Twenty years ago today...

[richtheholtender]

I went to the 2-0 win over QPR in 92. Fell in love straight away.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

I just heard the name and thought it sounded a great place for a vacation.

[JUAN PABLO]

first game v Portsmouth 74 I think , maybe 4-1 .   I thought ' This is the bollox  I love it '

[berneboy]

When I was born.

Dad's a Villa fan, Grandad's a Villa fan etc....

Moi, aussi. We go back to the 19th century.

[dave shelley]

And us.

[Breezeblock]

My great-grandad, my grandad, my dad, me and my son - all Villa! In fact one of my lads fondest memories is when Stan Petrov sweated on him in Bulgaria 2008 (photo opportunity of one of my favourite pics)



He was 14 at the time - he's now 19 and the way he's performing (shagging anything with a heartbeat) it's odds-on i'll have a grandkid of my own to take down Villa Park in the very near future.

[edgysatsuma89]

My dad = Liverpool fan
My older brother = Villa fan

... I don't like my dad.
Although I like Liverpool to be honest. I want them to win every game apart from against the Villa.

[Broughty-Villian]

Never had any choice in the matter, and wouldn't want it any other way. First games early 70's as a nipper. Can remember Graydon, Phillips, Budgie Nicholl et al. Went to Wembley and the last replay in 77, Was at Highbury and rotterdam. I'm just missing the FA cup before I die, and I will have seen Villa win everything. not many supporters can say that.

Never been easy mind.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

When I was born.

Dad's a Villa fan, Grandad's a Villa fan etc....

Moi, aussi. We go back to the 19th century.

Ditto.
Born in Aston.
Family.
First game? About 1960? Sheffield Utd?
We used to get in free at half time so that's when we went.
Surrounded by The Villa from the day I was born.
20 years ago is a bit vague but I loved it that we were giving it a good go and played with a bit of devil-may-care attitude.
Vert proud of Aston Villa. 

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

"Very" - sorry.
French is something I ain't.
;-)

[Pat McMahon]

When my mom was pregnant carrying me she used to go down the Villa in the Witton lane stand, only stopping when she was 7 months gone. So I've been going down Villa Park over 50 years now.

 She doesn't go now but still loves the Villa and it is a constant source of conversation when I call. She was lucky that despite growing up in Bordesley our Nan's 3 brothers were all Villa fans and made sure my grandad and dad were when they arrived from Ireland.

[spk]

I liked the colours, but now I think that Chelsea are more likely to win things so I might start routing for them.

I thought about Arsenal but not sure Wenger will pull it off and I think Chelsea are mare glamorous.

Definitely avoiding Man U now Ferguson has gone.

Is this a windup ? or have we got our very own Bejing red4lyf ?

[Axl Rose]

As a youngster up until the age of around 10, although I enjoyed playing football, I had no interest in supporting anyone, no allegiance..My dad, born and bred in Leicester, would take me down to Filbert Street or to Meadow Lane to watch Notts County, the club he joined as a YTS after school in the late 1960's. I just remember being cold. Although one memory is seeing Dion Dublin playing against Leicester for Cambridge-around 1992, I believe.

Anyway, my mum, bless her, is a Glamorgan lass and much of my childhood was spent down in South Wales on family holidays-the Gower Peninsula, which is probably the most beautiful coastline in the world, was where I was constantly told by my Grandpa Tom, a Welsh miner,-'Villa Park is the smartest football stadium in the world, the most beautiful etc etc'. It certainly had an affect on me. Around this time, my favourite players were Gazza and funnily enough, Dean Saunders. I remember listening to the match where Villa beat Liverpool on his debut in the car on a trip to the supermarket with my dad. All these little things added up for me. Villa Park sounded insane, so noisy...I was plucking up the courage to ask my dad to take me to a match, a little worried that he would be upset that I didn't want to support Leicester(I was still a child and didn't understand these things.haha)

At school, in my last year of Primary, most of my friends were Liverpool fans, and even back then in 1993, people changed their alliances-they all started supporting Villa because they were challenging Man Utd (and Norwich) for the Premier League title...how fickle they were. Like Blues fans, sometimes I wonder if Liverpool fans hate Man Utd more than they love Liverpool...anyway, sadly, it wasn't meant to be for Villa that season, and all my friends went back to supporting Liverpool. Myself, who had not participated in this mass exodus of support for Villa publicly, had secretly fallen in love with Villa...the colours, the Holte End, the name, Dalian and Deano, the Trinity Road appearance. And every time we would drive along the motorway(the M6, I believe) to Cadburys World, my dad would point out the stadium. 'There it is Nik'....amazing. And then he took me there. I am still very much in love with them now.

That's why I support Villa.

[eamonn]

Never ran in the family, and it was prior to the influx of Irish players to the club in the early '90s so I'm still not sure why. I think it was a combination of the name and the colours. Maybe the Lord McGrath too.

My earliest Villa-related memories are of watching deferred coverage of a game against Luton Town (Irish tv could show Sat afternoon games but with the restriction of the footage being delayed by 20 minutes or so), I think in the season we were both relegation rivals, 88/89, but it's all so vague that I can't pinpoint it for sure as I would have been 4/5 at the time which seems a little young.

Pretty sure I was a fan by the time Italia '90 came round when I would have been aware of David Platt as well as McGrath but sadly I don't have strong memories of my infancy as a Villan and I think my father was too busy raising kids, working and studying to remember how my way into the Villa fold came about either.

One shameful act of treachery is quite vivid to me. Around the time Leeds won the title in 1992, I announced to my Dad that I was going to change teams. He (a Gooner) told me that it didn't work like that and I had already made my choice. A few months later, battling ManUre for the league, and my Mita Copiers shirt (first Villa kit) was the coolest fucking attire in the whole damn school and I was glad I had stuck with them.

[ChicagoLion]

I liked the colours, but now I think that Chelsea are more likely to win things so I might start routing for them.

I thought about Arsenal but not sure Wenger will pull it off and I think Chelsea are mare glamorous.

Definitely avoiding Man U now Ferguson has gone.

Is this a windup ? or have we got our very own Bejing red4lyf ?

Hands up, guilty as charged. I was Man U right, my first football memory was the Shop at the Theatre of dreams, My Moms Boyfriend at the time was from London and a big Man Fan like never missed a game on the TV.Got me a Gigsy shirt any way he dumped my mum for a belly dancer from Rochdale and so I had it with Man U, but still got the Gigsy shirt, classic.