John Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 2 hours ago, gwi1890 said: Amazing time to be a fan I’m sure unfortunately I wasn’t born! But Scenes like a this will never be replicated 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveAV1 Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 5 hours ago, gwi1890 said: Amazing time to be a fan I’m sure unfortunately I wasn’t born! But Scenes like a this will never be replicated You never know with the Villa. I recall that season standing on The Holte and asking my mate, “Do you think we can win the league?” He said, “If we beat Liverpool then yes we can.” This was just before Christmas and on 10th January we beat them 2-0. What a season! We’ve always been the most unpredictable club in good ways and bad. Who could have seen us being rebuilt in the way we are now after the nightmare of being almost bankrupt? We haven’t just injected money, we’ve had a huge injection of football and business intelligence. Something that perhaps we’ve never really had in my lifetime, despite having seen us in the third division and win the European Cup. It’s never dull. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 So jealous of you guys who were there or who can remember it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 On 02/05/2021 at 12:37, hippo said: What were you doing ? I was a 17 year old at Highbury watching us become champions. There's a great little vid on the villa App. With a incredibly young looking Nick Owen interviewing Ron Saunders! There is a clip on youtube from Villaboy which has the changing room scences afterwards, along with pitch invasion. Worth a look just for a piece of social history. 57,000 attendance including 15,000 Villa which made it the highest crowds of the season in England and not a prawn sandwich in sight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted May 3, 2021 Author Share Posted May 3, 2021 18 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said: You never know with the Villa. I recall that season standing on The Holte and asking my mate, “Do you think we can win the league?” He said, “If we beat Liverpool then yes we can.” This was just before Christmas and on 10th January we beat them 2-0. What a season! We’ve always been the most unpredictable club in good ways and bad. Who could have seen us being rebuilt in the way we are now after the nightmare of being almost bankrupt? We haven’t just injected money, we’ve had a huge injection of football and business intelligence. Something that perhaps we’ve never really had in my lifetime, despite having seen us in the third division and win the European Cup. It’s never dull. That Liverpool game was one of my favourites. Since the start of the season wed heard "don't write off Liverpool" - "watch out for Liverpool" " Liverpool moving ominously up to 3rd" I was getting well pissed off with it - so when Morty popped that second in - it was a joyous moment .... The press reported it as against the run of play - and possibly off side ..........some things never change !!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted May 3, 2021 Author Share Posted May 3, 2021 3 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said: With a incredibly young looking Nick Owen interviewing Ron Saunders! There is a clip on youtube from Villaboy which has the changing room scences afterwards, along with pitch invasion. Worth a look just for a piece of social history. 57,000 attendance including 15,000 Villa which made it the highest crowds of the season in England and not a prawn sandwich in sight. Its all on the app mate. I know it's poor form to praise the villa App - but it's actually quite good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboy54 Posted May 4, 2021 Share Posted May 4, 2021 Sorry, a bit late to this... I was 22, standing with my old man (Holte Ender in The Sky) at the time half way up the clock end and behind the goal. The Villa played poorly and deserved the 2 - 0 the arsenal gave us but there were lots there with radios glued to their ears and as the game wore on events on the pitch mattered less and less! everyone was cheering when Boro scored against ipswich but a lot of us didnt really believe it we thought is was a gigantic wind up! Amazing that Dad and me who we both lived in Suffolk (I still do) were not season ticket holders at the time, we just drove to London got the tube to Highbury, paid the gate money and walked into the clock end, we did at lots of away games we attended.....I cannot stand Ipswich, hateful fans esp in those days singing "Ipswich Republican Army" at us Villa fans at Portman road after the pub bombings..... A couple of memories that made me laugh at the game was a little old geezer at the clock end selling programs and he was deluged with fans wanting one and all those fans running on to the pitch (I was not one of them) and digging up clods of the pitch to take home.........did anyone ever manage to get their "sample" to grow? Great times to be a Villa fan, dad and I lost count at how many coaches we saw from Villa, I am sure it was over 70 odd.... VTID Regards Del 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilS Posted May 6, 2021 Share Posted May 6, 2021 I thought this thread might be the best place for this:- BT Sport to make a film called Super Villans Aston Villa's best-ever season in the club's 147-year history is to be made into a brilliant film by BT Sport. Super Villans will air on BT Sport in 2022 to tie in with the 40th anniversary of Villa becoming champions of Europe and will be the latest in the award-winning BT Sport Films series. Forty years ago, of course, Villa fought off the challenge of Liverpool and Ipswich Town to be crowned First Division champions for the first time in 71 years on May 2, 1981. The following season, with virtually the same squad of players, Villa defied all the odds to win the European Cup Final, securing victory over Bayern Munich 1-0 at the De Kuip Stadium in Rotterdam on May 26, 1982. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Follyfoot Posted May 6, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted May 6, 2021 On 02/05/2021 at 12:58, hippo said: I was a complacent at the time - we had a great manager, great scouting and youth team. I never believed that championship in 80/81 - would be a once a lifetime. We looked set to be challenging year in year out for major honours. WE WON THE LEAGUE AND WE WON THE CUP NOW RONNIE BENDALLS **** IT UP 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Follyfoot Posted May 6, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted May 6, 2021 Spotty 14 on the Clock with Mum and Dad, the motorway on the way home was a sight to behold 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted May 6, 2021 Share Posted May 6, 2021 On 03/05/2021 at 17:32, Xela said: So jealous of you guys who were there or who can remember it. Yeah but would it be worth swapping for needing a hip replacement and a catheter? Hmmm maybe it would actually. Seeing us win two Coca Cola Cups is probably my job lot for life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post danceoftheshamen Posted May 6, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted May 6, 2021 I have a bit of a story from that day at Highbury. I must be one of the few people on the planet who can boast that they shared the pitch with Pele! I was there indeed. Aged 14 I travelled down with a school friend of mine & his dad. Little did his dad know i had no ticket for the game (until it was way too late). So instead, determined to not miss the game i joined the queue for the North Bank (Arsenals main end). I hid my scarf under my denim jacket and a guy saw me do it and kindly said i could squeeze in between him & his son to try to get me in. I did get in and they told me there was a small strip of terracing which ran right along the side of the pitch and if i went up there i would be next to the Villa fans. This i did and didn't understand why i could hear a few nasty comments aimed in my direction until it suddenly dawned on me that i had a few Villa Badges sewn on the back of my denim jacket which i had completely forgotten. So i walked right down through their North Bank donning our colours! Being at the height of football violence at the time, the stands had fencing around them.. especially high at the Clock end due to housing the away fans presumably but the one in front of me was a bit lower. This soon proved to be a bit of an issue. Whilst standing at the very front in the corner nearest the Villa fans i started to realise there were actually quite a few Villa fans in the same place though i'm not sure how many exactly. The atmosphere was electric and the Villa were there in numbers and loud! You could see how packed it was in the Clock end. The Arsenal fans around me clearly were taken aback by our numbers and the volume coming from our huge contingent. I heard many comments from Cockney voices saying things like like "F*** Me" And **** these Villa fans are loud". Just then the tannoy sprang into life and announced Pele as a guest of honour... Both sets of fans screamed "Sign him up sign him up sign him up"(Although by me it was more Cockney like "Sign im ap sign im ap sign im ap". And Pele, hands aloft started to slowly walk onto the pitch..... Just at that point right behind me it started to go off big style.. The Gooners had realised we had encroached their end (Dunno how lol) and it turned ugly... Thats when I saw my moment... I climbed over the fence in front of me and leaped onto the corner of the pitch! I was actually on the same pitch as Pele himself for a moment but all i could think of was scrambling across the corner of the turf to the Clock end where i leaped onto the fence fronting the Villa fans & climbed up as quick as i could to avoid being grabbed by some steward or copper!... All the villa fans saw i was one of them & shouted to jump & they'd catch me.. so i did & they did (thanks if that was you :)) So that was it.. it turned hostile after that with both sets of fans chanting "On the pitch, on the pitch on the pitch" at each other. After the game it went off big style apparently but what a day that was. One of my many great journeys to watch my beloved club... just a shame we took a 40 year sabbatical after that eh! I reckon we'll be back soon though with these owners. UTV 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave-R Posted May 6, 2021 Share Posted May 6, 2021 (edited) On 02/05/2021 at 12:37, hippo said: What were you doing ? I was a 17 year old at Highbury watching us become champions. There's a great little vid on the villa App. I was a little baby sucking his momma's tittys for milk Edited May 6, 2021 by Dave-R 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted May 7, 2021 Author Share Posted May 7, 2021 16 hours ago, Dave-R said: I was a little baby sucking his momma's tittys for milk Not sure who had the best day then 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talldarkandransome Posted May 7, 2021 Share Posted May 7, 2021 On 06/05/2021 at 13:53, danceoftheshamen said: I have a bit of a story from that day at Highbury. I must be one of the few people on the planet who can boast that they shared the pitch with Pele! I was there indeed. Aged 14 I travelled down with a school friend of mine & his dad. Little did his dad know i had no ticket for the game (until it was way too late). So instead, determined to not miss the game i joined the queue for the North Bank (Arsenals main end). I hid my scarf under my denim jacket and a guy saw me do it and kindly said i could squeeze in between him & his son to try to get me in. I did get in and they told me there was a small strip of terracing which ran right along the side of the pitch and if i went up there i would be next to the Villa fans. This i did and didn't understand why i could hear a few nasty comments aimed in my direction until it suddenly dawned on me that i had a few Villa Badges sewn on the back of my denim jacket which i had completely forgotten. So i walked right down through their North Bank donning our colours! Being at the height of football violence at the time, the stands had fencing around them.. especially high at the Clock end due to housing the away fans presumably but the one in front of me was a bit lower. This soon proved to be a bit of an issue. Whilst standing at the very front in the corner nearest the Villa fans i started to realise there were actually quite a few Villa fans in the same place though i'm not sure how many exactly. The atmosphere was electric and the Villa were there in numbers and loud! You could see how packed it was in the Clock end. The Arsenal fans around me clearly were taken aback by our numbers and the volume coming from our huge contingent. I heard many comments from Cockney voices saying things like like "F*** Me" And **** these Villa fans are loud". Just then the tannoy sprang into life and announced Pele as a guest of honour... Both sets of fans screamed "Sign him up sign him up sign him up"(Although by me it was more Cockney like "Sign im ap sign im ap sign im ap". And Pele, hands aloft started to slowly walk onto the pitch..... Just at that point right behind me it started to go off big style.. The Gooners had realised we had encroached their end (Dunno how lol) and it turned ugly... Thats when I saw my moment... I climbed over the fence in front of me and leaped onto the corner of the pitch! I was actually on the same pitch as Pele himself for a moment but all i could think of was scrambling across the corner of the turf to the Clock end where i leaped onto the fence fronting the Villa fans & climbed up as quick as i could to avoid being grabbed by some steward or copper!... All the villa fans saw i was one of them & shouted to jump & they'd catch me.. so i did & they did (thanks if that was you :)) So that was it.. it turned hostile after that with both sets of fans chanting "On the pitch, on the pitch on the pitch" at each other. After the game it went off big style apparently but what a day that was. One of my many great journeys to watch my beloved club... just a shame we took a 40 year sabbatical after that eh! I reckon we'll be back soon though with these owners. UTV What a story I was only 10 and not overly interested in football, didnt start going until the year after (must have been a glory hunter) 3-1 home to Forest was first game and can just about remember that day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhan_Zhuang Posted May 7, 2021 Share Posted May 7, 2021 I was three years old, so have no idea. Great to hear some of your memories though. UTV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted May 7, 2021 Author Share Posted May 7, 2021 My mate travelled down without a ticket - he tried to bung the turnstile operator, nothing doing - I said sorry mate this could be a once a life time I've gotta go in - give the bloke my ticket and started to walk through - next thing I knew my mate was almost on my head as he scrambled over the turnstiles !!! About 15 minutes into the game I was actually "on" the clock in the clock end - till a copper told us to get down....!!!! Ah to be young.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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