Aston Villa’s last trophy-winning captain names NO current players in his Villa dream team

The last captain to lift a major trophy with Aston Villa has named his all-time Villa dream team and no current player has made the cut.

Villa won the League Cup, then the Coca-Cola Cup, twice in the mid-nineties. Andy Townsend was in the starting eleven for both finals under Ron Atkinson and Brian Little respectively, winning the Man of the Match award at Wembley as the team’s triumphant captain in 1996.

Republic of Ireland international Townsend played for Villa with distinction between 1993 and 1997. He named his Villa eleven in a recent feature on the club’s official website.

Villa’s European Cup heroes

Townsend picked a 4-3-3 line-up that included three of the players who featured in Tony Barton’s team in the European Cup final in 1982, when Villa defeated Bayern Munich in Rotterdam.

Centre-back Allan Evans got the nod alongside Paul McGrath, obviously, with Gordon Cowans and Tony Morley named further upfield.

Townsend’s club and country teammate Steve Staunton was selected in the side at left-back. On the right, Townsend’s surprise choice came from even earlier than 1982.

“I’m going to go for John Gidman. There will probably be a lot of younger fans who don’t know of him, but Giddy was an amazing footballer. He played the game like Trent Alexander-Arnold; he was such a natural and could pass the ball long or short, getting forward and delivering great balls into the box,” said the former Villa skipper.

Townsend plumps for wildcard Villa goalkeeper over European champions

Another former teammate, Gareth Barry, was Townsend’s midfield choice in a three alongside Cowans and Townsend’s fellow ex-Villa captain Jack Grealish.

Dwight Yorke and Andy Gray completed a front three that spanned a couple of decades and Townsend opted for a familiar choice in goal. There was no place for league champion Jimmy Rimmer or superhuman European Cup final substitute and eventual Townsend teammate Nigel Spink.

“In goal, I’d have Mark Bosnich,” said Townsend.

“I played with Bozzy for three years here and he could have been – probably should have been – one of the most talked about goalkeepers in the world because he had everything in his power to be that. He wasn’t the best at kicking, but his shot-stopping at times was scary. It was off the charts.”

I’d agree with all of that; Bosnich is also my number one.

Naming his three dream team substitutes, Townsend added his appreciation for two current Villa players and one of the goalscorers in his Coca-Cola Cup-winning team in 1996.

“For my subs, I’ve picked John McGinn, Emiliano Martínez and Ian Taylor,” he said.

“Tayls would definitely have to make the bench as someone who supported the club as a kid and managed to have such a great day at Wembley, scoring a goal and winning a trophy for Villa.”

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