Sliding door moments

[Enda]

Keith Wyness and the HMRC winding up order in 2018.

[FLVillan]

First of all, brilliant idea for a thread, and the initial post I would agree with 100%.  Especially that Leicester game that propelled them to the title and us to the championship.

I have a two games to add, both involving Derby County....

1990 we sign Cascarino mid-season (terrible purchase because Ellis refused to pay the extra ten quid for Sheringham).  Cascarino makes his away debut at the baseball ground and midway through the first half plants a bullet header that was destined for the bottom corner, until a world-class save from Peter Shilton.  If that had gone in perhaps his Villa career would have taken off and he'd have scored the goals to get us the title.  Instead he was a poor man's Ian Olney and a complete waste of money.

2019 Grealish makes his comeback from injury at home to Derby, having been handed the captaincy by new manager Dean Smith.  He scores a worldy in a 4-0 hammering of the Rams to spark a ten-game winning streak and send us into the play-offs.  Ironically we would then beat Derby 2-1 in the final to seal promotion and an aggregate score of 9-1 against Fat Frank's Derby in three games that season. 

[Adam2003]

Luc Nilis injury. I think about this most weeks.

[Powehi]

5 hours ago, KentVillan said:

That Vidic red card in the League Cup final still gets me

Yeah as much as the current VT obsession with refeering slights or conspiracies is annoying, I keep reminding myself of this as an example of 'no smoke without fire'

[Mic09]

If Helenius went commando

[VILLAMARV]

7 hours ago, Sulberto21 said:

Also Luc Nilis who could have been our Bergkamp. FFS

 

6 hours ago, HKP90 said:

I give you..Luc Nilis. He's the last piece in the puzzle. The offensive weapon to match the stubborn defence we already have.

 

3 hours ago, Adam2003 said:

Luc Nilis injury. I think about this most weeks.

It's Nilis for me too. Proper Ronaldo's favourite strike partner. It's not because we could have won stuff. We were just robbed of so much joy I don't think I'll ever let it go. 

[Zatman]

8 hours ago, El-Reacho said:

Great thread! Imagine we'd beaten United in that inaugural Premier League season. We were well matched clubs with a very similar history and pedigree. Look where they went to on the back of that title and look where we've been ever since.... 

Fergie gets sacked then we become the dominant force in English football until Big Ron retires. Now VT would just be a bunch of entitled gloryhunters protesting with different colour scarfs as our latest record transfer flopped

Edited May 24, 2023 by Zatman

[Sulberto21]

58 minutes ago, Mic09 said:

If Helenius went commando

Ooooo the frenzy in the expectant crowd behind him in the picture leaps off the screen…. 

[Zatman]

6 hours ago, Mantis said:

But would Gerrard be available in this alternative timeline?

Of course he would have been

[Steero113]

Missing out on Januzaj

[Mark Albrighton]

7 hours ago, Mantis said:

But would Gerrard be available in this alternative timeline?

Yeah I think so. He’d still be at Rangers, probably near the top of the Scottish league (cos, y’know, Rangers). 

And the number of clubs that would want him as manager/he would be prepared to manage probably isn’t too high. He would want a job that he perceives as a bridge between Scottish football and Liverpool and there aren’t many clubs who fit that bill. And for obvious reasons he’s not going to manage Everton who might have been a club that is of that stature.

I don’t see Brighton going for him to replace Potter, for instance.

Edited May 24, 2023 by Mark Albrighton

[The_Steve]

Still think about the league cup humiliation from Bradford. Swansea in the final wouldn't have been an impossible task. Bent and Benteke missed a lot of good opportunities in both legs. Despite the dross of the Lambert years that was a very winnable cup run. 

[blandy]

8 hours ago, DaveAV1 said:

12 months earlier a bloke called Bosco Balaban, who never played for us, ensured that all this was possible. 

Jankovic, surely?

[sne]

O'Neil sending the reseves to Moscow 

[ozvillafan]

38 minutes ago, blandy said:

Jankovic, surely?

Excellent last name.

(no relative. Honest)

Edited May 24, 2023 by ozvillafan

[allani]

10th April 1992.  First season of the Premier League.  I seem to remember that at 16.45 we were gaining a point over Man Utd by drawing with Coventry and them losing to Sheffied Wednesday which would have put us 2 points clear with 5 (?) matches to play. 

I seem to remember that they had something like a 10 minute delay or something and then Steve Bruce scored twice in like the 88th and 94th minutes and they ended up finishing the day 1 point clear.  Although I think we won our next two matches (Arsenal and Man City) Utd did too and then we lost our last three (Blackburn, Oldham and QPR) whilst Utd won all 3 of theirs so ended up finishing 10 points clear.  But those 2 late goals from Steve Bruce seemed to be a massive momentum changer in the season.  I can't "guarantee" that had Utd lost then we would have won the title but I don't think we would have lost all of our last three matches and the pressure would have been on Utd rather than us "to keep up".

Whether winning the first PL title would have changed anything with Doug still at the helm is also debatable.  It should have warranted extra investment into the club and maybe we'd have been at (or closer to) the top of the pile when the Sky money really started to come in.  But to be fair so should finishing 2nd - but the following season we dropped back into mid-table and then the following season we just avoided relegation.  Maybe if we had won the title Big Ron would have found a way to convince Doug to sign a couple more players that would have helped us if not challenge for the title at least keep us in the top 4 or 5.  I know that Brian Little took us back towards the top in his first season - but by then it was already feeling like we were struggling to spend the money of those around us.  Maybe more importantly had we stayed at the top of the table we might have found a buyer to replace Doug and invest in the squad so that we were in a better place when TV money went through the roof.

Winning the PL title wasn't the golden ticket for Blackburn though - so maybe it would have had no lasting impact whatsoever.  Maybe Doug would have given Big Ron less money as the current team was obviously good enough to win the title. 

[KentVillan]

Ellis failing to back Gregory is another one

[KentVillan]

Gabby bulking up in the off season. A completely unforced error that probably ruined his unique superpower of destroying defences on the counter as a wide forward

[Steero113]

13 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

Gabby bulking up in the off season. A completely unforced error that probably ruined his unique superpower of destroying defences on the counter as a wide forward

A handy point to consider for all of the “he needs to bulk up a little in order to make it here” merchants. 

[DaveAV1]

49 minutes ago, blandy said:

Jankovic, surely?

Yes absolutely!! Thanks I have my donut moments.