and drag back of the ball.

I never liked Gary Charles probably because he never lived up to the player I thought we were getting.

[Dave P]

Did he make his home debut for us at the Hawthorns in a European game when VP was closed for some reason?

I was never a fan, always thought he was far too slow in both movement and thought. His goal in the cup final aside he was pretty much a massive disappointment

We played them in a pre-season friendly there.

You might be thinking of Luc Nilis.  The pre season friendly v Partizan was Savo's debut and that was at Villa Park.