Every Villa all-time XI starts in Rotterdam. 26 May 1982, Bayern Munich, Tony Morley down the left, Peter Withe from close range, 1-0. A year earlier Ron Saunders had won the league using only 14 players all season.
Then McGrath came, then Yorke, and in May 2026 Unai Emery won a European trophy in Istanbul. Villa beat Freiburg 3-0 in the Europa League final.
I kept six of the 1982 lot. That'll annoy some of you.
The XI
4-4-2, because that's how the 1982 side played, with each player judged only on his Villa years. McGinn goes on the right, where Emery used him in Istanbul.
Goalkeeper
Nigel Spink has the better story, and I nearly gave him the shirt for it. He came off the bench early in the 1982 final when Jimmy Rimmer got hurt, kept Bayern out for the rest of the night and stayed at the club until 1996.
But Emiliano Martínez (2020 to 2026) won games on his own. The night I think of is Lille away in April 2024, Conference League quarter-final, 3-3 on aggregate. He saved two in the shootout, got booked for winding up their fans along the way, and Villa went through 4-3. He'd arrived from Arsenal as a backup. He left for Chelsea at the end of August with 256 Villa games behind him, the Europa League final among them.
Defence
Kenny Swain, right back (1978 to 1983). A converted forward who played in the title side and in Rotterdam, and Matty Cash has a shout of his own now as the right back in Istanbul.
Paul McGrath, centre back (1989 to 1996). Villa fans called him God, and they still sing his song at Villa Park. He came from Manchester United in 1989 with knees that were already in a bad way, and somehow played the best football of his life on them. In 1992-93 he was the PFA Players' Player of the Year and Villa chased United for the first Premier League title right up until 2 May, when Oldham won 1-0 at Villa Park and that was that. The next season he got a bit of revenge on his old club, with a 3-1 win over United in the League Cup final. He won it again in 1996.
Allan Evans, centre back (1977 to 1989). 380 league games, a starter in Rotterdam, and later the club captain after Mortimer. He started out as a forward at Dunfermline and still got 51 league goals for Villa. Ken McNaught partnered him that night, and anyone who was there will want both. I only had room for one next to McGrath.
Steve Staunton, left back (1991 to 1998, then 2000 to 2003). He left for Liverpool in 1998 and was back two years later. He could play anywhere across the back and hit a dead ball as well as anyone at the club. Gary Williams was the left back in 1982 and has a real case.
Midfield
John McGinn, right midfield (2018 to now). Signed from Hibernian when Villa were in the Championship, and promoted that same season. He's been captain since 2022 and wore the armband in Istanbul. He's really a central midfielder. Emery played him on the right in the final, so that's where he goes here. Of that Istanbul team, Martínez, Konsa, Watkins and Rogers have all gone since. McGinn is still here.
Dennis Mortimer, centre midfield (1975 to 1985). Signed from Coventry on Christmas Eve 1975 for £175,000. He captained Villa to the league in 1981, their first title in more than 70 years, then lifted the European Cup a year later. England never gave him a full cap. I still can't get my head round that one.
Gordon Cowans, centre midfield (1976 to 1985, 1988 to 1991, then 1993 to 1994). Villa signed Gordon Cowans three times. He was PFA Young Player of the Year in 1980 and the passer in the side that won the league and then the European Cup. Gareth Barry played more league games for Villa than either of these two, 365 in the Premier League, and he's the hardest one to leave out of midfield.
Tony Morley, left midfield (1979 to 1983). He beat his man and got the cross in for Withe's goal in Rotterdam. The season before, he ran at Everton's defence at Goodison and bent one into the top corner from outside the box, and that won the BBC's Goal of the Season. Saunders' team won the ball and gave it to Morley, and he did the rest. Jack Grealish is the obvious rival on that side. More on him below.
Attack
The 1996 League Cup final at Wembley. Villa already 2-0 up on Leeds through Milošević and Ian Taylor, two minutes left, and Dwight Yorke (1989 to 1998) gets the third. He'd come from Tobago as a teenager and started out wide before he became one of the best strikers in the Premier League. Then Manchester United came for him.
Peter Withe (1980 to 1985). Saunders paid Newcastle £500,000 for him in 1980, a club record at the time. He scored 20 in the league that first season, joint top in the old First Division with Steve Archibald, and Villa won the title. Two years on he scored the only goal of the European Cup final. All 11 of his England caps came while he was at Villa.
Manager
Ron Saunders. He built the team and won the league in 1981, then walked out in February 1982 with Villa still in the European Cup, and Tony Barton finished the job. Emery has the Europa League and a Champions League quarter-final. Saunders still gets it from me, for the title won with 14 players.
So how many survived?
From the 1982 final side: Swain, Evans, Mortimer, Cowans, Morley and Withe. From the Emery years, Martínez and McGinn. Rimmer, Spink, Williams, McNaught, Bremner and Gary Shaw missed out, and Shaw is the one that stings. He was PFA Young Player of the Year in 1981 and a European Cup winner at 21.
Close but not quite
- Ollie Watkins (2020 to 2026). The hardest call in the whole team. He left for Al-Hilal at the end of August with 91 Premier League goals, more than anyone in Villa's history. Yorke or Watkins next to Withe is a fair fight, and on another day I'd pick Watkins.
- Jack Grealish (2012 to 2021). Came through the academy and was the captain when Villa went back up in 2019. I still prefer Morley's end product on the left.
- Gareth Barry (1998 to 2009). Eleven years and hardly a bad season, first at left back and later in midfield.
- Ezri Konsa (2019 to 2026). Started the final in Istanbul and joined Arsenal in August.
- Olof Mellberg (2001 to 2008), Ugo Ehiogu (1991 to 2000) and Gareth Southgate (1995 to 2001). All very good. None of them were McGrath.
- Gary Shaw (1978 to 1988). The one from 1982 I most wanted to fit in.
- Billy Walker (1919 to 1933), Harry Hampton (1904 to 1920) and Pongo Waring (1928 to 1935). The old goalscorers. Walker is the club's record scorer, and Waring got 49 league goals in 1930-31. If your grandad picks the team, at least one of them starts.
- Charlie Aitken (1959 to 1976). More appearances than anybody in Villa's history. I've gone for Staunton at left back, and I can't fully defend it against that number.
- Peter McParland (1952 to 1962). Two goals in the 1957 FA Cup final against Manchester United.
- Morgan Rogers (2024 to 2026). Scored the third in Istanbul, then went to Chelsea in July.
Build your own Villa XI
Plenty of Villa fans would rather have the actual Rotterdam team on the wall than any all-time XI. That's Rimmer, Swain, Williams, McNaught, Evans, Mortimer, Bremner, Cowans, Morley, Shaw and Withe, with Spink off the bench and Barton in the dugout. Or the Istanbul side from May. Or your own Sunday league team.
You can make any of them in our team builder, with the formation, kits, pitch, a title and a message, and we email you a proof before anything is printed. Or have a look at the ready-made Aston Villa prints.