By Phil Jennings
SCOTT Hogan has admitted he ‘did not enjoy’ his time at Villa – and looks set to complete his exit from the club.
Hogan was loaned out to Championship side Stoke City before the deadline and says he has his ‘hunger’ back.
The striker failed to live up to his £12million billing when he moved to Villa from Brentford.
And Villa boss Dean Smith moved him on to the Potteries where he says he has a new lease of life.
Hogan told reporters after Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Derby: “Did the Villa experience scar me? I wouldn’t say scarred, but it’s taught me a lot. It was a difficult time in my career and I didn’t enjoy one bit of it.
“My confidence got knocked. I had a couple of injuries. It wasn’t going well. I just didn’t fit in.
“I worked my way up the hard way through non-League and had all sorts of jobs like cleaning toilets, working in factories.
“I was maybe guilty of losing that hunger a bit when I got my move to Villa and all that went with it.
“I tried over the two years I was there. I tried everything. Sometimes you’ve got to hold your hands up and I needed a fresh start.
“I’m guilty for a lot of it and I have to use it as a learning curve to kick on again.”
Hogan says he wants to drive Stoke on to promotion this season and forget about his Villa experience.
Hogan, 27, added: “I have to try and get back to where I was heading at the time when I left Brentford for Villa and I was doing really well and there was a lot of talk around me.
“I want to do that here this year and get this club back into the Premier League
“I’ve got a lot of people to prove wrong. I’ve been written off by a hell of lot of people who don’t think I’m this and don’t think I’m that, that I’m a waste of money.
“They can say what they want. That’s what is driving me to do well and I’ve got a manager here who believes in me.”
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