Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Villa Memories => Topic started by: BegbieAV on April 04, 2012, 10:28:41 PM
-
Other than relegation, what was the worst news you have had as a Villa fan ? Mine was when we sold Andy Gray to Wolves it seemed like it was the end of the world !!
-
I've changed the title of this as the original would have given people heart attacks.
Also moved to Memories.
-
Unsure, but Yorke going was pretty hard to take as a 9 year old.
-
Two in about five minutes once.
First, being told Steve Bruce had for equalised for Manchester United in the 12th minute of injury time against Sheffield Wednesday.
Secondly, being announced over the tannoy that Steve Bruce had scored again for Manchester United in the 18th minute of inury time against Sheffield Wedensday.
We laboured to a nil nil draw against Coventry and from that point on you knew the title was gone.
I bet that's when Fergie time first reared it's ugly head.
-
Agreed on the Yorke thing there, JJ!
To be honest, the Petrov thing has got to be right up there for me. Very hard to take.
-
Media reports that Villa were about approach Birmingham City manager Alex MCleish about the vacant manager position.
-
Being told that Man United had brought Dwight Yorke of us is definitely up there, along with perhaps the news that we'd sold Gareth Barry to Manchester City.
Honestly though, I really have to include finding out the news that Petrov had Leukemia, it's probably the first time for me that something like that has happened to one of our boys, and for it to be the captain - and perhaps my most loved player of the current squad, just absolutely broke my heart. I don't think I could even talk for a few minutes after Sky Sports news started reporting it.
-
Yorke going to manure. If felt like we where on the verge of something and that set us back and he went onto help them win the league and champions league. It actually still fecks me off.
Mcleish getting the villa Job would be another.
-
The news about Stan just shows how trivial football really is.
-
The news about Stan just shows how trivial football really is.
I'd take relegation with a smile on my face if it meant reversing Stan's illness.
-
Yorke. Losing Ash was pretty hard to take though, seemed to signal the end of any ambition Lerner had.
-
Phil Dowd being announced as the Carling cup final referee, sickening.
-
Media reports that Villa were about approach Birmingham City manager Alex MCleish about the vacant manager position.
This
-
O'Neill leaving for me. Although our progress wasn't entirely down to him, he very much symbolized 'proud history bright future' image and when he resigned, so close to the season beginning it seemed to confirm that we'd missed the boat and that the opportunity to compete with the big boys was gone for the forseeable future.
-
I thought Cowans breaking his leg on a pre season tour was particularly heart breaking. I seem to remember footage of him calling for a stretcher whilst holding his leg. Did I imagine that?
-
Platt being sold. Along with McGrath, my favourite players growing up and I was gutted we sold him.
Of course, with age I later learned he was a prick and shouldn't have worried myself.
-
O'Neill leaving for me.
Funny, that would be in my "Biggest twat of all time" thread.
Worst news: has to be Petrov. Puts everything else into perspective.
-
I was disappointed as anyone when we appointed McLeish, I also remember as a youngster being gutted when Yorkie left but now that I'm older I accept that footballers leave. So, I have to say Petrov's illness. There was no impotent rage, it was just an emotionally draining piece of news.
-
(My very first post on H&V as I'm usually just a lurker who loves to read but I felt I had to contribute here)
For myself, of the younger generation, it has to be seeing Martin Laursen have to retire that was my worst Villa moment. It's very close run with Stan's news, of which I am genuinely gutted, but Laursen was my generation's McGrath (of which I can only imagine how good he was to watch) and to see him have to bow out was heart wrenching. To see him have to do so whilst being shouted down by those bar-codes was infuriating. A true villain to the core.
-
Yorke leaving was th first or me, then Laursen retiring followed by mon leaving. The worst news by far though is stan, as other posters have said that news puts everything into perspective
-
until recently, been few, Little's retirement, cropley's broken legs, macca's boozy demise and the start of THAT fucking song... but nothing has gotten me as low as stan's illness since the passing of Birchy {RIP}.
non Villa related, been 'touched and upset' by the deaths of normal folks dying playing football.... first the young lad in staffordshire a few months ago really got to me... then the dad from devon last weekend... the beautiful game has become a bitch lately. :'(
-
I have to agree the Petrov thing has been so shocking to hear and you feel for his family and friends and seeing the footage of him at the weekend was very emotional.
Also losing Yorke was heartbreaking and seeing him play in a shirt that was not claret was hard to take.
-
For some reason I was at Villa Park not long after a seasons end (probably sorting out my next season ticket). I can only assume I had approached the ground from Witton island direction. I was inside the the North Stand reception area, it was very quiet so I was having a good look round and was able to get into one of the executive boxes just to have a look out at the stadium. We all knew a new stand was going up but as I looked to my right at the pitiful site of a half demolished beauty - the roof was down half way along with the gable and Villa crest just hanging down amongst twisted metal and piles of dusty old red bricks - I was still shocked and my heart sank.
-
News that Brian Little had agreed to sign for small heath followed by Andy Gray going to Wolves for me. I regard the Petrov thing as separate to anything else due to it's seriousness on another level
-
News that Brian Little had agreed to sign for small heath followed by Andy Gray going to Wolves for me. I regard the Petrov thing as separate to anything else due to it's seriousness on another level
Well said. I dont think anyone further needs to reitterate that the current situation is a world away from a player leaving and every villa fan would put this above anything else. To exhume(?) people from guilt and for the purpose of ths thread, worst news WITHOUT THE PETROV NEWS I would say Martin Laursen announcing his retirement. I felt he still had so much to offer - heading ability and positional awareness dont fade much with time and I felt if he could have kept him fit he would have been one of those players who could have done a job for us upto the age of 35-36 without standards really dropping...
-
I thought Cowans breaking his leg on a pre season tour was particularly heart breaking. I seem to remember footage of him calling for a stretcher whilst holding his leg. Did I imagine that?
This.
And Andy Gray being sold to Wolves.
-
Two years after Andy Gray left we won the League and the following season ruled Europe.
Since Dwight Yorke left we have won nothing and never finished above 6th place.
-
When we don't win.
-
Ron Saunders quiting! Absolute agony! And then going over to the Sty!
-
The Trinity Road stand one of the most historic in the world of football being dismantled.In my eyes a conservation order should have placed on it. I personally had another part of the beating heart of Aston Villa taken away from me by those in charge of the club.
-
1996............. "do you want to go watch Villa ?"
My mate said that his lad didn't want to go to football that day and if I wanted to go watch Villa play, we could upgrade the Season Ticket to an adult seat.
I'd never been to a professional football match so I said yes. Imagine the money and mental anguish that I'd have saved if I'd said no.
-
Ron Saunders quiting! Absolute agony! And then going over to the Sty!
He did a good job there though and at West Brom....
-
O'Neill leaving for me. Although our progress wasn't entirely down to him, he very much symbolized 'proud history bright future' image and when he resigned, so close to the season beginning it seemed to confirm that we'd missed the boat and that the opportunity to compete with the big boys was gone for the forseeable future.
Same here. Whatever the reasons behind his departure, my first thought was that we would "rue the day" that MON left the football club. I just felt that we would go backwards, but I never thought it would pan out the way it has.
-
The news about Stan just shows how trivial football really is.
Totally agree.
Until a week ago I could have made a top 10 list, but, then you hear about Stan and you think "Does it really matter?"
-
A lot of what has already been mentioned, but also signing John Fashanu. Proof positive that Big Ron had lost the plot.
-
Hearing of Ron Saunders departure
-
A lot of what has already been mentioned, but also signing John Fashanu. Proof positive that Big Ron had lost the plot.
Of course the past week has been terrible for the club,but when we signed Fash,I wrote a letter to the club claiming we've been made a laughing stock,vowing not to go back.Though things are as bad now,maybe as I'm older,I have a resigned acceptance that were no good.
When Little left as manager,I missed the next two games in disgust at the appointment of Gregory.
-
1996............. "do you want to go watch Villa ?"
My mate said that his lad didn't want to go to football that day and if I wanted to go watch Villa play, we could upgrade the Season Ticket to an adult seat.
I'd never been to a professional football match so I said yes. Imagine the money and mental anguish that I'd have saved if I'd said no.
Doesn't count. Worst news as a Villa fan.
-
My first real heartbreak as a young fan was when I discovered that Tony Morley was leaving to join West Brom in late 83, along with Ken McNaught who had left just before it was the beginning of the break-up of that great side.
-
When we don't win.
Bloody hell I hope you're on a suicide watch.
-
Stan aside it has to be Yorke going to ManU. Even though I was prepared for it and witnessed his unofficial farewell gestures at the end of the game at Sheff Wed actually hearing he'd been sold to our then rivals was a very bitter pill to swallow.
-
It's got to be Stan Petrov's illness.
-
Stan aside and restricted to football matters:-
Signing Ray Houghton - never liked him at Liverpool, never liked him at Villa, don't like him as a pundit
Signing Fashanu - why, just why?
Selling Gerry Hitchens - one of my two heroes, along with Peter McParland. How could they break the heart of a 9/10 year old like that?
-
I was gutted when we sold Andy Gray to Wolves and even more gutted when we sold Tony Morley to Albion. It was the same when Ron Saunders and Martin O'Neill quit. But the absolute worst for me was when it was confirmed Sir Graham was leaving for the England job.
-
But the absolute worst for me was when it was confirmed Sir Graham was leaving for the England job.
Somewhere in a parallel internet universe exists an England supporters fan site, with a memories section, and a thread entitled `Worst news as an England fan?.`
" But the absolute worst for me was when it was confirmed Graham Taylor was leaving the Villa job."
-
Petrov's illness just about proves the irrelevance of football
Losing Mellberg, Milner, Ash and Laursen was hard to take
Some of the games this year have been shocking enough, in fact I'd say this is the worst season in my time...
-
Probably the announcement of Paul Birch's death.
Was about my 2nd/3rd season as a young season ticket holder when Birchy started to came through the ranks at VP, so we kind of grew up together at the Villa around the same time , him as a player & me as a regular on the terraces .
Was truely gutted the day he passed on , was like losing a good friend even tho id only actually met him a couple of times
How we could do with one or two Birch's in the side now .
-
Yorke again. At the time I was surrounded by West Brom fans and Glory hunting Man U and was about 12. Also, when Brian Little quit.
-
Ron Saunders quitting
Cowans - leg break
Nilis - leg break
Yorke going to Man Utd
Milner leaving (we still havn't recovered from that)
Petrov illness
I'm sure there are others if I thought about it longer.
-
Ron Saunders leaving
-
Ron Saunders leaving
This had more shock value for me as a young man than when MON bailed out.
Sir Ron had steered us from the 2nd Division to Wembley twice (eventually winning 2 trophies) and then onto the First Division Championship - how could this happen!
Two weeks later was just bizarre...
-
Mine is a selfish one: coming home from school in February 1977 to be met by my unemployed dad telling me Villa had sold out of tickets for the Wembley final v Everton.
We had been to every game except the Rangers and EIntracht Frankfurt friendlies and had all the programme vouchers for the matches we attended. He could have got tickets on the first or second day if he had kept the vouchers to himself but we split them 50:50 and I was scavenging from mates at school, but too slow to make the cut.
My dad had been out of work for a while but had promised he would find the money if I could get the vouchers. I vowed not to miss Villa at Wembley again, and have seen all our subsequent games, except for the 2010 final when flight plus black market ticket cost prevented me from getting there.
Non-selfish would be Saunders and MON leaving. Though I always thought that if Saunders had stayed we would not have gone on to win the European Cup, given our form that year.
-
Realising Gary Shaw was never going to get over that injury and return to being the player he was. And of course the Stan news.
-
Burger King taking the Mushroom Double Swiss of the menu, Devastated!!
-
I'm going to pick an unusual one. Those selected so far are quite obvious and those that lived through did cause me pain too.
I actually took our failure to sign Juninho quite badly. I would have been 12 at the time and really felt that he was going to be the final piece of the jigsaw. Looking back, it probably would have been hard to accommodate him and Merson. Yet, at the time it seemed like we had got our hopes up only to be left disappointed. Aside from that, losing Yorke and Ashley Young were hammer blows. On a personal level I was sad when Andy Townsend departed and gutted when Bosnich signed for United.
Stan's news last Friday left me numb for a couple of hours. I haven't been able to write a post that expressed the feelings I have for our club captain. I think he's been our unsung hero for a few years and a top person to boot. He's been the one consistent person since the day MON walked out on us and I feel he has been the main leader since that day.
-
Most have already been covered however hearing that Bruce Rioch was joining Derby County to further his career
was a major blow.
-
Bruce Rioch's transfer to Derby County. Brian resigning as our manager. Stan' illness.
-
Ron Saunders quitting
Cowans - leg break
Nilis - leg break
Yorke going to Man Utd
Milner leaving (we still havn't recovered from that)
Petrov illness
I'm sure there are others if I thought about it longer.
Add Alex Cropley breaking his leg against those C*"ting Boggies and you're there.
Apart from Stan and the news from last week of course (but that is a different playing field).
-
Another vote for the news that Ron Saunders' was leaving. If I remember rightly he left early in the week; we had a mid-week game in which Ron's praises were sung by the shocked Holte End. By the Saturday he was on his way to SHA, his name was still sung but not in such complimentary terms.
Anyway that season didn't finish too badly
-
Has anyone else noticed the worst moments thread is twice as long as the best moments thread?! Would this have been the case a couple of years ago? Are we all so pissed off we just want to wallow in pity past and present now?
-
Has anyone else noticed the worst moments thread is twice as long as the best moments thread?! Would this have been the case a couple of years ago? Are we all so pissed off we just want to wallow in pity past and present now?
The worst moments thread was started first, it will even up.
In fact when things are bad I think people are more likely to turn to the memories section and remember the good old days.
I've been supporting the Villa for something like 16,500 days and love this section to recall the 15 or so good ones. ???
-
Has anyone else noticed the worst moments thread is twice as long as the best moments thread?! Would this have been the case a couple of years ago? Are we all so pissed off we just want to wallow in pity past and present now?
The worst moments thread was started first, it will even up.
In fact when things are bad I think people are more likely to turn to the memories section and remember the good old days.
I've been supporting the Villa for something like 16,500 days and love this section to recall the 15 or so good ones. ???
Phew. I agree with you remembering the good old days, it what makes you go up VP to watch Stoke on Bank Holiday Monday
-
Not really news as such, but the worst moment for me as a Villa fan was watching Inter score their 3rd goal, incorrectly as the ball had clearly gone out of play before the cross, in the 2nd leg after we'd beat then 2-0 at VP in the first leg, to knock us out of the Uefa Cup in 1990.
As a 9 year old who had only really been following the Villa for a year or so to see us robbed of the Uefa Cup like that was horrible.
-
Not really news as such, but the worst moment for me as a Villa fan was watching Inter score their 3rd goal, incorrectly as the ball had clearly gone out of play before the cross, in the 2nd leg after we'd beat then 2-0 at VP in the first leg, to knock us out of the Uefa Cup in 1990.
As a 9 year old who had only really been following the Villa for a year or so to see us robbed of the Uefa Cup like that was horrible.
That was bad, what was nearly as bad was being in the ground, needing a shit and looking in horror at the holes in the ground you were expected to defacate in, perhaps the legendary plumbers of the Roman Empire never got that far north.
-
Not really news as such, but the worst moment for me as a Villa fan was watching Inter score their 3rd goal, incorrectly as the ball had clearly gone out of play before the cross, in the 2nd leg after we'd beat then 2-0 at VP in the first leg, to knock us out of the Uefa Cup in 1990.
As a 9 year old who had only really been following the Villa for a year or so to see us robbed of the Uefa Cup like that was horrible.
That was bad, what was nearly as bad was being in the ground, needing a shit and looking in horror at the holes in the ground you were expected to defacate in, perhaps the legendary plumbers of the Roman Empire never got that far north.
I watched it on telly, at my nan's. Her toilets have little dolls to hide toilet rolls under!
-
O'Neill leaving for me. Although our progress wasn't entirely down to him, he very much symbolized 'proud history bright future' image and when he resigned, so close to the season beginning it seemed to confirm that we'd missed the boat and that the opportunity to compete with the big boys was gone for the forseeable future.
Same here. Whatever the reasons behind his departure, my first thought was that we would "rue the day" that MON left the football club. I just felt that we would go backwards, but I never thought it would pan out the way it has.
Agree. Whatever the rights and wrongs of his departure, I felt we'd lost an energy and passion that we'd struggle to replace. The Milner and O'Neill departures haven't just winded us but castrated, hung drawn and quartered us.
Other bad 'uns - Holte End demolishment, Laursen retirement but probably worst of all was Oxford semi defeat in the 80's. I was a teenager living near Aberdeen then, hadn't seen a Villa game in the 3 years since we moved up there, and had been promised a ticket to the final if we won, I broke down and blarted when we lost.
-
That night at The Manor 'Ground' (not sure it deserved that description) was horrible. Oxford United beat Aston Villa in a cup semi-final. From when time began until the end of the world only for a couple of years in the eighties would that ever be possible.
-
From a purely football perspective, selling Slogger Sleeuwenhoek to Small Heath did nothing to improve my mood.
-
There are many and pretty much all have been covered but i'll go for the late Bruce double for Man Utd against Sheff Weds in 93.
We'd kept track of the scores after a frustrating game at home to Coventry and Man Utd were losing - then Fergie time kicked in.
I honestly could have thrown up after that one, just walked out of the ground with thousands in shocked silence.
The momentum had turned and we knew it was gone. I'd really believed too.
-
The single worst moment for me was losing the FA Cup Final in 2000. I was nineteen and I cried on my mum's shoulder like a baby.
But as that's a moment and not 'news', the worst piece of Villa-related news was seventy-nine minutes of injury time at Old Trafford. From that point on English football changed for the worse and I sometimes wonder if we'd have a more competitive league had Villa, not the sharpest when it came to self-promotion, took the title instead of the cretins from the 'Theatre of Dreams'.
-
Dwight Yorke leaving.
-
Dwight Yorke leaving. For some reason as a 12 year old, I cut out and made a collarge of loads of Villa Images I had of him the day he was leaving.
Results wise, blowing 4th spot in 2009/2010 was a big blow. It angers me that if we'd have just beat Sunderland,Everton and Wolves at home instead of consecutive draw's we'd have been in the European Cup - quite comfortably!
-
Putting the news on Stan to one side as that is completely real life as opposed to the game...Birchy's death and Houlliers heart problems last year also fit this category.
In terms of football......
I think hearing 'breaking news' on R5 one afternoon that it was rumoured that Lou Macari was going to be apponted as Villa manager....thankfully it was a false alarm but at the time was not good.
Starting the summer saying that the only two players I didnt want to see at VP were Harewood & Knight....celebrating Zat signing a new contract at Fulham (bullet dodged)....then 6 weeks later we had signed both of them!
-
Mine is a selfish one: coming home from school in February 1977 to be met by my unemployed dad telling me Villa had sold out of tickets for the Wembley final v Everton.
Hope you got to the other two games.
As an aside, I was living in Liverpool at the time, and was to meet the family, who had the tickets, at Hillsborough for the second game. Unfortunately, although I was not to know at the time, dad had his wallet lifted at the M1 services with all his cash and the tickets. Spotted wandering around by a mounted copper, who asked me if I needed a ticket, and produced one from his pocket and gave it to me.
-
I cried when Sid signed for Bari. I was only 10 and it felt like the end of the world.
-
The single worst moment for me was losing the FA Cup Final in 2000. I was nineteen and I cried on my mum's shoulder like a baby.
I had erased this from my memory. I had turned 14 two days earlier. That was a hard day. We gave such an insipid performance which made it all the worse.
-
Mine is a selfish one: coming home from school in February 1977 to be met by my unemployed dad telling me Villa had sold out of tickets for the Wembley final v Everton.
Hope you got to the other two games.
As an aside, I was living in Liverpool at the time, and was to meet the family, who had the tickets, at Hillsborough for the second game. Unfortunately, although I was not to know at the time, dad had his wallet lifted at the M1 services with all his cash and the tickets. Spotted wandering around by a mounted copper, who asked me if I needed a ticket, and produced one from his pocket and gave it to me.
Fair play to the cop. Did your dad get to see the game too?
I didn't see either of the two replays as my dad would have stolen money to get us to Wembley, but not OT or Hillsboro. I was gutted but as he was out of work I had no right to complain.
-
03-03-03
that was the worst!
-
When Gazza went to Rangers in 95. I thought he was coming to us.
-
Saunders leaving and Ray graydon going
-
The worst came as I sat relaxing in a bar in Paris. The job we were on was done - on budget and before time. We were given a fat cash bonus and had two days on the razz in view - hotel paid - expenses still in our pockets. My bluenose colleague came in with the news. McLeish has gone to Villa.
We all felt awful. Bluenose and Villa alike.
It ruined those two glorious days - everytime we started having fun the memory returned and flattened it. Drink was the only cure, and never before has the world seen Bluenose and Villan united in their bemused grief - supporting each other as they blindly stumbled through the alleys round Montmarte and Château Rouge.
I had hoped for a new vision for Villa - after Houllier I hoped for someone that would follow the Barca model - train youngsters in the right way to play - and a team that actually cared for the club they grew up in. Gone in a moment. Possibly the worst decision Lerner has ever taken. Relegation comes from a long way off, it is not really a shock. Star players leave - but others come and the team remains the team. But this, this was sodium chloride on the green shoots of Villa's future.
It was my darkest hour. Truly.
-
I think Les Ferdinand signing for Newcastle instead of joining the Brian Little revolution at Villa. Given how well he did on Tyneside, I think his signing would have had us challenging (even more) seriously for the title, and might also have meant that Sir Brian didn't sign Collymore a couple of years later which send everything tits up.
Either that or us signing John Fashanu. A nonsense signing to allow Atkinson's mate Fash to work at Central a bit more easily, at that point I knew that Atkinson wasn't long for the Villa job.
-
"Brian Little has resigned as Aston Villa manager"
-
Probably me worst moment as a villa fan was hearing we had sold Yorke to Man. United which was difficult to hear for a 9 year old. Since then I've had a fairly relaxed view to key players leaving us.
The two results against SHA in 02/03 really hurt aswell probably due to the manner of it. Again since then very few results cut me up much nowadays after the immediate aftermatch of them. Even the cup final in 2010 I was fairly philiosophical afterwards (apart from towards that cnut Dowd) think we'd go on to bigger and better things. Opps.
-
77/78 FA Cup 3rd Rd draw
Everton will play Nr2, Aston Villa.
We lost 4-1.
-
Pubehead walking out. Just the timing of it. Felt like a personal kick in the bollocks. Don't get me wrong, in retrospect I'd have had no qualms with him getting the old heave-ho 14 months earlier, and I've seen enough managers come and go to know to not get too attached to them. But FIVE DAYS??? That's just disrespectful
edit: that, and the day we sold Andy Gray. I worshipped that man. But I was only 13
-
Hearing the Villa Park announcer saying that the goalscorer for Sheff Wed was Nigel Jemson after Les Sealey carried the ball over the line then chased George Courteney the length of the park.
-
Two in about five minutes once.
First, being told Steve Bruce had for equalised for Manchester United in the 12th minute of injury time against Sheffield Wednesday.
Secondly, being announced over the tannoy that Steve Bruce had scored again for Manchester United in the 18th minute of inury time against Sheffield Wedensday.
We laboured to a nil nil draw against Coventry and from that point on you knew the title was gone.
I bet that's when Fergie time first reared it's ugly head.
And thisUnsure, but Yorke going was pretty hard to take as a 9 year old.
-
As a 10-year old who idiolised him, Platt being sold. I'd never even considered until that point that a player could possibly want to leave Villa, nor that we would sell him. I learnt quickly.
-
Hearing the Villa Park announcer saying that the goalscorer for Sheff Wed was Nigel Jemson after Les Sealey carried the ball over the line then chased George Courteney the length of the park.
I was sat in the front row of the North Stand right behind that. No way did it ever cross the fucking line. Courtney was a bastard.
-
Hearing the Villa Park announcer saying that the goalscorer for Sheff Wed was Nigel Jemson after Les Sealey carried the ball over the line then chased George Courteney the length of the park.
I was sat in the front row of the North Stand right behind that. No way did it ever cross the fucking line. Courtney was a bastard.
Sealey agro on the green sand!
-
My Top 3:
1. Saunders leaving.
2. Gray going to Wolves.
3. Brian Little (almost) to the Rags
-
Reading that Brian Little was going to the Blues before his medical finished him; my first true Villa hero.
Lerner taking on that loser McLeish
Lerner giving up on the club.
-
Hearing of Eamonn Deacy's death was tragic news. I'd always intended to go on a pilgramage to Galway and give my respects to the fella.
-
Eamonn Deacy's passing upset me too. I expect there's many of us who feel an affinity with those 14 players of 1980/81.
Ron Saunders leaving was a massive shock.
McLeish's arrival just left me flabbergasted.
-
03.03.2003.
The Bradford Debarcle has hit me quite hard too.
Yorkie leaving was devestating.
-
Sid breaking his leg
2000 cup final.... a non event plus I was in the mixed area of Chelsea and Villa and it kicked off everywhere
-
A.Gray and J.Gidman leaving....I was genuinely really upset at both leaving the Villa.
UTV
The Doc
-
1) Learning that Brian Clough wasn't going to be our new manager in 1974 and we were getting some dour, defensive guy called Saunders instead -disaster! ;)
-
Eamonn Deacy's passing upset me too.
I had to read that twice!
-
Docherty - sacked
-
My first hero Peter McParland going to Wolves upset me enormously as a kid.
-
The realisation that we had sold our entire England Midfield, complete with wingers to our rivals in Manchester and Liverpool making us a feeder club with no width, destined for mediocrity for the foreseable future at the cost of a very capable ambitious manager in the process is the worst recent news.
9 minutes of injury time for Man U in the title race (golden goal) was another, and of course the worst has been Stan.
-
1) Sid having his leg bust by that WBA thug
2) the death of Tony Barton
3) Yorke leaving for them
4) Barry leaving for them
5) the Stan news
6) Les Sealeys passing
7) the appointment of McLeish
8) the Chelsea FA cup final
9) ManUre beating Sheff Weds in the 100 and something minute
10) not signing Juniniho
In no particular order those
-
Sid broke his leg during a pre-season friendly in Spain in 1983. It was Alex Cropley who had his leg broken by the stripey animal some years before
-
Apologies Cropley.
Didn't Sid break his leg 3 times
-
1st prize - Mcleish
Every defeat to the filth
Saunders resigning
John Fashanu signing
Yorke leaving
Doncaster
Bradford
-
TSM getting the job, beyond belief !!
Sir Brian Resigning, I blamed Deadly
Ron Saunders leaving, I blamed Deadly ( I know he was not in charge)
Big Ron Leaving, I blamed Deadly
Andy Gray leaving, thought about blaming Deadly
Keith Leonard, retiring early
Deadly not investing and pushing on at the onset of the Premier league.
Fuck nose Perryman clearing Locheads shot off the line in the 71 league cup final, I blame Deadly for not bribing the Spuds squad.
In fact a lot of my worst newsis attributal to Deadly !
-
Sorry, Being frivolous, Stan is obviously a very,"what is it all about moment" unfortunatly I guess that most of us either know or has cherished some one who has had or suffered from something like Stan is going through.
By the grace of God he seems to be recovering, our 19th min tribute as fans is something to be proud of as an expression of caring.
Without detracting from this I had forgotten the wanton destruction of the Trinity and the Heritage it stood for, we could have done many things and had many options to preserve its almost Spiritual significance to Aston Villa. As before, the man to blame, Deadly !
-
For me in reverse order:
Mcleish being announced as Villa manager - knew this wouldnt end well.
Reading in the Evening Mail in 1993 in a small column that the Premier League trophy was being held at Old Trafford while Villa were still in the title race.
Most damaging of all - being at a happy jolly Christmas meal with my family, to sneak my phone out under the table during dessert to see we're 8-0 down. Words cant describe the pain - still felt today.
-
1st prize - Mcleish
Surely has to be one of the worst decisions in the long history of the club.
-
Finding out mcmuppet was going to be our manager, gutted
-
Bradford,Bradford and Millwall.
-
Hearing that potato head had scored in the 97th minute against Sheff Wednesday in 1993.
-
Giddie and Andy Gray going
Colin Gibson going
-
Funny you should mention Colin Gibson going. That really got to me as a teenager. I think it was the first time I remember a player going to a better club with more ambition and signalled the end of the early eighties happy times.
-
Saunders resignation.
-
Sid leaving for Bari.
I was 10 and gutted.
-
Hearing that potato head had scored in the 97th minute against Sheff Wednesday in 1993.
I'd left VP, walked to the A34, got a bus & was at the Scott Arms when that went in.
Seeing's JG's FA Cup final team. Changed a winning line up for his old favourites - knew it wouldn't end well.
-
Sid leaving for Bari.
I was 10 and gutted.
I was gutted when he 'left' for Napoli in 1983. As good as done and announced when they had a change at the top and it fell through. Cue the celebrations. Then weeks later he broke his leg.
-
Giddie and Andy Gray going
This. Two of my favourite ever players in 45 years of watching Villa. However, two years later we were Champions of Europe! Just confirms football is a team game and no individuals are bigger than the club.
-
Lots to choose from but probably Saunders going. In more recent times, it has to be McLeish because you just knew it would end very badly
-
Sid leaving for Bari.
I was 10 and gutted.
I was gutted when he 'left' for Napoli in 1983. As good as done and announced when they had a change at the top and it fell through. Cue the celebrations. Then weeks later he broke his leg.
Pre-season game wasn't it? I remember the footage of him in total shock at he held his upper leg, while the lower half dangled in the air.
-
Sid leaving for Bari.
I was 10 and gutted.
I was gutted when he 'left' for Napoli in 1983. As good as done and announced when they had a change at the top and it fell through. Cue the celebrations. Then weeks later he broke his leg.
Pre-season game wasn't it? I remember the footage of him in total shock at he held his upper leg, while the lower half dangled in the air.
And don't forget the bastard that did it to him kicking the ball at him as he lay on the ground! C**t.
-
Media reports that Villa were about approach Birmingham City manager Alex MCleish about the vacant manager position.
This. I cannot remember being so scared and pissed off about one thing in all my life.
-
The news sid had been done by the butcher of bilbao in pre season game was probably my worst news. Him and McMahon would have been a brilliant double act.
-
Benteke's written transfer request on 8th July was pretty bad, but, heh it's all a bad dream now!!!
-
Media reports that Villa were about approach Birmingham City manager Alex MCleish about the vacant manager position.
This. I cannot remember being so scared and pissed off about one thing in all my life.
I was in the UK visiting a friend in Southend when that rumour first came to light. By the time I got back to Dublin the deal was more or less done. I remember a lot of us on here trying to find positives but it was so hard. I remember the day those pics pf him with a villa scarf started circulating, it all seemed so wrong.
-
Media reports that Villa were about approach Birmingham City manager Alex MCleish about the vacant manager position.
This. I cannot remember being so scared and pissed off about one thing in all my life.
I still look back to that and find it utterly, utterly gobsmacking to think that it really did happen.
I can't believe there was one person (other than McLeish himself) on the face of the earth who thought that was a good decision, and it just so happened to be Randy Lerner.
-
I still maintain that mcleish was hung out to dry. We needed a full season cutting back. not many other managers would have accepted the job and who else to take the sting out of lerner's sever cost cutting but the manager appointed from our relgated neighbours? If it went well, lerner would have got the plaudits. if it went as just about everyone expected it to, McLeish would get the shitstorm.
-
Leeds United (a) 1995. Heard on the radio - Bosnich sent off, Villa impotent up front. Last minute Carlton Palmer goal for them. The week before we were mullered 4-0 at home to Arsenal. I honestly thought we were gone. Thankfully a week later, in one of the warmest days I can ever remember at Villa Park, Liverpool turned up in the white suits, Yorke and Saunders played a blinder and we won 2-0. After that Leeds game I never felt so negative about our league status until December 2012.
-
Hearing that John Fashanu had signed.
-
Media reports that Villa were about approach Birmingham City manager Alex MCleish about the vacant manager position.
This. I cannot remember being so scared and pissed off about one thing in all my life.
I was in the UK visiting a friend in Southend when that rumour first came to light. By the time I got back to Dublin the deal was more or less done. I remember a lot of us on here trying to find positives but it was so hard. I remember the day those pics pf him with a villa scarf started circulating, it all seemed so wrong.
Mel, Southend is a shithole at the best of times, but to be there on the day of that appointment must have made it worse.
-
Leaving Crewe ten minutes early to get the 2118 and finding that a dozen knobheads had done the same. What is it with these people that they have to act like twats on trains? On their own, they would not say boo to a goose on a commuter train in the morning but, after a football match, they are a fucking pain.
-
Media reports that Villa were about approach Birmingham City manager Alex MCleish about the vacant manager position.
This. I cannot remember being so scared and pissed off about one thing in all my life.
I still look back to that and find it utterly, utterly gobsmacking to think that it really did happen.
I can't believe there was one person (other than McLeish himself) on the face of the earth who thought that was a good decision, and it just so happened to be Randy Lerner.
I was nonchalant when I first heard the reports of the approach. I may have even smirked. After all, it was so ridiculous it had to be nonsense.
-
No particular order
Gray leaving when I was 7.
Saunders leaving and then having to listen to the Neanderthals from across the way crow. Thankfully Coombs's had other ideas.
Losing 3-0 to Charlton in spring 1987. They were shit but were still far too good for us.
Being at that turgid 0-0 game v Cov and some kid telling me on the way out that the Media Darlings had scored, twice!
Knowing Yorkie was on his way.
3-0 v Doncaster.
Vidic not seeind red.
McLeish being hired.
3-1 v Bradford.