Aston Villa F.C.

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Aston Villa

Full name

Aston Villa Football Club

Nickname

The Villans

Founded

1874

Ground

Villa Park, Birmingham

Capacity

43,300

Chairman

Doug Ellis

Manager

David O'Leary

League

FA Premier League

2003-04

Premier League, 6th





Home colours





Away colours

Aston Villa lift the FA Cup for a record 7th time in 1957

Aston Villa Football Club play at Villa Park in Birmingham, England. They currently play in the Premier League. Aston Villa were founding members of the Football League in 1888 and of the Premier League in 1992. They are one the oldest and most successful clubs in England.

Contents

8 All Time Leading Goalscorers

9 Other Items of Interest

10 Related Links

History

Aston Villa Football Club was formed in March 1874 by members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel in Aston, Birmingham. Members of the Aston Villa cricket team were looking for a way to stay fit during the winter months and decided to adopt the new sport of football. The 'Four Founding Fathers' were Jack Hughes, Frederick Matthews, Walter Price and William Scattergood. Little did they know that the team they formed would go on to become the most famous and admired football club in the world by the end of Queen Victoria's reign.

Aston Villa's first match was against the local Aston Brook St Mary's Rugby team and as a condition of the match, the Villa side had to agree to play the first half under rugby rules and the second half under football rules! Amazingly Villa managed to hold St Mary's to a pointless draw up to half time and in the second half won the historic affair by one goal, scored by Jack Hughes. Villa won their first honour, the Birmingham Challenge Cup in 1880, under the captaincy of Scotsman George Ramsay. The club won its first FA Cup in 1887, by which time football had become professional. However, the Scottish draper and director of Aston Villa, William McGregor had become frustrated with one-sided friendly matches and low attendances for all games but FA Cup ties. He saw that in order to keep interest in the game alive the top teams needed to play each other in a league much like American baseball teams did. So he wrote to the 12 leading clubs in England proposing the formation of a league. The reason the Football League was never called the English League is because McGregor intended Scottish and Welsh teams to join eventually. Naturally, Aston Villa were one of the dozen teams that competed in the inaugural Football League in 1888 finishing runners-up.

It didn't take long for Villa to lift their first League Championship trophy, and this was achieved in 1893/94. This would signal the start of Aston Villa's 'Golden Age' and by the start of the First World War the club had won the League Championship six times and the FA Cup five times, including in 1896/97, a League and Cup Double, a feat which would not be repeated for more than 60 years.

Although they remained a major force after the war, winning their sixth FA Cup in 1920, the club began a slow decline. This can be attributed in large part to a complacency which culminated in the unthinkable, the most famous and successful football club in world being relegated to the Second Division in 1936. However, throughout the 1920's and into the 1930's the club had many fine international players (in 1933/34 Villa had no fewer than 14 full internationals) and continued to challenge for honours, Villa were FA Cup runners-up in 1924 and second in the League in 1931 and 1933. Throughout this period the Villa Park crowds were entertained with attacking football and goals galore, in season 1930/31 Tom 'Pongo' Waring scored 49 of Aston Villa's 128 league goals, however Villa were denied the title by the sensational Arsenal team of the 30's.

The club's decision to appoint their first manager coincided with relegated for the first time in 1935/36. This was largely due a dismal defensive record, they conceded 110 goals, 7 of them coming from Arsenal's Ted Drake in the infamous defeat at Highbury. However 'The Grand Old Man' of football was crowned Second Division Champions in 1937/38 under the guidance of Jimmy Hogan, Aston Villa were back where they belonged by the outbreak of The Second World War. Seven seasons were lost and many careers were finished due to the conflict and Aston Villa went about rebuilding the team under the guidance of former player, Alex Massie. The remainder of the 1940's and the 1950's saw Villa try to re-establish themselves as a top team. However, Villa could only be described as mediocre during this period, although they had some good players and attendances were high. Season 1956/57 saw Villa go on an unexpected FA Cup run that would culminate in them defeating the 'Busby Babes' of Manchester United in the final. It was Aston Villa's first trophy for 37 years.

However this success proved to be a false dawn with the team finishing 14th in the league the following season. Eric Houghton was sacked (after refusing to resign) when relegation loomed in 1958/59. His successor Joe Mercer was unable to prevent the club being relegated for the second time in 1959. Again a complacency had set in at the club, the famous Aston Villa had won the FA Cup for a record seventh time, this only served to fuel the belief that Villa were too good to go down. A return to the top flight was assured however in 1960 when Villa were crowned Second Division Champions. Season 1960/61 saw Villa win the inaugural League Cup and finish repectably in the league, this was achieved with an exciting nucleus of youth players who became known as 'Mercer's Minors'.

The slow decline continued throughout the 1960's due to a deep seated malaise, the club had failed to adapt to the new football reality, they had a non-existent scouting network, coaching was conducted in the same way as it had been 40 years earlier and the 5 man board contained 3 members over the age of 70. It was the board who decided that they couldn't refuse offers for their two most reliable goalscorers, Phil Woosnam and Tony Hateley. Without their goals Villa were in real trouble and were relegated for the third time, under manager Dick Taylor in 1967. The fans calls for the board to resign became more and more urgent when Villa finished 16th in the Second Division in 1968. In a desperate attempt to avert total disaster, relegation to the Third Division, the manager, Tommy Cummings was given £200,000 to spend on new players, and with supporters boycotting Villa's home games in protest at the board, debts mounted. Events on the pitch came to a head in November 1968, with Villa lying at the bottom of Division Two, the board sacked Cummings and within weeks the entire board resigned due to overwhelming pressure from fans. After much speculation, control of the club was bought by London financier Pat Matthews, he also brought in Doug Ellis as chairman and Tommy Docherty as manager.

However, despite breathing new life into the club and initial success, Docherty was unable to lift the team out of the danger zone and he was sacked after just a year in charge. His successor Vic Crowe, was unable to prevent Aston Villa from being relegated to the Third Division for the first time its history. Amazingly the following season Villa reached the League Cup final after beating Manchester United in the semi-final. They were eventually defeated in the final by two late Tottenham goals. The only way was up for Villa and in 1971/72 they finished top of the league with a team that was simply too good for Division Three. The team narrowly missed out on successive promotions when they finished third on their return to Second Division football in 1972/73. However the following season Villa struggled and Doug Ellis sacked Crowe replacing him with Ron Saunders.

Aston Villa's centenary season provided the double success of a League Cup final victory over Norwich and promotion to the First Division after an absence of eight seasons in 1974/75. Villa were back and due to their League Cup success were in Europe for the first time. Although Villa were knocked out in the first round by Antwerp, Saunders was assembling a team that would go on to win the European Cup seven years later. Villa won the League Cup again in 1977 by beating Everton after two final replays. The following season saw Villa reach the quarter-final of the Uefa Cup where they held their own against Spanish giants, Barcelona. That night at the Nou Camp finally laid to rest the nightmare of the previous 10 years, Aston Villa were finally back amongst the footballing elite.

By 1981 Villa's supporters were celebrating a first league championship in 71 years, and this was followed by the European Cup in 1982. The European Super Cup was added to Villa's trophy cabinet in 1983 when they defeated Barcelona 3-1 over two legs. In more recent times, Aston Villa have won the League Cup twice in the 1990s (1994 and 1996) and as well as runners-up in the old First Division/new Premier League (1989-1990 and 1992-1993 seasons). The club reached its first FA Cup final for 43 years in 2000, narrowly losing 1-0 to Chelsea in the last Cup Final to be played at old Wembley.

Honours

European Cup
- 1982
European Super Cup
- 1983
Inter-Toto Cup
- 2001
FA Cup
- 1887, 1895, 1897, 1905, 1913, 1920, 1957
League Cup
- 1961, 1975, 1977, 1994, 1996
First Division Champions
- 1893-1894, 1895-1896, 1896-1897, 1898-1899, 1899-1900, 1909-1910, 1980-1981
Second Division Champions
- 1937-1938, 1959-1960
Third Division Champions
- 1971-1972
FA Youth Cup
- 1972, 1980, 2002

Club Colours

The club colours are Claret top with Sky blue sleeves, White shorts with claret and blue trim, Sky blue socks with claret and white trim. They were the original wearers of these famous colours and due mainly to their success in the early years of the football league, other teams, most notably West Ham and Burnley, adopted the same club colours.

Managers

Aug 1884 - May 1926: George Ramsay (Secretary)

August 1926 - May 1934: W J Smith (Secretary)

1st: June 1934 - October 1935: Jimmy McMullan

2nd: November 1936 - September 1939: Jimmy Hogan

3rd: August 1945 - August 1950: Alex Massie

4th: December 1950 - August 1953: George Martin

5th: September 1953 - November 1958: Eric Houghton

6th: December 1958 - July 1964: Joe Mercer

7th: July 1964 - May 1967: Dick Taylor

8th: July 1967 - November 1968: Tommy Cummings

9th: December 1968 - January 1970: Tommy Docherty

10th: January 1970 - May 1974: Vic Crowe

11th: June 1974 - February 1982: Ron Saunders

12th: February 1982 - June 1984: Tony Barton

13th: July 1984 - September 1986: Graham Turner

14th: September 1986 - May 1987: Billy McNeill

15th: May 1987 - July 1990: Graham Taylor

16th: July 1990 - May 1991: Jozef Venglos

17th: July 1991 - November 1994: Ron Atkinson

18th: November 1994 - February 1998: Brian Little

19th: February 1998 - January 2002: John Gregory

20th: February 2002 - May 2003: Graham Taylor

21st: May 2003 - Present : David O'Leary

Current squad

as of 7 November 2004

Goalkeepers

Thomas Sorensen
Stefan Postma
Wayne Henderson

Defenders

Mark Delaney
J. Lloyd Samuel
Olof Mellberg
Martin Laursen
Gareth Barry
Liam Ridgewell

Midfielders

Lee Hendrie
Gavin McCann
Thomas Hitzlsperger
Ulises De la Cruz
Mathieu Berson
Pete Whittingham
Steve Davis

Forwards

Notable Players

Charlie Aitken (Defender)

Charlie Athersmith (Winger)

Joe Bach (Forward)

Frank Barson (Midfielder)

Danny Blanchflower (Midfielder)

Des Bremner (Midfielder)

Frank Broome (Forward)

Gordon Cowans (Midfielder)

James Cowan (Midfielder)

Vic Crowe (Midfielder)

George Cummings (Defender)

Tony Daley (Midfielder)

John Devey (Forward)

Johnny Dixon (Forward)

Dion Dublin (Forward)

Allan Evans (Defence)

Trevor Ford (Forward)

Colin Gibson (Defence)

Andy Gray (Forward)

Ray Graydon (Forward)

Harry Hampton (Forward)

Sam Hardy (Goalkeeper)

Tony Hateley (Forward)

Gerry Hitchens (Forward)

Eric Houghton (Forward)

Archie Hunter (Forward)

David James (Goalkeeper)

Brian Little (Forward)

Stan Lynn (Defender)

Paul McGrath (Defender)

Peter McParland (Forward)

Olof Mellberg (Defender)

Paul Merson (Midfielder)

Tony Morley (Midfielder)

Dennis Mortimer (Midfielder)

Harry Parkes (Defender/Utility)

David Platt (Midfielder)

George Ramsay (Forward)

Nigel Sims (Goalkeeper)

Tommy Smart (Defence)

Gareth Southgate (Defender)

Howard Spencer (Defender)

Nigel Spink (Goalkeeper)

Steve Staunton (Defender)

Clem Stephenson (Forward)

Ian Taylor (Midfielder)

Andy Townsend (Midfielder)

Tom 'Pongo' Waring (Forward)

Howard Vaughton (Forward)

Billy Walker (Forward)

Peter Withe (Forward)

Dwight Yorke (Forward)

Appearance Records

Charlie Aitkin 660

Billy Walker 531

Gordon Cowans 528

Joe Bache 474

Allan Evans 469

Nigel Spink 460

Tommy Smart 452

Johnny Dixon 430

Dennis Mortimer 406

Billy George 402

All Time Leading Goalscorers

Billy Walker 244

Harry Hampton 242

John Devey 187

Joe Bache 185

Eric Houghton 170

Tom 'Pongo' Waring 167

Johnny Dixon 144

Peter McParland 120

Billy Garraty 112

Dai Astley 100

Len Capewell 100

Dwight Yorke 97

Other Items of Interest

Aston Villa's current home venue is Villa Park having previously played at Aston Park (1873-1876) and Perry Barr (1876-1897). They have a training ground at Bodymoor Heath in north Warwickshire.

Aston Villa is one of four English teams that have won the European Champions Cup. They did so in 1982 on 26th of May in Rotterdam, beating Bayern Munich 1-0 thanks to Peter Withe's 67th minute goal.