New H&V out today - with excerpts available here

[dave.woodhall]

All your usual favourites, no need to have the right change or worry about leaving it on the bus. We''re so cutting edge it's damn well scary.

Get it here: https://shop.exacteditions.com/gb/heroes-and-villains

[cheltenhamlion]

Looks like they have pulled my subscription again if you can do the honours.

[XXVilla]

Not the same.

[dave.woodhall]

May as well show you a bit of what you can read in there. This is one from John Russell about games played on neutral grounds:

more strictly neutrals
 

By 1887 Villa craved the FA Cup more than anything (some things never change) and it was a massive dent to our pride when the upstart West Bromwich Albion beat us to the punch and reached the final the year before. Although, we did get to gloat when they succumbed to holders Blackburn Rovers at Derby in the first ever cup final replay.

We took three attempts to beat the Wolves in the opening round before getting a bye in the second then dismissing Horncastle and old Lancashire rivals Darwen en route to the semi-final. With everyone in the Midlands expecting a game against the Baggies we drew Rangers in the semi-final instead, with the Throstles being pulled out of the hat to play Preston North End. The influence of Bert Millichip obviously hadn’t started to infiltrate the FA at this point.

It’s well-known that Scottish teams were still in the cup back then, but there were also a few odd teams from Ireland. Their reason for withdrawing was probably down to the cost of travelling over the Irish Sea but teams from north of the border only withdrew from the cup, possibly not of their own volition but when their Association – dominated by amateurs Queens Park – short-sightedly deemed that Scottish teams should not play against teams containing professionals.

Manchester was not then the centre of the football universe and given the convenience of the London–Scotland railway it was decided to play the semi-final at the non-league ground of Crewe Alexandra a few hundred yards from the centre of the country’s rail network. This wasn’t the Gresty Road ground that they became renowned for playing at, but the Alexandra Recreation Ground a short way away. Crewe, somewhat coincidentally bearing in mind our own early days, led a somewhat nomadic existence before moving moved from here for the last time in the significant year of 1897. For their part, Rangers were not then the power in the land that they became and it was something of a surprise that they had made it to the semi-final. Villa were firm favourites.

As usual the Villa prepared for the game at their retreat at Holt Fleet and at Droitwich Brine Baths and only arrived at the ground on the morning of the game. Rangers, whose team included players recently acquired from rivals Hibernians, Queens Park, Vale of Leven and Renton had stayed in Crewe overnight. The ground, which was surrounded by a sloping bank, was in perfect condition and all of the 5,000 spectators, about half of them from Birmingham and its environs, had a perfect view of the game.

Amidst tremendous cheering Villa took an early lead through their captain, the legendary Archie Hunter. Then on the half hour Lindsay equalised for the Glaswegians. The game continued fast and furious and a tad rough. In the second half Villa played out of their skins to stem the rising royal blue tide before Albert Brown crashed in a thunderbolt which effectively destroyed the Scots. From then on there was only one team in it and Archie Hunter scored again which led to a period of ‘shots in’ before the final whistle came with Villa winning 3-1 and thus on the way to The Oval, and our destiny.

Communication back then was next to non-existent and rumour spread that Preston had beaten the Albion 6-1 at Nottingham but the truth was that Albion had won 3-1 so one way or another the cup was destined for the West Midlands for the first time.

Late on Saturday evening crowds of Villa supporters welcomed the team back at New Street Station. And so, on 2nd April 1887, to what was then the ultimate neutral ground, The Oval, home of Surrey County Cricket Club.
 
The big three railway companies, Midland, Great Western and London and North Western probably made a killing out of the game as they ran numerous trains, most of which left the Midlands at around seven o’clock in order to arrive in London by eleven. So, as modern-day comedians would put it, no change there. The Villa actually arranged for some of the trains and so urged fans to patronise the L&NW services for whom William McGregor, never one to miss a trick, was a ticket agent.

In all 12,000 fans made the journey from the Midlands. On the principle that the losers from the previous year were expected to win the trophy second time around most neutrals – if there were any such people for such a fiercely-contested affair - expected the blue and white stripes to win. 

You should not need me to describe what happened, but after a goalless first half Hodgetts and Hunter cemented their names into Perry Barr folk lore with the goals that saw the trophy come back to our little part of Staffordshire.

Reports have it that up to 10,000 people assembled in another part of Staffordshire, namely High Street, West Bromwich to listen to the telegrams from the ground being read out outside the newspaper offices. Over at their ground in Stoney Lane where their reserves were playing Mitchell St Georges Reserves there was total disbelief at the outcome. There are no reports as to how Villa fans got to learn of the joyful news but doubtless Cannon Street has never seen such a gathering.

It is a matter of record that prior to the game Albion had publicised their train journey home as taking a tortuous route via South Wales in order that the trophy would not pass through Birmingham. It eventually reached Snow Hill station at three am the following morning, where despite the lateness of the hour a huge crowd had stayed to welcome the victors.

We began the long drawn-out defence of our precious trophy by putting Oldbury Town and Small Heath Alliance in their place, both by 4-0, before receiving a bye then being drawn against Shankhouse in round four. It is fair to say that few in Perry Barr had the remotest idea where Shankhouse was but it turns out they were an amateur team from a village in Northumberland.  This was their first venture in the cup and they had so far beaten the giants of Scarborough and Darlington. Given the limitations of their ground we did our best to persuade them to transfer the tie to Perry Barr but they would not be bribed.  Instead, they opted to move the tie to Newcastle West End, who were later amalgamated with Newcastle East End to give real meaning to the term United.

Pedantics will argue that this was not therefore a game on a strictly neutral ground but I am telling this story so I get to make up the rules. Had they played at East End’s ground it would have been Villa’s first visit to St James’ Park, but instead they had to make do with the west side’s Chillington Road arena.

The railway companies refused to put on any excursion trains so only a handful of Villa supporters made it to the north-east with the team.But 8,000 fans, more than the population of Shankhouse, turned out to see the mighty Aston Villa. Villa took no chances when it came to the Cup so put out our best team and our best team gave the villages a nine-nil thumping. The home team bore no grudges and after dining with them afterwards the visitors turned up at the railway station to send us on our way on the seven o’clock train with three rousing cheers.

Needless to say when the team arrived back in Birmingham in the early hours of Sunday morning there was nobody around to
reciprocate.

If you’re interested, Shankhouse are still in existence, playing in the Premier Division of the Northern Football Alliance in step seven of the pyramid, the equivalent of what I still call the Midland Com. They last played in the FA Cup in 1954. 
         
Thus the scene was set for the visit of Preston in round five and one of the most notorious games in our history. But that is another story, and being a home game beyond the scope of this series.

John Russell

[dave.woodhall]

And a self-explanatory one from Chinchilla, off here.

paul franks: his diary

 
Monday

I was chomping my way through my breakfast bacon sandwich this morning when it occurred to me that I haven’t had a sausage sandwich for a while. There was a time when I’d have plumped for the sausage over the bacon more often than not.  It’s not that I’ve gone off sausages, I just find myself more drawn to the bacon these days.  Is this a permanent thing, I wonder? Is the balance of power shifting? Has it shifted? Is the sausage now destined to hover in the background forever while bacon takes centre stage? Is there any hope left for the sausage? Can it ever regain its former status? 

Later on I was making a bit of lunch and I found a packet of Wagon Wheels at the back of the  pantry. Unless I imagined it they’re much smaller than they used to be. I’ve heard people say it, but until today I hadn’t seen one for years to have an opinion. I might throw it out there on the phone-in. I wonder if any of the callers can think of other things that used to be bigger and more glamorous than they are today. Should we read into this? Does it tell us anything? Whadda you think? Call in to the Radio WM phone-in  and let us know.

Tuesday

I was doing the big shop today and I couldn’t help noticing two cars in the car park with West Bromwich Albion stickers, and only one with a Villa sticker. Does that tell a story? Are Villa fans too embarrassed to put stickers on their cars these days? Or is it that Albion fans feel brave enough to show off their stickers now they’re top dogs? I might put it out there later. Do Villa fans even shop at Asda? They certainly won’t be going to Waitrose. Maybe they go to Aldi these days. 

Actually, I may well join them. What has happened to Asda’s deli counter? It’s a shadow of its former self, and it shows no signs of improvement. Is it time for some investment? If you were the manager of a supermarket, where would your money be going? Do people want even want roll-mop herrings anymore? How do they get that long egg right the way through the pork pie? Taramasalata was great in the seventies, but it’s not the seventies any more. Is it time we all moved on? How many Asda delicacies would get a place on Aldi’s shelves these days? It’s no good resting on past glories. Aldi are in a good place, I just can’t see Asda competing anymore. I can’t see where the money will come from for Asda to build new stores. Let’s face it, with all the publicity they’re getting, Aldi are a bigger company than Asda now.

Wednesday

We went out for a cracking pub lunch today, in a pub where we always get a cracking lunch. I won’t name the pub, because if I do they’ll be bombarded with phone calls from local football supporters asking which team colours I was wearing. As if I’d ever go to lunch in anything other than neutral polo neck and slacks. Some people are obsessed though. For the sake of the diary let’s call it The Red King’s Lion’s White Royal Arms. 

It was one of those times where I almost literally had to toss an eight-sided coin to decide what to have. The menu was that good, I kid you not.  I was in a Harvester the other week (not my choice, works leaving do) and I was looking at their menu and I thought, how many of these dishes would make it onto the menu at The Red King’s Lion’s White Royal Arms? 

At a push I’d say one, and that’s only because  The Red King’s Lion’s White Royal Arms doesn’t, to my knowledge, do burgers, so you could argue there’s a gap there. As a survivor of the ribs and slaw let me tell you I can safely say they’d be nowhere near. But there’s always room for improvement.

But if The Red King’s Lion’s White Royal Arms did do burgers you can bet that they’d be top quality burgers because that’s the sort of set-up they’ve got there. Top quality ingredients, invest in the right staff. Never get complacent. Always make sure everything looks right. Do that and it’s half the battle won.

It’s always good to see the small guys, the ones who keep plugging away and making friends, doing better than the big boys with their arrogant ways and their trying to drive their rivals out of business. Whadda you think about this idea? Is the day of the big business over? Is it time for the little guy to be recognized? Call me tonight and let me know what you think. We’ll chew it over.

Thursday

A curious thing happened today. I went to the library to return my books, as you do, and it turned out that I have an outstanding fine of eleven pence stretching back to 1996. The fine had got lost in the workings of the machine somehow, but the library’s had a spanking new computer system installed and there it was, eleven pence, clear as the nose on your face, for being a day overdue with the autobiography of Bobby Ball. Which, if memory serves, was a dreadful read. 

Doesn’t it show, though, how far we’ve come?  I’ve got nothing against nostalgia, but was it really better back then? Before the internet took off, before everyone had mobile phones, with terrible Bobby Ball autobiographies being  published willy nilly? Only one West Midlands club in the Premier League, with the other big three languishing in the division below and no idea of when they would get promoted?

Was that so good? Was it better to have one club so much better than the rest when the only reason for their dominance was because they had more money, more supporters and could spend more on players? Was life really better back in 1996? Isn’t it better now? We now live in a world where I can order a chicken shashlik with the click of a phone at three in the morning, or book a self-catering holiday in Marrakesh without getting out of bed. Where a football club can become bigger and better than its long-establshed neighbours by virtue of having a no-nonsense manager and a good board of directors. Okay, the flip side is that twenty-one year old fines are dredged up and I’m out of pocket, but I think I can live with that. Can I live with that? I might throw it out there later.

Was life better in 1996? Was football better? Or are these the good old days, the days when any well-run club with progressive owners, a manager who can get the best out of his players and a reputation for playing attractive football can pick up players without paying big money and turn them into a success. Or did you have a favourite year? Give me a call on the footie phone-in tonight.

Friday

I woke up at three in the morning with an absolute belter for the phone-in.  Ideas come to me all the time, so it’s not that surprising; that’s why I always keep a notebook by the bed, you just never know when inspiration will strike.  This was one such occasion.

The other day I dropped my Lion Bar on the floor while I was getting out of the car, and as I bent to pick it up a bee flew right past my face and disappeared over a hedge. I didn’t think of it at the time, but in the wee small hours it was like an alarm clock going off in my guts. Lions plummeting? The gold and black soaring? Was it a metaphor for our local teams? Was nature  trying to tell us something? Was it just a coincidence?

Had it occurred to me at the time I would have checked the top of a tree for a throstle, but it hadn’t, so I didn’t, so we’ll never know for sure although I have my suspicion that that throstle was flying high, soaring to the heavens while the lion stayed with its feet rooted to the ground. Who, if we’re being honest, would rather be a grounded, toothless lion on the ground when they could be a throstle, flying high and aiming for the stars? I wonder if anyone else has had any similar experiences? 

The other week I stubbed my toe getting the mower out of the shed, and it reminded me that the last time I stubbed my toe getting the mower out of the shed was the day Villa went down one-nil at home to Burnley. Villa weren’t playing that day, but had they been would they have lost one-nil again? Was it an omen? Are the clues out there? Whadda you think? Call me. Do you have a favourite garden tool? Would your garden spade get a place in your neighbour’s tool shed? Let me know. It’s your phone-in.

As told to Chinchilla


Now you can buy the whole thing at https://shop.exacteditions.com/gb/heroes-and-villains

[ldavfc4eva]

Cracking stuff, very well written and very true to fact (I imagine)

[dave.woodhall]

Cracking stuff, very well written and very true to fact (I imagine)

Thank you. Now buy the rest.