Medals won by Gary Shaw, including the one he was awarded for Aston Villa’s 1982 European Cup final triumph, have been put up for auction by a mystery seller less than three months after the forward’s death.

The collection has a guide price of £50,000, which is less than most of Villa’s current first-team squad earn in a week. One former player, Stan Collymore, has appealed for the club to buy Shaw’s medals and put them on display for fans.

Shaw, one of the most decorated players in Villa’s history, died in September. His funeral took place a month later and mourners paid their respects at the Premier League club’s stadium.

During 10 years at Villa between 1978 and 1988, Shaw won the European Cup, the First Division (now Premier League) title and the European Super Cup. He also won the Young Player of the Year, the Bravo Award for Europe’s most outstanding young player, and was part of the PFA Team of the Year.

Shaw’s European Cup, League title, Super Cup and Bravo Award winners’ medals, together with the Young Player of the Year trophy, are all part of the collection that is being auctioned.

Shaw sold off his medals and trophy to a private buyer outside his family half a dozen years ago and the collection has now been put back on the market by an anonymous seller through the Shropshire-based auctioneer Mullock Jones.

According to the auctioneer, the seller had agreed not to put the medals and trophy back up for sale while Shaw was still alive and that the collection would be kept together, rather than being sold as separate pieces, if it was ever sold or passed on.

Timing of auction has been questioned

Despite apparently adhering to the wishes of Shaw, the timing of the auction could attract accusations of the seller trying to cash in on his death, which prompted a flood of emotional tributes.

Ben Jones, the auctioneer in charge of the Shaw collection for Mullock Jones, said: “There will always be opinion around whether or not an item or items should be sold. That is to be expected, but we always say that the fairest way to sell is at auction.

“It could possibly have been more valuable to have broken the collection up and sold the medals and trophy as individual items, but the seller agreed to follow the wishes of Gary and keep it together in the hope it can be appreciated and cherished as a piece of football history.

“Most sellers and buyers of high-value collections such as this prefer to remain anonymous and it could be for a number of reasons. We haven’t contacted Aston Villa about the auction yet, but it is open to everybody – including the club and private individuals.”

The collection is described as being “a truly remarkable, historical and unique set of football medals and awards, to arguably the most decorated player in Aston Villa’s history”. There is already one bid of £30,000, although the live online auction takes place on December 4 and 5.

Collymore responded to Telegraph Sport’s report on the auction of Shaw’s medals by posting a message on social media that said: “No better starting point to create a club museum worthy of our history than to buy a club legend’s medals back, for future Villans to know the name of Gary Shaw, and the team he played with. Those medals deserve to be at Villa Park, B6.”

The auctioneer’s guide price is £50,000 and Mr Jones said: “It is very difficult to value anything like this. Everybody has different sets of eyes on it, but it is clearly a rare and valuable collection.”

Shaw never married and did not have any children to leave his medals and trophies to. He died aged 63 from injuries sustained in a fall, having scored 79 goals in 213 games for Villa.

Reacting to his death in September, the club said: “Aston Villa Football Club is deeply shocked and profoundly saddened to learn that Gary Shaw, one of our European Cup-winning heroes, has passed away.

“Gary was one of our own, a talented striker who delighted supporters with his goal-scoring exploits which helped fire Villa to success in the 1980s. Individual accolades would also follow for a player who was idolised by many on the terraces.

“He passed away peacefully earlier today surrounded by his family, who asked Aston Villa to release a statement on their behalf.

“The thoughts of everyone at the club are with Gary’s family and loved ones at this extremely difficult time.”