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Why do YOU support Villa?


Spoony

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For me it was simple as I come from a family where sport is not followed and no one has a team, I suppose my mom supports England but that's more due to patriotism than actually liking football. So to me it was a case of choosing a team and I'll never truly know why I didn't just pick Manchester United or Arsenal or any of the more obvious choices, but I stumbled upon Aston Villa and something seemed to click in my then 4 year old brain and I've supported them ever since. Why do I keep supporting them? I think it's because I've got a bond with the club that I don't think can be broken, even when I go through spells of not following the clubs every move I still care about the score on Saturday and I always hope the side do well. Personally I'm glad I chose this club as there is never a dull moment following Villa whether it's emphatic wins, or heartbreaking losses it's always good to be a Villa fan, I just wish they'd win something for once as I was 8 years old the last time they did. 

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It's quite interesting to see how many 'ended up' supporting Villa. Most of my friends think I'm a nutjob for supporting them when I could really have supported anyone and if I EVER say "I'm a Villa fan" the first response is always, without exception, "WHY?!"

 

People outside of Birmingham tend not to give two hoots about Villa (or so I thought anyway). It's nice to see we can attract people from the outside. Being a Villa fan outside of Birmingham can be quite a lonely business and I get pretty giddy if I see a Villa shirt in the crowd

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They are my local team and my dad took me to villa park when I was young. My dad was from bow in london and was a west ham fan. He moved to birmingham in the late 70s because of work. He started taking me to villa park instead of st andrews because villa played in claret and blue like west ham. he picked a good time as we won the league, european cup and european super cup within 5 years of him moving here!

I wish i could turn the clock back and stand on the holte end again, we used to stand at the back of the holte end on the trinity side. happy days!

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It's quite interesting to see how many 'ended up' supporting Villa. Most of my friends think I'm a nutjob for supporting them when I could really have supported anyone and if I EVER say "I'm a Villa fan" the first response is always, without exception, "WHY?!"

 

People outside of Birmingham tend not to give two hoots about Villa (or so I thought anyway). It's nice to see we can attract people from the outside. Being a Villa fan outside of Birmingham can be quite a lonely business and I get pretty giddy if I see a Villa shirt in the crowd

 

Tell me about it. I went down the local boozer in Tooting to watch the Sunderland game and there were bloody 4 of us in there! Got almost as much of a kick from that as the thumping we gave the Mackems!

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I grew up in the Netherlands and when I was 8 years old (Am 28 now.) my 16 y.o. brother took me out to play an indoor football game and that's when I received my first 1988 A.V.F.C. shirt from someone, I can't recall who but I'm very thankful. It was an old shirt but I didn't care, I was so happy with it. Although I couldn't follow A.V.F.C. on telly but I always had a connection with them. 

 

In the time Mellberg came to Villa and the discovery of streaming.. I did everything to follow Villa's progress and so my love grew almost into an obsession. It's a dream to visit a match someday and witness the Holte End. :')

Edited by SempiternalVillain
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It's quite interesting to see how many 'ended up' supporting Villa. Most of my friends think I'm a nutjob for supporting them when I could really have supported anyone and if I EVER say "I'm a Villa fan" the first response is always, without exception, "WHY?!"

 

People outside of Birmingham tend not to give two hoots about Villa (or so I thought anyway). It's nice to see we can attract people from the outside. Being a Villa fan outside of Birmingham can be quite a lonely business and I get pretty giddy if I see a Villa shirt in the crowd

 

Very much my experience as well. On the rare occasions I see Villa shirts in Sydney I always go over and give an "Up the Villa". Generally the initial response is one of alarm. Probably because when you chuck a shirt on you don't necessarily walk around for the rest of the day thinking "I'm in the Villa shirt", of course it could also be due to my astonishing good looks. Not sure.

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It's quite interesting to see how many 'ended up' supporting Villa. Most of my friends think I'm a nutjob for supporting them when I could really have supported anyone and if I EVER say "I'm a Villa fan" the first response is always, without exception, "WHY?!"

 

People outside of Birmingham tend not to give two hoots about Villa (or so I thought anyway). It's nice to see we can attract people from the outside. Being a Villa fan outside of Birmingham can be quite a lonely business and I get pretty giddy if I see a Villa shirt in the crowd

 

Very much my experience as well. On the rare occasions I see Villa shirts in Sydney I always go over and give an "Up the Villa". Generally the initial response is one of alarm. Probably because when you chuck a shirt on you don't necessarily walk around for the rest of the day thinking "I'm in the Villa shirt", of course it could also be due to my astonishing good looks. Not sure.

 

 

Lucky you. I've seen a grand total of about 2 Villa shirts in my lifetime.

 

4 Villa shirts, if you count the ones I saw in the sports store.

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My Dad has always been a Huddersfield Town fan as that's where he's from, but living in Bham he decided that probably wouldn't be for me. I was taken to a few local teams as a kid: Wolves, WBA, Villa and Blues. My Dad said I was keenest on Villa as a kid, I honestly can't remember what made me pick them. Could it have been the great stadium, the famous claret and blue, the atmosphere, or were we just a better team than the rest?

 

Whatever it was, it was the right choice.

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It's quite interesting to see how many 'ended up' supporting Villa. Most of my friends think I'm a nutjob for supporting them when I could really have supported anyone and if I EVER say "I'm a Villa fan" the first response is always, without exception, "WHY?!"

 

People outside of Birmingham tend not to give two hoots about Villa (or so I thought anyway). It's nice to see we can attract people from the outside. Being a Villa fan outside of Birmingham can be quite a lonely business and I get pretty giddy if I see a Villa shirt in the crowd

 

Tell me about it. I went down the local boozer in Tooting to watch the Sunderland game and there were bloody 4 of us in there! Got almost as much of a kick from that as the thumping we gave the Mackems!

 

 

Tooting's a bit of a hotbed, weirdly. I lived there until a year ago, I know at least one other Tooting Villan on this forum as well. He's not a Terrors man though.

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Combination of things that's hard to fully trace. But important ones are below

 

1. Firstly in football practice we were divided up into teams to play eachother in school. Teams were Liverpool, Arsenal, Leeds and Villa. I was on Villa team.

 

2. Also the Italia 90 team is a huge cultural influence on people of my age in Ireland, that team really popularised football in Ireland. The fact that 4 key players also played for Villa around that time was also very important. 

 

3. We had a great record against Spurs in the early 90s and my older brother and father supported them so to keep getting one over on them was great. Also in Match and Shoot I could take the Villa posters from the magazine as my brother was only interested in Spurs ones. 

 

4. Paul McGrath. Cannot underestimate his importance to me. Irish and Villa fan, from Dublin. The man is God. Italia 94 vs Italy the performance of all time.   The man is God. 

 

I'm sure the 94 and 96 cup wins also helped solidify to a degree but from 1990 I was a Villa fan for sure. I remember the goals agaist Leeds in 96 as if it were yesterday. 

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It's quite interesting to see how many 'ended up' supporting Villa. Most of my friends think I'm a nutjob for supporting them when I could really have supported anyone and if I EVER say "I'm a Villa fan" the first response is always, without exception, "WHY?!"

 

People outside of Birmingham tend not to give two hoots about Villa (or so I thought anyway). It's nice to see we can attract people from the outside. Being a Villa fan outside of Birmingham can be quite a lonely business and I get pretty giddy if I see a Villa shirt in the crowd

 

Tell me about it. I went down the local boozer in Tooting to watch the Sunderland game and there were bloody 4 of us in there! Got almost as much of a kick from that as the thumping we gave the Mackems!

 

 

Tooting's a bit of a hotbed, weirdly. I lived there until a year ago, I know at least one other Tooting Villan on this forum as well. He's not a Terrors man though.

 

 

I'm not sure what you mean by a Terrors man but I think I know who you're talking about  :thumb:

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It's quite interesting to see how many 'ended up' supporting Villa. Most of my friends think I'm a nutjob for supporting them when I could really have supported anyone and if I EVER say "I'm a Villa fan" the first response is always, without exception, "WHY?!"

 

People outside of Birmingham tend not to give two hoots about Villa (or so I thought anyway). It's nice to see we can attract people from the outside. Being a Villa fan outside of Birmingham can be quite a lonely business and I get pretty giddy if I see a Villa shirt in the crowd

 

Tell me about it. I went down the local boozer in Tooting to watch the Sunderland game and there were bloody 4 of us in there! Got almost as much of a kick from that as the thumping we gave the Mackems!

 

 

Tooting's a bit of a hotbed, weirdly. I lived there until a year ago, I know at least one other Tooting Villan on this forum as well. He's not a Terrors man though.

 

 

I'm not sure what you mean by a Terrors man but I think I know who you're talking about  :thumb:

 

 

Never managed to get him to Tooting & Mitcham United. I was the programme editor for a season there.

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You're right, we've done it before, but here goes again...

 

I was born in Loveday Street maternity hospital in 1954, and spent my first three years in Nechells. My dad was Merseyside Irish, moved to Brum after the war. He was basically an Everton AND Liverpool fan (go figure), but started supporting small heath as his new local team after they beat Liverpool by some record score (really!) Fortunately he made no attempt to indoctrinate me - he said later it would have been cruel to wish such suffering on me. :) What a let-off that was.

 

We moved to south Birmingham (Warstock/Yardley Wood), and I started school during the 1958-59 season. I'd seen a couple of TV clips featuring goals by Tottenham - they were just starting to build their classic team, with White, Jones, Mackay, Blanchflower, etc., and I was impressed enough to become a sort of five-year-old Spurs gloryhunter.

 

But on my first day at primary school, I made friends with this lad (where are you now Richard Perry?) who asked me what team I supported. When I said "Spurs", he said: "No, no, no, they're from London, you have to support a local team - Blues or Villa?". I could see the sense in this, and asked him which he supported. It was Villa, so that was good enough for me.

 

I subsequently discovered that the school was full of bluenoses - we were about the only Villa fans there, but the die was cast. Another let-off.

 

Despite moving to Leeds (for university) in 1972, and never leaving, the Villa have remained a constant. So there you go - 54 years a Villan, and counting.

Edited by mjmooney
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