Top 15 Players Who Played for Both Aston Villa and Wolves
8. Joleon Lescott
Wolves – 235
Aston Villa – 31
Lescott is a graduate of the Wolverhampton Wanderers youth academy. He made his first-team debut with Wolves in 2000 and he was named the supporters’ Young Player of the Year two years running. He was a regular player as the club won promotion to Premier League in 2003.
In 2006, he left the club to join Everton, where he was twice voted the Everton Players’ Player of the Season. He then joined Manchester City in 2009, where he won the Premier League twice. Then after spending a season at West Brom, he joined Aston Villa in 2015.
When signing for Villa, Lescott revealed to the Birmingham Mail he has been an Aston Villa fan from a young age. His stay at the club was short-lived, as he left the club at the end of the season while Villa were relegated to the championship.
7. Dicky Dorsett
Wolves – 46
Aston Villa – 257
Dorsett started his career with Wolves, making his debut in 1938. During that season he scored their only goal in the 4-1 defeat by Portsmouth in the 1939 FA Cup Final.
During World War II, Dorsett served with the RAF and guested for Brentford, Grimsby Town, Liverpool, Queens Park Rangers and Southampton, for whom he made 16 appearances, scoring 23 goals. He was a member of the Wolves side that won the 1942 Football League War Cup and played 58 wartime games, scoring 40 goals.
In September 1946, he joined Aston Villa for £3,000. His career almost came to an end in 1950 when he was involved in a car crash, but he recovered and played another three seasons before retiring from the game in 1953. He could easily be ranked among one of the best players to have played for both Aston Villa and Wolves.
6. Tony Daley
Aston Villa – 233
Wolves – 21
The Aston Villa wideman was phenomenally fast; the sort of pace he had was the sort which even the most casual observer could notice as soon as he became involved, on or off the ball. Daley had a deft touch and a decent crossing ability too.
Daley joined hometown club Aston Villa as an apprentice, turning professional in April 1985. He played for the Midlands club for ten seasons, nine at the highest level, and finished a runner-up in both the 1989–90 and 1992–93 league championships. He also played in their 1994 League Cup final triumph where they defeated Manchester United at Wembley.
Daley left Aston Villa for Wolverhampton Wanderers in July 1994 for £1.25 million, but he was plagued with injuries and was only able to manage 21 appearances for the club in four seasons.
5. Peter McParland
Aston Villa – 320
Wolves – 21
Whenever the 1957 FA Cup final is mentioned, one name immediately comes to mind. Peter McParland is the man most responsible for Villa’s famous Wembley victory over hot favourites Manchester United, scoring two second-half goals to give his team a 2-1 verdict.
But McParland’s contribution to the Villa cause extended far beyond his predatory instincts on that glorious May afternoon. He scored a total of seven FA Cup goals that season, and his winners’ medal certainly wasn’t the only one the free-scoring winger collected during a decade in claret and blue.
He also helped Villa to the Second Division title in 1959/60 – and scored the extra-time winner which secured a 3-2 aggregate victory over Rotherham United in the inaugural League Cup final in 1961. That goal gave him the distinction of being the first player to score in both an FA Cup and League Cup final.
Equally at home at centre-forward as he was on the left-wing, McParland was a prolific scorer, hitting the target 121 times for Villa, including 25 league and cup goals during the 1959/60 campaign. After nearly 10 years with the club, he moved across the West Midlands to join Wolves for £35,000 in January 1962. Although he was only there for one season, he did manage to score 10 goals in 21 games.
4. Paul Birch
Aston Villa – 173
Wolves – 142
Often operating on the right flank, but equally effective when buzzing hyperactively at the heart of midfield, Birch made his senior entrance in claret and blue in unexpected circumstances. He was called on as a substitute for striker Gary Shaw 12 minutes from the end of Villa’s European Super Cup clash at home to Barcelona in January 1983. The 20-year-old helped to close out a 3-0 victory – 3-1 on aggregate – and made his domestic top-flight debut during the following season, laying claim to a fairly regular berth in 1984-85.
Birch became renowned for his ceaseless industry and passionate commitment, but he was also deceptively deft with the ball at his feet and specialised in sudden high-velocity shots from long range.
He was never a prolific goalscorer, his highest total for Villa being six in 38 matches, when he helped them back to the First Division (1987-88), from which they had been relegated the previous season. Altogether, he would play 173 league games for Villa, with a total of just 16 goals, before being transferred in 1991 to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
At Wolves, Birch found himself in a more congenial milieu. His new manager was Graham Turner, his onetime boss at Villa Park. He scored the only goal of the game against West Ham on his debut. Wolves were in the Second Division, and Birch was unable to help them out of it, even though, in his second season at Molineux, he missed only one league game and achieved his highest score, eight in all. He would spend five years with Wolves, then moved on for short spells with Doncaster Rovers and Exeter City, before retiring in 1999.