Paul McGrath Wins Poll

Vital Villa asked which of these Villa players, in the peak of their form, would you like to see in the current team.

The runaway winner was Paul McGrath, aka God, with 64% of the votes. Written off by Manchester United after 163 appearances (and 12 goals) the defender joined Aston Villa and became a legend. He stayed until 1996 defying the odds thrown at him by his off field problems and knee problems. He made 252 appearances and scored 9 goals. The Irishman lit up the pitch with his skill and guile and will long be remembered by Villa fans of a certain generation as one of the true Villa greats.

David Platt polled 15%. Platty played for Villa between 1988 and 1991 making 121 appearances and scoring 50 goals before moving on to Bari, Juventus, Sampdoria before finishing back in England at Arsenal (and Nottingham Forest for just five appearances).

Gordon ‘Sid’ Cowans polled 11%. Cowans, lovingly referred to as Sid by Villa fans had several periods at Villa, his first being 1976-1985 before moving to A.S.Bari. He returned in 1988 staying until 1991, after two years at Blackburn he once again came back to Villa Park and stayed until 1994. Sid made 414 appearances for Villa scoring 49 goals and making 10 billion more for the strikers. The former midfielder is now back at Villa and heavily involved in the youth set up.

Dennis Mortimer pulled in 5% of the votes. The Villa captain lifted the European Cup, what more needs to be said? Dennis was at Villa between 1975 and 1985, if memory servers me right, we were ‘quite’ successful in that period!! He made a total of 317 appearances and scored 36 goals. He was shockingly overlooked by England but will always be remembered by Villa fans for his passion for the claret and blue that lives on even today as he regularly attends Villa Park.

That left Charlie Aitken with 3% and Jimmy Rimmer with 2%.

Defender Charlie Aitken was at Villa between 1959 and 1976 and made an incredible 561 appearances scoring 14 goals. He currently works at Villa on match days as an ambassador.

Goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer was at Villa between 1977 and 1983 making 229 appearances. He was famously substituted in Rotterdam during the European Cup after picking up an injury. He stayed at Villa for six seasons and picked up a First division (now Prem) title in 1981. Rimmer is the only English player to have won a European Cup medal with two different clubs. He also played for Manchester United and Arsenal.