Villa v QPR FAC R3 1968-69

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=45329

I love this clip. Its the Cup, its the Doc and the revolution is now well underway.
This is the Aston Villa equivalent of footage of Lenin in the Kremlin two weeks after the overthrow of the Tsar.
I even spotted myself as an 11 year old sitting with my Mom and Dad in the witton lane stand six rows back from the the Doc.

[SarkGrime]

Bloody hell, that's a good find. Were the trainer's benches in front of the Witton Lane stand?

Psst! Any film of the 4th Round? I know there were cameras at the replay.

[adrenachrome]

I remember that game very well.

Back then I used to get into the ground really early, and the QPR fans tried to take the Holte. I remember looking down the steps at the back, watching them come up. They lasted until around 2.30 by which time they were run off to the Trinity Lower, which was then a standing area.

It did not work out for Tommy Docherty, but that period definitely re-energized the fans.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Bloody hell, that's a good find. Were the trainer's benches in front of the Witton Lane stand?

Psst! Any film of the 4th Round? I know there were cameras at the replay.

Trainers benches were in front of the witton when i started in 1966 and obviously still there in 1969, perhaps someone can enlighten us when they moved round to the trinity.
Yes Im sure theres footage of the 4th round replay with Southampton, won 2-1 in front of 59,000. Im sure I have seen footage of little Davy Rudge scampering down the right wing and crossing for Lionel Martin to put in, in front of the Holte.

[Legion]

Bugger. Embed link does not work.

[frank]

I remember that game very well.

Back then I used to get into the ground really early, and the QPR fans tried to take the Holte. I remember looking down the steps at the back, watching them come up. They lasted until around 2.30 by which time they were run off to the Trinity Lower, which was then a standing area.

It did not work out for Tommy Docherty, but that period definitely re-energized the fans.

They were exciting times. I was on the Holte for the Boxing Day game against Cardiff, when Tiler scored on his debut, and again for this cup win against QPR. We'd just poached Docherty from QPR and both the QPR players and their fans were out for revenge. I remember it as being a hard and very close game, played in a tremendous atmosphere.
As you say, it didn't work out for the Doc. He certainly made an impact and, in the short term, we avoided relegation to the old Division 3, but his tactics were negative and, after the initial successes, he won very few games. By the time he left a year later, relegation was looming.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Bugger. Embed link does not work.

I know I tried it, theres an embed code but it doesnt seem to work like the youtube one .
But loads of great clips on this pathe site,  dont think I will be paying the 30 notes to purchase any though ??

http://www.britishpathe.com/results.php?search=aston+villa

PS. Putting Birmingham in the search engine brings up some interesting local history, the old aerodrome where Castle Vale now is, the old Birmingham racecourse where the Bromford estate now is. However it is interspersed with football clips of the shit, so be careful.

[adrenachrome]

I remember that game very well.

Back then I used to get into the ground really early, and the QPR fans tried to take the Holte. I remember looking down the steps at the back, watching them come up. They lasted until around 2.30 by which time they were run off to the Trinity Lower, which was then a standing area.

It did not work out for Tommy Docherty, but that period definitely re-energized the fans.

They were exciting times. I was on the Holte for the Boxing Day game against Cardiff, when Tiler scored on his debut, and again for this cup win against QPR. We'd just poached Docherty from QPR and both the QPR players and their fans were out for revenge. I remember it as being a hard and very close game, played in a tremendous atmosphere.
As you say, it didn't work out for the Doc. He certainly made an impact and, in the short term, we avoided relegation to the old Division 3, but his tactics were negative and, after the initial successes, he won very few games. By the time he left a year later, relegation was looming.

Good points, Frank. I remember an away game at Carlisle where we started time wasting and playing the ball to the corner flag so early and to such an extent that the ref added a full 5 minutes, unheard of back then, and we got a lot of adverse publicity as well as losing to an injury plus time goal.

I have posted about that Cardiff game quite a few times on here, and I agree that it was an unforgettable experience.  Cardiff were on top of the division at that time, and nobody had seen a crowd like that at VP for a while. In fact, I remember a roar going up when the attendance was announced which sounded as though we had scored. Very bad conditions as well, with the game being in doubt to to the a heavy snowstorm not long before.

Do you remember the cheesy song for Brian Tiler to the tune of Lulu's "I'm A Tiger"?

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

I remember an away game at Carlisle where we started time wasting and playing the ball to the corner flag so early and to such an extent that the ref added a full 5 minutes, unheard of back then, and we got a lot of adverse publicity as well as losing to an injury plus time goal.

If memory serves me right, Bob Stokoe was manager at Carlisle. He was so incensed with our tactics that he said our players were not fit to clean their dressing room floor. The Docs response was to say when Carlisle came down to Villa Park he was going to present them with a broom. May even have been a picture in the Evening Mail of the Doc with said broom. Happy days.

[Pete3206]

Brilliant stuff.

One thing I've always wondered. Why did football fans goal celebrations change from polite applause (the 60's) to going absolutely potty and invading the pitch? (70's).

That's how it always looks to me anyway.

[dave.woodhall]

It did not work out for Tommy Docherty, but that period definitely re-energized the fans.

They were exciting times. I was on the Holte for the Boxing Day game against Cardiff, when Tiler scored on his debut, and again for this cup win against QPR. We'd just poached Docherty from QPR and both the QPR players and their fans were out for revenge. I remember it as being a hard and very close game, played in a tremendous atmosphere.
As you say, it didn't work out for the Doc. He certainly made an impact and, in the short term, we avoided relegation to the old Division 3, but his tactics were negative and, after the initial successes, he won very few games. By the time he left a year later, relegation was looming.[/quote]

Docherty had been sacked by QPR. He was also lined up for the Bilbao job, but their president was killed in a car crash. It's reckoned that the reason we did badly the following season was that he split the dressing room between his favourites (ther players he signed) and the ones he inherited.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

I think it was £100k for Bruce Rioch, with brother Neil thrown in for £10k. Chico came from southend for £40k. Pat Mcmahon arrived too the same time I think. Because we had achieved such good results in the second half of the 68/9 season and with big money signings, we just thought here we go lets look forward to promotion.
I guess some younger fans look at the results from that time and assume as a club our worst time was the relegation to the 3rd division, but we knew the club itself was already turned round and the crowds were back with the new regime.
 For that reason the Doc was always a hero to me even though he left us back in the mire, and I never forget the really important things Doug did for the club in those years.
Vic Crowe almost saved us from going down too.
Lost cause with two games left, we needed to win two home games against Sheff U and Middlesbrough and we needed Blackpool and Preston to both lose their last two. So six results all needed to go right. We won our two, and they had then lost one each. With 4 out the 6 game permutation achieved, one of them went to a night game at Charlton and got some sort of result to send us down to the 3rd division.

[dave.woodhall]

If you look at the results after Vic arrived, the idea that he vastly improved the results is a bit of a myth. We won two out of his first 14 games and it was only winning those final two that made thel table look a bit more respectable. The two clubs we could have caught were Watford (who had a vastly better goal average) and Charlton (who won the night after we finished our fixtures) but it was never going to happen.

[SarkGrime]

Do you remember the cheesy song for Brian Tiler to the tune of Lulu's "I'm A Tiger"?

Don't.

Down at Reading (5-3?) they even exaggerated the pauses.

Brian Tiler Brian
(4 seconds later)
Tiler
Brian Tiler Brian
(5 seconds later)
Tiler.

Truly horrid and second only to "Brucey Brucey Brucey, do you love me?" (Julie Julie Julie by Bobby Sherman, 1970) Yeuch.

[pooligan]

Another reason we went down to the 3rd under Vic Crowe was Andy Lochhead. I think he failed to score a single goal ,in fact i know he did nt,