Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Villa Memories => Topic started by: Chico Hamilton III on February 15, 2011, 01:32:45 PM
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30 years since we won the league. Can't believe how old I feel just typing that.
Anything being done to commemortae this?
We had a good session in London a few years ago to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Rotterdam - in a Bavarian Bier keller in Old Street.
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30 years, blimey! I was 16 then and still at school when the season started.
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30 years Chico? I am staggered- where's my life gone? Don't know if you were there at Highbury on the final day of the season, I can remember it was all quite surreal. We were well beaten by Arsenal- (2-0?) and then news came through that Middlesborough had beaten Ipswich, against all odds, thanks to a Polish centre forward. Mayhem followed- Pele came onto the pitch, Villa fans ran on, Arsenal fans attacked Villa fans and me an my brother walked all the way up Holloway Road not fully understanding what had happened.
Once back in the car and listening to Sports Report did we fully appreciate that the club we had followed everywhere from (in my case 1968) had won the English First Division though you have thought we had committed grand larcency by the way the Ipswich loving media reported on it.
Great times though so, so long ago.
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Would love to read more tales of this day like as above .
I was a mere 10 year old wippersnapper doing my first ever season at home that season.
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I remember the traffic jam full of celebrating Villa fans on coaches heading away from Highbury afterwards - two or three of the coaches ahead of us had the skylights opened (or smashed through?) and Villa fans had climbed through and were celebrating on the roofs of the coaches in the traffic.
Also remember a Gooner giving it some from a shop doorway and a Villa fan jumping off the coach in front of us, smacking him in the face and nicking his sheepskin coat off him! Funny at the time after a few drinks but... no, still funny now too.
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It was at this point in the season - Jan into Feb, that we won 7 games on the trot to really put us and Ipswich out on our own for the title... and everyone began to think we might win this. It equalled the most league wins in succession in our history.
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Did anyone end up in the Aston Tavern after the coaches returned to VP? It was an unforgettable night.
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...and 40 years today since decimalisation!
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Blimey, I don't know whether to celebrate the fact it's been 30 years or not!
I know where you're coming from though.
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went down with some mates some villa others manure cov, got in the north bank, there were loads of villa in thier, it got a bit moody and i saw that Villa were being allowed to get out the front of the north bank to walk around the pitch to the clock end, so i did the same about 20 minutes into the game, cant remember the game, was so intent listening to guys with radios all around, i remeber the pich invasion, the police charge and those words "may i be the first to congratulate Aston Villa.........
managed to find my mates some had stayed in the North Bank, like others said, it was a bit surreal and subdude , maybe because it was so intense those last few weeks of the season, maybe because going down to Highbury we thought we would need to win to make sure and then losing but winning the league, it was only on the way back that it became real -
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Bosco Jankovic. I wonder what he's doing now?
An incredible season full of golden memories. I feel fortunate to have witnessed this achievement. It will be years before it happens again, if at all. Looking back across 30 years, some of the memories are tinged with the regret that we never managed to build on the platform of 1980/1982. Part of being a Villa fan I suppose.
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I remember.... i think i'm right here but didn't he die about 10 years ago!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please correct me if this is wrong!
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I made my first trip to Villa Park for the ipswich game at the end of the season, I can die saying I watched Villa in a championship season!
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Yes he did, in 1993 I think and he was Yugoslavian
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Yes 1993 he died and was 42 years old! Has anyone got that name on the back of their shirt!
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I travelled up from Guildford where I was at Uni at the time. Made a detour to Euston to meet all the villa fans off the train but hardly came across any - think they must have all come down on coaches. I then managed to get lost in North London trying to find the ground, but luckily hitched up with some youngsters who seemed about 12 (I was 18) who were going to the game - can't remember if they were Villa or Arsenal.
As is typical Villa of course, we nearly managed to bugger it up. I can still see that Mcdermott goal crossing the line in slow motion as Jimmy R looks on as if it was literally yesterday. 30 years, good grief!
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I remember.... i think i'm right here but didn't he die about 10 years ago!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please correct me if this is wrong!
Blimey I didn't know that!
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Bosco Jankovic. I wonder what he's doing now?
An incredible season full of golden memories. I feel fortunate to have witnessed this achievement. It will be years before it happens again, if at all. Looking back across 30 years, some of the memories are tinged with the regret that we never managed to build on the platform of 1980/1982. Part of being a Villa fan I suppose.
Yes indeed, dead he is. I remember the rumour going round the North Bank, first that Ipswich had scored, then that Boro had actually done so...
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I travelled up from Guildford where I was at Uni at the time. Made a detour to Euston to meet all the villa fans off the train but hardly came across any - think they must have all come down on coaches. I then managed to get lost in North London trying to find the ground, but luckily hitched up with some youngsters who seemed about 12 (I was 18) who were going to the game - can't remember if they were Villa or Arsenal.
As is typical Villa of course, we nearly managed to bugger it up. I can still see that Mcdermott goal crossing the line in slow motion as Jimmy R looks on as if it was literally yesterday. 30 years, good grief!
Oh and I remember coming round the corner to see a pub with furniture piled up outside it - tables and chairs - and Villa fans all over it singing and dancing...
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Bosco Jankovic. I wonder what he's doing now?
An incredible season full of golden memories. I feel fortunate to have witnessed this achievement. It will be years before it happens again, if at all. Looking back across 30 years, some of the memories are tinged with the regret that we never managed to build on the platform of 1980/1982. Part of being a Villa fan I suppose.
Yes indeed, dead he is. I remember the rumour going round the North Bank, first that Ipswich had scored, then that Boro had actually done so...
I remember a rumour going around Villa Park during the Boro game the week before that Ipswich had drew with Man City (they actually won) and we were Champions. Even the players celebrated. I was inconsolable when the actual result was announced. It felt like we'd blew it!
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Bosco Jankovic. I wonder what he's doing now?
An incredible season full of golden memories. I feel fortunate to have witnessed this achievement. It will be years before it happens again, if at all. Looking back across 30 years, some of the memories are tinged with the regret that we never managed to build on the platform of 1980/1982. Part of being a Villa fan I suppose.
Yes indeed, dead he is. I remember the rumour going round the North Bank, first that Ipswich had scored, then that Boro had actually done so...
I remember a rumour going around Villa Park during the Boro game the week before that Ipswich had drew with Man City (they actually won) and we were Champions. Even the players celebrated. I was inconsolable when the actual result was announced. It felt like we'd blew it!
Of course, technically speaking, it wasn't a rumour that Boro had scored against Ipswich! It just felt like it for about two minutes...
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Great day on Clock End. From misery at 2.0 down to news from the radio that Ipswich were drawing and then losing. All hell broke loose at that point and the match was a mere side show. The crush leaving Highbusy with 1000's of us singing we won the league. The party on the M1 home was awesome.
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Christ that was neary 30 years ago - lets hope I live long enough to see those days again.
UTV
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Christ that was neary 30 years ago - lets hope I live long enough to see those days again.
UTV
dont hold your breath UTV
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I was very lucky in as much as it was my first season when i started working and i said to my mate i want to do all the games this year - i missed one in what was a brilliant season
That day at Highbury will never leave me - i had managed to get into the seats at the side of the clock end and remember how shit i felt when they scored both times but then to start to see the villa end start to erupt, slowly at first and then like maniacs as the goals went in at Boro
IF i remember rightly did George Gavin / Tony Butler send Bosko a crate of champagne the follwoing week?
The celebrations afterwards were unreal - i was one of those on top of the coaches and have never seen scenes like it
Great days that i feel due to nanny policing and us not being very good will never return - at least us older bugger can say "we were there"
I also remember my favourite song
"My eyes have seen the glory of the villa win the cup, 7 times we've won it and no one will catch us up...............
And at the time i never thought anyone would :(
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I love reading storys about our league title triumph it makes me so proud to be a Villa fan i just wish i would have been old enough to be there and witness us winning the league.
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Christ that was neary 30 years ago - lets hope I live long enough to see those days again.
UTV
dont hold your breath UTV
The backing is there. Just need a good manager and a bit of luck.
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Christ that was neary 30 years ago - lets hope I live long enough to see those days again.
UTV
I think myself lucky i was around to see it. I just hope the younger villa fans get to see such glory days. It was brilliant.
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A lot of us were there that day, got a coach from the back of Walsall train station after being able to blag a match ticket off my next door neighbour. Loads of kids on the coach were from the Blue Coat school including one who bizarrely supported Arsenal!
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A lot of us were there that day, got a coach from the back of Walsall train station after being able to blag a match ticket off my next door neighbour. Loads of kids on the coach were from the Blue Coat school including one who bizarrely supported Arsenal!
Cor, small world, I was at the Blue Coat school as a nipper til we moved to Harrogate when I was 13!
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(http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/3605/astonvilla1981.jpg) (http://img843.imageshack.us/i/astonvilla1981.jpg/)
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It was a surreal day for me and my mates. We got to New St with no travel organised and Andy Brown's 2 coaches were C Crew regulars only with the special trains utterly sold out. We were heading down to Digbeth when a 50 year old Arthur Daley lookalike asked us if we wanted to jump on his coach to London for a fiver. On we jumped, chuffed to bits at our luck.
The journey down was a claret and blue car / coach fest, with the hard shoulder the longest urinal in British motoring history as boozed up Villa fans ensured the neighbouring fields retained their greenness. We were dropped off near the ground to be told by Arthur Daley that the return would only be leaving the Green Man in Edgware Rd at closing time. I was at school in 6th form then and was raiding the piggy bank and working with my old man to afford footie and a few pints twice a week, so I had just about enough money left for a bag of chips and a can of pop to last me the whole day.
It was very hot and sunny before the game and the pubs and streets near the ground were overflowing with Villa fans. Surprisingly the (admittedly older) Arsenal fans who spoke to us were pretty friendly and thought we were the best team in the league and told us we would definitely win it. Oft neglected in reports of that day is the fact that Arsenal needed to win to qualify for the UEFA Cup so they were really up for it.
Entering the ground from the left side (of course) of the Clock End we bumped into Pele who for some strange reason was there that day. Why he was walking from the Clock End to the stand I have no idea. The atmosphere had been pretty lively but turned moody before kick off when loads of Arsenal came charging down the stand on the left looking for trouble. I actually felt for the kids who got stuck in to them and subsequently nicked, as they doubtless missed the most important Villa game in years, as well as probably copping a thumping fine too.
The game itself was hell on earth - the Villa seemed to freeze and play with lead in their boots and the 2 goals seemed to be conceded in slow motion. We were truly awful. At half time we were in the pits of despair and I felt as physically sick as I ever have done in my life with the Villa.
We all know that Bosko saved the day - just as well as we were never, ever going to trouble Arsenal ourselves. The rumours from blokes with radios did start to change the mood but I was convinced both that Ipswich would come back from the dead and that all the radio rumours were incorrect. That famous clock behind us went as slowly as any other in history, a record it was to hold until another clock in Rotterdam seemed broken for 26 minutes a year later.
The final whistle was as much relief as ecstasy. Within seconds thousands of Arsenal fans were on the pitch from the North Bank and the police managed to form a cordon. The atmosphere was very ugly as I reckon they were determined not to let us celebrate on their pitch, and without the police it would have been really nasty as Villa obviously had a fair number of nutters out that day. We got onto the pitch ourselves and picked up some turf but it all felt surreal - celebrating the title after our worst performance of the season.
We decided to head to Victoria to get a National Express back to Brum as none of us wanted to get home at 3 in the morning. Getting back to the tube was a battle as the cops stopped us going to Arsenal and pointed us to Finsbury Park where loads of Gooners were looking for Villa fans. The cops told us to shut our traps and we would be fine but there were only 5 of us and it got a bit hairy. Some kids from our estate were in the tube carriage next to ours and the Arsenal fans wandering around got in with them and one of the Pheasey lads was stabbed. We found out the next day he needed stitches but it was not too serious. We managed to get a coach back to Brum - my mates lent me the fare - and got back in time for 1 pint (thanks to my mates again) in the Pen and Wig in Dale End before 10.30 closing and the bus home. We were so mentally and physically exhausted that none of us could get up next morning to see the trophy at the Town Hall.
It truly was a strange way to win the league (and one hell of a day out) and I have always rued the lack of sheer elation and absolute adrenaline that should have come from our last title win. Satisfaction yes, but not 100% unrestrained joy. On the coach home we were talking as much about getting to Wembley as having won the league - none of us had been in 1977 due to family unemployment. We knew it was a great achievement but in comparison I have felt more elation after final wins. Not to worry: the unadulterated joy of Rotterdam a year later was the consummate example of what winning a trophy really felt like. Surely the future would always be like this....?
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great post Pat .Worthwhile looking again:
(http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy191/villan2010/aston-villa-fans-at-highbury-last-g.jpg)
Click on to enlarge.Ooer!
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great post Pat .Worthwhile looking again:
(http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy191/villan2010/aston-villa-fans-at-highbury-last-g.jpg)
Click on to enlarge.Ooer!
What a great picture, my dad went to Highbury and got back after midnight some how (he still isn't sure) and was out of his tree... come on Villa let's have more days like that!
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Great stuff Pat McM.
My own memories as a 16 year old on the day consist mainly of attempting to secure booze from any offy that would sell us some and trying to act hard outside Highbury.
Then 'Hell on the Clock End' as we gathered around anyone with a transistor radio as rumours of Bosco's heroics filtered through.
I seem to remember Peter Withe coming over at one point to ask what was happening as we were all celebrating Boro's second goal, it must have been surreal on the pitch being stuffed but potentially still winning the league.
The end of the match was a blur, I was near the front so had no choice but to go onto the pitch, I was just swept along, me and my mate just sheltered in the goalmouth punching each other and yelling "Yeeesssssssss" continuously.
Never did get our bus back, luckily my mate had a rich(ish) Dad so he stumped up the train fares.
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30 years since we won the league. Can't believe how old I feel just typing that.
Anything being done to commemortae this?
We had a good session in London a few years ago to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Rotterdam - in a Bavarian Bier keller in Old Street.
we had a great day WE SHOULD HAVE AN OPENTOP BUS CELEBRATION AROUND OUR CITY HA HA (with the banner hard luck arsenal)
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Cracking photo there, thanks a million for that.
And not a replica shirt in sight....