Happy Birthday John Carew

Happy 35th Birthday John Carew.

He was on Sky the other day showing them around the dressing room ect. The man loves and breathes the club...legend.

My Old Man wrote:He was on Sky the other day showing them around the dressing room ect. The man loves and breathes the club...legend.

Did a decent job for us but legend - no way !!!!

Love Big John, miss him playing for us

Eastie wrote:

My Old Man wrote:He was on Sky the other day showing them around the dressing room ect. The man loves and breathes the club...legend.

Did a decent job for us but legend - no way !!!!

You dont know about his legs eleven expertise then?

That alone makes him a legend

Haha - I knew you'd be bringing sex into it - we will need a Dirty Den sex thread next to rival morph !

Carew - very good player for us but legends in my eyes are the likes of McGrath or Brian Little.

Have to agree with Eastie, not quite a legend but a lot better than some, As Mom said he does love the Club

Just found this on Big Johns Twatter account lol

Haha what a legend!

For me Big John is a cult hero for our club. He's one of us in that he loves the club and that's why I hold him in such high regard. Laursen and Mellberg are exactly the same!

Eastie wrote:Haha - I knew you'd be bringing sex into it - we will need a Dirty  Den sex thread next to rival morph !

Carew - very good player for us but legends in my eyes are the likes of McGrath or Brian Little.

Now that would be something to see if DD would include more photos of his lovely lady. Still haven't recovered yet.

I really loved Carew but I agree with Eastie that he didn't quite reach legendary status. He could have though if he had been able to give 100% in every game. That was the most frustrating thing for me concerning Carew sometimes he just didn't quite fancy it on the pitch and should have been a real monster like Benteke more often.

Some of the best moments in recent years have been singing his song in the holt, for that reason he's the closest thing we've had for a few years.

Have to say I hold him in the legends mould, may not have turned up a few times on the pitch but he bleeds Claret & Blue, he is just as gutted as us when we loose and if he is ever asked about the Villa he usually starts talking poetically with a great love in his voice. Top top man and I'm so gutted I never got to meet him.

Yeah no legend but can't deny he was a cult hero. One of those players that brings out the cliche 'unplayable on his day,' which points straight at too much inconsistency to be a legend/great. Sometimes It was due to poor form, sometimes to refs being way to harsh and favouring the defender but on that day he was quality.

I vaguely remember in his early days at Villa I said I'd prefer him to Ibrahimovic. I'll have to admit I was wrong with that as Zlatan has probably got better with age but from his chants being at least as loud as any other player in the last 20years you can see what Villa fans thought of him.

I think Villa lack any real true legends. We have some club legends (where legend is used at a push on 90% of them) but I can't think of any ex players who we could call footballing legends.

McGregor would probably be the only one who you'd class as a legend in the football world.

Oh I don't know. McGrath is certainly one.

As for McGregor, it's a shame that Villa could not continue as he started. If they had, I think everyone would know his name. Brilliant that Randy had that statue made.

The word legend gets thrown around too much nowadays IMO

Carew is a cult hero. Legends are the likes of McGrath, Withe, Sid, McGregor etc. Those people who's impacts at the Villa have lived on well beyond their times at the club

Brilliant that Randy had that statue made.

I thought the fans were responsible for this? one of the supporters clubs?

I believe Randy through most of the money in and the fans topped it up. Could be the other way around though.

I think the word 'legend' is bandied about so much that it's lost all meaning really.

Carew is a cult hero and I love the bloke - met him once, albeit briefly but he was still nice and humble - but I don't see him as a legend. Same as I don't see Paul Merson as a legend, despite hearing that description of him too many times.

But I suppose it is all down to individual interpretation. I guess in football terms I always think of legends as people who you can say, "The bigger the game, the better they played" and that is why I would attach the term legend to people like McGrath, Yorke (until he passed away in 1998, RIP... what? That's what happened, right?), Cowans, Mellberg, Laursen, even Ian Taylor, for his limited ability, the better the opposition, the better he played - same can't be said for his team-mate Merson, who was much better on a cold Wednesday night against Wimbledon parking the bus or whatever. Though some of that can be explained by getting into tactics and Gregory's team being at its best when pressing the play, but again, we could be going on for ages so I'll shut up.

So yeah, whatever, we're all getting a bit bogged down in semantics and pedantry. Bottom line is I loved Carew, and when he wanted to, he was absolutely unplayable. He drove me up the wall because he didn't do enough of it, but I loved him anyway. So I hope he had a great birthday, ha!