Villa Park as I know it

[Des Little]

The A S T O N V I L L A clock
Ansells Bittermen & Goliath across the top of the Witton Lane
The smell of cigar in the air in the Trinity Road stand on night games
Programmes in A4 size

[West Derby Villan]

The A S T O N V I L L A clock
Ansells Bittermen & Goliath across the top of the Witton Lane
The smell of cigar in the air in the Trinity Road stand on night games
Programmes in A4 size

God I'd. Forgotten those massive programmes, oh happy days

[Charlie8182]

In the early 80s whenever we scored (which happened a lot), a kind of loud ding dong always came from the PA system (see 4.02 after Gary Shaw's goal below).

The 'we know what you're doing' whistle in the Holte End.

[Des Little]

Oh god yeah that bell. Totally forgotten that

[IAmTheOneIanOlney]

When the electronic scoreboards used to read "ALF TIME SCORES"

And the way they used to come up one scoreline at a time and the cheering that accompanied another Midlands team losing.

[FrankyH]

Anybody remember the Ansells poster from the seventies of a packed Holte End with Ansells Bitter Men You Can't Beat Them underneath?
I always called it Aston Villa Men You Can't Beat Them.

I remember this ad in old programmes.

[conman]

Getting thrown out of the Holte by the cops for swearing, running down the alley at the back of the Holte and paying in again at the other side, happy days

yeah remember when the coppers would form an empty square of space at the back of the holte and soon as we scored or done a knees up mother brown they would run in the crowd and chuck young kids out , arms up backs down the stairs
Then when they left ten minutes from the end the chants of the left side and the right side would start and charge into each other
remember the other chants , celtic / rangers , tiswas/swapshop

[Rico]

The A.V. floodlights.
Unique in football and something that I would love to see returned to Villa Park.

[castlefields_villan]

In the early 80s whenever we scored (which happened a lot), a kind of loud ding dong always came from the PA system (see 4.02 after Gary Shaw's goal below).

The 'we know what you're doing' whistle in the Holte End.

was this the same as the "just because you're losing" ? whistle, which I remember when the Holte was just starting to fill up - especially on night games

[class-of-82]

Always buying a programme
Till some upstart fanzine came along and got me hooked

[Pat McMahon]

In the early 80s whenever we scored (which happened a lot), a kind of loud ding dong always came from the PA system (see 4.02 after Gary Shaw's goal below).

The 'we know what you're doing' whistle in the Holte End.

was this the same as the "just because you're losing" ? whistle, which I remember when the Holte was just starting to fill up - especially on night games

Yes it was the same tune. "Back to school on Monday" to away fans.

[dave.woodhall]

In the early 80s whenever we scored (which happened a lot), a kind of loud ding dong always came from the PA system (see 4.02 after Gary Shaw's goal below).

The 'we know what you're doing' whistle in the Holte End.

was this the same as the "just because you're losing" ? whistle, which I remember when the Holte was just starting to fill up - especially on night games

Yes it was the same tune. "Back to school on Monday" to away fans.

I've just been writing about that and I couldn't think of the tune. Thanks for reminding me.

[clash city rocker]

The upper grounds pub..when the weather wasn't too bad people would stand outside but in bad weather it was like a sweat shop in there.

[The Laughing Policeman]

The fence down the middle of The Holte.  Also going to one of the first matches with the all over roof on the Holte and marvelling at the size of it.

[croatian]

The enamel badge sellers outside the ground.
The Peter Crowe Steele advert.
Singing "Bring on the champions".