Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine

Heroes & Villains => Villa Memories => Topic started by: Walters Flat top on February 06, 2015, 09:26:37 PM

Title: Villa Park at its finest
Post by: Walters Flat top on February 06, 2015, 09:26:37 PM
http://youtu.be/rGvTvZ-ynuA

This game was the first time I witnessed a full house at Villa Park. I was 13 at the time and the atmosphere was electric. Liverpool were the best team in the land and we were ridding high in division 2. At the end of the game I didn't really care about the result as I had seen something special. The Holte end in its full glory.

Given the predicament in which the clubs finds it's self in currently if Lambert/Lerner/Fox was able to give the fans something to cheer about I am sure an atmosphere like this would return.

Title: Re: Villa park at it finest
Post by: dave.woodhall on February 06, 2015, 09:34:15 PM
The only full house we had between 1982 and 1993. Had it not been for the European ban that Liverpool side might have been their best ever.
Title: Re: Villa park at its finest
Post by: Walters Flat top on February 06, 2015, 10:03:42 PM
I never got to see the Villa under Saunders or Barton so this game was a real buzz. I remember my dad getting my mum to record the game as it was the first time he had taken me to a match when it was on the telly. Even though we lost I watched it over and over again. I was glad I came across it once more on you tube as I think mum recorded over it with an episode of Bergerac!
Title: Re: Villa park at it finest
Post by: aj2k77 on February 06, 2015, 10:12:25 PM
Look at that stand from 51.26 onwards, absolutely huge.
Title: Re: Villa park at it finest
Post by: garyshawsknee on February 06, 2015, 10:13:49 PM
It shows you how little football was on TV back then, as I recorded that and the Middlesbrough game on the same video, and even though we lost both games, I would still watch them to death.

I remember in the Liverpool game, Tony Daley done a surge through the middle of the pitch, the roar of the crowd was amazing to my young ears.
Title: Re: Villa park at it finest
Post by: Walters Flat top on February 06, 2015, 10:32:35 PM
It shows you how little football was on TV back then, as I recorded that and the Middlesbrough game on the same video, and even though we lost both games, I would still watch them to death.

I remember in the Liverpool game, Tony Daley done a surge through the middle of the pitch, the roar of the crowd was amazing to my young ears.

I haven't watched it back yet but I do remember watching that Daley run over and over again myself. I  seem to recall he either went around a couple of players and got taken out or just over run the ball? Football on the tele was so limited. I used to record both Saint and Greavsie and football focus each week in the hope of getting to see a glimpse of the goals from our game.  How things have changed.
Title: Re: Villa park at it finest
Post by: FrankyH on February 06, 2015, 10:37:10 PM
Was that the game the Holte End were singing "England's number one" about Spinksy, while Grobbelaar held two fingers behind his back saying he was.
Title: Re: Villa park at it finest
Post by: fbriai on February 06, 2015, 11:09:44 PM
It shows you how little footbaseconds on TV back then, as I recorded that and the Middlesbrough game on the same video, and even though we lost both games, I would still watch them to death.

I remember in the Liverpool game, Tony Daley done a surge through the middle of the pitch, the roar of the crowd was amazing to my young ears.

I haven't watched it back yet but I do remember watching that Daley run over and over again myself. I  seem to recall he either went around a couple of players and got taken out or just over run the ball? Football on the tele was so limited. I used to record both Saint and Greavsie and football focus each week in the hope of getting to see a glimpse of the goals from our game.  How things have changed.

I was the same. I remember I even recorded footage of the 6000th goal scored at Villa Park - Mark Walters against Bournemouth in a 1-1 draw in '87, I think - on Midlands Today. They dedicated about 30 seconds to it.
Title: Re: Villa park at it finest
Post by: Damo70 on February 07, 2015, 04:57:41 AM
We gave them a good game that day. I remember two things apart from the match  itself. It was the Superbowl final that night and the following day I started my first proper job after spending the previous six months after leaving school on a YTS training course.
Title: Re: Villa park at it finest
Post by: thick_mike on February 07, 2015, 11:27:15 AM
What a forward line we had, for the second division it was extraordinary...Thompson, McInally and Daley!

Plus, that was the classic "My Old Man" line up!
Title: Re: Villa Park at its finest
Post by: Jon Crofts on February 07, 2015, 06:16:58 PM
We were top of Div 2 and they were top of Div 1 that day if I remember rightly.  I can even remember speaking to Dave Woodall before the game and he said something along the lines of 'I hope we don't try and play football against them'
Title: Re: Villa Park at its finest
Post by: Charlie8182 on February 07, 2015, 07:05:58 PM
The gate was 46,324, Liverpool didn't sell all of their tickets for the old Witton Lane seating which is why it wasn't quite full at 48,000.
We got 30,000+ once in a blue moon at that time so it was an extraordinary experience being in a packed terraced Holte End on that day.
Title: Re: Villa Park at its finest
Post by: Damo70 on February 07, 2015, 07:15:28 PM
The gate was 46,324, Liverpool didn't sell all of their tickets for the old Witton Lane seating which is why it wasn't quite full at 48,000.
We got 30,000+ once in a blue moon at that time so it was an extraordinary experience being in a packed terraced Holte End on that day.

That is an incredible crowd for a second division team in 1988. Especially for a cup/non season ticket game. The Bradford crowd was very impressive at the end of the season too. Was it officially 36,000? I reckon there were more, even Bradford had a big turn out. I wonder how many top flight teams topped 46,000 that season? I reckon two maximum, Liverpool and United.
Title: Re: Villa Park at its finest
Post by: dave.woodhall on February 08, 2015, 02:04:31 PM
The gate was 46,324, Liverpool didn't sell all of their tickets for the old Witton Lane seating which is why it wasn't quite full at 48,000.
We got 30,000+ once in a blue moon at that time so it was an extraordinary experience being in a packed terraced Holte End on that day.

It didn't hold 48,000 by then - some extra boxes had been built which reduced the capacity by around 1500.

EDIT: My mistake - they were in Witton Lane and went in during the following summer.
Title: Re: Villa Park at its finest
Post by: AV82EC on February 13, 2015, 12:00:26 PM
What's amazing about it was the amount of people waving at the TV cameras because as someone mentioned even then televised live football was such a novelty.
Title: Re: Villa Park at its finest
Post by: Pat McMahon on February 13, 2015, 12:33:01 PM
I was at that game and it was indeed a joy to be on a packed Holte.

Truth be told it was an anti climax - they were too good for us, which became obvious after the opening 15 minutes or so, and the atmosphere was muted quite quickly. I recall the Argus the following Saturday saying how the crowd had been quietened after half an hour or so - can't remember the actual focus of the article but that stuck out for me. Liverpool had a large following that day and most of the singing you could hear on tv was from them.
Title: Re: Villa Park at its finest
Post by: class-of-82 on February 13, 2015, 09:28:31 PM
i can remember ray houghton taking a free kick bout 15 yds from where the foul was commited for one of liverpools goal
forgave him when he signed for us
Title: Re: Villa Park at its finest
Post by: Flamingo Lane on February 13, 2015, 09:34:46 PM
I was at that one, drove up from Bristol and took with me a young lady I was very keen on at the time.  It didn't work, and she still owes me for the ticket.
Title: Re: Villa Park at its finest
Post by: Hillbilly on February 16, 2015, 01:46:33 AM
That Villa kit was baaaaad. Barnes was different class. Makes one appreciate outlawing the back pass, not least because it correlates with the end of Liverpool's dominance.
SimplePortal 2.3.6 © 2008-2014, SimplePortal