From the publisher:
This mammoth hardback book tells the remarkable life story of Aston Villa’s record appearance holder, Charlie Aitken. Despite growing up in a rugby playing environment – his school refusing to play football – Joe Mercer saw the potential in the raw, but fleet-footed, youngster during a trial match in August 1959, before going on to cement his place at left-back in the Villa first team.
Aitken became a firm Villa Park crowd favourite in a career that spanned seventeen years and 660 games for the VIllans, then spent the last two seasons of his professional career in the NASL with the New York Cosmos, playing alongside the greats of Pele and Franz Beckenbauer.
The words ‘great’ and ‘legend’ are used far too frequently in the modern era, exaggerated superlatives in many cases, however, this book is inspired by one player where there is no debate. Charlie Aitken, we salute you!
This book has been painstakingly researched by respected Aston Villa author, Colin Abbott, using hundreds of hours of interviews with Charlie, as well as exclusive use of the player’s scrapbooks and mementoes. Abbott also talks to other players to have played a central role in Aitken’s career.
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