JOHN WRAGG recalls when innovative Aston Villa took a managerial gamble – but it failed to pay dividends

JOHN WRAGG
ASTON VILLA
Who knows this man?” asked Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis with the air of a man who has just pulled off a coup.
Silence and shuffling. Her Majesty’s Press, called for the unveiling of the Villa manager to succeed Graham Taylor as he went off to England in 1990, hadn’t a clue. It was Dr Jozef Venglos who was making history as the first foreigner to manage a top-flight English club.
Now foreign managers are all over the Premier League, Champi...