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31 years ago today we won the European Cup


Farlz

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I'm only 16 so obviously I didn't watch it but I've saw highlights and heard story's from my Dad about it all, how he thought it'd be over when Spink came out yet instead he just seemed to save everything. Feel free to share some of your story's about it, it'll be good to read.

 

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I was 4 months old.. will we ever see it again? I dream of it, but can't see it happening.

 

I would cry if we did. Not afraid to admit it either,

I wasn't even born. If we did win it again, I would cry-wank before streaking through London screaming and rubbing balti pies all over my body.

 

Not afraid to admit it either

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I'd sell my cock to get a ticket to the final if we ever made it again.

 

I'll chop mine off and feed it to my dog. 

Well i was there & had a fantastic couple of days.. The club arranged various travel packages at good prices & the one i chose was the Football Special train from New st to Dover then ferry to Ostend & finally a last leg via coach to Rotterdam... What a brilliant journey we had. There were also various other routes being taken but the authorities had decided to split us all up for security reasons as there had been some trouble in earlier rounds most notably in Anderlecht when some cars had been set on fire & such although it was thought we had possibly been infiltrated by Chelsea & West Ham supporters looking for a ruck.

 

The train journey was great & full of teenage anticipation. We had a ball on the way down to Dover with lots of singing & shenanigans & talk of Bayern Munich who were strong favorites for the game with Breitner, Karl Heinz Rummenigge & a few other West German internationals in their ranks. I remember Rummenigge coming on a midlands news bulletin the night before we left saying how they were sure they would beat us comfortably

 

So onto the Ferry & we purchased a crate of Stella Artois between us which had double the effect in the fresh air up top on the ferry crossing. I remember standing there listening to renditions of "the Brummies are ere clap clap clap clap" & Bells are ringing" & Gary shaw, Gary Shaw.. Gaaary Gaary Shaw ...When he gets the ball he's bound to score Gaaary Gary Shaw, amongst others...

 

Finally we arrived in Ostend & one of my 1st memories of a foreign land was hundreds of Villa fans disembarking the Ferry across one of the tunnels they use which was full of armed Belgian police who were clearly still nervous about our presence after the rioting in Anderlecht.. This elevated into near panic when our numbers swelled & a huge roar of "The Brummies are ere" went up amplified to a deafening level by the acoustics of the tunnel & i remember seeing the one officer with a panic stricken look on his face grab his gun in readiness just in case... But we were not there for that & he need not have worried.

 

Then we went out & it became clear the temperature was hot... very hot in fact & somebody said it was in the mid 80's already which for morning was hot indeed... Then we all were ushered onto a massive convoy of coaches.. how many i really don't know but there were many.. hundreds in fact which was very impressive & the convoy just went on for miles.

 

So the final leg of our journey to the Feyenoord stadium began... & boy was it hot..Everyone had their tops off & the heat started to pull the Stella we had consumed earlier straight back out of us but now in the form of sweat..  fuzzy heads abounded!. It was almost unbearable actually that heat & someone said it was now somewhere in the mid 90's... A long coach trip which was by far the worst leg of the journey.

 

Then finally we arrived.. a good few hours before the big KO. .

 

The authorities had seen fit to divide Rotterdam into two halves for the game as part of a massive security operation & It very soon became clear we had been given the horrid side of the city.. there was very little there to do.. A few filthy shops with what appeared to be Cheese in one, Meat in another & Clogs in another.. we had been given the rough end of the city thats for sure no doubt because of the trouble caused in earlier rounds of the competition. eventually we found a bar which was packed with Villa Fans & they had the locals up on tables dancing. I never did work out if that was done by choice or by force.. We heard a story of an overturned coach carrying Bayern fans & have to say though it was all going to go off again for a while... but then we found out it was simply a traffic accident. We chatted to a local guy who spoke broken English & he was determined to tell us we would lose.. "No chance!" we told him but he didn't believe us.

 

So to the game... What an atmosphere... the temperature inside the stadium was scorching hot despite it being an evening KO although even that felt cooler than the coach trip as at least we could breath fresh air now.

 

This is where it really dawned on me....here we are Aston Villa FC, the club i started supporting when we were in the 3rd tier of English football now in the biggest game of our history against the mighty Bayern Munich.

 

The whistle blew & straight away it was clear that Bayerns technical ability was superior but they couldn't seem to fathom our spirit & strength. Our fans were loud & proud & easily out-sang the Germans... By all accounts there were 26000 Villa there that day although some of those had traveled unofficially so were never reflected in the official figures which stated more like 10,000 -16000.

 

Then very early on Jimmy Rimmer held his hand up.. Oh my goodness this was a scary moment.. Huge in fact. You have to understand that Nigel Spink was a mere untried reserve keeper. None of us had a clue how good he was & Jimmy had been incredible.. It was akin to us seeing Brad Guzan replaced by our Youth team Keeper today. Everyone was like "Oh no!"

 

The Germans got a lift from this, not that they needed it & started to gradually threaten more & more but Spinks pulled of a couple of excellent stops. The game wore on & we were doing really well defensively but couldn't seem to click up front.. Bayern were doing a good job on us but were still wary of Tony Morley in particular it seemed & it became apparent why as suddenly he was slipped through & off he went coming straight towards us & turning their LB inside out before delivering the perfect ball across the box... There was Peter Withe.. surely he couldn't miss?!... time seemed to freeze for a moment & all i remember is seeing him not get a clean contact & the ball appear to go off sideways instead of straight at goal... Then "SMACK" it hit the post.... "Oh no i thought he''s missed a sitter"... But then there was the ball... In the net...GOOOOAL!!!!!

 

Withe collapsed on the floor & half the VIlla players appeared to pile on top of him.. I was literally yards away right behind the goal & could clearly see the look of furious delight on his face... Yes! Every Villa fan was emotional with tears of joy streaming  down the toughest looking mens faces & everyone was hugging each other

 

 

Then thoughts went back to the game... Could we hold on?.. Young Nigel Spink was in goal & you knew Bayern would now throw everything at us which they did.. but they simply could not break through. They had a goal disallowed & Spink saved everything they could throw at him but other than that we coped.

 

The last 5 minutes lasted for half an hour so it seemed but then the Whistle went.

 

Joyous celebrations, everyone looked wide eyed absorbing every last moment & you knew those moments would be firmly etched in those people's memories forever such as these i share with you today are etched in mine... I hope you get just a glimmer of how it felt from these words & remember that this is how great this club can be... We were in the 3rd division when i started supporting Villa.. do you think i ever thought we could do that?...Did the media? Did the experts who "know the game inside out?" ... No .. Nobody gave us a prayer

 

Keep the faith & UTV

 

Mate, that was a joy to read. Thank you.

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Well i was there & had a fantastic couple of days.. The club arranged various travel packages at good prices & the one i chose was the Football Special train from New st to Dover then ferry to Ostend & finally a last leg via coach to Rotterdam... What a brilliant journey we had. There were also various other routes being taken but the authorities had decided to split us all up for security reasons as there had been some trouble in earlier rounds most notably in Anderlecht when some cars had been set on fire & such although it was thought we had possibly been infiltrated by Chelsea & West Ham supporters looking for a ruck.

 

The train journey was great & full of teenage anticipation. We had a ball on the way down to Dover with lots of singing & shenanigans & talk of Bayern Munich who were strong favorites for the game with Breitner, Karl Heinz Rummenigge & a few other West German internationals in their ranks. I remember Rummenigge coming on a midlands news bulletin the night before we left saying how they were sure they would beat us comfortably

 

So onto the Ferry & we purchased a crate of Stella Artois between us which had double the effect in the fresh air up top on the ferry crossing. I remember standing there listening to renditions of "the Brummies are ere clap clap clap clap" & Bells are ringing" & Gary shaw, Gary Shaw.. Gaaary Gaary Shaw ...When he gets the ball he's bound to score Gaaary Gary Shaw, amongst others...

 

Finally we arrived in Ostend & one of my 1st memories of a foreign land was hundreds of Villa fans disembarking the Ferry across one of the tunnels they use which was full of armed Belgian police who were clearly still nervous about our presence after the rioting in Anderlecht.. This elevated into near panic when our numbers swelled & a huge roar of "The Brummies are ere" went up amplified to a deafening level by the acoustics of the tunnel & i remember seeing the one officer with a panic stricken look on his face grab his gun in readiness just in case... But we were not there for that & he need not have worried.

 

Then we went out & it became clear the temperature was hot... very hot in fact & somebody said it was in the mid 80's already which for morning was hot indeed... Then we all were ushered onto a massive convoy of coaches.. how many i really don't know but there were many.. hundreds in fact which was very impressive & the convoy just went on for miles.

 

So the final leg of our journey to the Feyenoord stadium began... & boy was it hot..Everyone had their tops off & the heat started to pull the Stella we had consumed earlier straight back out of us but now in the form of sweat..  fuzzy heads abounded!. It was almost unbearable actually that heat & someone said it was now somewhere in the mid 90's... A long coach trip which was by far the worst leg of the journey.

 

Then finally we arrived.. a good few hours before the big KO. .

 

The authorities had seen fit to divide Rotterdam into two halves for the game as part of a massive security operation & It very soon became clear we had been given the horrid side of the city.. there was very little there to do.. A few filthy shops with what appeared to be Cheese in one, Meat in another & Clogs in another.. we had been given the rough end of the city thats for sure no doubt because of the trouble caused in earlier rounds of the competition. eventually we found a bar which was packed with Villa Fans & they had the locals up on tables dancing. I never did work out if that was done by choice or by force.. We heard a story of an overturned coach carrying Bayern fans & have to say though it was all going to go off again for a while... but then we found out it was simply a traffic accident. We chatted to a local guy who spoke broken English & he was determined to tell us we would lose.. "No chance!" we told him but he didn't believe us.

 

So to the game... What an atmosphere... the temperature inside the stadium was scorching hot despite it being an evening KO although even that felt cooler than the coach trip as at least we could breath fresh air now.

 

This is where it really dawned on me....here we are Aston Villa FC, the club i started supporting when we were in the 3rd tier of English football now in the biggest game of our history against the mighty Bayern Munich.

 

The whistle blew & straight away it was clear that Bayerns technical ability was superior but they couldn't seem to fathom our spirit & strength. Our fans were loud & proud & easily out-sang the Germans... By all accounts there were 26000 Villa there that day although some of those had traveled unofficially so were never reflected in the official figures which stated more like 10,000 -16000.

 

Then very early on Jimmy Rimmer held his hand up.. Oh my goodness this was a scary moment.. Huge in fact. You have to understand that Nigel Spink was a mere untried reserve keeper. None of us had a clue how good he was & Jimmy had been incredible.. It was akin to us seeing Brad Guzan replaced by our Youth team Keeper today. Everyone was like "Oh no!"

 

The Germans got a lift from this, not that they needed it & started to gradually threaten more & more but Spinks pulled of a couple of excellent stops. The game wore on & we were doing really well defensively but couldn't seem to click up front.. Bayern were doing a good job on us but were still wary of Tony Morley in particular it seemed & it became apparent why as suddenly he was slipped through & off he went coming straight towards us & turning their RB inside out before delivering the perfect ball across the box... There was Peter Withe.. surely he couldn't miss?!... time seemed to freeze for a moment & all i remember is seeing him not get a clean contact & the ball appear to go off sideways instead of straight at goal... Then "SMACK" it hit the post.... "Oh no i thought he''s missed a sitter"... But then there was the ball... In the net...GOOOOAL!!!!!

 

Withe collapsed on the floor & half the VIlla players appeared to pile on top of him.. I was literally yards away right behind the goal & could clearly see the look of furious delight on his face... Yes! Every Villa fan was emotional with tears of joy streaming  down the toughest looking mens faces & everyone was hugging each other

 

 

Then thoughts went back to the game... Could we hold on?.. Young Nigel Spink was in goal & you knew Bayern would now throw everything at us which they did.. but they simply could not break through. They had a goal disallowed & Spink saved everything they could throw at him but other than that we coped.

 

The last 5 minutes lasted for half an hour so it seemed but then the Whistle went.

 

Joyous celebrations, everyone looked wide eyed absorbing every last moment & you knew those moments would be firmly etched in those people's memories forever such as these i share with you today are etched in mine... I hope you get just a glimmer of how it felt from these words & remember that this is how great this club can be... We were in the 3rd division when i started supporting Villa.. do you think i ever thought we could do that?...Did the media? Did the experts who "know the game inside out?" ... No .. Nobody gave us a prayer

 

Keep the faith & UTV

 

Thanks for that. Chills. :)

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Well my view is that it was obviously a huge achievement, the biggest in the clubs history. But there comes a point where you have to move on. I cringe when I hear constant references to England's 1966 world cup win.  Once Manchester United win a trophy, after a few months Fergie and the players forget about it and concentrate on the next thing. That previous trophy does not get mentioned anymore

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I know I will be in the minority on this, I dare say I will be the only one on the forum who holds this view, but I'm not here to agree with everyone and be a lapdog like Blair was to Bush.

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The sad fact is that unless we get ourselves an Arab backer I doubt we'll ever win something like that again unless football itself changes. If we didn't have our history, we wouldn't really have anything

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Well my view is that it was obviously a huge achievement, the biggest in the clubs history. But there comes a point where you have to move on. I cringe when I hear constant references to England's 1966 world cup win.  Once Manchester United win a trophy, after a few months Fergie and the players forget about it and concentrate on the next thing. That previous trophy does not get mentioned anymore

 

Yes, but we're not the players. We're the fans. It doesn't matter if we concentrate on the next game or not. We love the club and all it's achieved and this is the biggest thing we have achieved. We're one of only 5 english clubs ever who's done it. It's a big day in our clubs history. It's like France not celebrating 14th of July or USA the 4th of July. "Come on guys, that's over 200 years ago. Let's get over it and move on."

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