Aston Villa's blond bombshell: Gary Shaw reminisces about glory years

Gary Shaw will get round to the time he was the only local lad in the Aston Villa team that shocked Bayern Munich to win the European Cup.He will revel in the night Diego Maradona asked for his shirt, and smile at the memory of being man-marked nearly to the toilets by Claudio Gentile.He will also talk candidly about the serious health fears he suffered after contracting septicaemia in 2016. But before all that, as he settles down for lunch on a sun-kissed afternoon in Birmingham, he tells the riotous story of the day his boyhood club were crowned English champions.Needing a point at Highbury to secure the 1981 First Division title ahead of Ipswich on the final Saturday of the season, things did not exactly go according to plan.'Our preparation was absolutely s***,' he says. Tone set. 'We went down on the morning of the game but didn't realise there was a rugby league final on at Wembley. The old M6 was chocca. We had to phone up for a police escort and half the journey was down the hard shoulder.'We didn't get to the ground until about half an hour before kick off. And then all sorts of things were going on.'Phil Collins was knocking on the dressing room door asking for Tony Morley's shirt. I was a Genesis fan, I was gutted he didn't ask me. "Do you want mine instead Phil, and you can sort us a freebie for a concert?" 'Then when we're doing our warm up Pele is there jogging in between us waving to the fans. "F*** off Pele we're trying to concentrate on the game here!" I don't know what he was doing there. Nightmare.'Ron Saunders was tucking into his Remy Martin at the time, passing it round the lads to "calm our nerves". Calm our nerves? We were 2-0 down by half-time! First time we had a chance of winning the league in 70 years and we prepared like that.' Pause for breath. Shaw tells his stories like he played the game, with maverick glee and, usually, a killer finish. He is as good round the table as he was on the pitch and given he was once named Europe's best young player in an award since won by both Ronaldos that tells you something. In the eighties Shaw had a flash of blond hair, glamour model girlfriends, and lived the dream as a player for the club he supported during their most successful years, culminating in victory over Bayern in Rotterdam 36 years ago.Trent Alexander-Arnold has the chance to replicate the homegrown feat with Liverpool on the day Villa try to reach the Premier League again. Shaw will provide opinion on those subjects.But first, to that chaotic May day in 1981. At the break Ipswich were 1-0 up at Middlesbrough. 'Our chins are on the floor, Ron is going potty,' Shaw recalls. But in the second period Boro scored twice and that was enough. 'We only used 14 players that season. We had continuity. Away from home our attitude was to keep it tight. Our manager would be more ecstatic at a 0-0 draw than a 3-2 win. Loved a clean sheet.'He trained us so we were very fit and quick on the break. Similar to how Liverpool expos