Third Division or nowadays?

[Dave Clark Five]

Nostalgia is a wondeful thing but would you prefer to be back in the early 70s in the Third Division or watching today's dross with a ground devoid of atmosphere half the time?

[eamonn]

But things had reached rock-bottom by the time Villa were in Division 3. The only way was up so of course it was happy daze.

[OCD]

Rose tinted spectacles? If we were in the third division again you would probably long to be back in the Premiership along with its glorious predictability.

[pendinevilla]

Some of the away games were fantastic. The look of awe on the faces of 3rd Division regulars as we took over the grounds was something to behold.
I can still remember standing outside PortVales' ground as the Villa hordes marched up the road and joining in with the chants as they got nearer.
Happy days.

[OCD]

Some of the away games were fantastic. The look of awe on the faces of 3rd Division regulars as we took over the grounds was something to behold.
I can still remember standing outside PortVales' ground as the Villa hordes marched up the road and joining in with the chants as they got nearer.
Happy days.

We're struggling near the bottom of the table and how many did we take to Fulham the other week? Imaging how many could be going to games (especially if there in the Midlands) when we're challenging for honours.

[pendinevilla]

Some of the away games were fantastic. The look of awe on the faces of 3rd Division regulars as we took over the grounds was something to behold.
I can still remember standing outside PortVales' ground as the Villa hordes marched up the road and joining in with the chants as they got nearer.
Happy days.

We're struggling near the bottom of the table and how many did we take to Fulham the other week? Imaging how many could be going to games (especially if there in the Midlands) when we're challenging for honours.

Times are different.
I haven't been to an away game for about 3 years - not because I don't want to, but there are other demands on my finances. I would imagine that the Fulham game was an exception judging from the posts on the forum and more went to that game than any other away game this season. In the 3rd division the numbers going away were unbelievable for a club at that level. You had to be there to fully appreciate it.
Also the question was about watching the team today - we are hardly challenging for honours at the moment!

[Oscar Arce]

Personally, I would love to go back to those days for the atmosphere, the possibilities that Villa could get back where we belong, the crowds, the away games when we completely took over the grounds, Villa were truly 'on the up' after years in the doldrums, and to a thirteen year old kid it was truly an amazing time.
I used to got to all the away games with my Dad and Brother, I'd love to bring those days back too, my Dad passed away in 1999.
Of course the team today and just about everything is better, but there is'nt the feeling of hope that you had back then that you could get to the top, whoever you were.
For those of you that were not there, Richard Whitehead's superb book 'Children of the Revolution' sums the time up perfectly.

[Charlie8182]

I was born when we were in the 3rd division so I wouldn’t know what it was like, but have fond memories of regularly travelling away in the 2nd division season (87/88) and wouldn’t change them for anything if I could despite the Turner/McNeill years which led us there; with the large numbers turning up at places like Bournemouth, Shrewsbury and Barnsley, cheap prices, crappy but new grounds to visit, unpredictability and the overall surreal feeling of it all.
I have to say that I preferred it to the Premiership we have at the moment.

[Chris Smith]

The third division was great but I wonder if it's our youth that we're missing more than the football?

[eamonn]

The third division was great but I wonder if it's our youth that we're missing more than the football?

When we were young nobody died
And nobody got older
The toughest kid in the street
Could always be bought over
And the first time that you loved
You had all your life to give
At least that's what you said...

The first time you got drunk
You drank pernod and dry cider
Smashed a window in as the police came round the corner
You didn't have no time to run
And your dad stood up for you
As the judge said you're a fool

Babies, sex and flagons, shifting women, getting stoned
Robbing cars, bars and pubs, rubber johnnies, poems
Starsky and Hutch gave good TV
And Starsky looked like me...

The first time that you stole
You stole rubber lips and tenners
Bought a radio then ran away for ever
Never felt so good, never felt so good with you
When we were young we had no fear
Of love nor sex nor warnings
Everyone was hanging out, everyone was sorted
When we were young nobody knew
Who you were or what you'd do
Nobody had a past that catches up on you

Babies, sex and flagons, shifting women, getting stoned
Robbing cars, bars and pubs, rubber johnnies, poems
Starsky and Hutch gave good TV
And Starsky looked like me

What might have been
What might have been
What might have been

With a start he was awoken
From the middle of a dream
He's making movies in his head
That never will be seen
He's holding Oscars in his hands
And kissing beauty queens
What might have been
What might have been
When we were young

[dave.woodhall]

The third division was great but I wonder if it's our youth that we're missing more than the football?

Thanks for depressing everyone.

[Chris Smith]

The third division was great but I wonder if it's our youth that we're missing more than the football?

Thanks for depressing everyone.

Sorry.

Notts County away, Villa fans just kept arriving and we were the majority in three stands. Behind me a young girls said to her dad 'There's millions of 'em' and he replied 'this lot get 20,000 for youth team games.

I was probably the only Villa fan that got chased that day as I lost my mate and his dad and three home fans asked me for my scarf.

[Brend'Watkins]

The third division was great but I wonder if it's our youth that we're missing more than the football?

That's what we miss.  Everything was fresh, you were going to parts of the country you'd never been to before feeling like an explorer and crusader.

[andyaston]

Lets face it things have been pretty stale in the last few years for Villa fans. I wasn't around in those Third division days and only have the Book 'Children of a Revolution' to go by, and although the book made me feel proud of the way our club came back alongside the massive support I would still want our club to be trading punches in the top flight of football, you cannot do that in the third tier, nice piece of History that it is.

[Fergal]

The game in the 70's had heart and honesty, played by men who valued integrity.  
Today the game is all about how much money the players can squeeze out of the clubs and how many free kicks they can con the ref's out of.  Getting a fellow pro booked or sent off is a bonus.
It's a shame but there aint no going back.