Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Dave Summers on December 10, 2010, 12:08:56 PM
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Aston Villa 3 - 0 West Bromwich Albion 10th December 1977
Mods, please feel free to move this if it isn't in the right section, but with tomorrow's match maybe relevant?.
Anyway the the memories, I can still hear the crack of Alex Cropley's leg when that dirty bastard Brown all but finished his career. He was never the same player afterwards and it was a crying shame that such a talented player was literally cut off in his prime.
I remember the chant of "Animals" reverberating around the stadium as they tried to kick us off the pitch.
Gidman and Gray put us 2 up before half time, I think Gray may have scored from the resultant free kick from the Cropley incident. Have no idea who got the third though.
This was a time when we were both in the upper echelons of the First Division and the game meant a heck of a lot more than it appears to now.
Anyone else have memories of this particular Saturday afternoon?
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Aston Villa 3 - 0 West Bromwich Albion 10th December 1977
Mods, please feel free to move this if it isn't in the right section, but with tomorrow's match maybe relevant?.
Anyway the the memories, I can still hear the crack of Alex Cropley's leg when that dirty bastard Brown all but finished his career. He was never the same player afterwards and it was a crying shame that such a talented player was literally cut off in his prime.
I remember the chant of "Animals" reverberating around the stadium as they tried to kick us off the pitch.
Gidman and Gray put us 2 up before half time, I think Gray may have scored from the resultant free kick from the Cropley incident. Have no idea who got the third though.
This was a time when we were both in the upper echelons of the First Division and the game meant a heck of a lot more than it appears to now.
Anyone else have memories of this particular Saturday afternoon?
"Animals" "Bastards"
"Animals" "Bastards"
"Animals" "Bastards"
"Animals" "Bastards" ...
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Not relevant? You can put it in ten foot high flashing letters for me.
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Not relevant? You can put it in ten foot high flashing letters for me.
Yeah, thought you would enjoy this one Dave !!!!
One of my favourite games from my teenage years this. Although bittersweet with the Cropley incident. Can't remember another injury thay evoked such anger in all the years I have been going to the Villa
Oh for the same result tomorrow !!!!
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Strange - I seem to remember seeing the Cropley incident from the Smethwick End at the Hawthorns - must have got it mixed up.
Albion away was always a jolly affair. I remember it was so packed up there once a little kid near us was wedged between shoulders and saw the whole game from about 7ft high.
There was also the customary raiding party in the Brummie Rd End, which added to the hilarity of it all.
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Remember it well - the animals.
Sid got the other goal.
We'd just got stuffed at Cloughie's Forest in the League Cup, when we were holders.
Cropley and Sid - now that's what you call a midfield.
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apologies for the long post...
The Guardian - Clicky (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/jan/06/features.sport20)
One of my indelible sporting memories is not a sight but a sound. I'm watching Aston Villa play West Bromwich Albion one grey day in 1977. The derby is always intense, but today there seems a kind of malevolence to the match, and to the crowd; you would n ot want to be out there. In the Villa midfield is a slight fi gure called Alex Cropley, a Scot who is in the form of his life. The previous season he had inspired Villa to a 5-1 win over Liverpool, the champions , and this afternoon he is making the Albion side - the team of John Wile and Len Cantello, one of the most uncompromising ever to take to a football field - look like park players.
There is nothing of Cropley, he is in that mould of footballer that is quick and wiry, playing in spaces, seeing gaps, but he is fearless, too, never stepping back from a challenge. The Villa fans have a favourite song, through which, in the company of my dad, I tend to mumble, though I appreciate the sentiment: ' Five-foot eight, not much weight, Alex Cropley's fucking great, la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.'
In my memory, I'm half-humming this and straining to see the pitch when a ball falls from the sky exactly between Cropley and an Albion player named Ally Brown , both running at full pace from opposite directions about 10 yards apart; an instant later Cropley meets the ball and Brown meets Cropley with all the force at his will, a force that seems to have built up steadily with each challenge in the match , and is looking for a way to escape. It is then I hear the sound, an other-worldly noise, easily loud enough to silence 35,000 people in a state of high excitement, like the gunshot that starts a race. This is not a start, though; it's an ending of sorts. It is the sound of Alex Cropley's breaking leg, a sharp crack that snaps tibia and fibula and leaves the lower portion of his shin skewed at a vicious angle to the upper part.
I can still hear it now, that crack that seemed to echo in an absolute chill quiet . I don't remember any of the goals of that game, or of that season, but I'll never forget that sound; it was the first moment in my life as a spectator, I suppose, when sport suddenly seemed like mortality. Major injuries always announce themselves immediately; teammates know the worst has happened, so do fans, so does the player. The suspension of disbelief that surrounds the match is punctured, the injury allows a different, messier register of understanding back into a stadium. What has seemed play, suddenly is real; where all before was speed and recklessness, now all is care and slowness.
Cropley, who was 26 , played a few times more, but not with any of his previous grace and pace; what had once looked wiry about him and his legs now looked as if it would easily snap. The more heartless Albion fans developed a chant about the incident : 'Alex, Alex Crippley.' Cropley drifted out of the game; he had played for Scotland twice ; he now drives taxis in Edinburgh.
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Colorado is a long way from Villa Park. For all the modern tales of miraculous recovery, there are still some injuries that stay with a player for a lifetime. When I speak to Alex Cropley on the phone, I have the noise of his breaking leg again in my head. He is on his lunch break from driving his cab , grabbing a sandwich. He casts his mind back 30 years to his fateful moment. It sounds like it happened yesterday. 'It was 3.47,' he says, 'We were thinking about half time, waiting for the ref to blow. It's all still there in my head. I went for the ball and I knew exactly what I was going to do with it, I was looking to play it along the touchline. I got there first and just toe-ended it. He [Ally Brown] came in high and I felt the fibula snap first like a twig, then I felt the tibia go and that made a sound like a great branch breaking. I knew straight away, and I was holding my leg together, lying there watching Andy Gray run over and almost have Brown away over the advertising hoardings. It was almost funny, in a way, that part.'
To start with, Cropley thought he would be back, but he had a plaster up to his thigh for more than six months and when it came off he knew the leg would never be right : 'My knee had lost a lot of movement .' Even so, he spent the best part of a year living in hope. West Brom sent him a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of champagne, as if he had got engaged. He never heard from Brown, though he bumped into him once in a restaurant. 'He seemed about to say something, but in the end he just walked off ,' Cropley recalls.
The midfielder eventually worked himself back into the fi st team but in his first game back, trying to prove himself, he went into a tackle and cracked a bone in his ankle . That was the end, bar a brief attempt at a lower-division comeback with Portsmouth. Villa gave him 'about £2,000' in insurance and let him keep his player's car. Without him, they won the League in 1981 and then the European Cup the following year. It's too long ago now for regrets, Cropley says, with an edge of bleakness. Anyway, he still watches football; his son, Jordan, is playing in Hibernian's youth team. Cropley's leg still troubles him; he played golf yesterday and this morning could hardly get himself in the cab. He laughs. Not sure what to say to end our call, I suggest that he was always a great player to watch, fearless, always seeing the angles. There's a long pause on the line. 'Aye,' he says eventually. 'It was not enough though, was it? It was all over way too soon.'
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Wonder if Randy knows of this - it would be great to get Alex down for a game and and on the pitch, he really was a fantastic player for us in what I still consider to be our best ever team to watch (76-77 team).
Btw his son Jordan has since moved from Hibs to Berwick.
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The deliberate ending of Cropley's career is one of the only reasons I have to dislike West Brom. I don't really mind them otherwise.
However. The referee for tomorrow is Mark Halsey. The same referee who at the Hawthorns a few years back didn't give a Mellberg header that was clearly over the line that would have put us 2-0 up and then gave them a ridiculous freekick which they equalised from.
He's the worst referee in football.
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Wonder if Randy knows of this - it would be great to get Alex down for a game and and on the pitch, he really was a fantastic player for us in what I still consider to be our best ever team to watch (76-77 team).
Btw his son Jordan has since moved from Hibs to Berwick.
This.
That 1976-77 was superb to watch with the Cropley, Cowans and Mortimer midfield the best it has ever been my privelige to watch.
Would love Cropley to come back down for a game, but I fear that there would be few of us left who really understood what he gave and brought to the Villa and it may turn out to be a damp squib. Maybe best left with just the memories?
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Wonder if Randy knows of this - it would be great to get Alex down for a game and and on the pitch, he really was a fantastic player for us in what I still consider to be our best ever team to watch (76-77 team).
Btw his son Jordan has since moved from Hibs to Berwick.
This.
That 1976-77 was superb to watch with the Cropley, Cowans and Mortimer midfield the best it has ever been my privelige to watch.
Would love Cropley to come back down for a game, but I fear that there would be few of us left who really understood what he gave and brought to the Villa and it may turn out to be a damp squib. Maybe best left with just the memories?
Pedant alert. Sid only really came into the side towards the end of the season, when the rest of the team were knackered. You've missed out the archetypal Ron Saunders midfielder.
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Carrodus???
Another player that you didn't realise how good he was until he wasn't there.
I seem to remember Cowans playing a fair bit when we won the League Cup the previous season, so hadn't he been playing for the best part of 12 months, all through 1977?
Mind, the memory ain't what it used to be, so I may have that wrong
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Carrodus???
Another player that you didn't realise how good he was until he wasn't there.
I seem to remember Cowans playing a fair bit when we won the League Cup the previous season, so hadn't he been playing for the best part of 12 months, all through 1977?
Mind, the memory ain't what it used to be, so I may have that wrong
From memory, Cowans had gradually been coming into the side, although he only got in regularly after Carrodus got injured just before the second replay. Appearances in 1976-77 were Mortimer 54, Carrodus 43, Cropley 41, Cowans 21 (plus 5 sub). There was one ever-present (56 games) and amazingly it was Brian Little.
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The deliberate ending of Cropley's career is one of the only reasons I have to dislike West Brom. I don't really mind them otherwise.
Same here. It's easy to forget just how good Cropley was. He had to be one of Saunders' best signings. He had it all, skill, passion, aggression, vision, he really was the complete midfielder. As others have mentioned, I'd love to see him back at Villa Park.
As for the game against them 33 years ago, even though we stuffed them, my only real memory of that game is Alex being stretched off. I can still see it now. Bastards!
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Carrodus???
Another player that you didn't realise how good he was until he wasn't there.
I seem to remember Cowans playing a fair bit when we won the League Cup the previous season, so hadn't he been playing for the best part of 12 months, all through 1977?
Mind, the memory ain't what it used to be, so I may have that wrong
Although I was young and a fan at the time, looking back at his games I find him a little bit lightweight.
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I can still hear it now, that crack that seemed to echo in an absolute chill quiet . I don't remember any of the goals of that game, or of that season, but I'll never forget that sound; it was the first moment in my life as a spectator, I suppose, when sport suddenly seemed like mortality. Major injuries always announce themselves immediately; teammates know the worst has happened, so do fans, so does the player. The suspension of disbelief that surrounds the match is punctured, the injury allows a different, messier register of understanding back into a stadium. What has seemed play, suddenly is real; where all before was speed and recklessness, now all is care and slowness.
That's how I remember it too. I don't remember the goals just the result. But that tackle will stay with me forever.
Cropley was a real hero of mine and is one ex-player that I would love to meet, so much so that when I'm i Edinburgh I find myself peering into taxis around Waverly station in the hope that he might be one of the drivers.
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Shouldn't laugh, I know, but just saw Frank Carrodus mentioned in the same breath as Cowans and Cropley.
Carrodus - like Des Bremner - was a very decent servant and ran his legs off for the Villa, but don't EVER compare them to Sid and Alex.
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Andy Gray scored at the Witton End from a John Gidman free kick about eight minutes into injury time in the first half - typical header where the boots were flying.
I also remember Gray grabbing Brown by the throat in the middle of a huge melee as Cropley sat in the middle of it all.
I'm sure it was on MOTD so they will be footage somewhere.
The Albion game was huge back then, mainly because during the Saunders era they had a side that was often comparable with ours. Even when we won the league, they finished third I think.
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4-0 at the end of the brilliant 76/77 season (last home game I think) - Andy Gray hat trick after his goals had dried up a bit in the 2nd half of that season ("Andy is back"). One of the many times we scored 4 or 5 at home that year.
The 4-3 in the mid 80 s sticks out - opening day of the season and a great game (played in an awful kit) but I really recall the huge ovations Sir Dennis got everytime he took a corner or got anywhere near a touchline - it was clear he would not be around much longer and it was a great tribute.
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The writer of that Guardian article was right, there was something evil about the atmosphere that day. The Albion players had decided their best hope of beating us was to kick us off the park and the referee - I'm sure his name was Jim Bent - was never in control.
The Villa players were pretty wild after the injury, Gray and Gidman in particular - I can clearly remember Gidman, in the right back position in front of the old tunnel, swinging so wildly at a clearance that the ball ended up going out for a corner near the opposite corner flag.
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Andy Gray scored at the Witton End from a John Gidman free kick about eight minutes into injury time in the first half - typical header where the boots were flying.
I also remember Gray grabbing Brown by the throat in the middle of a huge melee as Cropley sat in the middle of it all.
I'm sure it was on MOTD so they will be footage somewhere.
The Albion game was huge back then, mainly because during the Saunders era they had a side that was often comparable with ours. Even when we won the league, they finished third I think.
It was televised. I cannot remember being at the game but remember watching it on telly afterwards.
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Thanks for reminding me of my age.............seems like yesterday - awful tackle
which spoiled a good result and needlessly ended a player's career
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Yes, it was on MOTD, but I suppose for understandable editorial reasons the match coverage glossed over the incident a bit - so when Albion and the ref were booed off at half time it came over on TV as evidence of a little local dispute rather than justified anger at what had happened - which the people who were there, myself included, clearly still feel when thinking back to it.
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It's funny to think that any time I've been in a cab in Edinburgh that I might have been driven round by a former Villain.
Funny that we are playing them almost to the day with a small attacking Scottish midfielder in the team.
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Pretty sure that was the first match that the North Stand was opened fully also.
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Shouldn't laugh, I know, but just saw Frank Carrodus mentioned in the same breath as Cowans and Cropley.
Carrodus - like Des Bremner - was a very decent servant and ran his legs off for the Villa, but don't EVER compare them to Sid and Alex.
The best tributes you can pay them is to ask their team-mates' opinions.
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Shouldn't laugh, I know, but just saw Frank Carrodus mentioned in the same breath as Cowans and Cropley.
Carrodus - like Des Bremner - was a very decent servant and ran his legs off for the Villa, but don't EVER compare them to Sid and Alex.
The best tributes you can pay them is to ask their team-mates' opinions.
Bit like Emile Heskey then?
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Shouldn't laugh, I know, but just saw Frank Carrodus mentioned in the same breath as Cowans and Cropley.
Carrodus - like Des Bremner - was a very decent servant and ran his legs off for the Villa, but don't EVER compare them to Sid and Alex.
The best tributes you can pay them is to ask their team-mates' opinions.
Bit like Emile Heskey then?
On the day Emile Heskey wins a European Cup winners medal.
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It's funny to think that any time I've been in a cab in Edinburgh that I might have been driven round by a former Villain.
Funny that we are playing them almost to the day with a small attacking Scottish midfielder in the team.
' Five-foot eight, not much weight, Barry Bannan's fucking great, la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.'
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My Dad and Uncles have told me about Alex Cropley and the injury and how great a player he was
(and could have been), they're always more animated about him and their hate for the albion because of that game. I don't think I have ever seen the injury on tv and don't think I would want to, come on Villa let's beat them albion bastards.
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Sadly i was too young to see him play but sound's like a really good player.
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It's funny to think that any time I've been in a cab in Edinburgh that I might have been driven round by a former Villain.
Funny that we are playing them almost to the day with a small attacking Scottish midfielder in the team.
' Five-foot eight, not much weight, Barry Bannan's fucking great, la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.'
Thats got to be sung tomorrow.
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It's funny to think that any time I've been in a cab in Edinburgh that I might have been driven round by a former Villain.
Funny that we are playing them almost to the day with a small attacking Scottish midfielder in the team.
' Five-foot eight, not much weight, Barry Bannan's fucking great, la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.'
Thats got to be sung tomorrow.
Why, is he growing that fast?
He was 5ft 7 the other week - now he's 5'8" - are you suggesting tomorrow's the only time it will rhyme at this rate?
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It's funny to think that any time I've been in a cab in Edinburgh that I might have been driven round by a former Villain.
Funny that we are playing them almost to the day with a small attacking Scottish midfielder in the team.
' Five-foot eight, not much weight, Barry Bannan's fucking great, la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.'
Thats got to be sung tomorrow.
Why, is he growing that fast?
He was 5ft 7 the other week - now he's 5'8" - are you suggesting tomorrow's the only time it will rhyme at this rate?
o.k. - He's still 5ft 7, not much weight, Barry Bannan's fucking great.... ;)
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I don't believe he's even 5 foot 7.
Probably around 5 foot 4 or 5. I don't think he'll mind if we give him an extra few inches though.
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Sadly i was too young to see him play but sound's like a really good player.
One of my top 5 all time Villa players, with Little, Cowans, the Lord McGrath and Andy Gray first time around.
As others have mentioned, not much weight but boy could he tackle. He strode around Villa Park literally shouting, "this is my centre circle, I own it and if you want to try and take it, bring it on".
I've been to Edinburgh a number of times too and like someone said always hoped I would be driven around by Alex, no such luck unfortunately. I guess if it ever did happen I would have the largest fare in his history as I wouldn't stop talking to him.
I drink in the same group as the above poster Woo and we'll try and come up with something suitable for the Holte End tomorrow ;-)
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I drink in the same group as the above poster Woo and we'll try and come up with something suitable for the Holte End tomorrow ;-)
If only we knew someone with a big mouth loud enough to shout over a crowd...
Good memories Dave, I wasn't at the game but remember hearing the reports on the radio (it must have been Tony Butler on BRMB in those days) and my Dad going mad about it.
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I drink in the same group as the above poster Woo and we'll try and come up with something suitable for the Holte End tomorrow ;-)
If only we knew someone with a big mouth loud enough to shout over a crowd...
Good memories Dave, I wasn't at the game but remember hearing the reports on the radio (it must have been Tony Butler on BRMB in those days) and my Dad going mad about it.
I think that's your subtle way of saying you're younger than me Woo !!!!
Terrific memories, those were perfect Saturdays. Tiswas, Football Focus, the match, Generation Game, Dick Emery, Starsky and Hutch and then the highlights on Match of the Day !!!!.
I'll try and think of someone with that loud and big mouth to help us out :-)
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One of my top 5 all time Villa players, with Little, Cowans, the Lord McGrath and Andy Gray first time around.
Snap!
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It's funny to think that any time I've been in a cab in Edinburgh that I might have been driven round by a former Villain.
Funny that we are playing them almost to the day with a small attacking Scottish midfielder in the team.
' Five-foot eight, not much weight, Barry Bannan's fucking great, la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.'
Good but he's not 5'8 no way
Edit wiki says he's 5ft 7
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It's funny to think that any time I've been in a cab in Edinburgh that I might have been driven round by a former Villain.
Funny that we are playing them almost to the day with a small attacking Scottish midfielder in the team.
' Five-foot eight, not much weight, Barry Bannan's fucking great, la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.'
Good but he's not 5'8 no way
Edit wiki says he's 5ft 7
*Really*?!..he looks at 5' 2", seriously...
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Alex came to our school to open our Spring Fayre whilst he was still on crutches and I won the prize draw - a ball autographed by the entire first team squad - and yes, I still have it ;)
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Alex Cropley was a truly great player, he could give it out and take it and he could play, what Brown did was cowardly and dispicable, i hope the bastard still has it on his conscience
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Alex Cropley was a truly great player, he could give it out and take it and he could play, what Brown did was cowardly and dispicable, i hope the bastard still has it on his conscience
You think he has a conscience?
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Didn`t Stan Jones once do one of our players ? - John Woodward or am I dreaming it?
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Strange, that was during the era that I was still playing football, that day I was playing at Lucas’s ground College Road, I knew something had happened as I could hear the crowd from there. Sad day.
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Didn`t Stan Jones once do one of our players ? - John Woodward or am I dreaming it?
My old man (who told me to be a Villa fan) used to go on about how the Albion had crocked John Woodward and he'd never been the same since. Used to love Cropley and I reckon Sid based his playing style a little bit on him. I grew up in Smethwick so Albion games were always the big one for me and that one was the most intense of all. I didn't hear the famous crack though from where I was in the Holte.
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Didn`t Stan Jones once do one of our players ? - John Woodward or am I dreaming it?
I can't remember who it was who crocked Woodward. I remember that he'd been bought as the replacement for Tony Hateley and only played a couple of games before he was injured. He was out for what seemed like ages - about a year I think and during that time we didn't have a recognised centre forward. I think it was around that time that we were playing Lew Chatterley at CF who was actually a good centre half. His return was eagerly awaited, but when he came back his performances were pretty poor and he was given a free to Walsall the following season having played just a handful of games for us. It was hard to know if the injury ruined his game or not, since he'd played so few games prior to his injury that there was no way a comparison could be made
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They ruined Ray Graydon's career as well.
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Shouldn't laugh, I know, but just saw Frank Carrodus mentioned in the same breath as Cowans and Cropley.
Carrodus - like Des Bremner - was a very decent servant and ran his legs off for the Villa, but don't EVER compare them to Sid and Alex.
you are probably right,
but Frank Carrodus still remains my all time favourite Villa player
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Frankie Carrodus was my all time hero! No superstar, no gimmicks, just full of energy...nicknamed the roadrunner for his non-stop effort...he didn't like the name though !
Hence my quote ...carrodus runs and runs and runs...get the picture
Carrodus???
Another player that you didn't realise how good he was until he wasn't there.
I seem to remember Cowans playing a fair bit when we won the League Cup the previous season, so hadn't he been playing for the best part of 12 months, all through 1977?
Mind, the memory ain't what it used to be, so I may have that wrong
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They ruined Ray Graydon's career as well.
They made several attempts that same day until they achieved their goal too. The most barbaric display against a Villa team as I've ever seen.
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Shouldn't laugh, I know, but just saw Frank Carrodus mentioned in the same breath as Cowans and Cropley.
Carrodus - like Des Bremner - was a very decent servant and ran his legs off for the Villa, but don't EVER compare them to Sid and Alex.
you are probably right,
but Frank Carrodus still remains my all time favourite Villa player
Thats when you could buy a decent player from Citeh !
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Alex Cropley..........my favourite Villa player of all time, noyt the best i've see, but always my favourite.
If i remember correctly, Brown bottled it, and went in slightly late, whether intentional or not who knows, but Cropley was as hard a tackler as i have seen.
Real shame as he never really got back to his high standards.
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They ruined Ray Graydon's career as well.
Bloody hell, I had forgotten that, Albrighton is a thinner version of Graydon dont you think?
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Alex Cropley..........my favourite Villa player of all time, noyt the best i've see, but always my favourite.
If i remember correctly, Brown bottled it, and went in slightly late, whether intentional or not who knows, but Cropley was as hard a tackler as i have seen.
Real shame as he never really got back to his high standards.
It was one of those he could have pulled out,Brown went straight over the top, he knew what he was doing,
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, Albrighton is a thinner version of Graydon dont you think?
There's a certain Graydonesque flair to his football I must agree, with a touch of Morley in his crossing too I reckon.
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, Albrighton is a thinner version of Graydon dont you think?
There's a certain Graydonesque flair to his football I must agree, with a touch of Morley in his crossing too I reckon.
He reminds me of Merson in his Arsenal days.
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Albrighton is a thinner version of Graydon dont you think?
Yes, but better I think. He's more skillful, tracks back and does his share of tackling, something that wasn't always thought of as a requirement for a winger in Ray's day.
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I too regard the Ally Brown termination of Alex Cropley as a piece of Villa history which we should never ever forget whenever the two teams meet.
However a crumb of comfort may be found in a prequel to this incident which happened about seventy years earlier. My mother's father never quite made it on to the books of his beloved Villa. His joined at the hip friend Harry Hampton and his other mate Joe Bache made it big time but my grandfather had to be content with a career with Stourbridge and Bloxwich Strollers.
One of the few fragments of my grandfather's playing career which survived the fire at the Birmingham Works AFA headquarters is a treasured WBA programme which carries a report of a pre season game with Stourbridge. In very victorian language it describes "foul play of the most dastardly kind" by Jones B (my grandfather) resulting in a broken leg for the West Bromwich captain.
Plus ca change and all that.
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You know that statue you were talking about earlier...
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I was at the game at the Hawthorns in 1967 where Woodward was crocked. Stan Jones certainly played in the match and I think it was him that injured JW.
Woodward, commenting on his injury forty years later, was more inclined to bemoan the poor treatment he received from Villa's medical staff. He felt that if his injury had been correctly diagnosed and treated, he would have been able to play some part in Villa's then annual relegation battle.