PaulC Posted July 26, 2023 Share Posted July 26, 2023 Peak to me was 81 and 82 but that didn't last. Football has changed so much since then . Its harder to reach the top but this is a good period and let's hope its sustainable and we continue to upward kerb. No doubt we are just at the beginning of an exciting journey. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted July 26, 2023 Share Posted July 26, 2023 6 hours ago, Captain_Townsend said: Not only that, but in 2004 we finished 6th (Newcastle sneaking 5th on goal difference!) and didn't even get the Uefa Cup! I think that was pretty much the only year in about 25 years that 6th didn't qualify you for the Uefa Cup/Europa League. We actually have had some bad luck in fairness. Same for 07/08 when Portsmouth and errr Spurs won the Domestic cups. We had to go through the Intertoto route to get into Uefa and of course lost Bouma with broken leg and that was it for his Villa career. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheStagMan Posted July 26, 2023 Share Posted July 26, 2023 I have to admit, I saw the topic of this thread and thought "oh no, what's happened now?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboy54 Posted July 27, 2023 Share Posted July 27, 2023 Difficult to define "Peak Villa". I am 65 now, so have seen many different versions of peak Villa Obviously in terms of winning major stuff, the 1980 to 1982 season. Seeing us play wonderful football in the 1976 to 1977 times were good. Last half of the last season. Last half of the season where we won 10 games in succession in the championship to get through to play off final and win that. Also some of the first season in the old div 3, where we put teams to the sword and where we beat man yoo in the LC semi final and narrowly lost to spuds in the final. Lots of highs, unfortunately watching Villa since my first game in 1968 there have been lots more lows.....but if we can get consistency then I think we are now better set up to push on and achieve another "Peak Villa"....and hopefully stay there longer this time ! Interesting that our gates at VP over the last few seasons have been consistently much higher than when we were at any of our "peaks".... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marka Ragnos Posted July 28, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted July 28, 2023 (edited) On 26/07/2023 at 08:35, TRO said: The most swashbuckling season was 1976-77.....we finished 4th, but simply ripped teams apart. I know it sounds strange, but I wonder sometimes if Emery went back and studied Peak Villa. I actually do think there are some weirdly uncanny similarities between 76-77 Villa, the 1982 European championship Villa, and today's Emeryball at Villa. It comes down to the pace and directness of Emeryball, as well as some amazing long passes into the box. It's that approach along with expertly weighted balls through the midfield. Emery has forwards surging past defenses and getting goals -- instead of fussy tiki-taka "working the channels" and Man City-style cut-backs. It's odd, really, the correspondences. Go look at Andy Gray in 1976. Today, our Gray would be Diaby, Buendia or sometimes Watkins, all quick and trying constantly to get the ball forward into space. Don't know if we ever played a high line like this. Edited July 28, 2023 by Marka Ragnos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoony Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 (edited) It’s an interesting question. I’d want to say the years of MON with Milner and Barry because you look at the team and even the kits etc and we looked like a proper, elite side for the first and only time since Ive been supporting Villa. We had quite a clear identity of being a young and English side (im not saying it needs to looks like that btw, it just is what our identity was at the time and was commented about, making us relevant). The thing with that period though is we always just felt a bit negative in how we played and a permanent nagging sense that we were underachieving and still won’t win anything, which ultimately was the case. MON being a permanently miserable bastard didn’t help This feels a bit different. If anything we are currently over achieving but we have such a great platform to build on and one of the best managers in the world who I have faith in not to balls it up like MON did. So there is more of a sense of optimism and positivity. I think the fact that Unai is also an inherently positive person is infectious and helps build the feeling up. My only gripe is our rubbish kits, awful sponsor and our wayward branding. It stops us feeling elite. We need to sort that out ASAP. I’d like one consistent and decent season this year from Unai to rid of any sense that this might be a false dawn or that we might have the rug pulled from under us. edit: so to actually answer the question, I’m going to call it and say now is the peak in my lifetime because that’s how it feels. Edited July 28, 2023 by Spoony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomC Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 On 25/07/2023 at 17:48, VillaChris said: We then signed Collymore and most were convinced he was the missing link. My memory may be fading, and perhaps the old Villa e-mail list was not representative of the fan base in general, but I remember a fair bit of skepticism about Collymore when he signed...an undoubted talent, but also one with a reputation for bad attitude and underachieving. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomC Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 As I see it, the club has had two peak eras... The golden era was 1893-1913, 6 league titles and 4 FA cups, 16 top-6 finishes in 20 seasons. England's dominant club. I don't think we're matching that anytime soon, though one never knows. The silver era was 1980-2000. 1 league title, 1 European Cup, 2 league cups, 8 top-6 finishes in 20 seasons (including twice runners-up), marred a bit by one season in old Division Two. Some modest success and, the relegation season aside, competitive with the biggest. Do I think that we could be on the verge of another silver era? Yes. It's entirely realistic that we could win a league title, a domestic cup or two, and some European competition (not necessarily CL) within the next decade, unmarred by relegation. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Townsend Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 I would date the silver era from 1975 so that you get in another two league cups and the 4th place finish in 76-77. Worth pointing out we had three top two finishes in that era (1st 1981, 2nd 1990 and 1993). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomC Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 3 hours ago, Captain_Townsend said: I would date the silver era from 1975 so that you get in another two league cups and the 4th place finish in 76-77. Worth pointing out we had three top two finishes in that era (1st 1981, 2nd 1990 and 1993). Good point. I had forgotten about those League Cups; before my time. You could arguably extend it another decade in the other direction to pick up another 4 top-6 finishes, but that's a stretch given no hardware. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcRigo82 Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 19 hours ago, TomC said: As I see it, the club has had two peak eras... The golden era was 1893-1913, 6 league titles and 4 FA cups, 16 top-6 finishes in 20 seasons. England's dominant club. I don't think we're matching that anytime soon, though one never knows. The silver era was 1980-2000. 1 league title, 1 European Cup, 2 league cups, 8 top-6 finishes in 20 seasons (including twice runners-up), marred a bit by one season in old Division Two. Some modest success and, the relegation season aside, competitive with the biggest. Do I think that we could be on the verge of another silver era? Yes. It's entirely realistic that we could win a league title, a domestic cup or two, and some European competition (not necessarily CL) within the next decade, unmarred by relegation. I would go with the Platinum era where we just win everything there is to win within the next 10 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted August 1, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted August 1, 2023 19 hours ago, TomC said: My memory may be fading, and perhaps the old Villa e-mail list was not representative of the fan base in general, but I remember a fair bit of skepticism about Collymore when he signed...an undoubted talent, but also one with a reputation for bad attitude and underachieving. Aha, another mailing list veteran! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewiek2 Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 On 25/07/2023 at 13:14, ender4 said: Peak Villa was May 2024 when we won the PL, the FA Cup and the Europa Cup for the treble. Liar, you forgot the Carabao cup we won as well for the quadruple! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaJ100 Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 On 26/07/2023 at 20:27, VillaChris said: Same for 07/08 when Portsmouth and errr Spurs won the Domestic cups. We had to go through the Intertoto route to get into Uefa and of course lost Bouma with broken leg and that was it for his Villa career. Yeah bloody Millwall got it for being the cup runner up. Of course in 2015 when we got to the final they had changed it that season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 (edited) 6 hours ago, VillaJ100 said: Yeah bloody Millwall got it for being the cup runner up. Of course in 2015 when we got to the final they had changed it that season. Can you imagine our 2015/16 version in europe?! Probably would've lost to San Marino FC under 12s in a play off. That is one season where I don't have an issue with us not getting into europe via cup or league position! Edit: For the record they changed it the year before as Hull lost to Arsenal in 2014 FA cup final and they were in the Europa qualifiers. Edited August 1, 2023 by VillaChris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrchnry Posted August 12, 2023 Share Posted August 12, 2023 On 25/07/2023 at 15:07, mrchnry said: Love the positivity of this thread but after 2 losses things will go into meltdown. I love football. Took one loss for a relegation thread and Cash as the scapegoat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVTuco Posted August 12, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted August 12, 2023 July 2023. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted August 12, 2023 Share Posted August 12, 2023 Peak Villa is certainly getting 2-3 really good players in, squad looking very strong and then losing two regulars to ACLs within 3 days. Also lost Ramsey for months when he got injured not even playing for us. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaJ100 Posted August 12, 2023 Share Posted August 12, 2023 1 hour ago, VillaChris said: Peak Villa is certainly getting 2-3 really good players in, squad looking very strong and then losing two regulars to ACLs within 3 days. Also lost Ramsey for months when he got injured not even playing for us. It's the random nature as well like I think Carlos had basically barely missed a game for 8 years or something - comes here and out for 35 games. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted August 12, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted August 12, 2023 Today certainly seemed pretty Peak Villa to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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