Gary Shaw: Aston Villa and football legend 'in serious condition' in hospital after head injury

Former Aston Villa ace and European Cup winner Gary Shaw is currently in ‘serious condition’ in hospital after he suffered a head injury following a fall.

A high-scoring forward, the Solihull-born striker was part of the acclaimed Villa side that won the First Division in 1980/81, as well as the European Cup and the European Super Cup in 1982. He spent ten years at Villa Park, making a total of 165 league appearances and scoring 59 goals along the way. In 1981, Shaw was voted the PFA Young Player of the Year - he also won the Bravo Award the year after this.

Outside of Villa, Shaw featured for clubs such as Blackpool, Walsall and Shrewsbury Town. After leaving the Villans, Shaw struggled to nail down a consistent place at a club, mainly due to his persistent injuries that plagued his career.

While he never played for England at senior international level, he did make a handful of appearances for the Three Lions at U21 level. Despite this, he was among the 40-man shortlist of players considered for the 1982 World Cup squad, failing to make the final 22.

After retiring from professional football in 1992, with his last club being Ernest Borel in Hong Kong, Shaw took a different path to most ex-players. Rather than undergoing the natural transition from footballer to coach, Shaw instead decided to become a statistical analyst - since then, he has also been Villa’s matchday ambassador.

Stan Collymore, former Villa star and a friend of Shaw’s, posted on his official X (formerly Twitter) page: “Villans, Gary Shaw is very poorly in hospital after a fall. I'm sure the Villa family will rally round and give one of our greatest our love and support at this incredibly difficult time. Ledge, you're my hero, and I'm thinking of you.”