All-Time Premier League: Aston Villa

My last post was much longer than I expected, and if that’s any guide then this one won’t be much shorter. Aston Villa’s recent history is not as successful as Arsenal’s, but there was a time when they stood at the top of the honours list, and as recently as the early nineties the two would have had almost identical tallies. They don’t boast as long a run of First Division seasons, but they are now in their 107th. Only Everton, fellow founder members of the Football League, have had more. The players who have won them their twenty-five major honours have been not only some of the greatest footballers, but some of the most colourful characters in the game’s history, and doing them justice will take some time.

So sit comfortably, because here we go.

1. Has any player been so close to others’ successes, at such a high level, as often as Jimmy Rimmer? An unused substitute at Wembley in 1968, as Manchester United beat Benfica to complete their quest for the continental crown, Rimmer returned to the European Cup Final in ’82 as a starter. For five seasons, he had been Aston Villa’s first-string goalkeeper, one of just fourteen players used by Ron Saunders as they won the League in 1981. But just nine minutes into the final he injured his shoulder and was replaced by Nigel Spink, who had joined the team in the same year as Rimmer. In their time together, Spink had made the field of play only once. With Rimmer reduced to a spectator, Spink, facing a forward line featuring Hoeness and Rummenigge, made a succession of superb saves as Villa beat Bayern Munich 1-0. Rimmer rejoined Swansea City the following year, while Spink stayed on as Aston Villa’s undisputed Number 1. He would remain at the club for a further fourteen years, and his 454 first-class appearances are a club record for goalkeepers. In this team, he starts between the sticks, though he’ll have to work to keep his place. Billy George, goalkeeper for a team that won three championships and an FA Cup in the late Victorian and Edwardian era, would give him some stiff competition.

2. That period was the most successful in the club’s history, and Howard Spencer was a big reason why. Nicknamed “the price of full-backs” for his fair play and commanding presence in defence, Spencer was said to have once subdued an opponent who played dirty simply by scolding him like a schoolmaster. “I won’t have it,” Spencer said, and such was the air of authority with which he spoke that he suffered no further fouls during the game. His fifteen years in Villa’s claret and blue brought him nine gold medals: four First Division championships, three FA Cups, and two Charity Shields. Of all the great teams the Villa had in that time, the 1897 vintage stands out as the best. With Spencer’s secure and constructive full-back play, the Villa won both the League and the Cup, the second team to do so after Preston North End in 1889 and the last team to achieve the feat for more than sixty years. With his record, Spencer beats out Tommy Smart for the starting right-back job.

3. Charlie Aitken, who played between 1959 and 1976, is the club’s record appearance-maker, and his years of sterling service have earned him admission into the Aston Villa Hall of Fame. Yet for much of his time as a player, his team was a Second Division side. That might not have been his fault, but it does depress somewhat the value of that record. When we limit ourselves to First Division appearances, a different leader among left-backs emerges. Steve Staunton is Aston Villa’s most-capped player, turning out 64 times for Ireland in his time at the club and 102 times in total. An accomplished Gaelic footballer who might have played for his county had he not turned to soccer, Staunton was signed at seventeen from Dundalk by Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool. In his five years there, the Reds won two championships and an FA Cup, though the first two of those years he spent in the reserves. But it was for Aston Villa that he would have the most influence, playing 350 first-class games in two periods spanning ten and a half years. They weren’t the most successful seasons the Villa had, but they weren’t bad either, producing two League Cups and a run to the UEFA Cup quarter-finals. No Aston Villa team since has done better. Staunton, serving as captain for part of this period, played a big part.

Transferred in the summer of ’91, Staunton made an immediate impression, scoring on his debut in a 3-2 victory over Sheffield Wednesday. It would be the first of nineteen goals for the Villa scored by a full-back with a fearsome shot, including this goal-of-the-season contender against title rivals Manchester United in 1993. His goals were some of the most sweetly struck shots you’ll see, but first and foremost he was a defender, and it was his reliability and versatility in defence that made him so valuable. Staunton could play on the left side of defence, in the centre, or -when needed- further forward in the midfield; and this ability to adapt would allow him to function in any formation and complement almost all kinds of colleague. In the All-Time Aston Villa All-Stars, it’s Staunton who starts at left-back, with Aitken relegated to reserve.

4. Allan Evans may be the best Number 4 in Aston Villa’s long history. A forward-turned-fourth-defender, he formed a fine partnership with stopper Ken McNaught in the great team of the early eighties. Later in the decade, after suffering relegation to the Second Division, he skippered the side straight back into the top flight. If it’s not Evans, it’s probably Gareth Southgate, who played at the heart of defence in the late ‘90s, winning a League Cup and earning 42 caps for England as a Villa man. But Howard Spencer, a classical central full-back, requires a right-half who can flank him on the outside.

Southgate could play that position, but double international Andy Ducat, who captained the cup-winners of 1920, appears to fit the bill better. Ducat, who has the distinction of being the only man ever to die at Lord’s Cricket Ground while playing, seems to have been not just a crack cricketer but a superbly skilled soccer player, being capped for his country in both sports. Ivan Sharpe (1960) had him listed among his top 50 wing-halves of all time – high praise for any footballer, particularly one whose cricket career combined with a World War to limit him to only 314 games over a twenty-year span, an average of about sixteen per season. His international career, said Sharpe, “extended over the long 1910-1920 period because he was so light on his feet. He seemed to be treading on air.” Ducat, on the right of the defence, will have licence to get forward when in possession, feeding the forwards and reinforcing the midfield to guard against counter-attacks. In case he gets called away to a cricket match, the versatile Gary Williams can fill in.

5. Given that the greatest successes of this club came in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the all-time XI has a Victorian centre-half. Thanks in large part to Pep Guardiola’s teams, the attacking centre-half has enjoyed a renaissance in recent times, although contemporary commentators won’t call him that; but after the liberalisation of the offside law in 1925, and Arsenal’s subsequent successes with the stopper, he found himself exiled from English football for eight decades. He survived in South America, where to this day he thrives; but his eradication from the English game was so complete that his reintroduction came in disguise – how likely are we to see a Number 5 playing in midfield for England? But in this Aston Villa team, anchored by James Cowan, that’s what we’ll see. An all-around athlete, he played professional baseball and once went AWOL to compete in the Powderhall New Year Sprint – which he won, making more than enough in prize money to pay the resultant fine. But soccer was where he made his name. The midfield motor of the machine-like team which, from his debut in 1890 to his last game in 1902, won five First Division championships and two Cup Finals, Cowan played 354 games and scored 27 goals. He was renowned as a tough tackler and a proactive passer, providing the platform for forwards like Athersmith, Devey and his elder brother John to excel in attack. At a time when England vs Scotland was the biggest game of the year, Cowan was selected at centre-half for Scotland in three successive seasons, captaining his country in the last of them. Those three international caps were the only ones he ever won, but in 1898 three caps were plenty.

If he wants to take New Years’ Day off, substitute centre-half Frank Barson can fill in. Barson, friend of the felonious Fowler brothers, could be something of a fouler himself. He once got suspended for six months, frequently needed police protection, and got sent off in his last League game. But he had skill to go with it, and could behave himself when he needed to. Warned against using his usual rough-housing tactics ahead of the Cup Final of 1920, he played a clean game as Villa beat Huddersfield 1-0. The following season, he succeeded Ducat as captain and celebrated by scoring a thirty-yard header in his first match as captain. It was one of 10 goals he scored in 91 League matches over 3 seasons – not a long time, but he played more First Division games for Aston Villa than he played for anyone else. He bounced around the League, playing for six clubs in twenty years, every team wanting his skills and no team wanting to put up with his personality…On second thoughts, perhaps Gareth Barry’s a better bet.

6. Partnering Steve Staunton on the left side of defence is his contemporary club-mate and compatriot Paul McGrath. Like Staunton, McGrath was a mainstay of the mid-’90s team which won two League Cups in three years. A fans’ favourite at Old Trafford, McGrath had been the Man of the Match in Manchester United’s Cup Final win of 1985; but by 1989 his personal problems had become too much to handle. New manager Alex Ferguson was trying to change the club culture, and McGrath’s alcohol addiction made him more a hindrance than a help. Villa boss Graham Taylor seized the chance to sign him, and over the next seven years the club’s faith in him would be richly rewarded.

The Villa came close to the championship in his first season, finishing second behind Liverpool, and McGrath followed a strong season with a World Cup in which Ireland, having qualified for the first time, reached the quarter-final. McGrath played in every match on the way. After the tournament, Taylor became England manager, and Villa struggled in ’90-’91 under Jozef Venglos, but McGrath kept playing well. After Ron Atkinson took control, Villa became championship challengers once more, and at an age when most footballers are exiting their prime, Paul McGrath was maturing like wine. In ’92-’93, the inaugural Premier League season, McGrath was a star. Now permitted to play his natural, constructive game out from the back, McGrath scored 5 goals in 50 games as a defender. His fellow professionals voted him their Player of the Year. The team of the year, though, was Manchester United, with Villa finishing second to McGrath’s former team and to the manager who had sold him. Some measure of revenge was exacted in the ’94 League Cup Final, as the United were beaten 3-1 and denied a domestic treble. That summer, he played in his second World Cup, fighting his way past a knee injury as Ireland beat Italy 1-0.

Two years later, McGrath helped the team to another League Cup before he departed for Derby. He had played 323 first-class games and secured his status among Aston Villa’s greats. In 2006, the club created its own Hall of Fame, and McGrath was an immediate inductee. His stylish play in the centre of defence was, and still is, remembered fondly by the fans of the club; and his ability to create, to step into the midfield, knowing that Staunton can cover for him, makes the Black Beckenbauer of Birmingham the perfect Number 6 for its all-time eleven. Jimmy Crabtree, a full-back-cum-half-back who played precisely 200 games for Aston Villa between 1895 and 1904, winning the double with Spencer, the Cowans and company, could deputise for him – or for Staunton.

7. And so, to the forward line; and if you think having a centre-half who was a secret sprinter and a wing-half who died at the wicket is weird enough for one team, think again. Footballers who compete in other sports are rarer than they used to be, and to reach the highest level they usually have to pick one; but Ducat and Cowan are not without some sort of modern equivalent. Phillip Neville played cricket for England at junior level; and Usain Bolt is a sprinter who at least tried to be a footballer. But no professional in today’s Premier League era will ever play a game under an umbrella. Yet in 1894, in the rain and the cold at Wellington Road, Charlie Athersmith did just that.

The Villa were playing host to Sheffield United, and so severe was the weather that by the end the visitors were reduced to six men, five having had to withdraw mid-match for their health. The home players, afforded the creature comforts of hot drinks and a change of clothes, were less affected, but outside-right Athersmith wasn’t taking any chances. Playing close to the crowd, he borrowed an umbrella from a spectator. Thus sheltered, he carried the covering up and down the right wing for the rest of the game. Afterwards, with the umbrella returned to its rightful owner, he collapsed in the home dressing-room.

That was merely the strangest of 307 first-class games Athersmith played for the Villa, in which he scored 85 goals. Like Cowan, he was present through the glory years of the 1890s; and like Cowan, he won international honours. Unlike Cowan, he was an Englishman, playing for England twelve times and scoring three goals. He was also selected nine times for the English Football League XI, an all-star team that played representative matches against other leagues. For this particular all-star team, he is a shoe-in. He’ll have to do more defensive work than wingers did in his day, but it’s worth the risk. Let’s just hope he remembers his gloves.

8. Clem Stephenson, one of the most creative players of the inter-war period, scored 96 goals in 216 games for Aston Villa, and his passes created the chances for more still. Before the Cup Final of 1913, he claimed to have seen in a dream that the Villa would win with a headed goal by Tommy Barber, a premonition that precisely materialised. He might be worth a spot for his soothsaying powers alone; but as good as he was for Villa, he was probably better for Huddersfield Town. He played more games for the Terriers, and certainly it’s Huddersfield who need him more. David Platt was the Players’ Player of the Year in 1990, and is in the club’s Hall of Fame; but he spent only three seasons at Villa Park before moving to Italy. When asked whether he missed the Villa, he is reported to have replied “No. I live in one.” For a combination of excellence and longevity, the greatest inside-right in Villa’s history preceded Platt by a century. Let us go back to that cold and wet afternoon in 1894, with Athersmith, umbrella held high above his head, set to centre. Take your eye off the ball for a moment and look at the crowd in the penalty box. Now, there’s a chap who’s clearly thought ahead. He’s got his own protection - in the form of a raincoat…

A skilful striker who could play inside or centre-forward, John Devey was indubitably a Villa man, making all of his 268 League appearances in the club’s colours. He captained the crack Villa team of the 1890s, scoring a team-leading 20 goals during the championship-winning season of 1893-’94. His 187 goals place him third on the club’s all-time list, and elevate him above his competitors for inside-right here. If this leaves the midfield too light, then Dennis Mortimer can replace him; but Devey deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Like several members of this team, and indeed several soccer stars of his time, he wasn’t satisfied with playing soccer alone. Devey, like Ducat, reached first-class level in cricket as well, spending several summers as a batsman for Warwickshire County. Like Cowan, he also turned out for the club’s baseball team in 1890, to this day the solitary summer in which the sport was played professionally in Great Britain. They won that league, too.

9. Peter Withe, game-winning goal-scorer at Rotterdam in 1982, earned a place in the club’s Hall of Fame with 90 goals in 182 games in the first half of the eighties; and he would be a good partner for Devey; but he has to give way to Tom “Pongo” Waring and Billy Walker. Walker, considered by many to be the greatest of all Villans, is the club’s record goal-scorer with 244. He also scored 9 goals for England in 18 internationals. From the resumption of League football after the First World War to his retirement in 1933, William Henry Walker was a fixture in the forward line at Villa Park, playing 478 games in the First Division. He never won the League, but he did get his hands on the FA Cup in 1920 before losing the final to Newcastle in 1924. In ’30-’31, playing inside-left, he was part of a prolific attacking team that scored 128 League goals, a record that still stands. Unfortunately, they also conceded 78; and while their 59 points might have won them the League anyway in a normal campaign, they came second to an Arsenal team that set a record of 66. The only man ever to score a hat-trick of penalty kicks in one League game, Walker takes charge of the spot-kicks. Like Devey, he could play at inside or centre-forward, and their combination play, each taking turns to drop off and play through the other, should spin opposing defenders dizzy. Waring, a team-mate who scored a club record 49 goals in that ’30-’31 season, serves as a substitute.

10. Fielding Devey and Walker together necessitates an inside-left who can play in midfield, and Gordon “Sid” Cowans is just the man. I have remarked before on the decline of the playmaker in English football; but in three separate spells at the Villa between 1976 and 1994, at a time when the playmaker seemed to be going the way of the wheelwright and the blacksmith, the cultured Cowans was one of a handful who kept the craft going. No dilettante, the deep-lying Cowans combined his creative play with a combative streak that made him one of the toughest tacklers in the game.

Signed as an apprentice at fifteen, he made the first team for the first time at seventeen. Within a year he had established himself, and he played in both replays of a drawn-out League Cup Final against Everton. Individual honours soon followed, with Cowans voted the Young Player of the Year in 1979. He was the lynchpin of the League champions of 1981, who went on to be crowned kings of Europe the following year. His transfer record reads like a romance. Cowans and his club, it seems, had a rocky relationship, but they just could do without each other. After sustaining an injury in 1983, Sid was sold in 1985 to Bari of the Italian League. He scored just three goals for Bari in three years, and although his 94 games indicate that his midfield play still made him useful, they decided to transfer him in 1988. New Villa manager Graham Taylor exercised the buy-back option which the club had retained, and the returning hero helped the team to a second-pace finish in his first season. Over the next three years, he played 117 League games for Villa, and while he still didn’t score as frequently as he once had, his seven goals in those games meant that his strike-rate had doubled compared with his time at Bari. In 1991, under Ron Atkinson, Villa sold him again, this time to Blackburn Rovers of the Second Division. While Cowans helped the Rovers to promotion, and a subsequent fourth-place finish in the Premier League, an Aston Villa fan magazine was established, entitled Missing Sid. He seemed to miss them too, and in the summer of ’93, Cowans, a free agent, rejoined the club for the last time. He was an old thirty-two now, his injuries having taken their toll, and he lasted only 11 games. Sold to Derby, he proceeded to spend three more years in the lower divisions, passed like a parcel from club to club. He played for nine in all, but there was one where he truly belonged.

Sadly, he has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, but long after he’s lost his memory Villa fans will still remember him. In the all-time Aston Villa, he and his near-namesake would be the first names on the teamsheet, the two men no manager would dare to go without. A two-man midfield may sound lightweight, but Cowan and Cowans would each do enough for two men - even if their combination confused commentators.

11. With such a strong midfield axis, I can securely select an advanced outside-left, and there are plenty to choose from. James Cowan’s brother John would confuse commentators even further, and make listing the line-up sound like a comic’s routine, but although he was part of the great double-winning team his 66 games in 4 years aren’t good enough. Tony Morley, who played in 137 in another 4-year spell, scored some spectacular goals for the great team of the early eighties, and his dribbles and crosses laid on more for others, including Peter Withe’s winner in Rotterdam. But only two outside-lefts have made the Aston Villa Hall of Fame, and it’s these two who vie for the starting position.

McParland, a Villan for ten years, became a villain to Manchester United fans for what the referee ruled was a firm but fair shoulder-charge on Ray Wood. Six minutes into the FA Cup Final of ’57, McParland's charge broke the cheekbone of the Busby Babes’ goalkeeper, and half-back Jackie Blanchflower took over in goal. McParland beat Blanchflower twice and Villa won the Cup. A year later, playing for his native Northern Ireland, he became the first Aston Villa player to compete in a World Cup. Another first was reached in ’61, as McParland became the first player to score and win in the finals of the FA Cup and the new League Cup. His 120 goals for the club make an impressive CV, even if some were scored in the Second Division; but it’s the man who managed him in that final of ’57 who starts on the left wing.

Eric Houghton was Billy Walker’s wing partner in the ’30-’31 team, and his 30 League goals in that season from outside-left were second in the team only to Waring. Houghton had one of the hardest shots of his time, and in his twenty years at Villa Park scored approximately 30 goals from free kicks taken outside the penalty box. He, too, spent some time in the Second Division, but as for the team in which McParland played, it didn’t last for long. Relegated in ’36, a Villa team coached by the great Jimmy Hogan won back its place in the top flight within two years with some of the most stylish soccer of its time. Houghton had played his part, and would continue to do so as they finished a creditable 12th in their first season back at the top table. After the Second World War, he returned for a final FA Cup campaign before dropping down to Third Division Notts County. He had played 392 first-class games for Aston Villa, scoring 170 goals. Jack Grealish may yet come to challenge him, but for now it’s Houghton who takes the Number 11 shirt. He’ll take the free kicks as well.

Phew! I think this post is longer even than the last, and I haven’t mentioned the manager yet. George Ramsey’s title was “Secretary,” but never mind that. Originally a player, he joined Aston Villa almost by accident in 1876 and proceeded to set the club on a course that would lead to it becoming the dominant force in football. Formed by the members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel in 1874, Aston Villa Football Club was for two years nothing more than a bunch of anonymous amateurs, no different from the dozens of other church teams, old boys’ teams and works teams playing in public parks. But when, short of a player for a practice match on the grounds of a country house, they asked a by-passer to make up the numbers, they struck gold. George Ramsey, as it transpired, had played this game before, and he was pretty good at it. Levitating to a leader’s position, he was quickly made club captain. Taking charge of training sessions, he taught his team-mates the passing game he’d played in Scotland. He found the club its first home ground at Wellington Road, and started recruiting the best players he could find. Strategy, personnel, and even real estate? Sounds like a manager to me, and the results speak for themselves. With Ramsey in charge, the Villa started to win, taking the Birmingham Senior Cup in 1880. His playing career finished in 1882, but staying on as Secretary, he kept control of recruitment and advised the selection committee. He held the position for forty-two years, overseeing the club’s transition to professionalism, the establishment of the Football League (the idea of a Villa director), the move to Villa Park, and fourteen first-class honours. At seventy-one, he resigned his post as Secretary and was made a vice-president. In 1935, Ramsey died. In 1936, Villa were relegated to the Second Division. The organisation he had built from nothing seemed to be nothing without him. The Villa would rise again, but no manager they’ve had since Ramsey has had half his influence.

Next: Blackburn Rovers. That’ll be shorter, I promise.