A.C. PERUGIA 96-97
Goalkeepers
Luca Bucci
Defenders
Michel Kreek
Midfielders
Federico Giunti
Carmine Gautieri
Petter Rudi
Strikers
Marco Negri
Müller
Coaches
A.C. Perugia 96-97: Aston Villa received PL code 03 and had a total of 15 players released including manager Brian Little. The full officially released figures are; Alan Wright, Mark Bosnich, Dwight Yorke, Andy Townsend, Paul McGrath, Ian Taylor, Steve Stuanton, Gary Charles, Savo Milosevic, Mark Draper, Tommy Johnson, Ugo Ehiogu, Julian Joachim and Brian Little. There were two early leavers for Villa before the season began, those were Dean Saunders and Garry Parker who did receive Aston Villa master model sculpts.
Custom Sculpts: With 15 players released and two masters available, that leaves me with a total of 9 custom sculpts to create who will be the following; Nigel Spink, Michael Oakes, Carl Tiler, Sasa Curcic, Riccardo Scimeca, Gareth Farrelly, Graham Fenton, Franz Carr and assistant manager Alan Evans.
Kit Usage: Villa's first outing in their new home strip was at Villa Park during the opening game of the 95/96 season. They faced Manchester United who fielded a young squad wearing their famous "cursed" grey away kit. Villa won 3-1 thanks to first half goals from Ian Taylor and Mark Draper with Dwight Yorke converting from the spot. David Beckham scored a late consolation goal but what people will probably remember most after this Villa victory was pundit Alan Hansen claiming that united "would never win anything with kids" - they went on to win the league this season.
This kit spanned over two seasons and it's difficult to find a visual for it's last outing but I believe it was worn against Southampton on the final day of the season at Villa Park, with the only goal coming cutesy of a Richard Dryden own goal.
Achievements 95-96:
Premier League: 4th (UEFA Cup qualifiers)
FA Cup: Semi Final (3-0 loss to Liverpool)
League Cup: Winners (3-0 victory over Leeds United)
Achievements 96-97:
Premier League: 5th (UEFA Cup qualifiers)
FA Cup: R4 (3-1 loss to Derby County)
League Cup: R4 (1-0 loss to Wimbledon)
UEFA Cup: R1 (1-1 away goal loss to Helsingborg)
A very successful campaign in this kit then for Villa, winning the League Cup and qualifying for the UEFA Cup in both season thanks to 4th and 5th place finishes in the Premier League as well as a Semi Final spot in the FA Cup.
Make & Sponsor: Aston Villa's kit was supplied by Reebok and AST Computer's (American computer manufacturers) sponsored them. The kit Corinthian produced captured all the bulk detailing but when comparing to the original they did omit quite a lot of detail. The v-neck of the collar had two fine light blue stripes separated by one fine yellow stripe. The light blue vertical line on the shorts had more claret present due to to thin lines either side and the Reebok logo printed in small font. The socks had a black trim at the base of the sock fold and two thin horizontal lines of light blue are supposed to be present twice. The tampo print of the badge is also quite poor and omits a lot of detail as it would really need to be printed in two colours. Corinthian opted for yellow badge which still probably the best choice as it introduced this colour onto the kit which is present elsewhere. Overall it's a fair representation but could have used a bit more detailing even if it wasn't to the extend required.
Rating: 6/10
Pack Releases:
Single Blisters: All 15 players were available with Wright/Joachim/Little only available via single blister purchase
4 Packs:
AV4A: Townsend/Southgate/Yorke/Bosnich
AV4B: McGrath/Johnson/Ehiogu/Stuanton
12 Pack:
AV12P: Townsend/Southgate/Yorke/Bosnich/Charles/Draper/McGrath/Johnson/Ehiogu/Staunton/Taylor/Milosevic
Name: Marco Negri
SER Code:
Pose No: 11
Position: Striker
Squad No: 18
Also View:
Name: Michel Kreek
SER Code:
Pose No: 5
Position: Defender
Squad No: 7
Also View:
Vitesse Arnhem 97-99
Name: Carmine Gautieri
SER Code:
Pose No: 20
Position: Midfielder
Squad No: 19
Also View:
Name: Müller
SER Code:
Pose No: 7
Position: Striker
Squad No: 34
Also View:
Santos 97-98
Name: Luca Bucci
SER Code:
Pose No: 29
Position: Goalkeeper
Squad No: 35
Also View:
A.C. Parma 95-97