Damon's article in the Graun

[Mister E]

Best article I have read in ages.

Well, take a look at this one then: similar era

[class-of-82]

superb read
even now my three season tickets for myself son and daughter are in the closest spot to where I used to stand on the holte from the 70s and every game I have some story from years gone by about goals, saves ,tackles etc and from when my grandfather used to lie me down on his car floor when he used to park in the imi ici car park for games and smuggle me out of the car park for games.
never ever has my son or daughter ever entertained the idea that they could of supported another club because they know what aston villa means to me and my grandfather and they will one day pass that on to there children

[Tayls_7]

Fabulous.

[ldavfc4eva]

Very good read, could have been a chapter from fever pitch (but about Villa not Arsenal obviously).

[tomd2103]

One thing I've aleays wondered about gloryhunters who support a team on another part of the country is whether they join in with chants about that city or town (Liverpool and Manchester for example). 

[Legion]

Outstanding. Now on our FB Page.

[Chris Harte]

Saw that on Twitter. Then after I'd read it I realised who'd written it.

Good article, Damon.

[OCD]

I don't have any offspring but if I did, they would have no choice but to support Villa. I wonder if it would be the same if I supported a Plymouth or Hartlepool though. At least with Villa there's still the hope, if not expectation, that at some point the good times will come back. I don't know if I would do the same if I supported someone where that wasn't the case.

[AV82EC]

It feels funny reading it as on my Dads side of the family there is absolutely no history of football supporting at all, so I'm the first in my family. I have passed it onto my son though and despite living miles away he still watches out for the scores even if he doesn't come that often these days. Hopefully one day he'll have kids of his own and do the same.

On my Mums side my Grandad was a massive Hearts fan so I follow them as my Scottish team but haven't been to see them play. They are very much the Scottish Villa as well, double the agony!!

[Legion]

I don't have any offspring but if I did, they would have no choice but to support Villa. I wonder if it would be the same if I supported a Plymouth or Hartlepool though. At least with Villa there's still the hope, if not expectation, that at some point the good times will come back. I don't know if I would do the same if I supported someone where that wasn't the case.

My girls are Villa.

[ROBBO]

There was never a lot of money about in our house my old mans work was physically draining on big presses at the car factory, my mother was a very good money manager, my memories is of the speedway at Perry Barr watching Grahame Warren and Tiger Hart and of course Villa Park. These memories are ingrained, little inconsequential incidents spring to mind that would mean nothing to anyone but me but they tie me to my family and to the Villa. Even though I am thousands of miles away the emotional attachment is as strong as ever because that is who I was and who I am.

[thick_mike]

One of my favourite things to do is to listen to my dad talk about visits he made to Villa Park as a child in the thirties. He can clearly recall scorers and weather conditions from games of that era, though he sometimes struggles to remember Saturday's result. Nan was a Villa fan who used to walk from Smethwick to Villa Park to watch the traditional Christmas Day game as the trams didn't run.

I'm proud that I have seen his favourite players (Carrodus and McGrath) play, and stood by his side at his favourite game (Tranmere Rovers).

[pauliewalnuts]

I spent the last ten years on and off researching my family tree.

As part of that, I dug into stories from old - and sometimes extremely old (my gran is 99 years old) - members of the family, oral history, and what came up time and time again was the involvement of Villa in the family. So, I found out that my great great grandfather had worked as a mineral water salesman on the Victorian grounds upon which Villa Park was built. My great grandfather on the other side had done alright for himself and bought season tickets for all his employees. My gran's father was absolutely Villa obsessed as long back as my gran can remember, to the point of, if we lost, coming home at midnight, rat arsed, chucking his cold dinner in the bin and going off to bed in a strop.

My entire family moved to Aston from the countryside in the mid nineteenth century and then lived within a few streets of the ground for the best part of a century.

What comes of that is that every single time I go to Villa Park, I reflect on the fact that I am staring at the same rectangle of grass, in exactly the same location, as generations of my family have done.

It wasn't until I traced my family history that I fully appreciated that. It is why - for selfish reasons, admittedly - I would hate to see us move, or totally rebuild and rotate the pitch (Wembley style) or anything like that.

It means a lot to me that when I'm sat there, watching the unfolding grimness through my fingers, I am looking at precisely the same rectangle of sadness that generation after generation of my family did.

[Des Little]

Superb article. Great work that man

[Ian.]

Cracking write up Damon.