Graham Taylor Points Finger At DOL

Former Aston Villa and England manager Graham Taylor has pointed the finger at David O’Leary and said that he didn’t give Peter Crouch a proper chance.

O’Leary used Crouch once as a sub (v Pompey) and then loaned the (now) England striker to Norwich for three months.


Taylor told the Birmingham Mail: ‘I thought that because O’Leary had watched at close quarters how Niall Quinn had turned from a gangly 18-year-old into an international centre-forward of some repute that Peter would be all right. But we all have our ideas on players and he sold him, which left Peter at a crossroads.’


Crouch was signed by Taylor when he returned to Villa Park for £4.5million from Portsmouth. He was later sold to Southampton for around £2million only to get a dream move to Liverpool for £7.5million.

Vital Villa recently questioned whether O’Leary had made a mistake selling Crouch, Click Here, where the majority felt we had been wrong to sell him.