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Rodney Marsh will not be joining Aston Villa.

The £45,000 deal agreed with Manchester City fell through yesterday when the former England forward could not agree settlement terms with City.

There is no chance that it will he on again either should City agree to Marsh’s demands.

Villa’s manager Ron Saunders said: “As far as I am concerned this is the end of the deal and I am now actively engaged elsewhere.”

He would not say who he wants now, but It seems certain that there will be no deal before Saturday and he is not interested In Eric Potts, the Sheffield Wednesday winger, whose name has been linked with Villa.

Peter Swales, the Manchester City chairman, confirmed that Marsh’s decision was final, and added: “But we’ve got to the stage now where we don’t want to discuss Rodney any more until something definite happens.”

On Tuesday when Marsh visited Villa Park amid a plethora of publicity, he said he was “optimistic” about joining Villa.

The clubs had agreed a fee and Marsh’s proposed contract with Villa was settled. Then, after travelling back to Manchester, he talked to City’s manager, Tony Book, and announced that the deal was in doubt. He met him again yesterday morning and decided not to join Villa.

The 31-year-old Londoner may now try to buy his own contract from City. It may be that he feels he could do as well as George Best, another flamboyant adopted Mancunian, who is making a comeback now that United have given him a free transfer.

Walsall’s dealings in the player market also suffered a setback yesterday. They wanted to buy Villa’s striker Alun Evans and borrow goalkeeper Jim Cumbes. But Evans declined for financial reasons and Cumbes was injured and his loan will not go through until the thigh damage heals. Doug Fraser, the Walsall manager, said: “Cumbes is prepared to come, but at the moment he is not 100 per cent fit so we have not discussed terms”

Cumbes, a former team mate of Fraser’s at West Bromwich Albion lost his place as Villa’s first team goalkeeper after Villa’s 4-1 defeat in the UEFA Cup in Antwerp earlier this season. Jake Findlay took over briefly and then John Burridge was signed for £90,000 from Blackpool.
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*Birmingham Daily Post*
Friday, 28 November 1975

Villa’s apology accepted By lAN WILLARS

Aston Villa yesterday apologised to the Dublin-based League of Ireland club, Home Farm, for flying 17-year-old Irish wonder-boy Martin Murray to Birmingham for trials without their permission.

Murray, captain of the Republic’s youth team and regarded in Ireland as the new George Best, came to Villa for a two-day visit and played in a private trial game on Tuesday.

Villa’s move angered amateur Home Farm and upset eleven other top English dubs who are jostling to sign the talented midfield player as a professional.

But Dr. Brendan Menton, Home Farm’s chairman and a former chief economics adviser to the Irish Government, said last night “As far as we are concerned it’s all been a case of misinterpretation and we have accepted Villa’s apology. “

“We gave their chief scout, Neville Briggs, permission to approach him. But we refused a request from them for Murray to go to see the Villa set-up.

“It came as a surprise when we learned he had been to England. He did not have permission but we do not propose to take the matter any further having heard Villa’s explanation.”

Dr Menton added: “It Is quite clear that with such talent Murray will eventually be leaving us and we understand that fully.”

Home Farm’s manager, Pave Bacuzzi, the former Fulham and Reading player, said: “We have not accused Villa of doing anything illegal. But what they did was unethical and unfair to other clubs we have discouraged from taking Martin to England for trials.”

Villa manager Ron Saunders replied: “Obviously there has been some misunderstanding. We acted openly and, we thought, in the best interests of the boy.“
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*Birmingham Daily Post*
Monday, 1 December 1975

Gray praised by Ormond By LYNN CALLAGHAN

Scottish team manager Willie Ormond travelled to Villa Park to watch Villa’s new young Scottish hope Andy Gray and came away quite impressed.

“He shows great potential,” he said after the match. “In Scotland his game was suffering, but the move to England has obviously done him a lot of good.

“He plays with a lot more zest and enthusiasm, although he is still the same kind of player he was when he was with Dundee United.”

Although Gray had a good game his efforts were somewhat overshadowed by those of his fellow striker, 18 year old John Deehan, who displayed remarkable composure and skill against the hard-tackling Leicester defence.

Gray was also unlucky in that Ormond chose a day day when Villa were not at their best. Their strikers suffered from a lack of service in midfield and all too often passes went astray, thus allowing Leicester more control of the game than their efforts deserved.

And it was Leicester who went ahead in the 10th minute.

From a corner, Keith Weller jumped over the ball and Frank Worthington, who showed a glimpse of brilliance guided home a low shot through a crowd of defenders.

Villa fought back magnificently, tying up the Leicester defence in knots and in the 49th minute they equalised.

Gray manipulating his head as though his neck was made of rubber managed to flick on a cross by Chico Hamilton and Ray Graydon hammered the ball Into the net.

Encouraged by their success, Villa pushed for the winner but their rhythm was lost in the 63rd minute when referee Bill Gow of Swansea had to stop the game for a few minutes after a bottle had been launched at Leicester goalkeeper Mark Wallington.

Some of the 36,000 crowd, impatient to get the game restarted, pointed out a “culprit” to the police, who quickly moved in and marched him off.

Neither Leicester nor Villa found that little bit extra to give them another goal and the game ended fairly in a draw.