They could also have mentioned how he had a hand in eight of Villa’s first nine goals against Charlton in 1959 before scoring the last two himself and how he became the first – and still one of the few – players to score the winner in both an FA Cup and League Cup final. Of 121 goals in 341 games, incredible statistics for a player who spent most of his Villa career on the wing in a side who struggled for much of this time and who left the club when he was 27.

They could have mentioned that for many years he made the regular trip to Villa Park, appeared regularly on the club’s media channels and even into his nineties was always happy to spare a minute for anyone who sought him out.

If you’ll excuse the self-indulgence, I would also remember a couple of occasions when I saw for myself just what an incredible man he was. The first was in 2007, when the Villa Former Players Association was still going strong and one of the highlights of the year was their annual greyhound night at Perry Barr, where starstruck supporters could mingle with their heroes.

H&V would always sponsor a race and one year we had the good fortune of Peter as our guest. That afternoon Neil Rioch, who ran the FPA, rang me about arrangements and during the course of our conversation mentioned that he was about to arrange transport to pick up Peter from his hotel. “Where is it and what time do you want me there?” was the only possible reply.

The rain was lashing down when I collected Peter and his fellow passenger, Leighton Phillips. I reflected that if the worst came to the worst and we were involved in an accident I’d be the most reviled man in Birmingham and a former Villa captain would barely merit a mention. But we arrived safely and the crowd parted to allow the great man to enter the room. Peter McParland did not wait in queues.

As the races began the rest of the guests at our table overcame their nerves and began talking to Peter. Well, we listened as he talked. One of our number is a home and away England follower and Peter asked him how many goals they’d scored at the previous summer’s World Cup Finals. Six, was the reply.

“Not bad,” said Peter with a twinkle in his eye. “One more than me.”

Don’t think for a second that this was said with an iota of boasting. The word was not in the McParland vocabulary; like all great men he remained immensely modest about his achievements but as the night went on he spoke, once again, about his greatest moments.

The time came for our race and we opened the bottle of champagne that had been provided for the table. There we were; drinking champagne with Peter McParland while he told us about scoring those legendary goals at Wembley. Life gets no better.

After the races there was the usual autograph signing and photos being taken. There were queues at all the players’ tables and the longest was at ours. Peter wasn’t just signing and posing for photos, he was giving his time, answering questions and giving his views on football and the Villa. Two of those in the queue, incidentally, were Gordon Cowans and Gary Shaw,

The same pair were also present the last time I saw Peter. This was when the FPA would have seats in the North Stand and then hold court in one of the lounges there for anyone who could get past the steward, who fortunately I knew well enough for him to turn a blind eye most games. One time Gary and Sid were at a table with Mark Walters, Colin Gibson and Des Bremner, when Peter entered the room, walked towards them and to a man they all stood for him.