Big in Ireland

[brontebilly]

I was surprised how many Villa there are in Ireland and a lot of them refer to Irish teams that have had lots of Villa players,
There are quite a few Irish who despise the Liverpool Manure supporting Irish stereotype.
After Celtic Arsenal Liverpool and Manure I reckon we are the next best supported.

Not sure re Arsenal any more. They were certainly the London Irish club in the past. Back in the 70s/80s they had the big 3 of Brady, O'Leary and Stapleton in their side. The Arsenal 1979 cup winning side had 3 from the Dublin (the aforementioned trio), 2 from Belfast (Jennings, Nelson) and 1 from Down (Rice). Terry Neill from Belfast was the manager. This at a time when Highbury, Islington, Holloway Rd was the home of the Irish community in London.  Arsenal is an altogether different cosmopolitan club now and I'm not sure an Irish player has had a reasonable career at Arsenal since maybe Eddie McGoldrick in the early 90s. Anthony Stokes despite plenty of ability had too many off field "issues" for Wenger and Brady.

Celtic would have a lot of support in Donegal particularly (Bonner, Given etc), lots of Irish catholics would have emigrated from Donegal to Glasgow way back during the Famine and afterwards. The Donegal/Glasgow connection has been a profitable one for the FAI with the likes of Houghton, McGeady and McCarthy being picked up that way. But outside of the green half of Ulster, hatred for the Brits has dissipated a lot in recent years which has led to a reduction in support for Celtic imo. The SPL has fallen a long way in recent years and the club's profile has naturally suffered. Celtic have a big branding problem ala Burberry in most Irish cities in that they are linked to gangsta apparel for out of control louts. The hoops jersey is more popular these days for gangsta themed fancy dress parties than anything else.

Wouldnt underestimate Everton's support here, a popular club for sure with long standing Irish links. Also super Leeds and Johnny Giles. Roy Keane's Sunderland was a short lived bandwagon however.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Growing up in Brum the Irish people (friends and family) I knew all supported Villa, but they were all on our side of the city anyway (Great Barr, Kingstanding, Erdington, Newtown). A friend of mine from Leeds married a Bluenose Irish lad from Bordesley and all but one of his mates are Villa too.

As a kid I remember reading a quote from Danny Blanchflower along the lines of "as well as the best teams any team with an unusual or romantic name would always have support in Ireland, such as Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace..."

I went to school in Kingstanding and Erdington, and never knew of any Blues fans at any of my schools. So either there were none, or they were in the closet.

And there were quite a few kids with Irish-sounding surnames.

[Pat McMahon]

I know two noses over here, I haven't seen one of them for years, he was native so anything could have become of him.  I knew him through my refereeing career over here.  The other is a blow-in like me.

I knew two noses when I lived in Great Barr.  Zulu's IIRC.  They were brothers and, both played for a team me and my mate set up for them and their mates.  They got sent off once for fighting...each other!

Dave, was that team on the Park Farm estate in the 70s? If so I may have known the brothers.

[dave shelley]

No Pat, the two I'm talking about were from around the Booths Farm area.  I'll pm you their names if you want.

[MarkM]

I liked the School kids from Northen Ireland singing the Aston Villa thats' who song

[Damo70]

I was surprised how many Villa there are in Ireland and a lot of them refer to Irish teams that have had lots of Villa players,
There are quite a few Irish who despise the Liverpool Manure supporting Irish stereotype.
After Celtic Arsenal Liverpool and Manure I reckon we are the next best supported.

Not sure re Arsenal any more. They were certainly the London Irish club in the past. Back in the 70s/80s they had the big 3 of Brady, O'Leary and Stapleton in their side. The Arsenal 1979 cup winning side had 3 from the Dublin (the aforementioned trio), 2 from Belfast (Jennings, Nelson) and 1 from Down (Rice). Terry Neill from Belfast was the manager. This at a time when Highbury, Islington, Holloway Rd was the home of the Irish community in London.  Arsenal is an altogether different cosmopolitan club now and I'm not sure an Irish player has had a reasonable career at Arsenal since maybe Eddie McGoldrick in the early 90s. Anthony Stokes despite plenty of ability had too many off field "issues" for Wenger and Brady.

Celtic would have a lot of support in Donegal particularly (Bonner, Given etc), lots of Irish catholics would have emigrated from Donegal to Glasgow way back during the Famine and afterwards. The Donegal/Glasgow connection has been a profitable one for the FAI with the likes of Houghton, McGeady and McCarthy being picked up that way. But outside of the green half of Ulster, hatred for the Brits has dissipated a lot in recent years which has led to a reduction in support for Celtic imo. The SPL has fallen a long way in recent years and the club's profile has naturally suffered. Celtic have a big branding problem ala Burberry in most Irish cities in that they are linked to gangsta apparel for out of control louts. The hoops jersey is more popular these days for gangsta themed fancy dress parties than anything else.

Wouldnt underestimate Everton's support here, a popular club for sure with long standing Irish links. Also super Leeds and Johnny Giles. Roy Keane's Sunderland was a short lived bandwagon however.

I felt the need to check up on Eddie McGoldrick's "reasonable" Arsenal career. He played 33 games in 3 years. Which was more than I thought to be fair. In his defence that is probably more than Jimmy Carter or Chris Kiwomya played around the same time.

[brontebilly]

I was surprised how many Villa there are in Ireland and a lot of them refer to Irish teams that have had lots of Villa players,
There are quite a few Irish who despise the Liverpool Manure supporting Irish stereotype.
After Celtic Arsenal Liverpool and Manure I reckon we are the next best supported.

Not sure re Arsenal any more. They were certainly the London Irish club in the past. Back in the 70s/80s they had the big 3 of Brady, O'Leary and Stapleton in their side. The Arsenal 1979 cup winning side had 3 from the Dublin (the aforementioned trio), 2 from Belfast (Jennings, Nelson) and 1 from Down (Rice). Terry Neill from Belfast was the manager. This at a time when Highbury, Islington, Holloway Rd was the home of the Irish community in London.  Arsenal is an altogether different cosmopolitan club now and I'm not sure an Irish player has had a reasonable career at Arsenal since maybe Eddie McGoldrick in the early 90s. Anthony Stokes despite plenty of ability had too many off field "issues" for Wenger and Brady.

Celtic would have a lot of support in Donegal particularly (Bonner, Given etc), lots of Irish catholics would have emigrated from Donegal to Glasgow way back during the Famine and afterwards. The Donegal/Glasgow connection has been a profitable one for the FAI with the likes of Houghton, McGeady and McCarthy being picked up that way. But outside of the green half of Ulster, hatred for the Brits has dissipated a lot in recent years which has led to a reduction in support for Celtic imo. The SPL has fallen a long way in recent years and the club's profile has naturally suffered. Celtic have a big branding problem ala Burberry in most Irish cities in that they are linked to gangsta apparel for out of control louts. The hoops jersey is more popular these days for gangsta themed fancy dress parties than anything else.

Wouldnt underestimate Everton's support here, a popular club for sure with long standing Irish links. Also super Leeds and Johnny Giles. Roy Keane's Sunderland was a short lived bandwagon however.

I felt the need to check up on Eddie McGoldrick's "reasonable" Arsenal career. He played 33 games in 3 years. Which was more than I thought to be fair. In his defence that is probably more than Jimmy Carter or Chris Kiwomya played around the same time.

reasonable was probably kind  remember him blazing over a penalty for them in maybe a Uefa or Cup Winners Cup final or semi final before, George Graham might have lost faith in him after that.

[lordmcgrath5]

My Dad arrived in the Midlands (Worcester/Droitwich) from Cork in the late 1940s and there was never any question of him supporting anyone but the Villa. English uncle (with an Irish missus) was already a ST holder. Have often heard people refer to Villa as the Irish club in Brum.

[ChicagoLion]

I was surprised how many Villa there are in Ireland and a lot of them refer to Irish teams that have had lots of Villa players,
There are quite a few Irish who despise the Liverpool Manure supporting Irish stereotype.
After Celtic Arsenal Liverpool and Manure I reckon we are the next best supported.

Not sure re Arsenal any more. They were certainly the London Irish club in the past. Back in the 70s/80s they had the big 3 of Brady, O'Leary and Stapleton in their side. The Arsenal 1979 cup winning side had 3 from the Dublin (the aforementioned trio), 2 from Belfast (Jennings, Nelson) and 1 from Down (Rice). Terry Neill from Belfast was the manager. This at a time when Highbury, Islington, Holloway Rd was the home of the Irish community in London.  Arsenal is an altogether different cosmopolitan club now and I'm not sure an Irish player has had a reasonable career at Arsenal since maybe Eddie McGoldrick in the early 90s. Anthony Stokes despite plenty of ability had too many off field "issues" for Wenger and Brady.

Celtic would have a lot of support in Donegal particularly (Bonner, Given etc), lots of Irish catholics would have emigrated from Donegal to Glasgow way back during the Famine and afterwards. The Donegal/Glasgow connection has been a profitable one for the FAI with the likes of Houghton, McGeady and McCarthy being picked up that way. But outside of the green half of Ulster, hatred for the Brits has dissipated a lot in recent years which has led to a reduction in support for Celtic imo. The SPL has fallen a long way in recent years and the club's profile has naturally suffered. Celtic have a big branding problem ala Burberry in most Irish cities in that they are linked to gangsta apparel for out of control louts. The hoops jersey is more popular these days for gangsta themed fancy dress parties than anything else.

Wouldnt underestimate Everton's support here, a popular club for sure with long standing Irish links. Also super Leeds and Johnny Giles. Roy Keane's Sunderland was a short lived bandwagon however.

Cheers Brontebilly. UTV

[Billy Walker]

Paul McGrath chatting to an Irish Villa fan right now on the the main national radio station in Ireland  (RTE Radio 1) Ray D'Arcy show.  I should stick this in the omen thread, too.