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Stanley Victor Collymore started a new chapter in his already colourful
career with a dream move to boyhood heroes Aston Villa in May 1997. The
£7 million fee represented a new record for the West Midlands club but
Stan was never able to reproduce the form he had shown for Nottingham
Forest and, to a lesser extent, Liverpool. He had scored goals for fun
during his time with Forest - 41 in 65 League games - whilst his spell
with the Reds of Liverpool yielded the impressive return of 26 goals in
61 League games.
It was a very different story at Villa Park, however,
as Stan struggled desperately to find his scoring boots. His three years
as an Aston Villa player produced the meagre return of seven League
goals. There was, of course, the odd highlight along the way but Stan
could never sustain the brilliance that he had shown in his Forest days.
In the 1997-98 UEFA Cup he fired in a magnificent strike to give Villa
hope in their quarter-final match with Atletico Madrid whilst in the
same competition the following year he bagged a hat-trick in a 3-0 win
over Norwegian side Stromgodset. His final season at Villa Park saw him
fighting the effects of depression and he failed to play a game for the
'Villains' prior to his move to Leicester City in February 2000.
He had a
short spell on loan with First Division Fulham which did not work out
and Stan returned to Villa Park, where it was made clear by boss John
Gregory that he played no part in his future plans. With his career
stagnating Collymore jumped at the chance to link up with Martin O'Neill
at Filbert Street, leaving Doug Ellis to lick his wounds as Villa wrote
of virtually the whole £7 million that they had spent on him. (David Scranage)
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