Dennis Mortimer

Dennis George Mortimer (born 5 April 1952) is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder and captained Aston Villa. He made nearly 600 appearances in the Football League playing for Coventry City, Aston Villa, Sheffield United, Brighton & Hove Albion and Birmingham City.

Playing career Mortimer was born in Liverpool. He began his career with Coventry City, where he came through the ranks to make more than 200 first-team appearances as a midfielder. His displays for Coventry attracted the attention of several top clubs, and he joined Aston Villa for £175,000 on Christmas Eve 1975.

Mortimer captained Villa to the 1980–81 Football League championship, the club's first League title for more than 70 years. After the game, he swapped shirts with an unknown Bayern player, and has since tried and failed to recover it.

From 1975 to 1985 he made 406 appearances for Villa scoring 36 goals. thereby breaking the second-city taboo by playing for City and Villa.

Mortimer was capped by England at youth and under-23 level and captained England B, but was never capped for the full England team.

In January 2024, Mortimer was named by Aston Villa as a member of the Honorary Anniversary Board ahead of the club's 150th anniversary season.

Honours Aston Villa Football League First Division: 1980–81 Football League Cup: 1976–77 FA Charity Shield: 1981 (shared) European Cup: 1981–82 European Super Cup: 1982 Intercontinental Cup runner-up: 1982