Aston Villa 95-97: 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 97-98:
Premier League: 7th (UEFA Cup via Fair Play rankings)
FA Cup: R5 (1-0 loss to Coventry City)
League Cup: R3 (3-0 loss to West Ham United)
UEFA Cup: Quarter Finals (2-2 away goal loss to Atletico Madrid)

Villa's form this season dipped dramatically in the league, Brian Little resigning from his managerial post in February with Villa languishing in 15th place. His predecessor was former Villa coach John Gregory who left Wycombe Wanderers to try his hand in the Premier League. It was a gamble that paid off as Gregory managed to turn their form around, eventually finishing in 7th place and qualifying for the UEFA Cup via Villa's fair play rankings. Villa's domestic cup run wasn't all that impressive although they did make the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup but were narrowly bested by Atletico Madrid  on away goals.

Make & Sponsor: Villa kept both their kit supplier and Sponsor; Reebok and AST Computer's (American computer manufacturer) for the 97-98 campaign. Corinthian faced a few challenges with Villa's new kit design and all in all did a pretty good job. The shirt didn't have a collar, but nor did it have a round neck (the only two choices available), instead Villa's shirt was a collarless v-neck. Corinthian opted for the collar design and tried to make the paint work alter the flaw, so from a few feet away it isn't as noticeable. The v neck itself was very fine light blue and claret pin-striping, as the the edging around the sleeves. Three lines of claret on top of the blue is what was painted as a compromise.
Rating: 8/10

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