Do I like most footballers? Not really. Joe Hart, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Joleon Lescott, Gabby Agbonlahor and a group of the guys at Villa - good people.
Even when I went to Aston Villa, it was very important that I was not in competition with Manchester United.
I came close to joining Villa early on in my career but nothing happened. I met with them and also with people from Birmingham but nothing materialised.
Hopefully I can challenge myself and establish myself as a Premier League player for Aston Villa.
I think the first time I finished a season with the same manager who started it was Martin O'Neill at Villa, probably five seasons into my career.
At school, I was always a central midfielder from a young age. Then, when I joined Villa at 16, the pre-season didn't go too well, so they looked at me as a centre-half.
In U.S. sports, you tend to be pretty strictly limited by the size of your team's market. When we heard that Villa was a club here that might be available, I had a strong feeling that a team in the West Midlands could be the chance to create something very special.
I prefer advanced midfield, like a No. 10, but you know me: I'll play anywhere for Villa.
All I do know is that I'll never be able to achieve what Tommy Docherty did, and that is take Aston Villa into the third division and Manchester United into the second division
Aston Villa had been in touch and they'd gone into the Premier League so I knew I could play in the Premier League just like that.
Both of the Villa scorers were born in Liverpool, as was the Villa manager, who was born in Birkenhead.
Newcastle was tough - the manager who'd signed me, Bobby Robson, got sacked three games into the season, so a new manager arrived, and I ended up going on loan again, to Aston Villa.
Best performance of the year: Aston Villa v. Milan, September 1994
I played a lot of games for Villa, and one of my regrets is not winning a trophy there - that still hurts, and that's why the big games are important.
We always looked forward to playing Aston Villa to hear him mangle Ugo Ehiogu's name. "Make sure you pick up Ehugu, Ehogy, whatever his name is."
I've started the coaching badges. I did some at Aston Villa, but things got in the way.'
In Holland we have always viewed Villa as an important club with a tradition of being powerful in Europe when I was younger, so I would be very interested in managing them if the job was offered to me.
I treat the young boys as I wanted to be treated when I came through at Aston Villa.
Benteke is a threat when he's fit, fully motivated and firing on all cylinders.
When Martin O'Neill spent £9m on me to take me to Villa, it was a massive boost.
I can never shut the door on Aston Villa but I think it's blatantly obvious for everyone looking at it that it's done.
Until I went to Aston Villa I was scoring 'X' amount. It just did not happen there. That is it. I have seen it happen with loads of players.
It is a lifelong dream to even play for Villa, but to get to a European final tops it all off.
I was very into football in my early teens and spent six months with Aston Villa, but I never really got further than having trials. I'm also into ice hockey.
It's very exciting, everyone wants to see Aston Villa back in the Premier League and kicking on from there. It's great to see this club with such a rich history of being in the top flight, it's an exciting prospect.
