Player #485 for Aston Villa, Alan Baker, played as a forward for the club.

Alan played for Villa between 1960-61 and 1965-66 making 109 appearances and scoring 17 goals.

Alan was born in Tipton, just 9 miles from Villa Park, on 22 June 1944 and made his debut appearance for Villa on Saturday, 8 April 1961 aged just 16.

Villa had signed Alan from Brierley Hill Schoolboys in July 1958 and he signed professional forms with the club in July 1961.

Indeed Villa may have had an up and down time on the pitch during the 1960s however one thing the club got very right was their youth policy of which Alan Baker was a key product. Dubbed ‘Mercer’s Minors’ the group included Alan Deakin, Charlie Aitken, John Sleeuwenhoek, Harry Burrows, Mike Tindall and Alan Baker.

As a member of the famed ‘Mercer’s Minors’ Alan contributed to manager Joe Mercer’s dramatic overhaul of an ageing Villa squad.

Alan, a precocious talent who forced his way into Villa first team reckoning despite his tender years made just one appearance as Villa finished 9th in their return to Division One but didn’t feature in Villa’s victorious run to the League Cup final in 1960-61 and didn’t play in the two legged final against Rotherham United that was held over to the following season due to fixture congestion.

Thereafter however Alan became a regular feature in the Villa first team

Unfortunately during Alan played during an era when Villa ended successive seasons in the bottom 6 however he did help Villa to a League Cup Semi final in the 1964-65 season and was a runner up in the same competition in 1962-63 having made 7 appearances and scoring twice.

Alan played his final game for Villa the following season on Monday, 9 May 1966, still aged just 21 and he moved on to Walsall in July 1966.

Alan had played under Villa managers Joe Mercer and Dick Taylor.