Scimeca crosses divide to find room at the top

The West Brom defender tells Phil Shaw he has nothing left to prove as prepares to face his old club Aston Villa

It is the kind of teaser Ally McCoist might wrestle with on A Question of Sport. In the game which legendarily led Alan Hansen to instruct Match of the Day viewers that "you win nothing with kids", who was the only player making his first-team debut?

It is the kind of teaser Ally McCoist might wrestle with on A Question of Sport. In the game which legendarily led Alan Hansen to instruct Match of the Day viewers that "you win nothing with kids", who was the only player making his first-team debut?

Since the comment was aimed at Manchester United, whose wet-behind-the-ears side had just been thumped by Aston Villa 10 years ago this month, the temptation may be to plump for David Beckham. No. Then how about Nicky Butt or Paul Scholes? No. Ah, you can hear McCoist saying, it must be one of the Neville brothers. Still Sue Barker shakes her head. Give up, Ally?

The answer is Riccardo Scimeca. The Leamington Spa-born son of a Sicilian restaurateur, he was a Villa substitute for Dwight Yorke. However, while he proved a winner that afternoon - against players who came back to haunt Hansen by completing the Double - Scimeca has won nothing in the game.

Nothing, that is, except an unrivalled reputation for versatility which persuaded newly promoted West Bromwich Albion to keep him in the Premiership this summer even though his previous club, Leicester City, went down.

Tomorrow, in his first home outing for Albion, the former England Under-21 captain could play at right-back, where he started last week's draw at Blackburn Rovers, or in midfield, where he finished it. He may be in central defence or even up front, where his 6ft 1in frame has been used on numerous occasions.

One certainty is that the opponents will be Villa. A less rounded character might have stoked the derby tensions by being drawn into vowing revenge on employers who let him go. Not Scimeca; now 29, he still has "good friends" at his first club, who will "always have a place in my heart".

He was attached to the claret and blue from the age of 11 until he was 24, and his affection for Villa, as well as for football, survived a bleak episode when he was seriously injured in a junior game at Oxford as a 17-year-old.

"I suffered a broken leg and dislocated ankle which needed three operations," he recalls. "I felt very low lying in Little Aston Hospital. My dad, Benito, was at my bedside and I remember saying: 'That's it. I've had enough. I don't want to play any more.'

"Happily for me, Dave Richardson, who then headed Villa's youth set-up, talked me round. As I started to recover physically, my enthusiasm returned."

Scimeca progressed to the senior squad under Brian Little and then John Gregory. He had played up front in the reserves, but after growing up with Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini as role models it was unsurprising that he came to be regarded as a stopper rather than a striker.

"The problem for me was that Villa had several brilliant defenders: Gareth Southgate, Paul McGrath, Ugo Ehiogu, Steve Staunton and so on. I always felt I was on the fringes. I'd get in when someone was out, and do well, yet as soon as they were fit again, I'd be out.

"In '95-96 I played in every round of the League Cup except the final against Leeds, when I didn't even make the 16 for Wembley. That was frustrating. When the next generation came through - the likes of Lee Hendrie, Gareth Barry, Darius Vassell and later, Jlloyd Samuel - it seemed time to move on."

After four years at Nottingham Forest, where he was used as a midfield holding player, Scimeca took the opportunity to return to the Premiership with Leicester 12 months ago and came up against Villa for the first time.

"Both matches were disastrous! We had Les Ferdinand sent off early on at Villa, conceded three goals in 10 minutes and lost 3-1.

"At home we were fine until half-time. Then everything that they hit seemed to go in and we lost 5-0."

After relegation, Scimeca was courted by Norwich and Albion, opting to return to the West Midlands.

"Some will say I should have stayed at Leicester. But it's a short career. You want to play at the top level as long as possible."

The words frying pan and fire spring to mind. "Everyone expects the teams coming up to struggle. But it's by no means inevitable. The manager [Gary Megson] has made some good signings and we've definitely got a chance."

Scimeca has to pinch himself that Nwankwo Kanu is now a team-mate, describing some of the former Arsenal attacker's skills as mind-boggling. "He has this aura about him. With him in your side, you feel there's no need to fear anybody."

Including Aston Villa. "They did really well last season and have started with a win. You have to show respect to the top Premiership teams, though not too much. I believe this is a game we could do well in."

The BBC cameras will be there, as when he first faced Beckham and company, although Scimeca will be keen to avoid becoming part of a real Question of Sport poser like he did for Forest against Manchester City.

"Our keeper, Darren Ward, went to roll the ball to me," he explains. "Shaun Goater was lurking so I shouted 'no' and turned away. Unfortunately, he'd already let go of the ball, Goater scored, and it became a 'what happened next?' question."

Derbies tend to volatile, atypical affairs, but tomorrow's promises intriguing pointers as to what happens next for both Albion and Scimeca.