Boy from a council estate in Solihull who became darling of the Holte End

‘A wonderful left foot and a deadly partnership with Peter Withe’ ‘Young striker’s prodigious talent blossomed under Ron Saunders’

NEIL MOXLEY PAYS A PERSONAL TRIBUTE

17 Sep 2024 - Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)

TO say that Gary Shaw had it all would not be an understatement.

In fact, as a footballer, he almost had it all by the age of just 23.

By that time, he’d won the European Cup, the First Division title, and been crowned European Young Footballer of the Year.

With blond locks, cut into a fashionable 1980s ‘wedge’ (left) and a face to match, he was the darling of the Holte End where he once stood as a teenager looking up to his own idols at Villa Park.

Darling of the pubs and clubs in and around Birmingham, too. Talk about living the dream. Shaw did.

For a time, anyway. A wonderful left foot and a deadly partnership with Peter Withe formed the spearhead of Villa’s all-too-brief flirtation with success.

Under the watchful eye of Ron Saunders, a tough-as-teak Scouser who liked playing the role of either sergeant-major or bully – depending on his victim – the young striker’s prodigious talent blossomed.

Saunders wouldn’t let Shaw get away with anything.

Well aware of the talent at his disposal, he clamped down on any excesses the teenager might have had.

Shaw once went into contract negotiations with his manager – and managed to come out with £5 less than he went in with.

He was told repeatedly by Saunders to wear flip-flops in the shower area.

He refused. Broke his toe and the manager never let him hear the end of it.

But Villa’s manager knew. Oh, he knew all right.

Into the first-team by the age of 17, signing professional forms on his 18th birthday – it is no exaggeration to say that, given his accomplishments, a parallel could be drawn with fellow West Midlands export Jude Bellingham. At the same stage of their careers, Shaw could have been anything. Should have been anything.

An image remains of him in my mind’s eye, standing in the massed ranks of Birmingham City supporters on Easter Monday, 1983, in the pen at the foot of the North Stand.

Blistering heat, tight derby – until Shaw twisted this way and that with seven minutes to go and his left foot did the rest, rolling the ball into the net, settling it with the only goal.

It couldn’t get much better. Sadly for him, it didn’t.

Six months later came the challenge at Nottingham Forest that was the beginning of the end. It caused a problem in Shaw’s knee that he never shook off.

Four years after that Birmingham derby, he left Villa.

Four years after that, he was out of football altogether. Sport can be cruel. And football, particularly so. The boy from a council estate in north Solihull had scaled the heights at such a young age – only to have the fruits of success ripped from him through no fault of his own.

It would be remiss not to wonder if that injustice contributed to a tinge of bitterness.

Maybe, maybe not.

After he finished playing, he picked up some work as a statistical analyst with the Press Association, among other outlets. In the press box, he was good company, particularly dissecting forwards, as you would expect.

But there were times, when he walked away from Villa Park and St Andrew’s, into the throng of a crowd and you wondered if either group of supporters knew who was in their midst. He would never trumpet it. Unassuming, shy, perhaps insecure, even.

He was also fond of cricket.

He played during his footballing days and opened the batting for the club’s old stars.

He was a ferocious supporter of Warwickshire County Cricket Club.

It was the last time I saw him – on the stairwell leading to the corporate areas at Edgbaston ahead of a T20 fixture with Worcestershire.

It was his release. I shall miss seeing him and chewing the fat over the Bears.

And judging by the response already on social media, Aston Villa will miss him too.

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Colly’s tribute to ‘superhero’

17 Sep 2024 Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)

BY NEIL MOXLEY

STAN COLLYMORE hailed Gary Shaw as the reason he played football after the death of the Aston Villa legend.

Shaw, 63, was a member of the Villa side that won the First Division title in 1981 and the European Cup the following year.

The forward – who also had spells with Blackpool, Walsall, Kilmarnock and Shrewsbury – had been in hospital after suffering a head injury in a recent fall.

In a heartfelt tribute on X, former Villa star Collymore (right) wrote: “Dear Gaz. I wanted to play football because of you. I love Villa because of you.

“When I was 11, I asked my Mom if I could have a blond wedge because of you. Her wry ‘I don’t think we can do that, Son’ will stay with me as one of my abiding memories of her, too.

“You were a real-life superhero.” 

Paul Merson, who is appearing on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing, said on X: “Just got out of the dance studio to hear the devastating news about Gary Shaw... what a player and a better person! One of my all-time favourite Villa players. RIP.”

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‘Let’s do it for legend Gary’

FROM NEIL MOXLEY in Bern 

UNAI EMERY has told his Aston Villa stars: “Let’s win it for Gary”. Emery tapped into the outpouring of emotion that has followed the death of European Cup-winning hero Gary Shaw (right).

The Spaniard said: “My condolences go out to Gary’s family and all Villa supporters. We will have the memories always. There is a picture at our training ground of him and the European Cup.

“He was a protagonist in that. It is a sad day – and, yes, we can use it as motivation.”

The Birmingham club returns to the continent’s elite competition after a 41-year absence amid the backdrop of losing one of the pillars of their 1982 triumph.

Shaw, 63, was admitted to hospital after suffering a fall outside his house last week and had been placed in an induced coma.

Happening as it did – on the eve of Villa’s return to a competition Shaw graced – only added poignancy to the news.

Former Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor said: “We sometimes forget what legends those guys were who won the European Cup.

“We haven’t played in the competition for 41 years since – and what they achieved makes them legends of the club.

“It’s devastating news. I’m sure the club will have something appropriate lined up and condolences to his friends and family. I hope the club gives him the send-off that a true legend of the club deserves.”