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Cult Villa Players

JW1985

JW1985

Vital Champions League
There's been a lot of discussion over the last few weeks about who our greatest players in each position are.

What I'd like to know is who are the Villa players that you have a particular fondness for who perhaps weren't at the club for a long while or for whatever reason didn't make as big an impact at Villa as the legends discussed in the greatest ever threads.

Maybe its just a particular game or even goal that makes you remember that player with more fondness than another who was maybe better or at the club longer.

I'll start off with a couple of mine. Benito Carbone. Pretty much everything a 14 year old me thought was cool in a foreign footballer, swagger, long hair, capable of scoring outrageous goals, bit of an attitude.
Wasn't with us long but was a big part of our cup run and that hat trick vs leeds is one of my best villa park memories.

Milan Baros. Even in my time as a season ticket holder I've seen many better strikers than Baros but he does hold a special place in history for me as he scored 2 in our 3-1 win vs blues in 2006. Any Villa man who scores in a win vs them is going to be remembered well by most fans but this was the first ever win over blues I'd seen in person. Most people remember that game for cahills brilliant volley but as I was still traumatised from Stern Johns last kick of the game equaliser 2 years before the 3rd goal from Baros is what made me realise we were going to beat them.
 
Two that come to mind for me are Tommy Johnson and Savo Milosevic (obviously, avatar)

Loved both of them, obviously not considered Villa legends or anything, but they bring back great memories for me.

I was completely shocked when TJ was sold. Was he actually crap and I was just too young to realise?
 
Savo is one for me too, as i first started to properly support Villa he was our record signing and to meet him last year 20 odd years later was just so surreal.

Julian Joachim, 5 years where he was a dependable, solid and a very quick player.

I know he left under a cloud but Alpay, always remember him running up to the Holte before kick off every home game as we sang his name, he was solid for a while too until it all went tits up.

Der Hammer... Hitzlsperger, loved him. Great in the middle and some top notch goals to boot.

Could probably name a few more but those ones spring to mind initially.
 
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JW1985 said:
I'll start off with a couple of mine. Benito Carbone. Pretty much everything a 14 year old me thought was cool in a foreign footballer, swagger, long hair, capable of scoring outrageous goals, bit of an attitude.
Wasn't with us long but was a big part of our cup run and that hat trick vs leeds is one of my best villa park memories.
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Funnily, I've just read an article on Carbone where he said on his Instagram that turning down a contract offer from Villa was a big mistake when he looks back on his career. I always wondered why he ended up at Bradford the following season.

Another masterstroke from Doug I guess.
 
My abiding memory of Tommy Johnson was seeing him on his haunches, puking up on the pitch. Other outstanding memories are Dean Saunders goal against Ipswich and Dennis Mortimer's goal against Liverpool.
Cult figures for me would be Sammy Morgan, Brian Little and Paul McGrath.
I could come up with a few others, it's that hard to single them out.
 
Ian Ormondroyd. He really wasnt the greatest of players I have seen at Villa Park and he got some fearful stick from the Villa faithful when he first came.
But the kid stuck at it and won the boo boys over with his never say die attitude.
 
VillaTomB38 said:
Savo is one for me too, as i first started to properly support Villa he was our record signing and to meet him last year 20 odd years later was just so surreal.

Julian Joachim, 5 years where he was a dependable, solid and very quick player

I know he left under a cloud but Alpay, always remember him running up to the Holte before kick off every home game as we sang his name, he was solid for a while too until it all went tits up.

Der Hammer... Hitzlsperger, loved him. Great in the middle and some top notch goals to boot.

Could probably name a few more but those ones spring to mind initially.
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I thought Hitzlsperger was greatly underated in his time at Villa and his shooting ability always put me in the mind of Bruce Rioch.
 
Stephen Jay Hawkings said:
Two that come to mind for me are Tommy Johnson and Savo Milosevic (obviously, avatar)

Loved both of them, obviously not considered Villa legends or anything, but they bring back great memories for me.

I was completely shocked when TJ was sold. Was he actually crap and I was just too young to realise?
Click to expand...

Tommy was awful to begin with, but he turned out to be a decent signing in the end. Scored a few crackers from memory
 
There could be loads of these.
Kent Nielsen - never heard of the fella before we signed him. Formed a great partnership with McGrath and will never forget the thunderbolt he scored against Inter at VP. Not sure why Big Ron got rid of him so soon, but he then went on to win the Euros with Denmark afterwards.
Garry Thompson - really just for the promotion season. The bloke was a brute who bullied defenders and was great in the air. Villa fan too which helps.
Never really considered Dalian an all time great, but would definitely put him in this bracket. Bags of talent and scored some brilliant goals. If he had the same desire as Deano he'd have been a world beater
 
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