ASTON Villa will always be a special club for Tony Dorigo, Leeds United's made-in-Australia left-back.
When Dorigo was a teenager in Adelaide dreaming of a career as a professional footballer in England, he wrote to over a dozen clubs asking for a trial.
'Aston Villa were the only ones who replied,' Dorigo told Premier Soccer this week from his home in Leeds.
'It cost them a 34p stamp and they sold me to Chelsea for GBP500,000, so I don't think I was a bad investment.' Dorigo, now 30, makes a nostalgic return journey to Villa Park tomorrow with Leeds trying to re-build his career after a prolonged hamstring injury.
In last weekend's 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest at Elland Road, Dorigo came on as a substitute for the final 10 minutes - his first taste of first-team football since last season's League Cup semi-final victory over Birmingham City in February.
Although he expects to start tomorrow's match on the bench, he feels he is ready to re-launch his career.
'I've been in full training for the past two or three weeks but I need a bit more match fitness,' he said.