December 22 – A Shaw Thing | On This Football Day

December 22 – A Shaw Thing

WHEN Aston Villa striker Gary Shaw burst onto the scene in the early 1980s he looked destined to become one of the leading lights of his generation. This was not to be, although today in 1990, playing in his final season, he showed a glimpse of what could have been, when he bagged a four minute and 32 second hat-trick for Shrewsbury Town.

Shaw, a livewire striker, made his Aston Villa debut in 1978 as a 17-year-old and was a key part of Villa’s First Division winning side in the 1980/81 season, when he was rewarded with the PFA Young Player of the Year award, following in the footsteps of Glenn Hoddle who had won it the year before.

A knee injury that would eventually end Brian Little’s career meant that Shaw was fast-tracked into the Villa first team, and next up for the youngster was a starring role in Villa’s European Cup winning team in the 1981/82 season, with Shaw as the only Birmingham-born player in the side.

Shaw’s eye for goal saw him receive a call-up for the preliminary England squad for the 1982 World Cup, although he failed to make the final 22. He did, however, win one of Europe’s more random awards – the Bravo Award, given out by Italian magazine Guerin’ Sportivo to the best young player participating in a European club competition. Past winners include Marco van Basten, Paolo Maldini, Roberto Baggio and Robert Prosinecki, so he’s in decent company there.

Soon after though, Shaw suffered a knee ligament injury in a match away to Nottingham Forest and, before the days of flying out to ligament-guru Dr Richard Steadman in Colorado, such injuries would often rob a player of their speed and technique.

Shaw stayed at Villa Park until 1987, but was never the same player. He wound his career down with spells at Blackpool, FC Copenhagen, Austrian side Klagenfurt, Walsall and Kilmarnock, before his swansong at Shrewsbury.

Proving that, despite the injuries, he still knew how to sniff out a goal, Shaw’s sub-five-minute hat-trick for Shrewsbury came in his last season before his knee finally gave in.

See some footage from Villa’s famous European Cup win below and check out what else was going on today here.