Martin Compton

Leamington born and bred - Villa fan Leamington & Warwick AVSC and a big cricket fan England and Warwickshire.

[Martin Compton @leammc]

@jonah_rocks8 @AVL8ton I bet Konsa plays right back if Tuchel asks him to play there. Agree about average players as back up Buendia, Bailey to name but two. Recruitment has been a shambles again.

[Martin Compton @leammc]

How McPhee retains a job as our set piece coach is beyond me. He must have pictures of our owners naked to have retained a job under Smith, Gerrard and Emery. He disappears when we are defending a set piece and briefly waves his hands around when attacking one #AVFC

[Martin Compton @leammc]

@HodgsonHoward Happy birthday for yesterday Howard 🎂🍻

[Martin Compton @leammc]

@wealdstonejames Nah… you love it… who would blow up those balloons 🤷‍♂️😁

[Martin Compton @leammc]

@Dawsey72 @markgoldbridge *Yawn*… are you still peddling that boring old rhetoric.. you do realise the goal wasn’t given and the game doesn’t finish in 20 odd minutes. “But I’ve got a blue tick so I must be right” 🙄

[Martin Compton @leammc]

@GuillemBalague surprised you didn’t have a San Miguel at Timperely.. UTV!!

[Martin Compton @leammc]

Thanks for having us again today @wealdstonejames you really know how to look after clubs.

[Martin Compton @leammc]

@APresserV2 🤡

[Aston Villa @AVFCOfficial]

Our club. Our history.

#AV150

[Aston Villa Updates @avfcbreaking]

Villa fans, if you are out in Lepzig please keep an eye out!
Fans please reshare the post ASAP #AVFC

[Martin Compton @leammc]

@AVL8ton Apparently the ref had got his replica shirt on under his orange one..🤔

[Football Away Days @FBAwayDays]

Brilliant… 🤣🖕

[Martin Compton @leammc]

@AdzAgain Has he let Kane out of his pocket yet? 🤔😂

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

Gary Shaw – a tribute. Shaw, who has passed away aged 63, played the game the way it should be played. The Aston Villa attacker played with flair, an unquenchable hunger for goals, commitment to team and loyalty to club. He played to win, conquering England in 1981 and Europe in 1982, and he did it in style. Shaw’s finishing was not only about the quantity, 79 goals in 213 games for the Villa, but also the quality.

Shaw was fleet of mind and body, able to sense the best positions to glide into, whether holding his run to the edge of the area for a cutback and strike with either foot or darting to the near-post for a poacher’s finish with head or foot. He could stun a ball speeding in, flick it up, juggle it and volley it in, all under pressure from a merciless centre-half and on pitches that sometimes looked more suited to ploughing than pillaging goals.

And he scored vital goals. It feels like only yesterday, rather than 42 years ago, that Shaw was dribbling through Dinamo Kyiv’s defence and scoring with a low left-footed shot from the tightest of angles at Villa Park in 1982. It was not only a brilliant strike but hugely significant in Villa’s run to European glory.

So many fine finishes: running on to Dennis Mortimer’s through pass and driving the ball through Jim Platt’s legs at Middlesbrough in 1980; and gambling on a David Geddis flicked shot coming back off the post, falling to his right, connecting with his left in 1980 at Villa Park in the 3-0 Derby win over Blues – that athleticism and positioning again.

Shaw could link and create and finish, famously against Nottingham Forest in 1981, dropping deep and taking the ball from Morley, loaning it to Geddis, then giving it to Mortimer in the centre-circle and ghosting into the area. Kenny Swain, released by Mortimer, crossed low and hard from the right, Shaw timed his run to perfection, meeting it first time. A bad knee injury in 1983 lessened his impact but his mind was still sharp, taking him into the right positions. When Paul Rideout nodded down against West Brom in 1984, Shaw pounced.

For Villa fans, he was “one of our own”. For the rest of us admiring from afar, Shaw was a Boy’s Own hero, prolific and photogenic, the PFA Young Player of the Year, then European Young Footballer of the Year. Shaw would be worth a fortune in the modern era. His versatility would be highly prized. He could play as a second striker, centre-forward, even wide.

His partnership with Peter Withe was the proverbial rapier and broadsword, silk and steel. They cut a swathe through opposition defences. The photo of Shaw and Withe holding the 1982 European Cup above Morley and placing it on his head remains an iconic image and embodied Villa’s attacking approach. That year, Shaw made the 40-strong long-list for the World Cup but was eventually overlooked by Ron Greenwood. He ended up with just Under-21 caps, and only seven of them, crazy really, given his calibre.

Shaw’s impact felt even more uplifting because it was a counterpoint to the mood of the country at the time. With the dark clouds of unemployment, strikes and bombs in London parks scurrying across the landscape, a glamourous footballer who scored fabulous goals brought hope as well as joy.

Villa have lost a legend and English football has lost a player who lit up the 80s. His family have lost someone very special. Shaw was a very likeable and down-to-earth human being even to those of us who only encountered him briefly in the Villa Park press room. Just a really approachable guy. My thoughts with Gary Shaw’s family, friends and former team-mates. RIP.

[Martin Compton @leammc]

@X7JBG Didn't want him anyway. He didn't want to come last season so why bother this. He's been touted around Europe and nobody appears to want him. As you say...move on.

[Martin Compton @leammc]

@GuyBradley https://t.co/3tZ0XEkLpZ. We've got ours one of these which helps...albeit might not be big enough for your big lad..

[Martin Compton @leammc]

Football's governing bodies need to do something about this stuttered run up bollocks. Keepers aren't allowed to move off their line.

[Martin Compton @leammc]

@AVFCTheReligion I'm actually at the Nou Camp now as I type so who do you want me to bring back 🤔😂

[Martin Compton @leammc]

So Var has been quite slick so far this tournament...then step forward Stuart Atwell 🤦