LEGENDS ON LEGENDS

Concluding our feature for 2020/21, as we speak to our former stars about their memories of great players from our opponents. This evening, our former Republic of Ireland striker Robbie Keane recalls the impressive career of his ex-international team-mate and Aston Villa legend Steve Staunton.

- Paul Miles

Steve Staunton won every domestic honour in his spells at Liverpool and Villa, and his 102 caps make him one of the greatest Republic of Ireland players of all-time.

Yet it’s fair to say Staunton’s career falls somewhat under the radar compared to some of his contemporaries like Roy Keane, Denis Irwin or Shay Given. “People don’t speak about him too much, but they should,” said Robbie Keane, who made his Ireland debut 10 years after Staunton, and looked up to the defender as he burst onto the international scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Nicknamed ‘Stan’, Staunton earned his first cap in 1988 and his last in 2002 and is the only player to have featured in all 13 of Ireland’s matches in World Cup Finals in 1994, 1998 and 2002.

Arriving at Liverpool from Dundalk in 1986, his career path took him to Liverpool then Villa, then back to Liverpool before a return to Villa Park. He won the FA Cup (1989) and League championship (1990) in his first spell on Merseyside (1986-91) and took his appearances to 148 with a second spell (1998-2001), but he’s most fondly remembered by the Holte End faithful at Villa, where he racked up over 300 appearances in two spells (1991/98, 2000/03) and helped Villa lift the League Cup in 1994 and 1996. Villa also won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2001.

He finished his career with spells at Coventry City and Walsall and managed the Republic of Ireland between 2006-07 before another short managerial spell at Darlington, 2009-10.