Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Dave Clark Five on August 20, 2011, 03:55:38 AM
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http://www.adifferentleague.co.uk/s5_2_1_villa-park.html (http://www.adifferentleague.co.uk/s5_2_1_villa-park.html)
The first match was a friendly against .... Blackburn!
“About Villa Park itself hung an aura that seems almost to be visible. Most certainly it is there to be felt and I know of no other ground that has the same effect on one. Almost it seems to be peopled by ghosts – amiable ghosts whose job it is to breathe the great Villa spirit into generation after generation of ambitious youngsters who pass through the great gates to achieve a life's ambition; to wear the famous claret and blue of the great club”
Billy Walker – Soccer in the Blood -
That has just sent a tingle up my spine.
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The article mentions Archibald Leitch. The man responsible for so much that was great about the grounds of old.
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Whenever you hear/read about what other people thought of the Trinty Road Stand it makes my blood boil all over again. You can criticise and argue for and against many things about HD Ellis' tenure but for me the destruction of that beautiful stand is unforgivable.
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Being a fan of Victorian railway architecture I think the piece from The Times describing Villa Park as the St. Pancras of football stadiums is superb. It really was a sad day in our history when the facade of the Trinity was consigned to a pile of rubble.
I'm sure that in these times of whole buildings being taken apart and then put back together, that the facade could have been taken down and then rebuilt as the front of the new stand.
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The feeling I have on the morning of the first home match of the season is unlike any other sensation, it is a unique and wonderful feeling.
I can hardly wait to take that walk up Witton Lane towards the Holte End and then the climb up to my seat in the Witton and my first site of the pitch.
I have seen extraordinary things happen at Villa Park. Today, on the first day back, I am able to suspend belief and convince myself that anything is possible for 11 Villa men in that magical stadium. We could be top of the league by 5 o'clock and never look back :-)
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Whenever you hear/read about what other people thought of the Trinty Road Stand it makes my blood boil all over again. You can criticise and argue for and against many things about HD Ellis' tenure but for me the destruction of that beautiful stand is unforgivable.
I agree. Seeing pictures of Craven Cottage these days, their old main stand and so on, makes it an even more bitter pill to swallow. The old football stadia, when developed with genuine sympathy, can work very well in the modern game. The old Trinity was just so unique and a million times better - for me - than the new generation of stadia that are emerging. It's a real, genuine shame that we lost it. The crazy thing is that the obvious stand that needed redeveloping was the North Stand.
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Whenever you hear/read about what other people thought of the Trinty Road Stand it makes my blood boil all over again. You can criticise and argue for and against many things about HD Ellis' tenure but for me the destruction of that beautiful stand is unforgivable.
I couldn't agree more.
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Here's a couple of links for chaps interested in old stadia
http://www.oldgrounds.co.uk/trinity_road_stand_villa_park.htm
http://www.1882qpr.com/forum/topic/106
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Over ten years on and it still makes me shake my head. What were they thinking in knocking down the finest example of sporting architecture in the world and replacing it with a corrugated steel shed.
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I have seen extraordinary things happen at Villa Park. Today, on the first day back, I am able to suspend belief and convince myself that anything is possible
Like Martin O'Neill was the son of God?
Sorry, couldn't resist.
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Whenever I walk Down Trinity road and realise that stand is not there it still pulls a sense of grief. It was an act of vandilism and I will never forgive Doug for pulling it down.
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Something should be done with the facade of the new Trinity, to think the best stand in English, no, European, World football was pulled down for something that makes the Doug Ellis Stand look elegant is a flippin' disgrace!
A face-lift for the Trinity should be a priority and more important than a New North Stand even.
As for Villa Park, it's special. I remember when I first heard the words 'Villa Park' on tv as a very young boy. Even then I knew it was an incredible place. There's just something beautiful about our stadium. It is no surprise so many other supporters list it as one of their favourite grounds.
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The feeling I have on the morning of the first home match of the season is unlike any other sensation, it is a unique and wonderful feeling.
I can hardly wait to take that walk up Witton Lane towards the Holte End and then the climb up to my seat in the Witton and my first site of the pitch.
I have seen extraordinary things happen at Villa Park. Today, on the first day back, I am able to suspend belief and convince myself that anything is possible for 11 Villa men in that magical stadium. We could be top of the league by 5 o'clock and never look back :-)
Oh yes.
I'm off on my hols,I expect you lot to keep them up there until I get back.
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Whenever you hear/read about what other people thought of the Trinty Road Stand it makes my blood boil all over again. You can criticise and argue for and against many things about HD Ellis' tenure but for me the destruction of that beautiful stand is unforgivable.
I couldn't agree more.
Disagree here, the New Trinity is superb - by far our best Stand.
It's the one to the left and the one opposite that I'm not too fond of, the North Stand is a total carbuncle.
Love VP mind, it's still a great ground and to give RL credit, he's kept the back of the Holte looking VERY much like the old Trinity.
Just wish we could fill the place ...
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The new ground opened in 1897 at cost of £16,400. Anyone got an idea what £16,400 would be in todays money.
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“About Villa Park itself hung an aura that seems almost to be visible. Most certainly it is there to be felt and I know of no other ground that has the same effect on one. Almost it seems to be peopled by ghosts – amiable ghosts whose job it is to breathe the great Villa spirit into generation after generation of ambitious youngsters who pass through the great gates to achieve a life's ambition; to wear the famous claret and blue of the great club”
Billy Walker – Soccer in the Blood -
That has just sent a tingle up my spine.
On the subject of ghosts, perhaps it's time to bring this piece out again:
The door to the lavishly appointed Guest Room at Villa Park was open and out in the corridor the little boys, dodging the commissionaire, were calling for Brian Little and John Gidman. Quite rightly, they took no notice of myself and the elderly bald-headed man, bespectacled, stooping a little, who was quietly finishing his tea. He looked at them for a moment, a whimsical look, and moved to the long windows overlooking the now deserted playing pitch.
“Every time you come back here it must bring back memories Pongo” I said. He stared out for a long while. I thought he’d forgotten I was there. “Aye,” he said suddenly, “aye, they’re a great club…the greatest.” I stood and looked with him, this old man whose goals had set the Villa crowds roaring so long ago. It was not quite dusk on that March afternoon and I saw them too…they were out again, the old ghosts…Jack Hughes, scorer just about one hundred years earlier of Aston Villa’s first goal (perhaps to the very day)…George Ramsay…the Hunter brothers…Willie McGregor…Denny Hodgetts…legion upon legion of them on parade now, filling the field with claret and blue…the century with pride.
Peter Morris: “Aston Villa – the First 100 Years”
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If you come via the Barton's the first sight of the Trinity -in the distance like Mecca- was always a bit special.
Now it's just an eyesore. I took two pals to VP last season -one Everton and one Liverpool- and they both said similar.
As a working building the new Trinity is not terrible, even if it isn't particularly aesthetically pleasing . It has all the modern facilities and so forth. But it is dull and functional. A bit like the latter years of Herbert's tenure, in fact.
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The new ground opened in 1897 at cost of £16,400. Anyone got an idea what £16,400 would be in todays money.
Somewhere between £1.5 million and just shy of £15 million, depending how you calculate it. I'm surprised.
www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/
I suppose labour costs were a fraction of what they would be now, and losing a few navvies in the process wouldn't have been the end of the world either.