Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Villa Memories => Topic started by: Stu on April 18, 2011, 12:02:17 PM
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Not a 'memory' for me, 8 years before I was born but still, this footage makes my hair stand on end. You can sense the occasion, look at the crowd, its amazing.
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It's a memory for me! I was up the back of the Holte that day - what an atmosphere.
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I know of the game, but it was 11 years before I was born.
Can't watch youtube footage at work though :'(
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I think we had 48K+ in that day. A record for the 3rd division. I stood in the Trinity road terrace just behind the dug out. I always turned up at least 1 hour before the kick off to secure my position. We "killed" the high riding Bournemouth that day and went on to win the Championship.
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Love watching these old highlights of Villa games cheers Stu.
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Great stuff.
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Packed Holte End, fantastic noise and thanks for posting
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Fantastic day! Bournemouth had a pretty good side in those days and brought a fair following. They had a front two of Phil Boyer & Ted McDougall, ( who scored their great goal ), who went on to become the front two for Southampton in the 1st Div as far as I remember. This was one game where we actually did suck the ball into the net, no one could stop us and we were starting to really believe it
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State of the bloody pitch!
All a couple of years before my time.
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State of the bloody pitch!
All a couple of years before my time.
Great for cabbages that pitch!
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A great game with a fantastic atmosphere.
I seem to remember a similar encounter against Notts County with Don Masson.
Proves you dont need the CL sides to provide the memorable times (or perhaps its because Im an old grump!).
UTV
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A great game with a fantastic atmosphere.
I seem to remember a similar encounter against Notts County with Don Masson.
Proves you dont need the CL sides to provide the memorable times (or perhaps its because Im an old grump!).
UTV
That one is on the BBC official history video, our keeper had a crap game but ended up saving a penalty and won us the game!
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1971/72 is my favourite season, there many great games that season but this one topped the lot.
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1971/72 is my favourite season, there many great games that season but this one topped the lot.
Has to be up there for me too. I would love to see some footage of the last home game of that season. I cant for the life of me remember who the opposition were but we won the game 1-0 with Ian Ross chipping the keeper in front of 46,000+ We were allowed to take in flags and banners that night and I remember taking a couple of nose mates along who were in awe of the Holte End. A big crowd of us walked back into town that night along the yet to be opened Expressway! Happy days
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I would love to see some footage of the last home game of that season. I cant for the life of me remember who the opposition were but we won the game 1-0 with Ian Ross chipping the keeper in front of 46,000+
It was Chesterfield.
Chesterfield was of course where the 3rd division adventure started on a sunny afternoon in August 1970.
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Thanks Andy, been bugging me for ages!
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Thanks Andy, been bugging me for ages!
Thanks for clearing that one up, gents. My abiding memory was of the 5-1 v Torquay where - if I remember correctly of course - Andy Lochhead received the Evening Mail Midlands player of the year award before kick off and I think Brian Little made his debut. I thought that may have been the final game of the season, but maybe it was the first home game after clinching promotion at Bradford the week before. It certainly was a special day in my memory. I seem to remember a crowd of 46k too, but again I was only a nipper so may be wrong.
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5-1 v Torquay, was also my 1st game.
I think they might have had Dick Edwards playing for them that day.
Sat in Witton Lane seats,
Proper kit, great atmosphere I thought it would be like that every week.
I can remember waiting to watch the Bournemouth game on MOTD, only for a power cut to cause a black-out, well it was 1972, power cuts , strikes, ricketts etc.
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Thanks for clearing that one up, gents. My abiding memory was of the 5-1 v Torquay where - if I remember correctly of course - Andy Lochhead received the Evening Mail Midlands player of the year award before kick off and I think Brian Little made his debut. I thought that may have been the final game of the season, but maybe it was the first home game after clinching promotion at Bradford the week before. It certainly was a special day in my memory. I seem to remember a crowd of 46k too, but again I was only a nipper so may be wrong.
The game that clinched promotion was on a freezing Monday night at Mansfield - the wind was blowing off the moors straight into our stand - and the Torquay game, when we became champions, was the following Saturday. Like you, I'd always thought that the Torquay game was Sir Brian's debut, but it appears from the Complete Record that he came on as a sub against Blackburn earlier in the season.
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A great game with a fantastic atmosphere.
I seem to remember a similar encounter against Notts County with Don Masson.
Proves you dont need the CL sides to provide the memorable times (or perhaps its because Im an old grump!).
UTV
That one is on the BBC official history video, our keeper had a crap game but ended up saving a penalty and won us the game!
I was at that game too, with my dad in the Trinity enclosure. If I remember correctly there were around 34,000 there that day and Notts County should have won. Tommy Hughes was in goal - this is my sole memory of him playing for us - and he was utter tripe, but somehow managed to save a penalty from Don Masson (later to play for Scotland). It was one of those handballs that would have merited a direct red card today. We scored at the Witton End - I think Ray Graydon nabbed it and I remember we were on the box that night where Barry Davies commented on the fact that Tommy Hughes had done nothing right all day and earned the points with his penalty save.
Villa being on the box was a fairly rare treat in those days so it meant that I savoured the memories and commentary in my head for days, and as a special bonus I got to stay up till 11 when my dad brought home chips after the pubs closed! Oh happy days...
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The Notts County home game was Tommy Hughes's final appearance in a Villa jersey, but the writing was already on the wall for him. I saw him have a stinker a couple of weeks earlier when we were knocked out in the 1st round of the FA Cup at 4th division Southend. I dont recall if he was at fault for the goals, but the game in between that was a 4-4 draw at Port Vale.
His place between the sticks was taken by big Jim Cumbes who debuted in the 6-0 win away to Oldham and he didnt miss a game for 2 1/2 seasons , we never looked back.
For the record, the attendances for the games mentioned were Notts County 37,462, Bournemouth 48,110, Torquay 37,582, Chesterfield 45,586.
Other notable attendances that season Walsall 45,953, Bristol Rovers 41,518,
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The Notts County home game was Tommy Hughes's final appearance in a Villa jersey, but the writing was already on the wall for him. I saw him have a stinker a couple of weeks earlier when we were knocked out in the 1st round of the FA Cup at 4th division Southend. I dont recall if he was at fault for the goals, but the game in between that was a 4-4 draw at Port Vale.
His place between the sticks was taken by big Jim Cumbes who debuted in the 6-0 win away to Oldham and he didnt miss a game for 2 1/2 seasons , we never looked back.
Yep, he had a mare at Port Vale - a game we should have won comfortably. He looked like his confidence had been shot after the game at Southend. Old juggling Jim was the final piece of the jigsaw for that team in much the same way as Peter Withe was for the championship winning team
For the record, the attendances for the games mentioned were Notts County 37,462, Bournemouth 48,110, Torquay 37,582, Chesterfield 45,586.
Other notable attendances that season Walsall 45,953, Bristol Rovers 41,518,
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The Notts County home game was Tommy Hughes's final appearance in a Villa jersey, but the writing was already on the wall for him. I saw him have a stinker a couple of weeks earlier when we were knocked out in the 1st round of the FA Cup at 4th division Southend. I dont recall if he was at fault for the goals, but the game in between that was a 4-4 draw at Port Vale.
His place between the sticks was taken by big Jim Cumbes who debuted in the 6-0 win away to Oldham and he didnt miss a game for 2 1/2 seasons , we never looked back.
For the record, the attendances for the games mentioned were Notts County 37,462, Bournemouth 48,110, Torquay 37,582, Chesterfield 45,586.
Other notable attendances that season Walsall 45,953, Bristol Rovers 41,518,
Cheers Andy. Even now, I remember that as a special season. I was at the Walsall snooze fest with 46,000 others but I honestly thought the Torquay crowd was nearly as big. I remember it being awful weather and the pitch was a mudheap, but I thought our final Saturday match of the season was close to capacity.
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The Notts County home game was Tommy Hughes's final appearance in a Villa jersey, but the writing was already on the wall for him. I saw him have a stinker a couple of weeks earlier when we were knocked out in the 1st round of the FA Cup at 4th division Southend. I dont recall if he was at fault for the goals, but the game in between that was a 4-4 draw at Port Vale.
His place between the sticks was taken by big Jim Cumbes who debuted in the 6-0 win away to Oldham and he didnt miss a game for 2 1/2 seasons , we never looked back.
For the record, the attendances for the games mentioned were Notts County 37,462, Bournemouth 48,110, Torquay 37,582, Chesterfield 45,586.
Other notable attendances that season Walsall 45,953, Bristol Rovers 41,518,
Cheers Andy. Even now, I remember that as a special season. I was at the Walsall snooze fest with 46,000 others but I honestly thought the Torquay crowd was nearly as big. I remember it being awful weather and the pitch was a mudheap, but I thought our final Saturday match of the season was close to capacity.
Tommy Hughes was awful in the Notts County game, but ended up saving Don Masson's penalty to earn us the 1-0 win, but he was becoming a liability.
You're right, in the game before he had a nightmare in a 4-4 draw at Port Vale, and then we were knocked out of the FA Cup in the first round by Southend which forced Vic Crowe to act, Cumbes signed and you can't get a better debut than 6-0 away from home against Oldham !
After that we never looked back and the Championship was in the bag.
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Bournemouth game was the one where the posh buggars in the Trinity started a slow banging of the old wooden ( so much better than plastic) seats then to the same slow rythm VI- LLA , VI- LLA....
We picked it up in the Holte until the whole ground was at it for ages. The players were looking up in awe and I am sure it won us the game. Incredible atmosphere.
btw nice touch, when McDougal got the diving header the Holte applauded him back to the centre circle.
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Bournemouth game was the one where the posh buggars in the Trinity started a slow banging of the old wooden ( so much better than plastic) seats then to the same slow rythm VI- LLA , VI- LLA....
We picked it up in the Holte until the whole ground was at it for ages. The players were looking up in awe and I am sure it won us the game. Incredible atmosphere.
btw nice touch, when McDougal got the diving header the Holte applauded him back to the centre circle.
Posh buggers - bloody cheek! I've always been proud of the fact that I scraped the money together for my first season ticket in the Trinity the year we were relegated to the Third Division - and I think you'll find that the noise us posh buggers made that day was by stamping our feet on the wooden floorboards. It really made a deafeningly awesome sound.
I also remember applauding Ted McDougal's spectacular goal, as very many other Villa supporters in the ground did. Don't think that sort of thing is allowed today is it?
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You are right it was stamping ( you posh buggars had shoes....) . Forgot - I mean, wooden floors seems so strange now but I did see a few standing and banging the seats.
I have also spent many a happy game in the old Trinity. Drinking Bovril out of the best china with my little finger in the air. :) In fact my first games were sitting there when my uncle took me at age about seven.
I loved that stand.
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You are right it was stamping ( you posh buggars had shoes....) . Forgot - I mean, wooden floors seems so strange now but I did see a few standing and banging the seats.
I have also spent many a happy game in the old Trinity. Drinking Bovril out of the best china with my little finger in the air. :) In fact my first games were sitting there when my uncle took me at age about seven.
I loved that stand.
Now who's the posh bugger? I had to stand in the Witton Lane lower with my old man when I was about seven. I was well into my 20's before I set foot in the Trinity.
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I was a posh bugger in the Trinity seats as I was for all the home games that season, 14 years old sitting with my Mom and Dad. Went to all the away games apart from one, if my Mom and Dad went it was in the seats otherwise I would go with my older brother and have a chance to sample the terracing at places such as Oldham, Shrewsbury, Rochdale.
I think it was the next season I escaped to the Holte End, lost the plum in my mouth and developed a brummie accent.
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I was in the Witton Lane Stand with my Dad. What surprised me was that it had only been built for about 6/7 years for the 1966 World Cup and it already seemed pretty crap and rabbit hutch-ish. I remember watching Boyer and MacDougal in the first few mins and being a bit worried cos they seemed to have great movement and understanding. However the banging of the seats was awesome and it was a fantastic day all round in the end. Off to watch YouTube clip now.
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Just watched it. Whoever said it was spine tingling was right. Wasn't the Bournemouth winger who crossed the ball for the diving header Tony Scott who had left Villa a few years earlier. He and Johnny MacLeod were the wingers who always sought to stick the ball on Tony Hateleys head when he was more or less our only source of goals. The old joke used to be that if Hateley took a penalty, he'd head it.
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Here's my cup again:
(http://img123.yfrog.com/img123/717/snc10473vs5.jpg)
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I would love to see some footage of the last home game of that season. I cant for the life of me remember who the opposition were but we won the game 1-0 with Ian Ross chipping the keeper in front of 46,000+
It was Chesterfield.
Chesterfield was of course where the 3rd division adventure started on a sunny afternoon in August 1970.
I think that final Chesterfield game was on a Friday night (before the Cup Final- Leeds v Arsenal???). I had a vague idea that later night there was a reception to celebrate the Div 3 Championship, attended by most of the players, at the Top Rank but surely that wasn't on a match night, maybe it was a week or so later.
First the short-term memory goes, then the long-term.................
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Another resurrected post:
Jeff Farmer article of the time:
Nowhere in the world is there a crowd more totally committed in its support, more emotionally involved in the future of a club.
As commentator Barry Davies gasped: 'Just listen to that crowd', television did its best to capture the atmosphere. But to appreciate the full effect you simply had to be there.
I asked goalkeeper Jimmy Cumbes, a Villa newcomer 11 days ago to talk us through it.
'INCREDIBLE - that's the only word for it', said Cumbes.
'I have played at all the big First Division grounds for Albion. I've heard the Liverpool Kop and Old Trafford's Stretford End in full cry, and faced 64,000 at Everton the night they won the championship. But nothing, absolutely nothing, compares with Villa Park today. With less than 20 minutes left, the crowd willed us to get the equaliser and once Geoff Vowden had put us level, it was inevitable they would lift us to a winner. The three minutes between our two goals were almost frightening. There was no point in players shouting to each other, because we could not make ourselves heard. Andy Lochhead's winning goal came just as if all 48,000 of them were down on the pitch with us. When the winner went in it was a vital goal for Villa, but somehow it was the crowd you really felt overjoyed for. Quite honestly, I've never experienced a day like it.'
I think that says it all. The Holte End, although standing, had a much smaller roof, the Witton Lane was very small, the Witton End was open and the Trinity was as we knew and loved it. There is no reason why we can't make a lot more noise with the stands as they are today - but we don't. It would be great if we could. We cannot live on our memories for ever, enjoyable as it is.
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The three minutes between our two goals were almost frightening. (The crowd were so loud).
Andy Lochhead's winning goal came just as if all 48,000 of them were down on the pitch with us.
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Wasn't the Bournemouth winger who crossed the ball for the diving header Tony Scott who had left Villa a few years earlier.
I'm not sure that I was ever aware of this, or if I was I had forgotten, so I checked Wiki and he did indeed play for Bournemouth, signing in July 1970, making 61 appearances.
Typical really, I never rated him at Villa, so he comes back and provides the cross for one of the most spectacular goals ever scored against us at Villa Park.
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Cheers E I Adio for confirming Tony Scott. I was like you in that he never rocked my boat but he played in the first Villa game I ever saw. We played Sheffield Wednesday in 65 ish at VP and in true Hovis advert style my Dad lifted me over the turnstile and bunged the gatekeeper a few farthings. We won 2 nil or 2 one and I was Villa from that day forward. I reckon the only survivor from 65 to the Bournemouth game would have been Charlie Aitken.
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I reckon the only survivor from 65 to the Bournemouth game would have been Charlie Aitken.
And who survived from the 1970 League Cup Semi Final second leg to the European Cup Final in 1982?
Not necessarily on the same side.
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I reckon the only survivor from 65 to the Bournemouth game would have been Charlie Aitken.
And who survived from the 1970 League Cup Semi Final second leg to the European Cup Final in 1982?
Not necessarily on the same side.
Jimmy Rimmer
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I remember Tony Scott well,we signed him from West Ham i belive. Only player i have ever seen who finished a game with his shorts as clean as they were when he started.
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I remember joining the end of the queue near the Holte pub to get in the Holte end at around 2 30 pm. Hard to belive as it was after all a 3rd division game.Think i am right in saying it was the main match on MOTD
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One of the best atmospheres at any Villa match I've ever been to.
Listen to the crowd singing "Villa..Villa" as big George Curtis hoofs the ball for Andy to score the winning goal...amazing.
And what a pitch, cut up like a ploughed field and heavily sanded goalmouths, the players of today would refuse to play on it !
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I would love to see some footage of the last home game of that season. I cant for the life of me remember who the opposition were but we won the game 1-0 with Ian Ross chipping the keeper in front of 46,000+
That's right BerI would love to see some footage of the last home game of that season. I cant for the life of me remember who the opposition were but we won the game 1-0 with Ian Ross chipping the keeper in front of 46,000+
It was Chesterfield.
Chesterfield was of course where the 3rd division adventure started on a sunny afternoon in August 1970.
I think that final Chesterfield game was on a Friday night (before the Cup Final- Leeds v Arsenal???). I had a vague idea that later night there was a reception to celebrate the Div 3 Championship, attended by most of the players, at the Top Rank but surely that wasn't on a match night, maybe it was a week or so later.
First the short-term memory goes, then the long-term.................
It was Chesterfield.
Chesterfield was of course where the 3rd division adventure started on a sunny afternoon in August 1970.
I think that final Chesterfield game was on a Friday night (before the Cup Final- Leeds v Arsenal???). I had a vague idea that later night there was a reception to celebrate the Div 3 Championship, attended by most of the players, at the Top Rank but surely that wasn't on a match night, maybe it was a week or so later.
First the short-term memory goes, then the long-term.................
That's right Bernie, your memory ain't going !
It was a Friday night and Geoff Vowden's shot was saved ...Ross chipped the goalkeeper and it ended 1-0 but should have been many more.
Villa's players were presented on the pitch with medals and Len Shipman, the then President of the Football League, presented Bruce Rioch with the trophy and the players kicked hundreds of footballs into the crowd...I know cos I've still got one !
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(http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/7708/photosem.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/683/photosem.png/)
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The atmosphere at this game has only been equalled once (the League Cup 2nd leg re Tranmere 1994). The 70s was a never to be equalled decade in our recent history. I took it all for granted at the time but we rose from the 3rd division to League champions in only 10 years and I thought football would always be this good.
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The atmosphere at this game has only been equalled once (the League Cup 2nd leg re Tranmere 1994). The 70s was a never to be equalled decade in our recent history. I took it all for granted at the time but we rose from the 3rd division to League champions in only 10 years and I thought football would always be this good.
Yes I know, which is what has made the last 30 years so fucking frustrating.