1995–96 Aston Villa F.C. season

Aston Villa

1995–96 season
Chairman	Doug Ellis
Manager	Brian Little
Stadium	Villa Park
Premiership	4th
FA Cup	Semi-finals
League Cup	Winners
Top goalscorer	League: Yorke (17) All: Yorke (25)
Highest home attendance	39,336 vs Manchester City (27 Apr 1996, Premier League)
Lowest home attendance	17,679 vs Stockport County (25 Oct 1995, League Cup)
Average home league attendance	31,688[1]
Home colours Away colours
← 1994–95 1996–97 →

During the 1995–96 English football season, Aston Villa competed in the Premier League.

Season summary

Aston Villa made huge progress in their first full season under Brian Little's management. They finished fourth in the league and matched Liverpool's record of five League Cup victories (Liverpool have since reclaimed the record with victories in 2001, 2003 and 2012) thanks to a 3-0 Wembley win over Leeds United in March.^[2] Villa were also FA Cup semi-finalists, but their hopes of a Wembley double were ended with a defeat to Liverpool.

A new-look Villa side proved itself to be one of the finest in the country thanks to the likes of Gary Charles, Alan Wright, Ian Taylor and Mark Draper. Trinidadian striker Dwight Yorke proved himself as one of the Premier League's most competent goalscorers, though there were some doubts regarding the suitability of Savo Milošević as the man to replace Dean Saunders.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Manchester United (C)	38	25	7	6	73	35	+38	82	1996–97 UEFA Champions League Group stage
2	Newcastle United	38	24	6	8	66	37	+29	78	1996–97 UEFA Cup First round
3	Liverpool	38	20	11	7	70	34	+36	71	1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup First round ^1
4	Aston Villa	38	18	9	11	52	35	+17	63	1996–97 UEFA Cup First round
5	Arsenal	38	17	12	9	49	32	+17	63
6	Everton	38	17	10	11	64	44	+20	61
7	Blackburn Rovers	38	18	7	13	61	47	+14	61
8	Tottenham Hotspur	38	16	13	9	50	38	+12	61
9	Nottingham Forest	38	15	13	10	50	54	−4	58
10	West Ham United	38	14	9	15	43	52	−9	51
11	Chelsea	38	12	14	12	46	44	+2	50
12	Middlesbrough	38	11	10	17	35	50	−15	43
13	Leeds United	38	12	7	19	40	57	−17	43
14	Wimbledon	38	10	11	17	55	70	−15	41
15	Sheffield Wednesday	38	10	10	18	48	61	−13	40
16	Coventry City	38	8	14	16	42	60	−18	38
17	Southampton	38	9	11	18	34	52	−18	38
18	Manchester City (R)	38	9	11	18	33	58	−25	38	Relegation to 1996–97 Football League First Division
19	Queens Park Rangers (R)	38	9	6	23	38	57	−19	33
20	Bolton Wanderers (R)	38	8	5	25	39	71	−32	29

Updated to games played on 5 May 1996.
Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹ Liverpool qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup as FA Cup runners-up, as winners Manchester United already qualified for the Champions League.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results Summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	18	9	11	52	35	+17	63	11	5	3	32	15	+17	7	4	8	20	20	0

Source: Statto

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38
Ground	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	A	A	H	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A
Result	W	W	L	W	D	W	D	W	L	L	W	W	D	W	L	D	D	W	L	W	D	W	L	W	W	D	W	L	W	W	L	D	W	W	L	D	L	L
Position	2	3	6	5	5	3	5	2	6	7	7	5	4	3	4	4	6	4	6	5	7	5	6	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

Source: Statto.com
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Results

Aston Villa's score comes first^[3]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
19 August 1995	Manchester United	H	3-1	34,655	Taylor 14', Draper 27', Yorke 36' (pen)
23 August 1995	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1-0	26,726	Ehiogu 69'
26 August 1995	Leeds United	A	0-2	35,086
30 August 1995	Bolton Wanderers	H	1-0	31,770	Yorke 75'
9 September 1995	Blackburn Rovers	A	1-1	27,084	Milošević 33'
16 September 1995	Wimbledon	H	2-0	26,928	Draper 7', Taylor 47'
23 September 1995	Nottingham Forest	H	1-1	33,972	Townsend 67'
30 September 1995	Coventry City	A	3-0	20,987	Yorke 1', Milošević 84', 87'
14 October 1995	Chelsea	H	0-1	34,922
21 October 1995	Arsenal	A	0-2	38,271
28 October 1995	Everton	H	1-0	32,792	Yorke 76'
4 November 1995	West Ham United	A	4-1	23,637	Milošević 33', 89', Johnson 49', Yorke 54'
18 November 1995	Newcastle United	H	1-1	39,167	Johnson 22'
20 November 1995	Southampton	A	1-0	13,582	Johnson 30'
25 November 1995	Manchester City	A	0-1	28,027
2 December 1995	Arsenal	H	1-1	37,770	Yorke 65'
10 December 1995	Nottingham Forest	A	1-1	25,790	Yorke 47'
16 December 1995	Coventry City	H	4-1	28,486	Johnson 12', Milošević 48', 63', 90'
23 December 1995	Queens Park Rangers	A	0-1	14,778
1 January 1996	Middlesbrough	A	2-0	28,535	Wright 21', Johnson 40'
13 January 1996	Manchester United	A	0-0	42,667
21 January 1996	Tottenham Hotspur	H	2-1	35,666	McGrath 23', Yorke 79'
31 January 1996	Liverpool	H	0-2	39,332
3 February 1996	Leeds United	H	3-0	35,982	Yorke 11', 23', Wright 62'
10 February 1996	Bolton Wanderers	A	2-0	18,099	Yorke 40', 53'
24 February 1996	Wimbledon	A	3-3	12,193	Reeves 33' (own goal), Yorke 49' (pen), Cunningham 58' (own goal)
28 February 1996	Blackburn Rovers	H	2-0	28,008	Joachim 55', Southgate 71'
3 March 1996	Liverpool	A	0-3	39,508
6 March 1996	Sheffield Wednesday	H	3-2	27,893	Milošević 61', 62', Townsend 75'
9 March 1996	Queens Park Rangers	H	4-2	28,221	Milošević 18', Yorke 65', 80', Yates 82' (own goal)
16 March 1996	Sheffield Wednesday	A	0-2	22,964
19 March 1996	Middlesbrough	H	0-0	23,933
6 April 1996	Chelsea	A	2-1	23,530	Milošević 39', Yorke 59'
8 April 1996	Southampton	H	3-0	34,059	Taylor 64', Charles 78', Yorke 82'
14 April 1996	Newcastle United	A	0-1	36,510
17 April 1996	West Ham United	H	1-1	26,768	McGrath 27'
27 April 1996	Manchester City	H	0-1	39,336
5 May 1996	Everton	A	0-1	40,127

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	6 January 1996	Gravesend & Northfleet	A	3-0	26,021	Draper 2', Milošević 47', Johnson 72'
R4	28 January 1996	Sheffield United	A	1-0	18,749	Yorke 63' (pen)
R5	17 February 1996	Ipswich Town	A	3-1	20,748	Draper 10', Yorke 19', Taylor 53'
QF	13 March 1996	Nottingham Forest	A	1-0	21,067	Carr 26'
SF	31 March 1996	Liverpool	N	0-3	39,072

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg	20 September 1995	Peterborough United	H	6-0	19,602	Draper 12', Yorke pens 15', 42', Johnson 69', Heald 81' (own goal), Southgate 89'
R2 2nd Leg	3 October 1995	Peterborough United	A	1-1 (won 7-1 on agg)	5,745	Staunton 87'
R3	25 October 1995	Stockport County	H	2-0	17,679	Ehiogu 57', Yorke 65'
R4	29 November 1995	Queens Park Rangers	H	1-0	24,951	Townsend 60'
R5	10 January 1996	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1-0	39,277	Johnson 66'
SF 1st Leg	14 February 1996	Arsenal	A	2-2	37,562	Yorke 39', 72'
SF 2nd Leg	21 February 1996	Arsenal	H	0-0 (won on away goals)	39,334
F	24 March 1996	Leeds United	N	3-0	77,065	Milošević 21', Taylor 55', Yorke 90'

Squad

^[4] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Mark Bosnich 2 DF Gary Charles 3 DF Steve Staunton 4 DF Gareth Southgate 5 DF Paul McGrath[5] 6 DF Carl Tiler 7 MF Ian Taylor 8 MF Mark Draper 9 FW Savo Milošević[6] 10 FW Tommy Johnson 11 MF Andy Townsend[7] (captain) 12 DF Phil King 13 GK Nigel Spink 14 DF Alan Wright

No. Position Player 15 MF Lee Hendrie 16 DF Ugo Ehiogu 18 FW Dwight Yorke 19 MF Gareth Farrelly 20 DF Riccardo Scimeca 21 DF Paul Browne 22 MF David Farrell 23 FW Neil Davis 24 MF Scott Murray 25 MF Steve Cowe 26 FW Julian Joachim 28 MF Trevor Berry 30 GK Michael Oakes 35 GK Adam Rachel

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 15 FW Graham Fenton (to Blackburn Rovers)

No. Position Player 17 MF Franz Carr (to Reggiana)

Reserve squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Stuart Brock DF Aaron Lescott DF Ben Petty

No. Position Player DF Bryan Small FW Darren Byfield FW Alan Lee

Transfers

In

Date	Pos	Name	From	Fee
26 June 1995	FW	Savo Milošević	FK Partizan	£3,500,000
1 July 1995	DF	Gareth Southgate	Crystal Palace	£2,500,000
5 July 1995	MF	Mark Draper	Leicester City	£3,250,000

Out

Date	Pos	Name	To	Fee
1 July 1995	FW	Dean Saunders	Galatasaray	£2,350,000
3 July 1995	DF	Dennis Pearce	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Free transfer
1 August 1995	FW	Dalian Atkinson	Fenerbahçe	Signed
14 August 1995	DF	Shaun Teale	Tranmere Rovers	£450,000
13 September 1995	DF	Darren Evans	Hereford United	Free transfer
14 September 1995	MF	David Farrell	Wycombe Wanderers	£100,000
13 October 1995	MF	Trevor Berry	Rotherham United	£20,000
1 March 1996	DF	Bryan Small	Bolton Wanderers	Free transfer
21 March 1996	MF	Steve Cowe	Swindon Town	£100,000

Transfers in: £9,250,000

Transfers out: £3,020,000

Total spending: £6,230,000

Statistics

Appearances and goals

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Premier League		FA Cup		League Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	GK		Mark Bosnich	51	0	38	0	5	0	8	0
13	GK		Nigel Spink	2	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0
Defenders
2	DF		Gary Charles	47	1	34	1	5	0	8	0
3	DF		Steve Staunton	19	1	11+2	0	1+1	0	2+2	1
4	DF		Gareth Southgate	43	1	31	1	4	0	8	0
5	DF		Paul McGrath	40	2	29+1	2	3+1	0	5+1	0
6	DF		Carl Tiler	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
14	DF		Alan Wright	51	2	38	2	5	0	8	0
16	DF		Ugo Ehiogu	49	2	36	1	5	0	8	1
21	DF		Paul Browne	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Midfielders
7	MF		Ian Taylor	34	5	24+1	3	2+1	1	5+1	1
8	MF		Mark Draper	49	4	36	2	5	2	8	0
11	MF		Andy Townsend	45	3	32+1	2	4	0	8	1
15	MF		Lee Hendrie	3	0	2+1	0	0	0	0	0
19	MF		Gareth Farrelly	6	0	1+4	0	0	0	0+1	0
20	MF		Riccardo Scimeca	22	0	7+10	0	2	0	1+2	0
24	MF		Scott Murray	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0
Forwards
9	FW		Savo Milošević	49	14	36+1	12	5	1	7	1
10	FW		Tommy Johnson (footballer, born 1971)Tommy Johnson	31	7	17+6	5	3+1	1	4	1
18	FW		Dwight Yorke	48	23	35	17	5	2	8	4
23	FW		Neil Davis	3	0	0+2	0	0+1	0	0	0
26	FW		Julian Joachim	11	1	4+7	1	0	0	0	0
Players transferred out during the season
15	MF		Graham Fenton	5	0	0+3	0	0+2	0	0	0
17	MF		Franz Carr	2	1	1	0	1	1	0	0

Last updated: 30 May 1996
Source: Competitions

Starting 11

Considering starts in all competitions^[8]

No. Pos Nat Name MS Notes 1 GK Mark Bosnich 51 2 RB Gary Charles 47 4 CB Gareth Southgate 43 5 CB Paul McGrath 37 16 CB Ugo Ehiogu 49 14 LB Alan Wright 51 7 CM Ian Taylor 42 8 CM Mark Draper 49 11 CM Andy Townsend 44 9 CF Savo Milošević 48 18 CF Dwight Yorke 48 References 760,503/24 "Milosevic gives Villa a touch of magic". The Independent. 25 March 1996. Retrieved 1 March 2012. "Aston Villa 1995-1996 Home - statto.com". Archived from the original on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 2012-03-01. http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/1995-1996/faprem/avilla.htm McGrath was born in Ealing, England, but was raised in Dublin, the Republic of Ireland and made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in 1985. Milošević was born in Bijeljina, SFR Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina). Townsend was born in Maidstone, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally through his grandmother and made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in February 1989. http://www.11v11.com/teams/aston-villa/tab/players/season/1996