Player #435 for Aston Villa, Peter James McParland, known as Peter McParland, and nicknamed Packy, played as a forward for the club.

Peter played for Villa between 1952-53 and 1961-62 making 342 appearances and scoring 120 goals.

Peter was born in Newry, Northern Ireland on 25 April 1934 and made his debut appearance for Villa on Monday, 15 September 1952 at the age of just 18.

Villa had signed Peter from Dundalk United for a fee of £3,880 in August 1952.

Villa had signed Peter from Dundalk United for a fee of £3,880 in August 1952 after being scouted by then manager George Martin playing for the League of Ireland side.

Indeed Peter was mentored by a number of managers with Eric Houghton extracting potential that former boss Jimmy Hogan - who had returned to Villa to train the youth team - had coached into him.

Ostensibly brought to Villa as a wing half arguably Peter became the greatest post war goalscorer for Villa up until the Villa revival of 1970s and holds his own against the greats of Villa’s history no matter what the era.

Peter made just a single appearance in his debut season and it was the following year 1953-54 that he made his first real impact on the first team with 5 goals in 19 appearances. For the next 8 years Peter was a virtually permanent fixture in the first team and a regular goalscorer to boot.

During his time with Villa Peter won the 1957 FA Cup and 1961 League Cup, however he also had the misfortune of suffering relegation to the Second Division with Villa in 1958-59 (despite scoring 13 times) before helping Villa win the Second Division Championship the following season with his best return of 22 goals in 41 games.

Indeed such was Peter’s contribution to Villa’s 1957 and 1961 Cup wins that he was the first player to score in and win both major finals (with the League Cup final then being held over two legs with Peter scoring in the first leg).

Peter’s overall contribution to the team is rightly celebrated as a player with a keen eye for defensive need but it was his shooting, volleying and heading ability that really marked him out as a special talent which he used to great effect throughout his career.

Such was his versatility that Peter filled in as a centre forward following the departure of Gerry Hitchens and the oft absent Derek Dougan however as the seasons progressed he faced stiff competition from Harry Burrows for the left wing berth and as a result Peter’s final game for Villa came on Monday, 15 January 1962 at the ridiculously young age of 27.

Observers had begun to claim that McParland had lost some of his former vim and guile and as his appearances suffered he moved on to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a fee of £35,000 later that month.

Peter had played under Villa managers George Martin, Eric Houghton and Joe Mercer.