Villa Park

[PeterWithesShin]

In me and my contemporaries you have eye witnesses to what Villa Park is like now and what it was like pre Taylor.
It was awesome, even in the 50s and 60s on occasion.   I was home on leave from the forces so it would be about 57-58 we had a game against Man U which ended 3-3.   Full house, electrifying stuff.   That was the game I got a photo of Villa fans climbing the outside of the Holte End to get in.

In 1956-57 we lost 2- 1 to them in front of 42,530. In 1958-59 we lost by the same score on Boxing Day and the crowd was 63,098. In the season between, we beat them 3-1. The gate, with the cup-winners versus league champions factor, a few weeks after Munich, was 16,631. I don't know about  other clubs but our crowds even then went up and down on a regular basis.

In 56/57 we finished 10th and did something else, can't remember what. Our highest league attendance was 54,862. Our lowest was 8,252. Also that season 46,246 v Blackpool, 10,554 v Man City.

[robbo1874]

Best times for me was Man U Boxing Day and arsenal New Year's Day. Ground packed to the rafters and looking like we could be contenders.

I can't recall any great moments against spurs at home, but I'm sure I've seen us turn them over a few times at villa park. They just used to be a side you'd expect 3 points off.

[dave.woodhall]

In me and my contemporaries you have eye witnesses to what Villa Park is like now and what it was like pre Taylor.
It was awesome, even in the 50s and 60s on occasion.   I was home on leave from the forces so it would be about 57-58 we had a game against Man U which ended 3-3.   Full house, electrifying stuff.   That was the game I got a photo of Villa fans climbing the outside of the Holte End to get in.

In 1956-57 we lost 2- 1 to them in front of 42,530. In 1958-59 we lost by the same score on Boxing Day and the crowd was 63,098. In the season between, we beat them 3-1. The gate, with the cup-winners versus league champions factor, a few weeks after Munich, was 16,631. I don't know about  other clubs but our crowds even then went up and down on a regular basis.

In 56/57 we finished 10th and did something else, can't remember what. Our highest league attendance was 54,862. Our lowest was 8,252. Also that season 46,246 v Blackpool, 10,554 v Man City.

A lot of those low crowds were midweek afternoons (before floodlights) but there are still some incredible swings. In 1955-56 our first five gates were  25k, 26k, 57k, 53k, 27k.

[London Villan]

I just think Villa Park is too nice a ground for away teams to visit. They get treated like royalty, have fantastic facilities behind the scenes and then we are very rarely intimidating as a set of fans. And that's before you take the quality of the players on the pitch...

It must be a great place to come and visit.

[curiousorange]

I believe the scale of history seems to put a lot of players off. The Emirates or the Etihad look very nice and modern, but they're identikit places where all the stands look the same. You come out of the tunnel at Villa and see the scale of the Holte End, and it's staggering. It should be a privilege to ply your trade on the Villa Park pitch; instead, it looks like a burden.

[SoccerHQ]

This could be part of the reason:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/oct/29/pochettino-pitch-size-does-matter

There was a list in the Mail the other day that had us, Man. City and Man. United as the three biggest pitches in the league. The likes of Chelsea and Spurs had pitches that were 3-5 yards smaller in area than we did.

I don't see it as an advantage to have a big pitch when we're horrible in possession and don't really play with wingers anymore like in the MON days. We weren't great at home back then either but at least we did batter a few teams a season, Bolton used to annually come here and plant their defence on the halfway line for some bizzare reason.

Danny Murphy said on MOTD last season when asked about our poor home form he always like playing at VP due to the big pitch. Dean Ashton on Talksport the other night was talking about the size aswell.

Other than that it's what others are saying, opposition teams like playing here. Man. United, Liverpool and Arsenal have ridiculous longstanding winning records here so they never are fearful of defeat when they turn up here as long as they play properly unlike saying going to somewhere like Stoke.

That and we never believe we're going to win at home with any regularity, even after 4 points from Newcastle and Hull which was a decent start we just can't build on it and get some momentum going.

Stoke and West Ham both lost their first two home games this season. Stoke responded with 7 points from 9 and West Ham have won their last three, both will be close to 10 home wins this season.

[Tom_Mc9?]

On a completely unrelated note, after putting an end to a couple of years of season tickets in the Lower North, I sat in the Upper Trinity yesterday near the Holte End. It surprised me just how loud the Holte End can be. Really enjoyed that, as you do not notice it at all in the North.

[montague]

Apparently the worst atmosphere in the Prem!!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/picturegalleries/11204948/Ranking-the-atmospheres-at-the-20-Premier-League-grounds-by-Jim-White.html

[Hopadop]

I wonder if teams enjoy playing at Villa park too much,it's better than Wembley. Big classy ground might spur them on. Oh and actually showing attacking intent

Yes. Look at how many players say they love playing there.

I think you've made this point before and it's a good one.

For much of our history the ground has been far more impressive than the team that plays there.

[PeterWithesShin]

It's by Jim White, enough said. Summed up by Stoke being second best atmosphere. The place was morgue like opening day of the season.

[Comrade Blitz]

The atmosphere certainly changed with the new Trinity Rd stand opening. I've sat there a few times and the dead quiet creeped me out.

And when the Holte End starts singing the Prawn Cocktail Brigade in the new Trinity seem to get all nervous and wonder what that noise is all about.... 

[amfy]

On a completely unrelated note, after putting an end to a couple of years of season tickets in the Lower North, I sat in the Upper Trinity yesterday near the Holte End. It surprised me just how loud the Holte End can be. Really enjoyed that, as you do not notice it at all in the North.

There were a couple of times yesterday when the noise in The Holte really took hold. The first was the exceptionally loud rendition of Holte Enders in the Sky that followed the minutes silence for Remembrance. That was genuinely a bit of a goosebumps moment for me.

Hearing the Holte in full voice, even briefly yesterday, was a nice reminder of why I bother. It feels great to be part of that when it happens.

[tomd2103]

Best times for me was Man U Boxing Day and arsenal New Year's Day. Ground packed to the rafters and looking like we could be contenders.

I can't recall any great moments against spurs at home, but I'm sure I've seen us turn them over a few times at villa park. They just used to be a side you'd expect 3 points off.

Dion x2 sticks out for me. They were always a side that you could measure how well your season was going against.  Having a good season and playing well, we'd invariably beat them (especially at their place).  Everton used to be the same. 

[tomd2103]

It's by Jim White, enough said. Summed up by Stoke being second best atmosphere. The place was morgue like opening day of the season.

Most grounds are like that now aren't they?  Saying that, the atmosphere at some of the games towards the end of Lambert's first season (QPR and Sunderland) were as good as I've experienced at Villa Park for a league game.   

[Gregorys Boy]

I think a lot of it has to do with teams enjoying playing there.  The good quality footballing teams like it because of the pitch or it being an attractive ground, and the smaller clubs who come to frustrate us enjoy it as the pressure of the crowd can sometimes get to us.  Think it has been a problem more recently too because of how young the squad has been, and because our style of play is just better suited away from home.

I do love VP and would never change it for the world but yeah since I have followed the club we certainly seem to struggle more there than on our travels.