REMARKABLY, it's 16 years since I last went to White Hart Lane before Saturday - in Villa's march to the 1994 League Cup final.

And that's almost half my age. No really, despite my haggered appearance on my byline picture I'm only in my early 30s.

Anyway, because my return to Spurs was such a long time coming, here's a few thoughts from Saturday's game.

SO, not so much as a Wayne Routledge then...

Once again the January transfer window creaked shut at Villa Park with a sense of anti-climax. But is anyone surprised?

I'm not.

The manager openly admitted that funds were not being made available last month and his body language when asked 'Why not?' was that of a man anxious to quickly change the subject.

The answer to 'Why not?' is probably the fact that chairman/owner Randy Lerner has already coughed up more than £140million of his own cash, according to figures published last week - and wants to see a tangible return on his significant investment (in terms of trophies. Or top four. Or both) before he digs deep once more.

HAD to laugh at a Robbie Keane interview on the radio this morning.

"It's no secret that I've always been a Celtic fan" which was interspersed with a clip of one of his previous transfers "It's no secret that I've always been a Liverpool fan".

Now where have we heard that before?

I wonder...

Here's an excerpt from an interview I did with a certain young midfielder in April 2007.

"I signed for Villa when I was 15 and since then these have been the best days of my life.

"I'm a Villa fan. I've come through the ranks and nothing can be better. "I used to be on the Holte End. I was there when we beat Tranmere in the League Cup semi-final.

"I was at the game when Mark Bosnich saved the penalty and we all ran on to the pitch so it's just come from that.

"When I was watching Villa as a kid there were people like Garry Parker, Dalian Atkinson and Paul McGrath.

"They were all brilliant players. I used to sing their names and now I look at the crowd and they're chanting my name so it's great."

And here's the interview he gave with my colleague Colin Tattum last week.

"Having played for the Villa everyone thinks I'm a Villa fan but I'm a Bluenose,''

''I have been all my life. I was a mascot at John Frain's testimonial. "But I don't have to prove anything to anyone. People who know me, my close friends and family, they all know I'm a Blues fan. "As they say: 'once a blue, always a blue'."

"I said to the gaffer that if I'm moving, I want to go to Blues. Even if there were other teams interested.

"People say when you become a footballer it's a dream come true but when you sign for the club you support, what more can you ask for? You just pinch yourself,'' he said.

"I just can't wait to put that blue and white shirt on, score some goals and help Birmingham City pick up points."

Hmmmmmmm

A LITTLE goes a long way....back.

I took the small step of asking for help on the messageboard of the Heroes and Villains fanzine website - and I now owe a huge debt of gratitude to the supporters who came to my assistance.

A supporter going by the name of Curiousorange deserves special thanks.
Let me explain.

After taking Brian Little (some fans may know him better by his full title Super Brian Little) on a trip down memory lane last week it seemed that he actually remembered very little about his League Cup semi-final winning hat-trick against Queens Park Rangers in 1977.

For those who do recall, Little's treble helped Villa to a 3-0 victory over QPR on the neutral ground at Highbury after the previous legs at Loftus Road and Villa Park ended 0-0 and 2-2.

Anyway, as part of a League Cup semi-final special for Tuesday's Birmingham Mail - to coincide with the last four tie at Blackburn - I wanted Little to talk me through his goals.

With the passage of time and with Little, Villa's League Cup lucky charm, being involved in so many of the club's significant moments in the competiton down the years, the exact nature of how he found the net 1-2-3 times had slipped his mind.
In truth, he couldn't remember a bloomin' thing.

To jog his memory I put an appeal out on H&V and it quickly prompted many memories of a host of Villa fans who were there that night.

It was great to hear the views of the claret and blue brigade enjoying such a fond nostalgia trip back to 33 years ago.

And lo and behold, after several supporters offered sketchy versions of the goal, Curiousorange found some old BBC video footage which had been digitally converted and featured all three of Little's goals.

Being a caring, sharing, all round good sport, Curiousorange posted the clip on YouTube and I am now in the process of contacting Little to send him the link and hopefully bring those wonderful memories flooding back.

I'll let you know what he says. Watch this space. And thanks again.

Here's the Heroes and Villains thread http://tinyurl.com/yhngd3h

IT'S that time again when all and sundry are celebrating the great and good of the past decade - otherwise known as the noughties.

But where's the fun in that? Here's my worst XI players to have made at least one competitive appearance for Aston Villa in the last 10 years.

The full list of footballers to have pulled on the famous claret and blue between January 1 2000 and December 31 2009 is below, as is my list of Noughty Boys.

Let me know if you think I have missed anyone out or included someone I shouldn't have.

Happy New Year.

Claret and B-losers: Gabor Kiraly; Aaron Hughes, Didier Agathe, Liam Ridgewell, Najwan Ghrayib; Wayne Routledge, Moustapha Salifou, Mathieu Berson, Eric Djemba Djemba; Bosko Balaban, Milan Baros.

Full list: Didier Agathe, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Marc Albrighton, Marcus Allback, Juan Pablo Angel, Eirik Bakke, Bosko Balaban, Phil Bardsley, Milan Baros, Gareth Barry, Patrik, Berger, Mathieu Berson, Jonathan Bewers, Habib Beye, George Boateng, Wilfred Bouma, Gary Cahill, Colin Calderwood, Benito Carbone, John Carew, Scott Carson,Ciaran Clark, Carlton Cole, James Collins, Stephen Cooke, Peter Crouch, Carlos Cuellar, Neil Cutler, Curtis Davies, Steven Davis, Gilles De Bilde, Ulises de la Cruz, Mark Delaney, Nathan Delfouneso, Fabian Delph, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Stewart Downing, Dion Dublin, Richard Dunne, Rob Edwards, Ugo Ehiogu, Peter Enckelman, Brad Friedel, Craig Gardner, Najwan Ghrayib, David Ginola, Joey Gudjonsson, Brad Guzan, Moustapha Hadji, Marlon Harewood, Lee Hendrie, Emile Heskey, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Aaron Hughes, David James, Julian Joachim, Ronny Johnsen, Hassan Kachloul, Mark Kinsella, Gabor Kiraly, Zat Knight, Martin Laursen, Oyvind Leonhardsen, Shaun Maloney, Gavin McCann, John McGrath, Olof Mellberg, Paul Merson, James Milner, Luke Moore, Stefan Moore, Luc Nilis, Isaiah Osbourne, Alpay Ozalan, Stiliyan Petrov, Kevin Phillips, Stefan Postma, Nigel Reo-Coker, Liam Ridgewell, Wayne Routledge, Moustapha Salifou, Jlloyd Samuel, Peter Schmeichel, Nicky Shorey, Steve Sidwell, Nobby Solano, Thomas Sorensen, Gareth Southgate, Steve Staunton, Steve Stone, Chris Sutton, Ian Taylor, Stuart Taylor, Alan Thompson, Darius Vassell, Richard Walker, Stephen Warnock, Steve Watson, Peter Whittingham, Alan Wright, Ashley Young, Luke Young.

WHAT is it with John Carew and poles? If he's not watching women dance around them, he's wellying them into the Holte End!

In fairness to the gentle giant the way he quickly made amends for his over-exuberant goal celebration on Saturday was a measure of the man.

No sooner had Big John got a little bit carried away with scoring the winner against Stoke and booting the corner flag into the supporters than he apologised to the unintended 'victim' of his moment of madness.

PAUL McGrath doesn't do things by halves.

But I'm sure everybody will join with me in wishing him all the best for reaching his half century today.

Happy 50th birthday Paul.

LOOK at this cute little fella...

Looks like a young Paul McGrath doesn't he?

He's not.

He's a lad called Paul Swift, better known to his friends as Bez, who tragically passed away just over a year ago.

But a few days ago his story became linked with McGrath, albeit tenuously. Let me tell you how.

VILLA right-back Luke Young announcing his England retirement in World Cup year....

Is this football's most controversial exit of a number two since Robbie Savage infamously used the toilet in the referee's room all those years ago?!

JAMES Milner has been so dedicated and dynamic since joining Aston Villa that he can be excused an occasional off day like at Everton on Saturday.

And there's no doubt that Villa will miss him if, as expected, he fails to recover from a calf problem to maintain his ever-present run at West Ham on Wednesday.

But perhaps the open training session at Villa Park last week solves the riddle about why he repeatedly gave the ball away at Goodison Park.

During a small-sided practice match, the bumper crowd given free access to the stadium for the event might have noticed Milner was kicking both ways.

Wearing a green bib to distinguish him from the other players on the two teams, Milner had to constantly swap ends to join whoever had possession.

It was a training exercise which showcased the winger's amazing work-rate but it meant him having to try hard to remember which set of players to pass to.

Which might explain why he so uncharacteristically struggled to find the feet of his claret and blue team-mates during Saturday's draw at Everton!