1989–90 Aston Villa F.C. season

The 1989–90 Aston Villa season saw the football club competing in the Football League First Division. A lowly 17th the previous season, Villa improved drastically and spent most of the season challenging for the title though finishing in second behind Liverpool. This was Villa's highest finish since 1980–81, and a great result for a team in the second season of the top flight. At the end of the season Jozef Vengloš became the first manager from outside of Britain of a top flight club in English football history.

Key players in the team this season were high-scoring midfielder David Platt, who broke into the England team and went on to play at the World Cup, as well as being voted PFA Player of the Year, and new defender Paul McGrath, a £450,000 pre-season signing from Manchester United. Aston Villa played in kit manufactured by Danish company Hummel and sponsored by Mita Copiers. There were also debuts for Kent Nielsen, Adrian Heath, Andy Comyn, Mark Blake, Tony Cascarino and Dwight Yorke.^[1]

Slovak Jozef Vengloš, who had just led Czechoslovakia to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, replaced Graham Taylor who had accepted an offer to take over management of the England national football team.

Squad at end of season^[2][3]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Lee Butler — GK  ENG Nigel Spink — DF  ENG Andy Comyn — DF  ENG Darrell Duffy — DF  ENG Kevin Gage — DF  ENG Bernie Gallacher — DF  ENG Derek Mountfield — DF  ENG Chris Price — DF  ENG Steve Sims — DF  IRL Paul McGrath — DF  DEN Kent Nielsen — MF  ENG Paul Birch

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Mark Blake — MF  ENG Nigel Callaghan[4] — MF  ENG Gordon Cowans — MF  ENG Tony Daley — MF  ENG Stuart Gray (captain) — MF  ENG David Platt — MF  ENG Gareth Williams — FW  ENG Ian Olney — FW  ENG Ian Ormondroyd — FW  ENG Dean Spink — FW  IRL Tony Cascarino — FW  TRI Dwight Yorke

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  ENG Adrian Heath (to Manchester City)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  ENG Mark Lillis (to Scunthorpe United)

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Glen Livingstone — DF  ENG Christopher Boden — DF  ENG John Elliott — DF  ENG Bryan Small — DF  ENG Andrew Smith — MF  ENG Steve Froggatt

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Craig Liddle — MF  ENG Lee Williams — FW  ENG Martin Carruthers — FW  ENG Tommy Mooney — FW  ENG Mark Parrott — FW  WAL David Jones

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  ENG Ian Tyrrell

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Michael Oakes

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  ENG Neil Floate

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  ENG Russell Bullivant — DF  ENG David Watt — MF  ENG Richard Crisp — MF  ENG Brian Nicholas — FW  ENG David Travis

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  ENG Stephen Walker —   Noel Callaghan —   Shepherd —  ENG Stephen Slocombe —   C Williams

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  TRI Colvin Hutchinson — FW  DEN Lars Jakobsen (on trial from OB)

• Paul McGrath – Manchester United, 3 August 1989, £400,000
• Dwight Yorke

• Allan Evans – Leicester City
• Alan McInally – Bayern Munich, £1,200,000
• Mark Lillis – Scunthorpe United, 21 September, £40,000^[5]
• Adrian Heath – Manchester City, February 1990, £300,000^[6]

^[7]

• List of Aston Villa F.C. records and statistics