| LEAGUE:
eighth |
| FA
CUP: third round |
| WORTHINGTON
CUP: fourth round |
| UEFA
CUP: first round |
| PREDICTION:
challengers for Uefa Cup spot |
| TITLE
ODDS: 125-1 |
| OFFICIAL
WEBSITE: www.avfc.co.uk |
Key man: Peter
Crouch
Graham Taylor has always had a weakness for tall
centre-forwards — think George Reilly and Ian Ormondroyd
— and, at 6ft 6in, Crouch is very much in the approved
mould. Previously with QPR and Portsmouth, the England
Under-21 international relishes playing with two wingers. He
boasts a surprisingly deft first touch for a big man and
contributes some neat link-up play
Coach: Graham Taylor
They say you
should never go back but the former England coach simply
could not resist abandoning retirement to succeed John
Gregory last season. A far more rounded, intelligent figure
than indicated in the infamous Do I Not Like That
documentary, Taylor knows he has his work cut out if he is
to match the runners-up spot achieved during his first stint
as Villa boss. Results were disappointing towards the end of
last season but Villa fans insisted the team’s new
attacking approach was infinitely superior to Gregory’s
yawn-inducing stuff
Instant expert
Ground Villa Park, Trinity Road, Birmingham, B6 6HE
Telephone 0121 327 2299
Capacity 42,602
Shirt sponsor MG Rover
Ticket office 0121 327 5353
Can I get a ticket? Match tickets on sale,
from £5 (under 16) to £27
How to get there From city centre, West
Midlands Travel bus No 7
Club call 09068 121148
Club shop 0121 326 1544
| Full
squad |
|
Goalkeepers
12 Peter Enckelman,
39 Wayne Henderson,
13 Boaz Myhill, Stefan Postma |
Midfielders
7 Ian Taylor
17 Lee Hendrie
18 Steve Stone
20 Moustapha Hadji
21 Thomas Hitzlsperger
24 John McGrath
28 Gavin Melaugh
29 Stephen Cooke
30 Hassan Kachloul, Ulises de la Cruz |
Defenders
2 Mark Delaney
3 Alan Wright
4 Olof Mellberg
5 Alpay Ozalan
11 Steve Staunton
15 Gareth Barry
25 Jonathan Bewers
31 JLloyd Samuel, Lee Grant |
Forwards
8 Juan Pablo Angel
9 Dion Dublin
16 Peter Crouch
19 Bosko Balaban
22 Darius Vassell
23 Stefan Moore, Marcus Allback, Michael Boulding |
Strongest
XI
Nationalities
England (15), Ireland (3), Sweden (2), Morocco (2),
Holland (1), Finland (1), Northern Ireland (1), Turkey (1),
Wales (1), Germany (1), Colombia (1), Croatia (1), Ecuador
(1), United States (1) Total 32
Players in
Stefan Postma, Marcus Allback, Michael Boulding, Ulises de
la Cruz, Lee Grant
Players out
Peter Schmeichel, George Boateng, Paul Merson
New boy: Michael
Boulding
It’s just three years since Boulding gave up a career as a
pro tennis player — he was ranked inside the British men’s
top 20. A left winger, he joins on a Bosman from Grimsby,
and can play tennis at Villa with Olof Mellberg, a Swedish
teenage tennis prodigy
Money talk
Top earners Vassell £34,000, Angel £31,000,
Hendrie £29,000
Total wage bill
£24.88m
True to their League form, Aston Villa’s
financial figures skirt around mid-table, their wage bill
being the 10th highest in the Premiership, their £39.42m
yearly turnover being the ninth highest
Where are they now?
Des Bremner A key member of the Villa team which
won the 1982 European Cup, he is the PFA’s resident
pensions expert
