Player #497 for Aston Villa, John Gavan, played as a goalkeeper for the club.

John played for Villa between 1962-63 and 1965-66 making 12 appearances.

John was born in Walsall, just 8 miles from Villa Park on 8 December 1939 and made his debut appearance for Villa on Saturday, 23 March 1963 aged 23.

Villa had signed John from Walsall Wood. He had almost joined Blackpool but was persuaded to play for Aston Villa Amateurs and he signed professional forms with Villa in November 1962.

John was the 60th custodian of the Villa goal in League & Cup football but wasn’t a regular starter for Villa. He did make 4 league appearances in each of the 1962-63 and 1965-66 seasons whilst not appearing in the whole of the 1964-64 season.

John did feature 3 times in the league cup and make one further league appearance but he was not to feature in the FA Cup.

Over his 12 appearances for Villa John conceded 23 goals in 12 games at a rate of 1.92 goals per game. Those figures placed John behind the levels of regular Villa ‘keepers and contemporaries Nigel Sims (1.50 in 409) and Geoff Sidebottom (1.74 in 88)

John played his final game for Villa on Saturday, 2 April 1966 aged 26 after 3 years with the club before moving on to Doncaster Rovers in July 1967.

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