Player #427 for Aston Villa, Robert Dennis Blanchflower, known as Danny Blanchflower played as a midfielder for the club.

Blanchflower played for Villa between 1950-51 and 1954-55 making 155 appearances and scoring 10 goals.

Blanchflower was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 10 February 1926 and made his debut appearance for Villa on Saturday, 17 March 1951 at the age of 25.

Villa had signed Blanchflower from Barnsley for a fee of £15,000 in March 1951 and he went on to appear 11 times in his debut season being an ever present to the season end that saw Villa beaten just once in 11 games.

Despite Blanchflower’s obvious quality however and his status as an almost permanent fixture in the Villa first team, his time at Villa was not an era of great success, with Villa’s best finishing position in the league being two 6th places in his 5 seasons at Villa Park.

Described as “a whizz in both attack and defence as his clever ball playing skills allowed him to place the ball with discretion and accuracy regardless of the role he was playing.

“On his best form Blanchflower was a brilliant ball player, capable of turning the course of a game in an instant.”

Blanchflower was no shrinking violet and despite the opportunity provided to him by Villa he proved to be a constant thorn in the side of the management team off the pitch with regular complaints about ambition, training methods amongst other bugbears.

Despite his off pitch flaws however his on pitch ability - lacking pace and physicality his passing and vision were all - meant he was dutifully picked by his managers before his angling for a move was finally granted and he left for Tottenham Hotspur.

After a slow start at the club, overshadowed by Villa’s record seventh FA Cup win, a move derided by many transformed into a great success for Spurs and Blanchflower.

Blanchflower played his final game for Villa on Saturday, 4 December 1954 aged 28, before his move to Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £30,000 that same month.

Blanchflower had played under Villa managers George Martin and Eric Houghton.

Blanchflower passed away in London on 9 December 1993 aged 67.