vic crowe

[trevor fisher]

The manager's who have succeeded at Villa have all been men who got a team spirit going. Vic Crowe, Ron Saunders, Graham Taylor. Can't think of any others in my lifetime. Spending money doesn't do it. We spend and spend.... get poor performers. On Tuesday I listened to a radio WM talk in on the way down and a season ticket holder said he was not going because the players come in talking of joining a big club, and they are ambitious.... and nothing matches what they said when they play. Or perhaps it is fear?

Barnsley's manager said after the game "We use the fact that we are a small group... and have a small budget as part of our power and what we are.... what we do is use that to work out how to bridge the gap... we're an aggressive team, we don't play with any fear".

Reminds me of Vic Crowe's team. DOcherty spent all the money, got us relegated, Vic built a team that in two seaons got promoted. Many lessons here for Xia and co.

[Tony Erdington]

not my favourite manager but definitely got a team spirit going, Mr John Gregory.

[class-of-82]

Not just a team spirit but good man management is needed to and for that there can only be RON SAUNDERS.
He somehow just knew what made a player tick when to wind one up (Tony Morley at Everton) and one to put an arm round (Gary shaw). which for me made that team spirit come through.
Who else would of bought kenny swain and turned him int a class right back Allen Evans was bought as a centre forward but turned into a great centre back, had anyone heard of Des bremner before he signed for us.
Also I think we rush into buying players to did we really need a complete midfield because some of the posts on other threads are saying jedinak Gardner to be our best holding midfield partnerships but 3 games after the midfield trio came in one is being panned and one is on the bench  So maybe Gardner needed a arm round the shoulder to be told he can fill that role. You can't build a team spirit with the amount of players we have bought and sold but hopefully it will come. A siege mentality is what is needed at this time and us as fans have to do our bit

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

DOcherty spent all the money, got us relegated, Vic built a team that in two seaons got promoted.

In fairness the money The DOC spent on the likes of Rioch, Hamilton, McMahon formed the basis of the team that Vic Crowe got promoted with. Season 1969/70 didn't go utterly pear shaped in the early weeks because of his underperforming big money signings but due to a disintegrating dressing room spirit which could be laid more at the door of the old guard players (eg. Edwards, Ferguson, Hole).

[Steve kirk]

To be fair to the Doc he did instil some real team spirit when he arrived during the 68/69 season, we looked doomed when he arrived but he turned things round, 69/70 didn't work out the way most of us back then thought it would, pretty sure we were favourites to get promoted but we just collapsed until a bit of a recovery from Crowe following Docherty's sacking.

[wittonwarrior]

A good man who put some satisfaction back on the face of the villa

[The Left Side]

Is he still a season ticket holder?

[dave.woodhall]

Is he still a season ticket holder?

He died in 2009.

[The Left Side]

Is he still a season ticket holder?

He died in 2009.

My apologies Vic, RIP

[trevor fisher]

yes I agree with all these posts, and it is true that Team Spirit has to be built and a siege mentality is good to have. Ferguson was a master at siege mentality. However the Barnsley manager put his finger on the key issue. THey play without fear.

Our players play with fear and make silly mistakes. There we can help them. We have to back them even when they are fragile. Panic passing of the ball and air football has to stop. If they know the crowd is with them and they don't have to do the first thing that comes into their head then we can get them to play as a unit.

Giving the ball away with panic clearances is the big fault. The promotion teams never did this. Tight units support each other. Its been years since this happened.

[SteveN]

Strange how thoughts on football change.  I remember Vic Crowe as a player, a very decent wing half as I recall.  His manager at the time and his spell as a manager are vague to say the least.  When I started to watch football in the early 60s owners and managers were on the whole rarely brought to my attention.  The innocence of youth I guess.