From the latest Heroes & Villains which you can get online, along with back copies. AND there is a real, virtual, actually in paper, you can hold it and everything, version out this Saturday so look out for that around Villa Park.
It`s almost been forgotten but we had a good youth policy at the start of the century. We won the FA Youth Cup in 2002 and got to the final two years later.Some of the players such as Gabby and Gary Cahill went on to have long and lucrative careers while other faded from view. After extensive research we`ve found out what append to some of the ore obscure names.
2002 goalkeeper Wayne Henderson had a few good years, playing for Brighton and Grimsby and winning six caps for the Republic of Ireland. Then he got married to a woman off Big Brother and desperate for an equal turn in the limelight he pitched the idea for reality show The Only Way is Cleethorpes to cable channels, taking rejection badly
and severing all links with his previous life. Now believed to be working in a call centre in Dublin.
Midfielder Colin Marshall spent time playing in his native Scotland before moving to Devon where he spends the summers renting out beach huts at Saunton and the winter working on the south-west comedy circuit. His one-man show Give Me Ilfracombe or Give Me Death debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2015.
Andrew Wells left Villa disillusioned by the shallow, mercenary way of life in the Premier League. He travelled the world hoping to find himself and now practices yoga at a meditation in the Australian outback.
Peter Hynes spent a decade and more playing in the Irish league before hanging up his boots. He then returned to the village where he grew up to visit relatives and coincidentally bumped into his childhood sweetheart in the local grocers. They married, settled down to life on her family farm and are currently negotiating to have their true life story serialised in Take a Break.
Another Irishman, Steven Foley-Sheridan, was forced to retire after a freak dressing room accident while with Bournemouth.This gave him an allergic reaction to shampoo and as a result he shaves his body twice daily, a habit that has continued until now and which has hampered his efforts to find regular employment. His last job was as a vacuum cleaner demonstrator in a local department store.
Winger Michael Husbands left Villa shortly after the 2002 youth cup final but we were to have a long-lasting effect on his life. After training at Bodymoor he used to spend his afternoons at Twycross Zoo and became friendly with the keepers there. Once his footballing days were over Michael studied zoology and is now assistant elephant handler at West Midland Safari Park.
Stefan Moore`s football career fizzled out after a bright start and he spent some
time as a taxi driver.However, during this period in his life he witnessed a
drive-by shooting that was linked to the drugs trade and was forced to go into
witness protection. His present whereabouts are unknown.
David Scullion moved back to Northern Ireland after being given a free by the Villa. On his arrival back in Belfast he bought lottery tickets with his last ten pound note and won £14 million on a triple rollover jackpot. He now lives in a mansion in Co Down, and drives a string of Ferraris.
2002 final substitute Mark Atkinson left Villa the following year and moved to Blackpool hoping to get a summer job. He was first a barman then got promoted to assistant manager at one of the town`s busiest clubs before being sacked for speaking out in public about staff working conditions. Since then he has attempted to break into the lucrative world of tattoo art, and is believed to have attempted to enter the Guinness Book of Records by tattooing 37 saltires onto Glaswegian arms in a single afternoon.
Ryan Amoo is best known for having briefly been romantically linked with the late Jade Goody. This entry into the showbiz life inspired him to take up an alternative career to football and he can now be seen working as an extra on TV. His latest appearance was asa customer in the Queen Vic on Eastenders. He walked away from the bar with a pint of lager and could later be seen playing the fruit machine.
Robert Olejnik played in goal for the 2004 team. He then went on to have a spell in Scotland, where he was heavily criticised for his role in the ‘Austrians for Independence` group of the SNP. Since returning to England he has now signed for Mansfield, supplementing his playing earnings with work as a DJ at Ridgeley`s, the East Midlands` premier eighties theme bar (smart casual dress, 2-4-1 promotions before eleven on Fridays).
Birmingham-born Paul Green got as far as a place on the bench for a couple of pre-season friendlies before drifting into the local non-league circuit. He now works in the accounts department of a local logistics firm and is the leading light in his local amateur music society.They`re playing West Side Story at the town hall in January. Tickets are on sale now.
Central defender Magnus Troest returned to Denmark and was then transferred to Italian side Parma in a big money move.Since then he has played for several Serie B sides and with an eye on life post-football, he has built up his contacts in each town where he`s played,until he is now a director of one of Scandinavia`s leading pasta importers.
Christian Kabeya left Villa and returned to Zaire, where he was born. Little was heard of him until recently when he was seen on national television taking part in a fund-raising appeal for the Benedictine orphanage where he is employed as an English language tutor and gardener.
Australian-born Kyle Nix left Villa and returned to Yorkshire, where he had grown up. He spent some time playing in the lower divisions before going semi-pro and also working behind the tills at Poundland. While employed here he began to wrote his first novel, which was placed on the long list for the Desmond Elliott Prize for New Fiction.
Defender Lee Grant moved seamlessly from football to the world of rock`n`roll after hanging up his boots. An accomplished bassist, he played on Jamie T`s acclaimed 2014 album Carry on the Grudge and reportedly turned down the chance to join High Flying Birds after describing Noel Gallagher as a “failed Manc drug dealer”.
Shane Paul suffered a serious leg injury not long after leaving the Villa. While recuperating he took a script writing correspondence course and found that he had a natural aptitude for writing soap storylines. Since then he has worked on Casualty,Holby Cityand Emmerdale, where he was responsible for the framing of Andy Sugden story that was highly acclaimed by TV critics.
Luke Moore had a brief and largely unsuccess fulcareer in the Premier League before playing in Turkey, where he was forced to leave the country after causing a furore when his vegan principles let to him protesting when his new club sacrificed a sheep at the beginning of the season.He now works for the Canadian Animal Rescue Centre.
Oluwaseyi Morgan finally left Villa in2006. Moving down to London to seek fame and fortune he was taken in by the Royal Household and now holds the rank of Price Charles` Toothpaste Foamer Pursuivant. In recognition of his previous career Colgate now make royal toothpaste in claret with blue stripes.
If anyone knows what happened to Craig Gardner, Liam Ridgewell or Gabriel Agbonlahor,get in touch.
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