2008–09 Aston Villa F.C. season

The 2008–09 season was Aston Villa's 134th professional season; their 98th season in the top-flight and their 21st consecutive season in the top flight of English football, the Premier League. They were managed by Martin O'Neill – in his third season since replacing David O'Leary. The 2008–09 season was the first spell in European competition for O'Neill, and the first for Villa, in 6 seasons.

Aston Villa

2008–09 season
Chairman	Randy Lerner
Manager	Martin O'Neill
Premier League	6th
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Third round
UEFA Cup	Round of 32
Top goalscorer	League: Gabriel Agbonlahor (12) All: John Carew (15)
Highest home attendance	42,585 vs Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle United
Lowest home attendance	21,541 vs Queens Park Rangers
Home colours Away colours Third colours

The club's first summer signing was the permanent capture of on-loan West Brom centre-back, Curtis Davies, in July, while their first sale was made in May, as Luke Moore completed a move to West Brom in an initial £3 million deal, after he had spent the second half of the 2007–08 season there on loan.

The fixtures for the 2008–09 season were announced on Monday 16 June 2008, with Aston Villa beginning at home against Manchester City and finishing the season at home to Newcastle. Due to Birmingham's relegation at the end of the 2007–08 season, there was no Second City derby, however they faced local rivals West Brom on 20 September 2008 at The Hawthorns and on 10 January 2009 at home.[1] After 25 games of the 2008–09 season, having qualified for the UEFA Cup as joint winners of the Intertoto Cup, the club were third in the table on 51 points, 2 points above Chelsea on level games and 7 points above Arsenal in 5th place and on course for a place in the Champions League for the first time since 1983. O'Neill decided to prioritise Champions League qualification above all else, fielding a virtual reserve side for a UEFA Cup game against CSKA Moscow which was subsequently lost.[2] Following this, Villa failed to win any of the next 10 league games and improving form for Arsenal & Chelsea meant that Villa failed to reach the top 4.

Players

First-team squad

Squad at end of season

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  USA Brad Friedel 2 DF  ENG Luke Young 3 DF  NED Wilfred Bouma 4 MF  ENG Steve Sidwell 6 MF  ENG Gareth Barry (vice-captain) 7 MF  ENG Ashley Young 8 MF  ENG James Milner 9 FW  ENG Marlon Harewood 10 FW  NOR John Carew 11 FW  ENG Gabriel Agbonlahor 13 GK  ENG Stuart Taylor 14 FW  ENG Nathan Delfouneso

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 DF  ENG Curtis Davies 16 DF  ENG Zat Knight 17 MF  TOG Moustapha Salifou 18 FW  ENG Emile Heskey 19 MF  BUL Stiliyan Petrov 20 MF  ENG Nigel Reo-Coker 21 DF  ENG Nicky Shorey 22 GK  USA Brad Guzan 24 DF  ESP Carlos Cuéllar 26 MF  ENG Craig Gardner 27 MF  ENG Isaiah Osbourne 45 MF  ENG Marc Albrighton 46 MF  SCO Barry Bannan

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. Pos. Nation Player 5 DF  DEN Martin Laursen (captain; retired) 9 FW  ENG Marlon Harewood (on loan to Wolverhampton Wanderers) 18 MF  ENG Wayne Routledge (to Queens Park Rangers) 27 MF  ENG Isaiah Osbourne (on loan to Nottingham Forest)

No. Pos. Nation Player 28 MF  SCO Shaun Maloney (to Celtic) 29 DF  IRL Stephen O'Halloran (on loan to Swansea City) 46 MF  SCO Barry Bannan (on loan to Derby County)

Reserve squad

The following players made most of their appearances for the reserve team this season, and did not appear for the first team.

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 29 DF  EIR Stephen O'Halloran 43 DF  USA Eric Lichaj 47 DF  ENG Ciaran Clark 48 DF  ENG Nathan Baker 49 MF  AUS Chris Herd

No. Pos. Nation Player 51 DF  EIR Shane Lowry — GK  ENG Elliot Parish — MF  HUN Zoltán Stieber — FW  ENG Sam Williams — FW  SWE Tobias Mikaelsson (on trial to BK Häcken)

Youth squad

The following players made most of their appearances for the youth team this season, but may have also appeared for the reserves.

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  NIR Conor Devlin (on loan from Manchester United) — GK  AUT Thomas Dau — GK   SUI Benjamin Siegrist — GK  KVX Aldi Haxhia (on loan from Chelsea) — DF  ENG Durrell Berry — DF  ENG Daniel Bradley — DF  ENG Ellis Deeney — DF  ENG Ben Love — DF  ENG Matthew Roome — DF  ENG Sam Simmonds — DF  WAL Tomos Roberts

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  IRL Derrick Williams[notes 1] — MF  ENG Richard Blythe — MF  ENG Jack Dyer — MF  ENG Jason Lampkin — MF  AUT Dominik Hofbauer — MF  HUN András Stieber — FW  ENG Ethan Moore — FW  ENG Kofi Poyser — FW  ENG Ryan Simmonds — FW  IRL James Collins[notes 2] — FW  AUT Andreas Weimann

Other players

The following players did not appear for any squad this season.

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Calum Barrett — GK  ENG Matt Coton — GK  IRL David Bevan (on loan to Tamworth) — DF  ENG James Clifton — DF  ENG Jordan Collins — DF  ENG Calum Flanagan — DF  ENG Fred Holtom — DF  IRL Richard Bryan[notes 3] — DF  NED Arsenio Halfhuid

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Emmitt Delfouneso — MF  ENG Harry Forrester — MF  ENG Gary Gardner — MF  ENG William Grocott — MF  ENG Ebby Nelson-Addy — MF  ENG Charlie Ward — FW  NIR Adam McGurk — FW  TUR Umit Eminoglu[notes 4]

Trialists

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Alex Witham

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  AUS Reece Caira (on trial from Blacktown City)

Transfers

Summer

Defender Curtis Davies signed a permanent deal at Aston Villa after a loan spell.[3][4] English midfielder Steve Sidwell joined from Chelsea on 10 July 2008.[5] On 26 July 2008, former USA shot-stopper Brad Friedel signed from Blackburn Rovers for an undisclosed fee, thought to be £2million. On 7 August 2008 Aston Villa completed the signing of Nicky Shorey on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee. Also on 7 August 2008, Aston Villa completed the signing of Luke Young in a deal that could reach £6 million, on a three-year contract. On 12 August 2008, Aston Villa signed Carlos Cuéllar in a deal worth £7.8 million on a four-year contract. Villa's offer had triggered a release clause in Cuéllar's contract with Rangers.

Luke Moore made his loan move to West Bromwich Albion a permanent deal[6][7] Defender Olof Mellberg left the club to sign for Italian giants Juventus after seven years at Aston Villa.[8] Thomas Sørensen was also released at the end of his contract after 5 years of service, Stoke City eventually signed the Denmark international on a free transfer. Twins Damian and Yago Bellon left Villa after 2 years with the club, as Damian signed for FC Vaduz in Liechtenstein, whilst Yago joined Swiss side FC St. Gallen. Elsewhere, Irish youngster Danny Earls joined American USL team Rochester Rhinos, and defender Erik Lund returned home to join IFK Göteborg in Sweden. Lund was the only released youngster who played for the first-team during his time with the club, coming on as a substitute in a pre-season victory over Walsall in August 2007. Shaun Maloney was the last to leave the club in the summer transfer window, returning to Celtic after a frustrating spell under Martin O'Neill.

In

3 July 2008	DF	Curtis Davies	West Bromwich Albion	Undisclosed
10 July 2008	MF	Steve Sidwell	Chelsea	£5,000,000
26 July 2008	GK	Brad Friedel	Blackburn Rovers	Undisclosed
1 August 2008	GK	Brad Guzan	Chivas USA	£600,000
7 August 2008	DF	Nicky Shorey	Reading	Undisclosed
7 August 2008	DF	Luke Young	Middlesbrough	£6,000,000
12 August 2008	DF	Carlos Cuéllar	Rangers	£7,800,000
29 August 2008	MF	James Milner	Newcastle United	£12,000,000

Out

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
28 May 2008	FW	Luke Moore	West Bromwich Albion	£3,000,000
29 May 2008	MF	Patrik Berger	Sparta Prague	Free
1 July 2008	DF	Olof Mellberg	Juventus	Free
1 July 2008	GK	Thomas Sørensen	Stoke City	Free
1 July 2008	MF	Yagó Bellón	St. Gallen	Free
1 July 2008	MF	Damian Bellón	FC Vaduz	Free
1 July 2008	DF	Erik Lund	IFK Gothenburg	Free
1 July 2008	MF	Danny Earls	Rochester Rhinos	Free
22 August 2008	FW	Shaun Maloney	Celtic	Undisclosed

Winter

On 2 January 2009, Wayne Routledge signed a ​3 ¹⁄₂-year deal with Queens Park Rangers, following a loan spell at fellow Championship club Cardiff City. Villa confirmed their first signing of the window four days later, in the form of 17-year-old Dutch defender Arsenio Halfhuid from SBV Excelsior, who signed for an undisclosed fee. On 23 January 2009, Emile Heskey followed, signing for £3.5 million from Wigan Athletic. Young winger Zoltán Stieber was the final player to leave Villa Park during January, as he signed for TuS Koblenz for an undisclosed fee, after failing to break into the first-team. Swiss U17 goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist also signed from FC Basel during this month.

In

Date	Pos.	Name	From	Fee
7 January 2009	DF	Arsenio Halfhuid	Excelsior	Undisclosed[9]
15 January 2009	GK	Benjamin Siegrist	FC Basel	Undisclosed
23 January 2009	FW	Emile Heskey	Wigan Athletic	£3,500,000[10]

Out

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
2 January 2009	MF	Wayne Routledge	Queens Park Rangers	Undisclosed
29 January 2009	MF	Zoltán Stieber	TuS Koblenz	Free

Out on loan

Pos	Player	To	Start	End	Apps	Goals
MF	Barry Bannan	Derby County	13 March 2009	13 April 2009	10	1
GK	David Bevan	Tamworth	23 September 2008	20 December 2008	12	0
FW	Marlon Harewood	Wolverhampton Wanderers	23 March 2009	3 May 2009	5	0
DF	Stephen O'Halloran	Swansea City	5 November 2008	14 December 2008	3	0
MF	Isaiah Osbourne	Nottingham Forest	2 March 2009	3 May 2009	8	0
GK	Stuart Taylor	Cardiff City	13 March 2009	3 May 2009	8	0
FW	Sam Williams	Colchester United	3 November 2008	30 November 2008	3	1
FW	Sam Williams	Walsall	30 January 2009	26 February 2009	5	1
FW	Sam Williams	Brentford	9 March 2009	2 May 2009	3	1

Competitions

Overall

• Premier League: Sixth
• League Cup: Third Round (Knocked out by Q.P.R.)
• FA Cup: Fifth Round (Knocked out by Everton)
• UEFA Intertoto Cup: Joint-winner, qualified for UEFA Cup
• UEFA Cup: Round of 32 (Knocked out by CSKA Moscow)

Competition	Started round	Current position / round	Final position / round	First match	Last match
Premier League	—	—	6th	17 August 2008	24 May 2009
Football League Cup	Third round	—	Third round	24 September 2008	24 September 2008
FA Cup	3rd round	—	5th round	4 January 2009	15 February 2009

Updated to match played 12 June 2008
Source: Competitions

Premier League

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
4	Arsenal	38	20	12	6	68	37	+31	72	Qualification for the Champions League play-off round
5	Everton	38	17	12	9	55	37	+18	63	Qualification for the Europa League play-off round[lower-alpha 1]
6	Aston Villa	38	17	11	10	54	48	+6	62
7	Fulham	38	14	11	13	39	34	+5	53	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round[lower-alpha 1]
8	Tottenham Hotspur	38	14	9	15	45	45	0	51

Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Notes:

1. Since both finalists of the FA Cup (Chelsea and Everton) and the League Cup winners (Manchester United) qualified for the European competitions based on their league position, the sixth-placed team (Aston Villa) received a berth in the Europa League play-off round and the seventh-placed team (Fulham) received a berth in the Europa League third qualifying round.

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	17	11	10	54	48	+6	62	7	9	3	27	21	+6	10	2	7	27	27	0

Matches

Pre-season friendlies

Date	Opponents	H/A	Result	Scorers	Venue
10 July 2008	FC Wil 1900	A	6 – 0	Harewood (2), Carew, Delfouneso, Maloney, Routledge	Sportpark Bergholz
12 July 2008	FC Zürich	A	1 – 2	Agbonlahor	Letzigrund
15 July 2008	Lincoln City	A	1 – 3	Carew	Sincil Bank
22 July 2008	Walsall	A	3 – 2	Maloney (2), Routledge	Bescot Stadium
2 August 2008	Reading	A	1 – 1	Agbonlahor	Madejski Stadium
6 August 2008	Real Balompédica Linense	A	1 – 1	Carew	Estadio Municipal de La Línea de la Concepción
8 August 2008	UD Marbella	A	2 – 0	Delfouneso, Gardner	Estadio Municipal de Marbella

First-Team

Date	Opponents	H/A	Result	Scorers	Venue	Attendance	Competition
19 July 2008	Odense Boldklub	A	2–2	Carew, Laursen	Fionia Park	12,000	UEFA Intertoto Cup – 3rd Round
26 July 2008	Odense Boldklub	H	1–0	A.Young	Villa Park	34,394	UEFA Intertoto Cup – 3rd Round
14 August 2008	Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar	A	4–1	Barry, A.Young, Agbonlahor, Laursen	Laugardalsvöllur	2,200	UEFA Cup – Second Qualifying Round
17 August 2008	Manchester City	H	4–2	Carew, Agbonlahor (3)	Villa Park	39,955	Premier League
23 August 2008	Stoke City	A	2–3	Carew, Laursen	Britannia Stadium	27,500	Premier League
28 August 2008	Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar	H	1–1	Gardner	Villa Park	25,415	UEFA Cup – Second Qualifying Round
31 August 2008	Liverpool	H	0–0		Villa Park	41,647	Premier League
15 September 2008	Tottenham Hotspur	A	2-1	Reo-Coker, A.Young	White Hart Lane	36,076	Premier League
18 September 2008	PFC Litex Lovech	A	3–1	Reo-Coker, Barry, Petrov	Lovech Stadium	7,000	UEFA Cup – First Round
21 September 2008	West Bromwich Albion	A	2–1	Carew, Agbonlahor	The Hawthorns	26,011	Premier League
24 September 2008	Queens Park Rangers	H	0–1		Villa Park	21,541	League Cup
27 September 2008	Sunderland	H	2–1	A.Young, Carew	Villa Park	38,706	Premier League
2 October 2008	PFC Litex Lovech	H	1–1	Harewood	Villa Park	27,230	UEFA Cup – First Round
5 October 2008	Chelsea	A	0–2		Stamford Bridge	41,593	Premier League
19 October 2008	Portsmouth	H	0–0		Villa Park	37,660	Premier League
23 October 2008	Ajax	H	2–1	Laursen, Barry	Villa Park	36,657	UEFA Cup – Group Stage
26 October 2008	Wigan Athletic	A	4–0	Barry, Agbonlahor, Carew, Sidwell	JJB Stadium	20,249	Premier League
29 October 2008	Blackburn Rovers	H	3–2	L.Young, Barry, Agbonlahor	Villa Park	35,985	Premier League
3 November 2008	Newcastle United	A	0–2		St James' Park	44,567	Premier League
6 November 2008	Slavia Prague	A	1–0	Carew	Synot Tip Arena	22,322	UEFA Cup – Group Stage
9 November 2008	Middlesbrough	H	1–2	Sidwell	Villa Park	36,672	Premier League
15 November 2008	Arsenal	A	2–0	Clichy (OG), Agbonlahor	Emirates Stadium	60,047	Premier League
22 November 2008	Manchester United	H	0–0		Villa Park	42,585	Premier League
29 November 2008	Fulham	H	0–0		Villa Park	36,625	Premier League
4 December 2008	MŠK Žilina	H	1–2	Delfouneso	Villa Park	28,797	UEFA Cup – Group Stage
7 December 2008	Everton	A	3–2	Sidwell, A.Young (2)	Goodison Park	31,922	Premier League
13 December 2008	Bolton Wanderers	H	4–2	Agbonlahor (2), Davies (OG), A.Young	Villa Park	35,134	Premier League
17 December 2008	Hamburger SV	A	1–3	Delfouneso	HSH Nordbank Arena	49,121	UEFA Cup – Group Stage
20 December 2008	West Ham United	A	1–0	Neill (OG)	Boleyn Ground	31,353	Premier League
26 December 2008	Arsenal	H	2–2	Barry (pen), Knight	Villa Park	42,585	Premier League
30 December 2008	Hull City	A	1–0	Zayatte (OG)	KC Stadium	24,727	Premier League
4 January 2009	Gillingham	A	2–1	Milner (2)	Priestfield Stadium	10,107	FA Cup – Third Round
10 January 2009	West Bromwich Albion	H	2–1	Davies, Carson (OG)	Villa Park	41,757	Premier League
17 January 2009	Sunderland	A	2–1	Milner, Barry (PEN)	Stadium of Light	40,350	Premier League
24 January 2009	Doncaster Rovers	A	0–0		Keepmoat Stadium	13,517	FA Cup – Fourth Round
27 January 2009	Portsmouth	A	1–0	Heskey	Fratton Park	19,073	Premier League
31 January 2009	Wigan Athletic	H	0–0		Villa Park	41,766	Premier League
4 February 2009	Doncaster Rovers	H	3–1	Sidwell, Carew, Delfouneso	Villa Park	24,203	FA Cup – Fourth Round Replay
7 February 2009	Blackburn Rovers	A	2–0	Milner, Agbonlahor	Ewood Park	24,267	Premier League
15 February 2009	Everton	A	1–3	Milner	Goodison Park	35,439	FA Cup – Fifth Round
18 February 2009	CSKA Moscow	H	1–1	Carew	Villa Park	38,038	UEFA Cup – Round of 32
21 February 2009	Chelsea	H	0–1		Villa Park	42,585	Premier League
26 February 2009	CSKA Moscow	A	0–2		Luzhniki Stadium	25,650	UEFA Cup – Round of 32
1 March 2009	Stoke City	H	2–2	Petrov, Carew	Villa Park	39,641	Premier League
4 March 2009	Manchester City	A	0–2		City of Manchester Stadium	40,137	Premier League
15 March 2009	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1–2	Carew	Villa Park	41,205	Premier League
22 March 2009	Liverpool	A	0–5		Anfield	44,131	Premier League
5 April 2009	Manchester United	A	2–3	Carew, Agbonlahor	Old Trafford	75,409	Premier League
12 April 2009	Everton	H	3–3	Carew, Milner, Barry (PEN)	Villa Park	40,188	Premier League
18 April 2009	West Ham United	H	1–1	Heskey	Villa Park	39,534	Premier League
25 April 2009	Bolton Wanderers	A	1–1	A.Young	Reebok Stadium	21,709	Premier League
2 May 2009	Hull City	H	1–0	Carew	Villa Park	39,607	Premier League
9 May 2009	Fulham	A	1–3	A.Young	Craven Cottage	25,660	Premier League
16 May 2009	Middlesbrough	A	1–1	Carew	Riverside Stadium	27,261	Premier League
24 May 2009	Newcastle United	H	1–0	Duff (OG)	Villa Park	42,585	Premier League

Reserves

Date	Opponents	H/A	Result	Scorers	Venue
3 September 2008	Stoke City	A	2 – 1	Delfouneso, Osbourne	Britannia Stadium
8 September 2008	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1 – 0	Herd	Villa Park
29 September 2008	Arsenal	A	4 – 1	Albrighton (2), Stieber (2)	Underhill Stadium
13 October 2008	Chelsea	A	1 – 0	Sidwell	Griffin Park
20 October 2008	Portsmouth	A	0 – 2		West Leigh Park
10 November 2008	West Bromwich Albion	A	2 – 1	Bannan (2)	The Hawthorns
25 November 2008	Fulham	A	1 – 1	Bannan	Motspur Park
13 January 2009	West Ham United	H	0 – 0		De Montfort Park
16 February 2009	Arsenal	H	0 – 0		De Montfort Park
2 March 2009	Chelsea	H	4 – 3	Delfouneso (2), Hogg, Clark	Villa Park
10 March 2009	Portsmouth	H	6 – 1	Hogg (2), Lowry, Weimann, Lichaj, G.Gardner	Villa Park
17 March 2009	West Ham United	A	2 – 0	Weimann, Hofbauer	Woodside Park
23 March 2009	Stoke City	H	1 – 0	Collins	Villa Park

Academy

Date	Opponents	H/A	Result	Scorers	Competition
19 July 2008	Queens Park Rangers	A	6 – 1	A.Stieber (2), Forrester (2), Weimann (2)	Friendly
2 August 2008	Doncaster Rovers	H	6 – 0	R.Simmonds (2), G.Gardner, Poyser, Berry, Chapman	Friendly
9 August 2008	Plymouth Argyle	H	4 – 0	R.Simmonds, G.Gardner, Forrester, Ja.Collins	Friendly
23 August 2008	Sheffield United	A	1 – 1	Ja.Collins	Premier Academy League
30 August 2008	Barnsley	H	3 – 0	Ja.Collins (2), Grocott	Premier Academy League
6 September 2008	Chelsea	H	2 – 0	Weimann, Ja.Collins	Premier Academy League
13 September 2008	West Ham United	A	0 – 3		Premier Academy League
20 September 2008	Norwich City	A	1 – 1	Ja.Collins	Premier Academy League
27 September 2008	Tottenham Hotspur	H	0 – 2		Premier Academy League
4 October 2008	Cardiff City	A	4 – 2	Hofbauer, Ja.Collins, Grocott, Forrester	Premier Academy League
11 October 2008	Coventry City	H	5 – 0	Ja.Collins (3), Poyser, Grocott	Premier Academy League
19 October 2008	Birmingham City	A	5 – 0	Poyser (3), Clark, Berry	Premier Academy League
8 November 2008	Reading	A	3 – 1	Ja.Collins, Weimann, Forrester	Premier Academy League
15 November 2008	Watford	H	3 – 2	Forrester, Ja.Collins (2)	Premier Academy League
22 November 2008	Bristol City	H	4 – 2	Berry, Weimann (2), Hofbauer	Premier Academy League
6 December 2008	MK Dons	A	3 – 0	Ja.Collins, Blythe, A.Stieber	Premier Academy League
10 December 2008	Arsenal	H	2 – 3	Ja.Collins (2)	FA Youth Cup
17 January 2009	Leicester City	A	0 – 2		Premier Academy League
24 January 2009	Reading	H	2 – 1	A.Stieber, Ja.Collins	Premier Academy League
31 January 2009	Watford	H	3 – 1	Grocott, Bradley, Ja.Collins	Premier Academy League
14 February 2009	MK Dons	H	4 – 0	Ja.Collins, G.Gardner (2), Moore	Premier Academy League
21 February 2009	Tottenham Hotspur	A	4 – 4	Ja.Collins (2), Weimann, A.Stieber	Premier Academy League
28 February 2009	Birmingham City	H	2 – 2	Forrester, Ja.Collins	Premier Academy League
7 March 2009	Cardiff City	H	3 – 2	Forrester, Ja.Collins (2)	Premier Academy League
14 March 2009	Coventry City	A	0 – 0		Premier Academy League
21 March 2009	Ipswich Town	H	4 – 2	Weimann (2), Ja.Collins, A.Stieber	Premier Academy League

Statistics

First-Team

No.	Pos.	Nationality	Player	Apps	Goals	Assists	YC	RC	Total Apps	Total Goals
1	GK	United States	Brad Friedel	46	0	0	1	1	46	0
2	DF	England	Luke Young	43	1	0	7	0	43	1
3	DF	Netherlands	Wilfred Bouma	2	0	0	0	0	90	1
4	MF	England	Steve Sidwell	25	4	1	6	1	25	4
5	DF	Denmark	Martin Laursen	24	4	2	1	0	91	11
6	MF	England	Gareth Barry	48	8	9	10	0	440	52
7	MF	England	Ashley Young	48	9	15	8	1	100	19
8	MF	England	James Milner	43	6	8	7	0	79	9
9	FW	England	Marlon Harewood	15	1	3	1	0	40	7
10	FW	Norway	John Carew	34	15	4	3	0	78	31
11	FW	England	Gabriel Agbonlahor	48	13	10	4	0	139	35
13	GK	England	Stuart Taylor	2	0	0	0	0	17	0
14	FW	England	Nathan Delfouneso	13	3	0	1	0	13	3
15	DF	England	Curtis Davies	45	1	1	3	0	59	2
16	DF	England	Zat Knight	26	1	0	1	0	54	2
17	MF	Togo	Moustapha Salifou	9	0	1	0	0	13	0
18	FW	England	Emile Heskey	14	2	0	0	0	14	2
19	MF	Bulgaria	Stiliyan Petrov	47	2	4	9	0	112	5
20	MF	England	Nigel Reo-Coker	36	2	1	4	0	75	3
21	DF	England	Nicky Shorey	33	0	2	2	0	33	0
22	GK	United States	Brad Guzan	8	0	0	1	0	8	0
24	DF	Spain	Carlos Cuéllar	36	0	0	4	0	36	0
26	MF	England	Craig Gardner	30	1	2	4	0	77	6
27	MF	England	Isaiah Osbourne	6	0	0	1	0	29	0
29	DF	Republic of Ireland	Stephen O'Halloran	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
43	DF	United States	Eric Lichaj	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
45	MF	England	Marc Albrighton	1	0	0	1	0	1	0
46	MF	Scotland	Barry Bannan	2	0	0	1	0	2	0
47	DF	England	Ciaran Clark	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
48	DF	England	Nathan Baker	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
49	MF	Australia	Chris Herd	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
51	MF	Ireland	Shane Lowry	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

• Last Update: End of season
• Data includes all competitive competitions

Reserves/Academy

No.	Pos.	Nationality	Player	Reserve Apps	Reserve Goals	Academy Apps	Academy Goals	Total Apps	Total Goals
45	MF	England	Marc Albrighton	10	2	2	0	12	2
48	DF	England	Nathan Baker	4	0	12	0	16	0
46	MF	Scotland	Barry Bannan	11	3	4	0	15	3
–	FW	England	Durrell Berry	0	0	9	2	9	2
–	MF	England	Richard Blythe	1	0	16	1	17	1
–	MF	England	Daniel Bradley	0	0	6	1	6	1
47	DF	England	Ciaran Clark	12	1	9	1	21	2
–	FW	England	James Collins	10	1	22	24	32	25
–	GK	Austria	Thomas Dau	0	0	14	0	14	0
14	FW	England	Nathan Delfouneso	9	3	1	0	10	3
*	GK	Northern Ireland	Conor Devlin	0	0	1	0	1	0
–	MF	England	Jack Dyer	1	0	13	0	14	0
–	DF	England	Calum Flanagan	1	0	17	0	18	0
41	MF	England	Harry Forrester	3	0	18	5	21	5
–	MF	England	Gary Gardner	2	1	11	2	13	3
–	MF	England	Will Grocott	1	0	18	4	19	4
–	DF	Netherlands	Arsenio Halfhuid	0	0	5	0	5	0
*	GK	Kosovo	Aldi Haxhia	0	0	1	0	1	0
49	MF	Australia	Chris Herd	7	1	0	0	7	1
42	MF	Austria	Dominik Hofbauer	6	1	17	3	23	4
–	MF	England	Jonathan Hogg	5	3	0	0	5	3
–	MF	England	Jason Lampkin	0	0	8	0	8	0
43	DF	United States	Eric Lichaj	10	1	0	0	10	1
–	MF	England	Ben Love	0	0	5	0	5	0
51	DF	Republic of Ireland	Shane Lowry	8	1	0	0	8	1
–	FW	Sweden	Tobias Mikaelsson	3	0	0	0	3	0
–	FW	England	Ethan Moore	0	0	1	1	1	1
29	DF	Republic of Ireland	Stephen O'Halloran	2	0	0	0	2	0
53	GK	England	Elliott Parish	9	0	3	0	12	0
–	FW	England	Kofi Poyser	0	0	13	4	13	4
–	DF	Wales	Tomos Roberts	0	0	12	0	12	0
–	DF	England	Matthew Roome	5	0	14	0	19	0
–	GK	Switzerland	Benjamin Siegrist	0	0	4	0	4	0
–	MF	England	Ryan Simmonds	0	0	13	0	13	0
–	DF	England	Sam Simmonds	1	0	6	0	7	0
–	MF	Hungary	András Stieber	0	0	11	4	11	4
*	MF	Hungary	Zoltán Stieber	8	2	0	0	8	2
–	FW	Austria	Andreas Weimann	10	2	18	6	28	8
–	DF	Republic of Ireland	Derrick Williams	0	0	1	0	1	0
–	FW	England	Sam Williams	4	0	0	0	4	0

• Last Update: 25 March 2009
• Data includes all competitions
• Zoltán Stieber signed for TuS Koblenz on 29 January 2009. Conor Devlin and Aldi Haxhia were signed on emergency short-term loan deals. Both returned to Manchester United and Chelsea respectively.

Squad information

N	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Age	EU	Since	App(GS/Sub)	Goals	Ends	Transfer fee	Notes
1	GK		Brad Friedel	37	Non-EU	2008	16 (16/0)	0	2011	£2.5m
13	GK		Stuart Taylor	27	EU	2005	17 (14/3)	0	2009	Undisclosed
22	GK		Brad Guzan	23	Non-EU	2008	2 (2/0)	0	2011	£0.6m
2	RB		Luke Young	29	EU	2008	14 (13/1)	1	2011	£6m
3	LB		Wilfred Bouma	30	EU	2005	90 (87/3)	1	2011	£3.5m
5	CB		Martin Laursen	31	EU	2004	83 (81/2)	11	2010	£3m
15	CB		Curtis Davies	23	EU	2008	27 (22/5)	1	2012	Undisclosed
16	CB		Zat Knight	28	EU	2007	34 (32/2)	1	2011	£3.5m
21	LB		Nicky Shorey	27	EU	2008	16 (16/0)	0	2011	Undisclosed
24	CB		Carlos Cuéllar	27	EU	2008	12 (9/3)	0	2012	£7.8m
29	LB		Stephen O'Halloran	20	EU	2008	0 (0/0)	0	2009	Academy
4	CM		Steve Sidwell	25	EU	2008	6 (3/3)	1	2011	Undisclosed
6	CM		Gareth Barry	27	EU	1997	410 (393/17)	49	2010	Undisclosed
7	LM		Ashley Young	23	EU	2007	70 (67/3)	14	2011	£9.6m
8	RM		James Milner	22	EU	2008	45 (40/5)	3	2012	£12m
17	CM		Moustapha Salifou	25	Non-EU	2007	9 (3/6)	0	2009	Undisclosed
19	CM		Stiliyan Petrov	29	EU	2006	82 (75/7)	4	2010	£6.5m
20	CM		Nigel Reo-Coker	24	EU	2007	56 (56/0)	3	2011	£8.5m
26	CM		Craig Gardner	21	EU	2005	58 (37/21)	6	2011	Academy
27	CM		Isaiah Osbourne	20	EU	2006	26 (13/13)	0	2011	Academy
9	CF		Marlon Harewood	29	EU	2006	34 (7/27)	7	2010	£4m
10	CF		John Carew	28	EU	2007	59 (57/2)	23	2010	Part-Exchange
11	CF		Gabriel Agbonlahor	21	EU	2006	110 (102/8)	29	2011	Academy
14	CF		Nathan Delfouneso	17	EU	2008	3 (0/3)	0	2010	Academy
18	CF		Emile Heskey	29	EU	2009	3 (3/0)	1	2012	£3.5m

• Last updated: 12 May 2008
• Source:avfc.co.uk, players' Wikipedia articles
• Ordered by position on pitch (from back right to front left).

Notes

1. Williams was born in Hamburg, Germany, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally through his mother and represented them at U-19 and U-21 level before making his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in May 2018.
2. Collins was born in Coventry, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally through his parents and represented them at U-19 and U-21 level.
3. Bryan was born in Birmingham, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally and represented them at U-16 and U-17 level.
4. Eminoglu was born in Solihull, England, but also qualified to represent Turkey internationally and represented them at U-16 level.

References

1. "Premier League 2008/09 fixtures announced". Premier League. 16 June 2008. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
2. "Villa 'reserves' crash out to CSKA Moscow". CNN. 26 February 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
3. "Permanent Villa move for Davies". BBC Sport. 3 July 2008. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
4. "Curtis Eyes Albion Return". AVFC website. 3 July 2008. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
5. "Sidwell signs for Villa". AVFC website. 10 July 2008. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
6. "West Brom sign Moore from Villa". BBC Sport. 28 May 2008. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
7. "Mowbray tipping Moore to flourish". BBC Sport. 29 May 2008. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
8. "Mellberg to leave Villa for Juve". BBC Sport. 28 May 2008. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
9. "Latest News | Halfhuid Signs". world.avfc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
10. "Villa sign England striker Heskey". BBC. 23 January 2009. Retrieved 25 January 2009.

External links

• Aston Villa official website