John_Lerwill

It sounds as though your stories might be better than mine, mate! :winkold: I went on quite a few away trips, but I can't remember much detail from them, with one or two exceptions. Us ichthyosaurs have goldfish memories, you know! My star memory is of going to the Wednesday's ground towards the end of the 74/75 season to see Villa thump 'em in a 4-0 win to confirm promotion that season. Brian Little scored a sizzling daisy-cutter volley, and Keith Leonard played a grand centre-forward game and scored. The buzz at the end of that season was phenomenal. The semi-final against the Baggies in '57 is another star memory, as was my first ever away trip - at Burnley that year in the 6th round. Two drawn matches when Supermac got us out of trouble in big style.

You're right, bickster, but I took this one as just typical Villa-fan banter. It's difficult to know where to draw the line, admittedly. :winkold:

TRL - you do not know what I look like: how do you know I'm not an ichthyosaur?

You stayed at Putney Bridge, Peter? I'll have you know that ye olde Villa player Ossie Whateley lived just round the corner from there after he retired from football, and called his house "Aston Villa"! I remember visiting Craven Cottage back in the World Cup year of '66 - my only visit whilst I was on a training course in London. Match was Fulham v. Leicester with Leicester winning 6-2 and a certain Derek Dougan giving Fulham all kinds of problems. And Bobby Robson booed by his own fans - that was very sad. Anyway - back to Villa. Anything less than a draw would have been difficult to accept, methinks. It's going to take awhile before this team gells.

Great article! However, about Chris Price being "ahead of his time": in which case Stan Lynn and John Gidman were eons ahed of their time! Stan Lynn equalled the league's goalscroing record for a full-back in 1958 (9 goals) and scored another 7 two seasons after. And John Gidman was no slouch in getting up. I think John Robson (before he was put into midfield) was a pretty good attacking back as well. And what about Kenny Swain and Gary Williams?

Thanks Drat. More sobering, though, is the fact that we've only won the Cup once in 87 years!!!

I think that's a great idea. Plus Billy Walker's book, these are the ones I'd include... * Bale, Bernard: Villa in the Blood: an Oral History of Aston Villa (Breedon Books, 1998) * Hayes, Dean: The Villa Park Encyclopaedia: An A-Z of Aston Villa FC (Mainstream Publishing, 1997) * Inglis, Simon: Villa Park - 100 Years ( Sports Projects, 1997) * Matthews, Tony: The Complete Encyclopaedia of Aston Villa (Britespot, 2001) * McColl, Graham: The Hamlyn Illustrated History of Aston Villa 1874-1998 (Hamlyn, 1998) * Triumphs on The Football Field (Archie Hunter) (Sports Projects, 1997) Please let me know if you'd like to be included on my quarterly Chronicles newsletter, advising on progress towards publication. By PM please

Or, indeed, Amazon second-hands, which is how I got mine...

Yes, you can't help but see that meaning behind the words, can you? Though there are some interesting points raised, the tone doesn't square with reality for me. MON, to my knowledge , has not said that it might go all "pear-shaped". He has said that we might lose, and lose convincingly. But that is a sensible statement on MON's part that should not be read out of context. It's almost as though Malc is suggesting that it will come apart just as it did after DOL's first season, and if Malc is saying that, then he should look again at the difference MON has made to the side, as compared with DOL's first few months which saw us in 17th place by the December. As far as this January is concerned, MON has declared the clear and unequivecal view that the squad is small. And with Moore and Delaney (and Laursen, really) not able to give any input just now, there is a lot of pressure on the squad remaining. Therefore, if £22m or so is available in Jan, the major part of that has to be in spending to increase the squad size effectively. I think we need 5 or 6 players to put the squad size right. Now that could mean 3 pretty good players and a couple of others, but I'm not MON.

Ian - the e-mail I sent was essentially a crib from the previous Villa Talk posting I did about Lerner and the memorials, with a brief intro. I think now it's probably best to see what action (if any) is taken. I'd like to see the formation of a "Friends of the Villa" association formed, composed of fans and RAL's representative(s) to discuss actual requirements and to discuss costs and how much RAL is willing to stump up. How does that sound? If we don't hear anything more, then perhaps we can talk about a petition on the lines you've suggested?

Glad to say I've this afternoon had an e-mail response from Steve Stride saying that he will put my comments to the "new Chairman". He copied the message to a couple of other high-flyers around RAL, so perhaps he's serious. That doesn't mean it's a done deal, though!

That I believe is already in hand - at the Holte Hotel. That's an interesting choice. Though that particular captain and success is one that's very vivid, surely John Devey and the 'double' success of 1897 is equal to it, and Villa's 1887 first Cup success under Archie Hunter. Would 1982 be as relevant in another 50 or 100 years? An interesting conundrum, and hence why I'd be looking more to have a visible memory of those that had a fundamental and long-lasting affect on the club. If you have enough money to throw around, then Hunter, Devey and Mortimer as well, by all means, but then you start thinking of Eric Houghton and Graham Taylor, and ...

Well said, Melv. And where did Platty come from? :winkold: What's more, Ashton fits the old style of Villa centre-forward that's still got it's place in the Prem.

Glad you've found that! Yes, the 1957 Wembley striped strip was specially designed because of the strip clash with Man U, and the badge was brought into it then (and kept for normal use). I haven't seen that! - I must go out and get some of these books!

I seem to recall something about this (that Villa did adopt the City of Brum arms) at some stage, but I've got a feeling that happened late in the 1880s and was a brief appearance. As stated earlier, the Villa lion was almost certainly present beforehand, and afterwards of course.

The first time the Villa 'Prepared' badge was introduced was in the 1957 FA Cup Final if I remembers correctly...and a badge has been displayed ever since I think. BUT... I'm pretty sure that if you look at some very early (1880s) photos, when Villa were playing (I believe) in a all-maroon or claret shirt, the Villa lion was on the shirt. The badge was then dropped until the 1957 appearance...