David Platt has recalled leaving Crewe for Aston Villa.
Platt's arrival at Villa Park in February 1988 acted as a springboard for the player and the club as the former Crewe Alexandra favourite went on to establish himself as an England international and one of Europe's top midfielders, while Villa rose from Division Two to become top flight title contenders under Graham Taylor.
However, in The Big Aston Villa Book Of The Eighties, Platt reveals how a fleeting inferiority complex played on his mind before he even joined Villa and during a challenging settling in period at Bodymoor Heath.
Recalling the events leading up to his £200,000 transfer from Gresty Road to Villa Park, Platt revealed: “I don't know what swung it in the end, but basically, I went home to Chadderton and I remember that evening going into the local fish and chip shop.
“They had a portable TV behind the counter and for some reason Aston Villa was on, Match of The Day must have covered very briefly the Division Two games at the top of the League and the goals were being shown.
“Villa won easy, and it was like, hang on that's a big club, big crowd, I'd been to Villa Park when Manchester United had played there when my dad had taken me to watch the game.
“So I went in on a Monday morning, knocked on Dario's door and said for the first time, I think I'd like the opportunity to speak to Villa.
“He said to me: 'If they bid me another £50,000 I'll agree it.'
“I walked out of the office and thought, that's it, they won't bid another 50 grand. I don't know what the bloody hell they're doing but they're already bidding 150, so I doubt they'll bid another 50!"
He also said: “I remember feeling all of a sudden like going from being a big fish in a little pond to being a very, very little fish in a big pond.
“I'd been playing League football albeit in front of 2,000 people, being the star of the show, enjoying my football, to going to Aston Villa, which is a much bigger club and at that time thinking Christ, I'm in the reserves.
“For me at that time - it wasn't but - there was the fear that this had been a backward step. I'd gone from being a reserve team player at Manchester United to playing League football and one of the reasons that I was quite happy to leave United and go to Crewe was because I thought it was a step up in terms of football because I was playing in the League. Suddenly I've got four walls of a hotel room, on my own and thinking I'm a reserve team player again."
