Gary Shaw: The local lad who helped Villa become European champions

Gary Shaw trod the fairytale path from apprentice to European Cup winner with his home-city club in an Aston Villa career that proved as indelible as it was fleeting.

After signing professional terms on his 18th birthday, the blond striker adapted with aplomb to the top level and was the only local boy in the side that beat Bayern Munich on that famous night in Rotterdam in 1982.

Yet within a year of Villa’s epic victory, Shaw – who has died at the age of 63 – suffered a knee injury in a match against Nottingham Forest that curtailed his progress and ultimately saw him retire from the game after six operations in 1988.

By the time the end of his career came, Shaw, who scored 79 goals in 213 games for Villa, had done more than enough to earn his place in the club’s folklore.

Born in nearby Kingshurst, Shaw initially joined Villa as an apprentice at the age of 16 but it did not take him long to make an impression.

In 1981, he scored 18 goals as Villa clinched the First Division Championship for the first time since 1910 in a side also comprising great names like Gordon Cowans, Tony Morley and captain Dennis Mortimer.

But soon after the triumph, Shaw had to face the fact that his persistent knee injury was not going to allow him to re-scale the heights of his early career.

He battled on until 1988, when he left for spells in Denmark and Austria, before ending his career with short periods at Walsall, Kilmarnock and Shrewsbury respectively.

The goals had long since dried up before he made the final call of his career in Hong Kong in 1991, but the memories refused to fade, and he remained a popular figure at the club where he often worked as a matchday ambassador.