Player #830 for Aston Villa, Robert Emmanuel Pirès played as a winger for the club during the 2010-11 season making 12 appearances and scoring once.

Pirès was born in Reims, France on 29 October 1973 and was signed by Villa boss Gérard Houllier as a free agent at the age of 37 on 18 November 2010.

Pirès would made his debut appearance for Villa shortly thereafter on Sunday, 21 November 2010.

Houllier and his successor caretaker Gary McAllister would name Pirès in every one of Villa’s squads from his arrival to the end of the season in a move that raised eyebrows within and without.

For Graham Taylor it was Öyvind Leonhardsen, for Chairman Ellis it was David Ginola, for Martin O’Neill it was Didier Agathe and for Gérard Houllier it was Pirès.

A succession of predictable failures of such prominence that It’s difficult to know which was the more embarrassing.

Quite what led Houllier to think Pirès was the answer is as perplexing as trying to work out what was the question in the first place.

Houllier wasn’t a good manager for Villa, his fit was terrible, he hardly needed to sign Pirès to prove that or to bring another square piece for a round hole. Yet he chose to do exactly that.

Across his scarcely believable 29 squad appearances, Pirès would make 4 starts and 8 substitute appearances, scoring once - in the FA Cup 4th Round against Blackburn Rovers - before returning to retirement ahead of a cameo in Indian football.

Pirès had made his final appearance for Villa on Saturday, 30 April 2011 before being released in July 2011 aged 37.