Weren't H&V told they mustn't spell it Villan, something about Villa holding the copyright on the word? I'm sure I read that somewhere.
In the 70s we tended to talk about Villa, and you didn't hear much about Villains or Villans outside of newspapers. The Sports Argus writers used to keep the Villa(i)ns thing alive in the same way that Albion were always referred to as the Throstles, even though Albion fans to a man called them the Baggies.
The only other time I used to hear Villains/Villans in those days was
1. in the voice of the TV commentator Hugh Johns. He used to come out with things like "The Villains of Villa Park".
(He also used to come out with a lot of pseudo-American crap about it being "a whole new ball game" and when the ball went out for a corner he would say "Whoa! Corner ball!" Don't know whether he copied Brian Moore or Brian Moore copied him or whether it was ITV policy for everyone to sound "nice and transatlantic".)
2. A song sung by the Holte End around that time. The Dubliners had had a hit with their version of an Irish folksong, Black Velvet Band and to the tune of the chorus of this the Holte used to sing "We are the Villa Villains..."
The Villain/Villan, spell it how you will, was pretty dormant around this period and the late 60s too. I often used to wonder where he had got to, because my earliest football memories are of the buildup to the 1957 FA Cup Final and the funny chap on the badge (in briny-ear's post) was in evidence around that time. Though again mainly I think in the Sports Argus and the long, long defunct Birmingham Mail "Blue 'Un".
Briny-ear mentions Villa'n as a spelling. I don't remember that but it seems very very likely to me. The Villa ones > The Villa 'uns > The Villa'ns. Makes sense. And it what would also make sense is The Villa'ns > The Villans.
FFS someone ask John Lerwill!