2008–09 Aston Villa F.C. season

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
	← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The 2008–09 Premier League season was Aston Villa's 134th season in English football. It was the club's 98th season in the top-flight and their 21st consecutive season in the top flight. 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.

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]

In December 2008, Everton player and boyhood Villa fan, Joleon Lescott put two past Villa and still lost the match following Ashley Young's "brilliant" equalizer.^[2]

After 25 games, 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.^[3] Following this, Villa failed to win any of the next 8 league games and improving form for Arsenal & Chelsea meant that Villa failed to reach the top 4.

Kit

Kit Supplier	Sponsor
Nike	Acorns*

*Villa passed up sponsorship for the 2008-09 season and instead displayed the children's hospice charity, Acorns.

Transfers

Transferred in

Date	Pos	Player	From	Fee

3 July 2008	CB	Curtis Davies	West Bromwich Albion	£8,000,000
10 July 2008	CM	Steve Sidwell	Chelsea	£5,000,000
26 July 2008	GK	Brad Friedel	Blackburn Rovers	£2,500,000
1 August 2008	GK	Brad Guzan	Chivas USA	£600,000
7 August 2008	LB	Nicky Shorey	Reading	£2,000,000
8 August 2008	RB	Luke Young	Middlesbrough	£6,000,000
12 August 2008	CB	Carlos Cuéllar	Rangers	£7,800,000
30 August 2008	RM	James Milner	Newcastle United	£12,000,000
23 January 2009	CF	Emile Heskey	Wigan Athletic	£3,500,000
				£45,400,000

Record

Loaned in

Date	Pos	Player	From	Loan End

Transferred out

Date	Pos	Player	To	Fee

28 May 2008	CF	Luke Moore	West Bromwich Albion	£3,000,000
1 July 2008	AM	Patrik Berger	Sparta Prague	Free transfer
1 July 2008	CB	Olof Mellberg	Juventus	Free transfer
1 July 2008	GK	Thomas Sørensen	Stoke City	Free transfer
22 August 2008	AM	Shaun Maloney	Celtic	£3,000,000
3 January 2009	LM	Wayne Routledge	Queens Park Rangers	£600,000
				£6,600,000

Loaned out

Date	Pos	Player	To	Loan End

23 September 2008	GK	David Bevan	Tamworth	20 December 2008
3 November 2008	CF	Sam Williams	Colchester United	30 November 2008
5 November 2008	LB	Stephen O'Halloran	Swansea City	1 January 2009
20 November 2008	LM	Wayne Routledge	Cardiff City	2 January 2009
30 January 2009	CF	Sam Williams	Walsall	15 February 2009
3 March 2009	CM	Isaiah Osbourne	Nottingham Forest	31 May 2009
9 March 2009	CF	Sam Williams	Brentford	31 May 2009
13 March 2009	CM	Barry Bannan	Derby County	31 May 2009
13 March 2009	GK	Stuart Taylor	Cardiff City	31 May 2009
23 March 2009	CF	Marlon Harewood	Wolverhampton Wanderers	31 May 2009

Overall transfer activity

Expenditure

£45,400,000

Income

£6,600,000

Balance

£38,800,000

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	IRL	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	IRL	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	KOS	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)

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 v t e	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^[a]
6	Aston Villa	38	17	11	10	54	48	+6	62	Qualification for the Europa League play-off round^[a]
7	Fulham	38	14	11	13	39	34	+5	53	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round^[a]
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:

^ ^a ^b 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 Archived 4 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine	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
18 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, Agbonlahor	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

Player 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.	Name	Age	EU	Since	App(GS/Sub)	Goals	Ends	Transfer fee
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

^ 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.
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ Eminoglu was born in Solihull, England, but also qualified to represent Turkey internationally and represented them at U-16 level.

References

^ "Premier League 2008/09 fixtures announced". Premier League. 16 June 2008. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
^ 7th December 2008 Everton 2-3 Aston Villa
^ "Villa 'reserves' crash out to CSKA Moscow". CNN. 26 February 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2013.

External links

Aston Villa official website
avfchistory.co.uk 2008–09 season

[table_note_res_ELPR0.12574973196059-8] 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.

[4] 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.

[5] 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.

[6] 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.

[7] Eminoglu was born in Solihull, England, but also qualified to represent Turkey internationally and represented them at U-16 level.

[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] 7th December 2008 Everton 2-3 Aston Villa

[3] "Villa 'reserves' crash out to CSKA Moscow". CNN. 26 February 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2013.

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