Game #4633
Saturday, 28 October 2000
Attendance: 27,461
Won
Premier League
7th (+5)
Charlton Athletic
Last 5: 🟨 🟩 🟥 🟨 🟩
Villa Park
Villa win for the first time in three but fourth time in their last seven Premier League games to climb back to 7th in the table under John Gregory.
Aston Villa
2-1
Charlton Athletic
Assist(s) | Steve Stone | 33’ | Alan Wright | 41’ |
KEY MAN
Paul Merson, still magic
PREVIOUS MATCH
NEXT MATCH
MATCH TIMELINE
⚽ | 33’ Goal, Ian Taylor, Assist by Steve Stone
⚽ | 41’ Goal, Paul Merson, Assist by Alan Wright
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 2-0 Charlton Athletic
🔁 | 72’ Sub off, Julian Joachim, Sub on, Darius Vassell
🟨 | 72’ Booking, Alan Wright
🟨 | 74’ Booking, Ian Taylor
🟨 | 81’ Booking, Alpay Özalan
🥅 | 82’ Goal, 2-1, (Charlton Athletic), Dion Dublin o.g.
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 2-1 Charlton Athletic
ON THIS DAY
Villa return to winning ways to rise back to 7th in the table.
Aston Villa
European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1995-96
Charlton Athletic
European Cup / Champions League: ❌
League Champions: ❌
FA Cup Winners: 🏆
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: 1946-47
FIXTURE HISTORY
Charlton Athletic
Previous 5 vs. Charlton: 🟥 🟨 🟩 🟩 🟥
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 2000-01 |
Matchday | #14 |
League Game | #10 |
Manager Game | #124 |
Saturday, 28 October 2000
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager: John Gregory | 🏴 | Scunthorpe, 1998-2002
Referee: Dermot Gallagher | 🏴 | Oxfordshire, 1990-2007
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟩 2-0
FT Score: 🟩 2-1
FT Result: 🟩 Won
Last 5: 🟨 🟩 🟥 🟨 🟩
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Dermot Gallagher | 🏴 | Oxfordshire, 1990-2007
Previous 5: 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟥 🟩
Last Match: 🟩 20 February 2000, FA Cup, Villa 2-1 Everton, Goodison Park. 🆘
Cards: 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨
CARDS
TEAM NEWS
George Boateng returns after a 3 game absence from the starting line up in place of Lee Hendrie.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 28.52 |
Oldest Player |
M Paul Merson | 🏴 | 32.63 |
Youngest Player |
M Gareth Barry | 🏴 | 19.69 |
MANAGER
MANAGER
John Gregory | 🏴 |
Alan Curbishley (ex) | 🏴 |
Aston Villa
GK David James | 🏴 |
LB Alan Wright | 🏴 | 🔥 | 🟨 |
CB Alpay Özalan | 🇹🇷 | 🟨 |
CB Gareth Southgate | 🏴 |
M Gareth Barry | 🏴 |
M Paul Merson | 🏴 | ⚽ |
M George Boateng | 🇳🇱 |
M Ian Taylor | 🏴 | ⚽ | 🟨 |
M Steve Stone | 🏴 | 🔥 |
CF Dion Dublin | 🏴 |
F Julian Joachim | 🏴 | 🔁 |
Charlton Athletic
GK Dean Kiely | 🇮🇪 |
LB Chris Powell | 🏴 | 🔁 |
CB Carl Tiler (ex) | 🏴 |
CB Steve Brown | 🏴 |
CB Andy Todd | 🏴 |
M Graham Stuart | 🏴 | 🟨 |
M Mark Kinsella | 🇮🇪 | 🟨 |
M Claus Jensen | 🇩🇰 |
W John Robinson | 🏴 | 🔁 |
CF Mathias Svensson | 🇸🇪 |
CF Jonatan Johansson | 🇫🇮 |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | F Darius Vassell | 🏴 | for F Julian Joachim | 🏴 | 72’ |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | LB Chris Powell | 🏴 | (LB Paul Konchesky | 🏴 | 🟨 |)
🔁 | W John Robinson | 🏴 | (F Kevin Lisbie | 🏴 |)
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Peter Enckelman | 🇫🇮 |
RB Mark Delaney | 🏴 |
RB Jlloyd Samuel | 🏴 |
F Gilles De Bilde | 🇧🇪 |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Sasa Ilić | 🇦🇺 |
M Radostin Kishishev | 🇧🇬 |
W John Solako | 🏴 |
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 9/11
Homegrown: 1/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 12/16
Homegrown: 3/16
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 6/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 9/16
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
Not recorded
UNAVAILABLE
Not Recorded
Player Abbreviations:
GK : Goalkeeper
LB, RB, FB : Left Back, Right Back, Full Back
CB, D : Centre Back, Defender
M, W : Midfielder. Winger
F, CF : Forward, Centre Forward
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game
Symbols:
⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution
🟨 | Booking
🟥 | Sending off
🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
DEBUT APPEARANCES
FINAL APPEARANCES
MATCH STATS
Not recorded
TABLE

PROGRAMME



MATCHDAY QUOTES
“If he got the call to play for England again I’m sure he’d jump at the opportunity.
“Everything about him is good - his contribution to the team, his ability to score goals, his persona about the place. He inspires people and they look to him to score goals out of nothing.”
John Gregory.
*The Guardian*
Sunday, 29 October, 2000
Regrets? Paul Merson has had a few during his life, which has had so many ups and downs it has resembled a snakes-and-ladders board at times, and the Aston Villa player must now be ruing the fact that he called time on his England career last year.
The former Arsenal forward is 32 going on 21, which is why Villa manager John Gregory gave him a one-year extension to his contract earlier this week.
Merson responded with a marvellous display of guile and graft against Charlton, chasing and caressing the ball in equal measure and scoring what proved to be the winner with a rare headed goal in the 41st minute.
And with England crying out for inspiration from the middle, Merson is the sort of player the new coaching set-up can ill-afford to ignore.
Certainly Gregory thinks he could be persuaded to change his mind should Peter Taylor and Steve McClaren think he is worth another chance.
‘If he got the call to play for England again I’m sure he’d jump at the opportunity,’ said Gregory. ‘Everything about him is good - his contribution to the team, his ability to score goals, his persona about the place. He inspires people and they look to him to score goals out of nothing.’
Indeed, his goal yesterday showed that although he has been playing a deeper role in recent years, his striker’s instincts are still razor sharp. When Alan Wright whipped in a cross from the left, the ball was heading for the arms of Dean Kiely until Merson appeared from nowhere to glance a header past the bemused goalkeeper.
It was just reward for his relentless running and probing, which had given Villa the edge in a poor first-half. They had taken the lead in the 34th minute when Ian Taylor was given time and space to nod Steve Stone’s deep cross into the far corner, and were comfortably ahead by half-time.
‘We didn’t apply ourselves or close down Villa in the first-half and I couldn’t wait for the break so we could do something about it,’ said Charlton’s manager Alan Curbishley. ‘For the second away game running we’ve given the opposition a two-goal start and blown a chance to get something out of it.’
Charlton pushed Villa all the way, though, with Dion Dublin diverting Jonatan Johansson’s cross into his own goal in the closing minutes to set up a tense finale. But Villa dug in for a victory that allowed them to replace Charlton in seventh place and leave Gregory smiling.