Player #363 for Aston Villa, George Cummings, nicknamed Icicle, played as a full back for the club. George played for Villa between 1935-36 and 1948-49 making 232 appearances.

George was born in Thornbridge, Falkirk, Scotland on 5 June 1913 and made his debut appearance for Villa on the 16 November 1935 aged 22.

Villa had signed George from Partick Thistle for a fee of £9,350 earlier in November 1935 and he went on to make 27 appearances in his first season with Villa, as the club were relegated for the first time in the Villa’s history. Despite that setback George would be an almost permanent fixture in the first team over the next 8 seasons.

George became a household name as an excellent proponent of full back play and could kick with either foot and head the ball with the force that most people reserve for their feet.

A player with a cool head and a superb positional sense from debut he was a first team regular and justifiably was appointed captain of the side on Alex Massie’s promotion to manager. George had begun his schoolboy career as a centre forward and continued to bring those early qualities to bear on his more mature game, often seen dribbling with almost perfect ball control before releasing a deadly shot on goal.

Defence was his main game however and George developed a particularly effective trait of exploiting the offside law outwitting opposing forwards with his superb judgement and sure kicking.

Even as a relative veteran George’s coolness and positioning sense was rarely faulted.

Throughout his career, George gained a reputation as a stylish and brainy player who knew every trick of the defensive trade. An expert at bluffing even the most dazzling of right wing marauders, George demonstrated an uncanny ability to nullify even the greatest of wing wizards - with some of his finest performances for Villa coming against the great Stanley Matthews.

Such was the acclaim that met George’s performances that the only man who could vie with him for the position of Villa’s best-ever full back was the club’s own former great - Howard Spencer.

Taken from the ‘Aston Villa Annual 1937-38’ :

“[George] is a very fine defender with a flair for drawing an attacker into a false position and then sending him empty away. Presents a coolness in moments of difficulty that makes lookers-on go hot, and that perhaps accounts for his nickname of “Icicle””

George, signed from Partick less than a decade after ‘Thistle’ had sold Jimmy Gibson Villa for a then record fee of £7,500. The connections didn’t stop there however as all three of George’s brothers would follow him to sign for Villa.

Although the fortunes of Villa were less than auspicious when George first signed, over his 274 appearances for the club his no-nonsense defending and never say die approach to the game made him a firm favourite with the Villa crowd and it was no surprise when he was made captain, leading the team and Villa’s great post war defence from 1945 to 1949.

George played his final game for Villa on 7 May 1949 at the age of 35 having played under managers Jimmy McMullan, Jimmy Hogan and Alex Massie during his 8 seasons with Villa.

George’s contribution to Villa didn’t end on his retirement hover as he swapped roles to become Villa’s third team coach, a position he held for 3 years from July 1949 to July 1952.

George passed away in Birmingham on 9th April 1987 aged 73."