Hanky Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 My old man mentioned to me yesterday he misses going down to VP knowing that we had a very good chance of beating anyone whether it be Manure, Liverpool or whoever. Those days have certainly gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilchard Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 winning games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan_down_under Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 winning games Let's not make this another anti- McLeish / Lerner thread. Great work Mottoloo with coming up with such as enjoyable thread. Also agree wholeheartedly the guy who has anti-Liverpool feelings. Stems from us never getting the true accolades we deserved for 80/81 & 82, also how that clearing in the woods Phil Neal was loved by the press & kept Kenny Swain out of the England squad let alone the team. Still haven't gotten over that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AValon Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Those BIG programmes in the 70's and scratting round for vouchers when there was a sniff of Wembley! Getting home just in time to catch the Argus delivery, just so you could cut out the match report and relive it all over tea. Bliss. Blackpool away......doing the conga through their end. Going to Millwall, when it WAS Millwall.......and getting home in one piece!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexbelowsound Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 One of my favourites was the 97/98 Uefa cup game at home to Bordeaux. First leg finished 0-0 and with the second leg finishing at the same score after 90 minutes a number of Bordeaux fans decided to leave for some strange reason. Savo scores in Extra time, that was a good in that competition. My least favourite, forgetting my season ticket and having to queue at the ticket office against Barnsley, got into the ground just in time to see Barnsley score and win 1-0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PriceyDownunder Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Getting home just in time to catch the Argus delivery, just so you could cut out the match report and relive it all over tea. Bliss. Brilliant... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevor Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 The balloons! Clapping the opposition goalie then booing when he waved! Sign of my growing age is that when Peter Shilton came on during the half time v Chelsea that I was disappointed there were no chants of a certain ladies name. Adverts for products from crude oil Esso, Duckhams, Texaco etc Winners Matches 21 home games Replayed cup matches three days after the original. Playing Blackpool at home one day then away the next one Easter, rather than having to delay kick off to 5:30 so Stoke RFC can have 2 days rest. Going to Derby on 27 Dec 1975 and having no room at all even at 1:30, certainly not enough to read their programme which was a newspaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tismyk Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Having more away Villa fans than home fans in the old 3rd Division Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHV Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 terracing, wether it was standing on the holte (top right corner was where I stood) being allowed in the ground with a milk crate to stand on lets all have a disco! colliers driving rovers round the pitch before kick off villa park pitch being so bad they put dyed green sand in the centre circle wondering how many balls would go over the witton roof the zenith data systems cup/simod cup that nobody cared about until the semi finals paying £5 to get in delayed kick off against wimbledon due to crowd congestion as the tickets were cheap and we were top of the league music by andy cash records going to wembley on a travel west midlands double decker bus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMcKenna Posted April 11, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted April 11, 2012 So many great memories ..... but one thats sticks out and will live with me forever.... December 1970 After holding Manu to 1-1 at Old Trafford and against all the odds (being in the old third division) we beat them 2-1 at VP in the semi final of the league cup in front of 62,000!! They had the likes of Law & Best up front and Jimmy Rimmer in goal :-) and Best had said in the press that beating us was a formalility before reaching the final. Me and my mate were gutted as we couldnt get tickets for the Holte End and had to go in the Witton End (open away end before the North Stand) surrounded by Manc Neaderthals. Unbelievably we were wearing our colours and basically ******g ourselves in case we scored! So when we went 0-1 down to a goal by Brian Kidd we got the dogs abuse but were a little relieved that we were not getting a good kicking - despite our night getting even worse!! However in the 2nd half it was a different story. The Villa crowd were immense, the noise was deafening as we came roaring back as the great Andy Lochead levelled to 1-1. Our fear of the mancs just evaporated and we thought sod 'em and together with small group of other exiles from the Holte we started to chant Villa, Villa, Villa - amazingly none of the mancs came anywhere near us (a couple of nearby police may have helped!) To say Villa Park was rocking is an understatement as anyone who was there will remember. We might have been in the third division but in our eyes Aston Villa truly was the greatest team the world has ever seen!!!! THEN with about 20 minutes to go the majestic Pat McMahon rose to score an incredible header and we were 2-1 up and on our way to Wembley - if Villa Park was loud before, after the goal the waves our of sound were devastating and made every hair on your head stand!! But to end one of my greatest memories was the look of shock on the manc fans faces as the whistle blew for time ....... I still dont know till this day why we didnt end up in hospital Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoony Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Being able to afford a ticket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aboclaretandblue Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Remember that game well Mike, as you said, the sound was unbelievable, perhaps because we were younger or time clouds things but it certainly seemed the atmosphere was huge at VP back then. Slightly related, remember being at Wembley for the LC final against Norwich. Two Norwich fans sat next to me and the old man. The ground was easily 2/3rd's Villa (in the days before the corporate prawn brigade), just a sea of claret and blue and the sound was just immense, I remember one of the carrot crunchers asking my old man " Jesus, are they always like this?" to which he just laughed and replied, "wait till we score", not long after Ray Graydon did and I have never heard a sound like it. The look on the two Norwich fans faces will stay with me till I die, they left after ten minutes of being deafened. Perhaps the day we get players who actually want to play and fight for our club and we actually have a manager who doesn't capitulate before a balls kicked, we'll get those days back........ I won't hold my breath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Gleaming, Sporty, MG Maestro's being driven round the pitch pre-kick off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Being able to afford a ticket Yep, £1.50 to stand on the Holte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentVilla Posted April 11, 2012 Moderator Share Posted April 11, 2012 I miss buying my Argos from old Michael at the gates of the Trinity Road car park, he was a mad old goat but it was part of my childhood match day routine. I miss the sound of the wooden floor and seats in Trinity Road and having to bob from side to side to see what was going on behind the pillars, one of which obstructed part of the goal in front of the old away end. I miss the old netting between the Holte End and the old Whitton Road stand and people climbing up it to have a go at each other. Yes this used to happen. I miss Left side left side give us a song. I miss walking up Trinity Road and looking at the old red brick stand and thinking to myself "Is there a more beautiful site in the world of football" and knowing that there wasn't. I miss defenders sticking the ball over the roof of the Whitton Road stand. I miss it being called the Whitton Road stand. I miss living near players, them driving Rover's with Aston Villa written down the sides and them having a clue what life was like for the average fan. I miss ex footballers running local boozers. I miss hero worshipping players who pulled on our colours. I miss thinking one day our day would come and that we would once again be one of the greatest clubs in the land. I miss the old badge. I miss being able to just walk into BMH without restriction. I miss Paul McGrath and Sid Cowans. I miss those great European nights when the biggest names in European football were put to the sword and Phil King scored a winning penalty against the mighty Internationale. I miss the glorious football of the Atkinson era, Garry Parker volleys, Dalian and Deano scoring for fun while our defence owned the best strikers in the land. I miss goal of the month looking like our own personal highlights package. I miss the shite old club shop. I miss the old miserable bastards who sat in front of me as a child with their sheepskin coats, their little radios and cigars as fat as my head. I miss Andy Cash records, the Ansell's signs and the shittest clock on the half way line that has ever been seen and the crap score boards that used to break all the time. I miss Nigel Kennady pulling into the club car park in a Jaguar and getting out and handing me and my mates tins of claret and blue spray paint and saying "here you go lads, make it look nice and no swearing unless its about Blues" and actually letting us decorate his car!!! I miss Wolfe and his dad. I miss the AVFC floodlights and seeing them from miles away as we approached the ground. I miss Paul McGrath. I know I said that already but I really do miss him. I miss Dwight Yorke coming home from training and coming out in the street for a kick around with us just because he was a nice bloke not yet spoilt by success and money. I miss Doug Ellis, I hated the old git but I still miss him. I miss the old Division One, Two, Three and Four. I miss the good old days and believing that when we sung "we are the greatest football team the world has ever seen" it was simply a statement of fact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voinjama Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Trent Villa how old are you? I think you might be the oldest person on the forum looking at that list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BackRowVilla Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Anyone else remember during the early 90's singing "Shaggy, Shaggy, Shaggy..." from the bottom right of the Holte when the same bearded man used to walked up the Witton Lane touchline? Think he was a program seller???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oddsox Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Thank you Mottaloo for a chance to indulge. I bore my kids enough with stories of the good old days. Great to share with persons who know whats right. Premier league / Sky is where the sport I love, stopped being the same sport. Those AV lights you could see them lighting the sky on way to game with my Dad as you came over the barr beacon. Parking wherever you could (no permits) as long as you paid the protection money to snotty nose kids. Queueing Saturdays to get in Holte - if you arrived after 2pm - wondering if you'd miss ko Same queue. along witton lane - if you were on the inside - crushed against the wall at end of witton stand Nightgames were so exciting -looked forward all day at school. Crushed on Holte, swaying no control where the wave took you-catching occasional glimpse of the pitch. I'm sure Liverpool weren't that good -if they went 1 up - rest of match- ball in Ray Clemance hand That 5- 1 night against Lplop the European Champions - early Christmas present Took my 90 year old Dad to Everton game this year - he remembers helping to paint trinity stand in close season in 60s. My very earliest memory was standing on open witton end - terracing on one side - grass bank on other away from the pitch - on a wet saturday - i remember all these guys sliding down the mud, like festival mud. My dad wouldn't let me have a go. That Bournemouth game div 3 - my uncle thought he was doing me a favour - took me to Wolves v West Ham in div 1. Gutted but Villa first on Match of the Day that night brillilant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted April 11, 2012 Moderator Share Posted April 11, 2012 I miss ...the old Whitton Road stand...the Whitton Road stand. I miss it being called the Whitton Road stand.... and believing that when we sung "we are the greatest football team the world has ever seen" it was simply a statement of fact. Ahem! Write "Witton Lane" on the blackboard 100 times. And until about 1984 the song was "we're by far the greatest [drawn out] the world's ever seen" For some reason it changed between getting relegated and starting the next season in (old) Div 2. Get yourself a better teacher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_Taylor Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Heroes and Villians, the LATEST issue, still only a pound!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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