Woodytom Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 No joke - Fabio Ferraresi Young Italian - thought he was going to be Mint!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 when Salifou was labelled Togolese Zidane i was quite intrigued Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adbo9 Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 never understood the Angel Love-in to be honest......... had too many bad spells in his time here where he was below average......... nice bloke and loved villa though - think people remember him fondly due to his personality as much as his ability is Carlos Cuellar the modern day Angel !!??!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adbo9 Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 I do remember around the early John Gregory years being really excited about a few signings..... more often than not the ones that didnt work out........ I was buzzing when we signed David Unsworth because at the time he really was a very decent solid defender, and similar with Alan Thompson....... thought JG was on his way to building a really effective TEAM....... I also really was happy when we rescued David James to replace Bozzie...... James should have stayed with us !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Reading theis thread has made me realise, some of you are very old.And that gives us two advantages over people who are very young. (a) We are much wiser ( We have seen really good times at Villa (and of course some really bad ones) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 JPA, easily Neale Cooper too because he was hard as coffin nails but unfortunately always injured Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HackneyVillain Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Like the OP it was probably Collymore signing for us that got me most excited. Remember playing a pre-season at the Hawthorns, he scored a class goal coming in off the touchline, skipping challenges and burying it (past Nigel Spink?) and I thought good times were just around the corner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HolteEndRob Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Darren Bent. I was in total shock when I put SSN on and breaking news was that we had bid for him. Then when the deal was done I was over the moon. Finally we had signed a decent striker and I was confident that we would stay up thanks to his goals. Then six months later every player that assisted his goals had left the club and were not replaced. I really do wish that we had signed him 12-18 months earlier. His goals would have probably helped us claim a Champions League spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joey55 Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Please don't take this as a dig at Villa, it's a serious question. But why, given your status, haven't you ever signed any really big name players? We (Spurs), Leeds, Newcastle and even Middlesbrough have all signed some really exciting names over the years. I'm not saying it's made any of those teams better than Villa, as you've more than held your own in the Prem era, but for some reason you've never seem to go after or land the big names. The players in this thread are seriously uninspiring. Again I'm not saying they were all bad signings, but by other teams of Villas stature, they would hardly be deemed exciting. For some reason you never sign any of the big international names. Is there a reason for that and do you think it in anyway hinders you in the transfer markert thesedays as I'm sure potential big names from abroad will partly rank clubs according to the stature of their past players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheltenham_villa Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Stan Collymore for me. Thought he was the missing piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Dean Saunders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-67 Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Dean Saunders. Is the right answer!! Great player. I also got excited when Steve Hunt signed all those years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Coldly more for me, was so happy when he signed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adbo9 Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Please don't take this as a dig at Villa, it's a serious question. But why, given your status, haven't you ever signed any really big name players? We (Spurs), Leeds, Newcastle and even Middlesbrough have all signed some really exciting names over the years. I'm not saying it's made any of those teams better than Villa, as you've more than held your own in the Prem era, but for some reason you've never seem to go after or land the big names. The players in this thread are seriously uninspiring. Again I'm not saying they were all bad signings, but by other teams of Villas stature, they would hardly be deemed exciting. For some reason you never sign any of the big international names. Is there a reason for that and do you think it in anyway hinders you in the transfer markert thesedays as I'm sure potential big names from abroad will partly rank clubs according to the stature of their past players. to be fair, era for era and level for level Villa have signed some really big players !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Sasa Curcic. Turned out well, didnt it? Mark Draper and Dion Dublin too. Both players who were wanted by half of the Premier League but decided to sign for us. Also Andy Townsend, possibly the last player to ever think Villa were a better career choice than Chelsea. More recently? Darren Bent and James Milner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roonst83 Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 MON Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jezza Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Luc Nilis, even though we knew that he was nearing the end of his career (although, unfortunately, we didn't expect it to end quite so soon after signing for us). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelle Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Please don't take this as a dig at Villa, it's a serious question. But why, given your status, haven't you ever signed any really big name players? We (Spurs), Leeds, Newcastle and even Middlesbrough have all signed some really exciting names over the years. I'm not saying it's made any of those teams better than Villa, as you've more than held your own in the Prem era, but for some reason you've never seem to go after or land the big names. The players in this thread are seriously uninspiring. Again I'm not saying they were all bad signings, but by other teams of Villas stature, they would hardly be deemed exciting. For some reason you never sign any of the big international names. Is there a reason for that and do you think it in anyway hinders you in the transfer markert thesedays as I'm sure potential big names from abroad will partly rank clubs according to the stature of their past players. to be fair, era for era and level for level Villa have signed some really big players !! Yeah, to me it seems that you're equaling exciting and big players with players from outside of Britain. Merson, Saunderd, McGrath and a few more I'd call big players. But big players from outside of Britain we haven't had that many, that's true. But we got Nilis, and he was both a great and foreign player. But I guess he's the only one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joey55 Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Please don't take this as a dig at Villa, it's a serious question. But why, given your status, haven't you ever signed any really big name players? We (Spurs), Leeds, Newcastle and even Middlesbrough have all signed some really exciting names over the years. I'm not saying it's made any of those teams better than Villa, as you've more than held your own in the Prem era, but for some reason you've never seem to go after or land the big names. The players in this thread are seriously uninspiring. Again I'm not saying they were all bad signings, but by other teams of Villas stature, they would hardly be deemed exciting. For some reason you never sign any of the big international names. Is there a reason for that and do you think it in anyway hinders you in the transfer markert thesedays as I'm sure potential big names from abroad will partly rank clubs according to the stature of their past players. to be fair, era for era and level for level Villa have signed some really big players !! Yeah, to me it seems that you're equaling exciting and big players with players from outside of Britain. Merson, Saunderd, McGrath and a few more I'd call big players. But big players from outside of Britain we haven't had that many, that's true. But we got Nilis, and he was both a great and foreign player. But I guess he's the only one. But in terms of excitment the likes of Merson, Saunders and Mcgrath aren't the same as when a team like Newcastle signed Owen and Shearer. I'm not saying you haven't signed players with good reputations, but as far as I can remember you've never been a club that has signed the truely big names of the era. Mcgrath turned out to be an awesome signing for you, but he wasn't one of the stars of world football when you signed him. You've signed plenty of excellent players and done well as a club, but in terms of head turning signings, they've been remarkably thin on the ground for some reason. Other clubs of similar stature do seem to have signed much more eye catching names. Shearer and Owen for example were not only starters, but seen as star players for the national team when Newcaslte bought them. Whilst the likes of Merson were really just good squad players at international level. But as you say, it's more evident with foreign names. I the grand scheme of world football someone like Luc Nilis is a bit of a nobody. Yet a club like Boro signed Juninho and Ravenelli, who at the time were huge names. I couldn't believe it when they signed Juninho and the press coverage was huge. There doesn't seen to be any Shearer, Owen, Lineker, Asprilla, Juninho, Ravinelli, Klinsman, Davids, Gullit or Weah types signings in your history. Basically no really big names from abroad or star players for the England national team. It hasn't done you any harm over the years, but for some reason you've never signed any of the big names of world football. It's the same with Everton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HolteExile Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Dean Saunders. I had a feeling Collywobbles would be a disappointment and he was - to put it mildly. Dean had moved for a British transfer record fee little over 12 months previous, and joined for a figure not a million miles off that. He looked sharp on his debut, Leeds away IIRC. His home debut is one of my fondest memories of a Villa fan. To roll the Redscouse over and make it look so easy. There was a little moment during that game - probably when we were 4-1 up- that I looked up at the scoreboard, looked around me at the Trinity, Witton and Holte rocking and felt this wasn't just one good performance or result in isolation, this was the start of something. A new go ahead era. And it was. Closest I've got to recapturing that feeling was when we beat Chelsea 2-0 at Villa Park early into the 2007/08 season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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