Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Hookeysmith on May 22, 2015, 11:22:53 AM
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I know we have a good few threads already but I thought it might be good to have one where folk can offer their personal reasoning behind why winning the cup means so much to them.
Mine
Ever since I knew about football and Villa my old man told me stories about the win in 57, how the kit stood out on the day and how the underdog shone through against a vastly superior team on paper. Ever since that day I am proud to say that like most in my generation I have seen our great club win all there is to win (even today there arnt many football fans who can say that) apart from the holy grail that is the FA cup. And all of those victories from Graydons penalty to Yorkies clincher in 96 I stood next to my old man. In 2000 we attended the final hoping to finally put the last piece in the jigsaw into our time together - we all know what happened next. Later that year he died. It was the last competitive game I saw with him. So when Abide with Me rings out I will be blubbing like a baby. Probably the last time in my lifetime we may have the chance to complete the set. And I can finally say I have seen everything my old man had seen.
Come on Villa win the cup for all of us
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Won it in 57 born in 58 the only trophy i have not seen Villa win. Had my picture taken with it with our other cups but would not touch it and will not till i have seen Villa win it. Hope this is the year like the rest of you. VTID
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It's just because I grew up watching the FA cup when it was a real national event. I have fond memories of watching the final when I was a kid in the 1990s. I would love to be able to add a memory to the collection of Villa lifting the cup, as opposed to the memory of the dismal final in 2000.
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My Dad went in 57 with all his friends, many of whom are dead now and I've always wanted to be able to say we won it before he pops his clogs too - he is now in his mid 80s. My biggest regret is we never won it in the 70s or 80s as I think it was much more iconic and a big deal then than it is now when it has been so devalued by the kick off time and other games taking place at the same time (not this season of course). I would have loved us to win it in those halycon days of the mid to late 70s when the whole nation used to stop and watch it and talk about it. By contrast, I have barely watched the last two cup finals. I could you tell all the results and scorers of every cup final from 1970 up to about 1990 but very few from then on when it just became a blur of endless Arsenal/Man Utd/Liverpool/Chelsea combinations - or so it seems in my mind, though probably isn't true
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2000 obviously, but the fact that it is the only domestic I have never seen us win is a huge factor. The same would apply to a lot of people. 57 is a long, long way back and it would be beyond a dream to add to the others we have won. Starting the season with a possible new owner, an aggressive and passionate manager, a solid squad which we hope will have been added to with some key pieces, playing European football, and off course in the Community Shield because won the cup would be simply astonishing given where this season was heading a couple of months ago.
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Similar. Other than Christmas Day and your Birthday the next best, most eagerly anticipated day when I was a kid was FA Cup Final day
It started with interviewing players from the team hotels the night before, Cup Final Grandstand syarting at 11am featuring novelty pieces like Cup Final It's a Knockout, team songs, helicopters following the team coach to Wembley, the match shown live ( often the only live game shown on TV - imagine that these days). This put together made it THE day.
I was desperate for the Villa to get there. We never did. It became an obsession. I gave up a few years back, consigned myself to never seeing it happen.
Now we're there, could it be..................
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Similar. Other than Christmas Day and your Birthday the next best, most eagerly anticipated day when I was a kid was FA Cup Final day
It started with interviewing players from the team hotels the night before, Cup Final Grandstand syarting at 11am featuring novelty pieces like Cup Final It's a Knockout, team songs, helicopters following the team coach to Wembley, the match shown live ( often the only live game shown on TV - imagine that these days). This put together made it THE day.
I was desperate for the Villa to get there. We never did. It became an obsession. I gave up a few years back, consigned myself to never seeing it happen.
Now we're there, could it be..................
The helicopter bit was great as it was when they showed the teams leaving the cup final hotels and fans lining the route with their scarves and flags. That used to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and I so wanted it to be us instead of Leeds, Ipswich, Arsenal, Southampton, Man Utd et al
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It's just because I grew up watching the FA cup when it was a real national event. I have fond memories of watching the final when I was a kid in the 1990s. I would love to be able to add a memory to the collection of Villa lifting the cup, as opposed to the memory of the dismal final in 2000.
This. The whole day was magic and I wanted Aston Villa desperately to be part of it.
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I don't think it's too defeatist to say we've no chance of winning the league, for how long that will continue who knows but it doesn't look great. Therefore the FA Cup is the biggest thing we've got and we're one match away from doing it. That's so exciting, such a brilliant prospect. The way I feel now is if we win it, it makes all the other shite we have to put up with in our supporting lives meaningless and I can die a happy man (and I say that as a youngish man of 34) It's that important to me.
Of course even if we win I'll still be moaning next season but you know what I mean!
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To me when I was a little kid the FA Cup was the ultimate crowning achievement. I'd hear people saying winning the league was more important but to me it just wouldn't register. The FA Cup final was the biggest match of the season and a celebration of football rolled into one. The build up, FA Cup football focus... the road to Wembley... all the silly novelty programs... seeing the players in their suits on the turf... abide with me... and then great matches like the ones we saw in the late 70s early 80s. It just always hurt that Villa were never part of this celebration. Finally we made it in 2000, but we all know how that turned out. Now this time let's do ourselves justice - and go running round the Bullring with the Cup!
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Because my "2015 FA Cup Winners" tattoo is going to look bloody stupid otherwise.
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My son was born this year. He will be our only child.
I can't wait to watch the game with him only 6 weeks old draped in my old Acorns top - albeit in his pram.
I want to bore him to tears when he's older about the day we won the cup.
Hopefully he will be able to re live the day with me when he is of an age to remember and wryly smile when this senile old codger starts going on about 30th May 2015.
I can hope and wish.
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I don't think it's too defeatist to say we've no chance of winning the league, for how long that will continue who knows but it doesn't look great. Therefore the FA Cup is the biggest thing we've got and we're one match away from doing it. That's so exciting, such a brilliant prospect. The way I feel now is if we win it, it makes all the other shite we have to put up with in our supporting lives meaningless and I can die a happy man (and I say that as a youngish man of 34) It's that important to me.
Of course even if we win I'll still be moaning next season but you know what I mean!
It's all the other shite that makes it peculiarly so rewarding. I know Chelsea fans round here who could never get the same pleasure from winning the league as I do from winning a game, as they weren't there when their club was shit. It's difficult to put into words but I know that they know that too, but they never acknowledge it, at least not overtly. I see it in odd little ways, like the stacks of Christmas cards we receive, often from people we don't hear from all year, but which always make some reference, normally of the jokey derogatory kind, to me and the Villa. Every single one of those people knows how much it means to me
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Because my "2015 FA Cup Winners" tattoo is going to look bloody stupid otherwise.
Just buy a one piece bikini to cover it but of course you won't need to as you will be flashing it with pride come 7.30 on May 30!
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Another here waiting to fill in the last trophy. I won't be at the game but will be with my father who's coming over so hopefully we can complete the set together. I see no acheivement in reaching the final, it's all about winning it, nothing else matters. It's going to be the most nervous 90 minutes for a very, very long time. Whilst I would love us to win it in style, I really don't care how we win it as long as we do.
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In my time as a Villa fan from 90 onwards I've seen us go close to two league titles. I've seen us winning two league cups which were both fantastic days. In 2000 we had a good side. The manner in which we beat Leeds that year and then coming through a Penalty shootout in the Semi, you could almost be forgiven for thinking our name was on the cup, but the final, the last at the Old Wembley was a damp squib. Chelsea were poor, but we were wretched. Absolutely no attacking intent. Merson and Carbone who had lit up the that Leeds tie just couldn't impact on the game. Gregory showed no adventure at all.
We've got some FA Cup demons to bury this century. You just never know when our next chance might be. We haven't won since 57, but we haven't been in too many FA Cup finals since either. A competition that we used to be synonymous with (granted over a hundred years ago). We should be getting closer. I want to be getting to FA Cup finals and winning it every now and again, like our record in the League Cup in the last 20 odd years. 2 wins and a further final.
On a personal level winning this would top everything I've experienced as a Villa fan. I was two young to appreciate the European Cup, as proud as I am it's part of our history. I want that great feeling again. Going into a game as underdog and coming out on top. My best football experience was the 94 League Cup. I want that feeling again. The Leeds win 2 years later was great, but also felt expected. I went into that game very confident we'd win the trophy as we were the better side.
The pressure is all on Arsenal, and no other club at the moment feels a greater pressure to win trophies than Arsenal. They've bottled finals in the immediate past. They made hard work of beating Hull last year. They weren't convincing against Reading. The pressure to win this trophy twice in a row is huge. Arsenal will be feeling it. We have a great chance if we approach the game right. Adventurous but sensible at the back. Southampton must be a lesson learned. We've got nothing to lose. If we lose it then everyone just says "ah well, that was to be expected." We don't have to feel the pressure. Arsenal do. They'd gone so long without a trophy. But that demand from their fans is still there. They expect silverware year on year. They have a sense of entitlement about it.
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Because I am out celebrating my 40th next Saturday.
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I was 3 the last time we won anything. Would be nice to experience it for myself.
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It's time.
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For Mrs Blitz
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The euphoria that surrounded the 96 cup win (the year I got married) is still with me today - so is the wife.
To have the name Aston Villa resonate around the world, around the country,
to have the claret and blue ribbons adorn that silver trophy,
to cry uncontrollably when Delph raises the cup aloft (as Prince William passes it to him),
to have the cup parade around Birmingham city centre,
to get every single newspaper on the Monday with a 50 page special in the Birmingham Mail,
to be on a high that simply never wanes, payback for the 7-1 and 8-0 defeats that pained me so much,
to be given the perfect 40th birthday present by winning the FA Cup,
to walk around with a Cup Winners shirt from 2015,
to say to every other football fan - we're back!.
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Because it will put us up to 3rd equal and just 4 more cup wins off being clear top again, which is where we were when I started watching The Villa.
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For me its for my kids- both been season ticket holders since the age of 6 the one is now 15 and the other 11 - they have seen us lose in 2010 and cried walking out of Wembley, they have heard all the stories about how great Aston Villa is a football club, they have the mick took out of them from the kids that support who ever is top of the league and they have never seen us win anything..... Its for them, to know what its like to see our captain lift a cup and turn towards the supporters, that we are important, that we played our part. To wear their top the next day/week/month chest puffed out. To go to the parade and see the city full of claret and blue.
The youngest said at Christmas time how rubbish we were, and why couldn't I have made him a fan of a team that wins things.... A week on Saturday I hope he understands that he does.
This is for the next generation of Villa fans.
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My Dad went in 57 with all his friends, many of whom are dead now and I've always wanted to be able to say we won it before he pops his clogs too - he is now in his mid 80s. My biggest regret is we never won it in the 70s or 80s as I think it was much more iconic and a big deal then than it is now when it has been so devalued by the kick off time and other games taking place at the same time (not this season of course). I would have loved us to win it in those halycon days of the mid to late 70s when the whole nation used to stop and watch it and talk about it. By contrast, I have barely watched the last two cup finals. I could you tell all the results and scorers of every cup final from 1970 up to about 1990 but very few from then on when it just became a blur of endless Arsenal/Man Utd/Liverpool/Chelsea combinations - or so it seems in my mind, though probably isn't true
Fully agree with your comments Richard: I was born in August 1957, and have grown weary of us not having won the FA Cup in my lifetime (on earth that is - I can claim to being minus 3 months old I suppose).
All my family on both sides are steeped in Villa tradition - dating back at least the best part of 100 years and probably longer. Older generations of my family were there in 57, but my mum couldn't go because she was 6 months pregnant with me - apparently she told me - years after - she was so tired that when she sat down to watch the game she fell asleep and missed it (obviously no pause button and digital recorders then !!). That remained a secret between us for years as she said no-one would believe her if she told them. I probably would've been about 12 or 13 when she told me (about 1969-1970 ish) and I remember saying "don't worry mum - we'll win it again soon. Sadly we never did and she took "her secret" to her grave 3 years ago. No doubt she'll be up in the sky, with everyone else in my family, up there looking down next weekend and cheering as the "endless wait" finally comes to and end - "he who waits" etc..
Like you - and any other middle aged supporter, I just need the FA Cup to complete the set, and how wonderful it would have been to have done it in the late 70s/early 80s when it really was the one day when the whole country came to a standstill because the FA Cup Final had the whole day it itself (and indeed live coverage on all the only 3 TV channels that were there back in the day).
Come on boys - whichever 14 of you are Tim's choice for the day - there's a lot of people with a lot of emotion needing to released and we're all dependant on YOU.
VTID
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The FA Cup is the oldest and still is the best cup competition in the world, some of my very earliest childhood memories are of FA Cup Final day. As a Villa fan I would dream every year of taking that magical walk down Wembley way, singing Abide with Me with my fellow fans and seeing that famous trophy draped in Claret and Blue ribbons.
Even through the heady days of ‘81 and ’82, there still remained that niggling feeling in my head of ‘yeah but it’s not the FA Cup.’ Even winning the league didn’t have that euphoria, as it’s a gradual process.
When we reached the final in 2000, I sensed a lifetime’s dream within my grasp, but at the same time knew that our semi-final performance stacked the odds against us. In many ways, 2000 was one of the best football experiences of my life and also the worst. Drinking with Villa fans in West Hamstead pre-match, singing Abide with Me; even waving at Doug from the stands are unforgettable memories for me. The miserable feeling of walking out of Wembley post-match to the sounds of singing Chelsea fans and the miserable journey home is something I still remember (Oddly I have little or no memory of the actual game).
I have long said that winning this trophy has long been the sole prize for me, sure I’ve seen us lift trophies at Wembley, but the magic of this cup is almost mythological with me. So in a week or so time, I will once again wake up early and make the trip to Wembley Stadium (Bit further than Stevenage this time mind). Once again I will dare to dream of seeing us lift it and should we do it, I know one thing for sure and that is that it will mean more to me than anything we’ve won before and every single moment of supporting Villa through more thin than thick will be justified.
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I haven't seen us win a trophy yet, this feels like the right time to change that.
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For some reason - the 2000 game just seemed to come and go - and strange as it seems apart from that tackle on Boeteng early on and James' clanger to gift them the winning goal, I struggle to remember much about the game itself - before and after is still vivid, but the whole game was such a non-event for us.
This year, I'll probably be watching on my own in my place in Wales - wife and everyone else got to back to work after the bank holiday and I'll probably have the rest of the week there on my own - bliss though - the TV will go on when I get up and other than the obvious call of nature I won't move from in front of it - I intend to remember everything of this day - as I do of a certain other day in May when we took a trip across the water to Rotterdam - I remember just about EVERYTHING from that the 2 days it took going and coming back.
We just need to be able to start singing "EIGHT times we've won it etc etc etc"
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Because I'm a glory hunter, ever since my Welsh grandad's tales of the Mighty Aston Villa pervaded my infant consciousness some nigh-on fifty years ago. And to me, this competition is the point of it all. It was the original competition in the game, and we'd won it more times than anyone else. Season tickets, News And Record vouchers, all repeatedly in the hope of being there on, and the chilling dread of missing, the day when I could see The Villa win The Cup. It's my Villa raison d'être.
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I haven't seen us win a trophy yet, this feels like the right time to change that.
I think that is so important. I was at Highbury, in Rotterdam, at Swindon, in Blackpool and at Wembley for all the finals we won up to 2000, but for me it is all about our fans under the age of 20, which you must just about be Bosko, seeing us win things and being successful. As I walked out of Wembley after the semi, I saw loads of children (not meaning you Bosko) in the full kit with the painted faces and reflected on how they must associate Villa with the bottom of half of the Premier League and how wrong that is. I even see it in my two daughters, aged 16 and 20, who seem amazed if I tell them we beat Spurs or Liverpool or Arsenal, as if that could never happen and how dare we do so.
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Season tickets, News And Record vouchers, all repeatedly in the hope of being there on, and the chilling dread of missing, the day when I could see The Villa win The Cup.
The MAIN reason I got a season ticket in my years of being a season ticket holder in the 70s, 80s and 90s was because the thought of missing a BIG Villa game was unthinkable - I remember being more than a little annoyed when I couldn't get a ticket for Cambridge away in the 4th Round of the FA Cup in 1980. Prior to that I always used to get 2 programmes for every home game. We have to win next week for a million and one reasons.
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The 2000 final was one of my worst experiences watching the Villa. Singing Abide With Me was the highlight of the day, but the lowlight was as low as any I've known. It was the ultimate shit sandwich, with a side order of vomit fries. Unless a miracle takes place, I won't be able to attend this one, but this is the greatest cup competition in the world, so please - sweet, boiling Jesus K. Christ - let us fuck these fuckers and bring home the silver.
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It is the greatest club cup competition in the world as well as the oldest. It's sad to see how it's become a bit of an inconvenience these days with everything else football has to accommodate. Plus for the majority of casual tv viewers 5.30pm is better than 3.00pm if you've got such other important things such as shopping to do!
I think the BBC has done it a big favour to dedicating the whole day to it - like in the good old days.
I'm pretty sure we'll have most neutrals (apart from those in the B9 and B10 areas and a few in Smethwick) on our side - it would be superb to play our part in putting the FA Cup Final back where it deserves to be in the football calendar by winning it in style - although I will settle for winning it 1-0 !
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I'm one of the lucky few that have known the Villa to have won all the domestic honours in my lifetime. Also to be winners on European adventures. I'm sixty-six now and, eight when we last won the FA Cup. That's a long time to go without winning a trophy that Aston Villa are synonymous with. I would dearly love to see us win it again, not just for me, but for my son, my daughter and all of my five grandsons, even though some of them are too young to understand at the moment. I would also love to see us win it for my long-dead old man, who instilled in me the love of this wonderful club and all its magnificent and unsurpassed history and tradition.
Come on you Lions!
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I used to go to games with my mate and his Dad, we watched some of the most memorable games of this generation together, the SGT years, BFR, Brian Little and Gregory including the 94 & 97 League Cup wins. The boasts were that whilst my mate was there in Rotterdam without his Dad, Snr had seen us win the FA Cup in 1957 and this grated immensly, winning the FA Cup meant everything to him, more even than another League Championship, the loss in 2000 was taken pretty badly. When I met my now missus we drifted apart and we began to sit in different parts of the ground and spoke less frequently. A lump that was troubling him was misdiagnosed on a few occasions and by the time the doctors had recognised it as cancer it was too late and he never did see us lift the FA Cup.
I saw his Dad the other day for the first time in fifteen years and we had a good catch up and we took a long trip down memory lane, a good omen.
Forgive the sentimentality but thats why I'd like to win it.
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I haven't seen us win a trophy yet, this feels like the right time to change that.
I think that is so important. I was at Highbury, in Rotterdam, at Swindon, in Blackpool and at Wembley for all the finals we won up to 2000, but for me it is all about our fans under the age of 20, which you must just about be Bosko, seeing us win things and being successful. As I walked out of Wembley after the semi, I saw loads of children (not meaning you Bosko) in the full kit with the painted faces and reflected on how they must associate Villa with the bottom of half of the Premier League and how wrong that is. I even see it in my two daughters, aged 16 and 20, who seem amazed if I tell them we beat Spurs or Liverpool or Arsenal, as if that could never happen and how dare we do so.
I'm 21, but yeah, it's important the younger generations of Villa fans see us win stuff. With the way football is nowadays, it's too easy for kids to follow the successful teams and watch them every week on TV. We need a few more to become hooked, something I hope a cup win would help us achieve.
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Growing up we had won it more times than anyone else. tottenham levelled with us and then i think it was man U who took the record (actually tottenham in the early 90s probably did) but it's always been the Villa Holy Grail. We've won everything else of note and now this one. 2000 was just horrible. The whole day feels like a blur. A horrible blur. This could our last chance to do it. Its taken too long and we're now here. Take this chance Villa. This is the one.
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Reading some of the posts on here is not improving my reputation as a hard nosed miserable git at work.
I echo so many of the sentiments and hope that winning the cup this year helps with create a whole new bank of reasons for winning it.
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My Dad was there in 57 with my eldest brother . I didn't come along until 1960. The 29th May would have been my Dad's 100th birthday, so a number of us will be in Belfast for the weekend, the place of his birth celebrating. My eldest brother will be using my ticket for the final sitting with my son. Winning the FA Cup will mean 3 generations of our family will have been there in person when we've lifted the cup.
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Because it's our turn.
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I am 42 and am at that age probably among the last generation of Villa fans to have grown up with us having the most wins. I remember looking at the record books in probably 1979 or 1980 and seeing that the only clubs one win behind were Newcastle and Blackburn, neither of whom were in the top flight and clearly the record was not in danger any time soon...
Fast forward 30 something years and I was shocked to discover recently that Chelsea were now level with us. Chelsea. A club who didn't even exist when we won the trophy for the first, second or third time and who treated the 2000 final no better than if it were a testimonial.
What I am getting at in my convoluted way is this. Politically, I am socialist but in football terms I support the aristocracy. And the aristocracy is nothing without the trappings of its position, namely the silverware and the deference of the nation. I hope in a week's time to see the aristocracy restored to its rightful position.
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Having watched us win the league cup, the league and the european cup i believed the fa cup would soon follow. Had that great team not been dismantled so quickly i expect we would have got it too. I've always loved the magic of the fa cup final but pained that we were never involved in it especially when smaller clubs like Coventry and Wimbledon were winning it. The 2000 final was unbelievable for the wrong reasons. We could do with winning it now to give us a taste of glory again. The under 20s have never had the feelgood factor you get from seeing us winning trophies.
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Because I made a promise to a man that's no longer here that when we got to another FA Cup Final, we would go. I'll have his European Cup Final Travelcard with me in lieu of his presence.
Also, on a personal level, it's time to dream another dream.
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For most of the reasons given. Plus this is my dad, and his dad (on the right as you look at the pic), with it in 1957. They are both HEITS so I can't have a similar picture, but I want to to be able to join them in having seen us win it before i'm just another HEITS.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/EnglishPride2004/IMG_1750.jpg)
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The last one to complete my set and the first one to start Freddy's.
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Because seven times we've won it and we'll catch the others up.
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Another one where it completes the set
But more importantly than that, I will be at Wembley with my two sons one who is 26 and seen us win .....not a lot, years of pain and shitness, so I will get more joy seeing his face if we actually win it than anything else on that day
The other son is only 7, he will just think this is what supporting Villa is all about, and look forward to years of trophy winning success, little does he know and I won't have the heart to tell him that this might be as good as it gets for the rest of his life
Put simply, I think if we win the cup next Saturday, it will probably be the greatest day of my life
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Another one where it completes the set
But more importantly than that, I will be at Wembley with my two sons one who is 26 and seen us win .....not a lot, years of pain and shitness, so I will get more joy seeing his face if we actually win it than anything else on that day
The other son is only 7, he will just think this is what supporting Villa is all about, and look forward to years of trophy winning success, little does he know and I won't have the heart to tell him that this might be as good as it gets for the rest of his life
Put simply, I think if we win the cup next Saturday, it will probably be the greatest day of my life
By the time I was 13 we'd won 2 League Cups, the league, the European Cup, Super Cup and shared the Charity Shield. I thought Villa always won stuff. I soon learnt.
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Another one where it completes the set
But more importantly than that, I will be at Wembley with my two sons one who is 26 and seen us win .....not a lot, years of pain and shitness, so I will get more joy seeing his face if we actually win it than anything else on that day
The other son is only 7, he will just think this is what supporting Villa is all about, and look forward to years of trophy winning success, little does he know and I won't have the heart to tell him that this might be as good as it gets for the rest of his life
Put simply, I think if we win the cup next Saturday, it will probably be the greatest day of my life
By the time I was 13 we'd won 2 League Cups, the league, the European Cup, Super Cup and shared the Charity Shield. I thought Villa always won stuff. I soon learnt.
I was just turned 20 when we won the European Cup,
With my Gary Shaw haircut I was king of the hill
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I'm convinced i'll blart like a big girl when we win!
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Born in October 1957 and I have been lucky enough to have been at all our major matches and see us lift ALL the Silverware but one. That is a good enough reason to win it surely, but no. I have lived in Liverpool since 81 ( a good year to move up there ! ). My daughter although a scouser has the good fortune of being a Villan thro and thro. She has worn her colours with pride throughout the city and even, much to their fathers disgust introduced the Villa to many of her friends. We couldn't get her a ticket in 94, 96 and 2000, but as a season ticket holder for the last 12 years she has her ticket for Saturday 30th. Well I would love my daughter to see us win the FA Cup, something that is my Holy Grail, so we can both blurb together. Come on you Lions UTV
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My old man was there in 57. He was 18 and made a weekend of it.
He is now 76. This time we will both be there making a weekend of it. It is just meant to be.
Like so many others of a similar age I desperately want to see us lift the "proper" cup.
When it is done we will all need to see us win the Europa league to complete the set again !!
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It's the only thing I've wanted us to win. 37 years is a long time to wait.
If we win, half of me thinks I may just stop, that would be it.
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Because we aren't going to lose three finals in a row.
I said last season Macron should make a tribute/retro away kit to inspire us to Wembley this season and they actually did. It's nailed on.
It's going to happen.
AVFC - FA Cup Winners 2015.
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As a spin-off from joe_c, I'm probably one of the youngest of the generation who started supporting Villa when we were at our lowest ebb yet we were always being told until we took it as a given that there was something uniquely magical about the club and the only tangible thing we could point to was most FA Cup wins, at a time when that was still the most important gauge of being a big club.
It's the only thing we haven't seen us win, but more than that it's the one thing we've looked forward to winning for decades. The glories of 1980-82 happened so quickly; they went from something that was so impossibly remote we would never even think about it, to happening, to gone, in a flash. The anticipation wasn't there, yet every year I'm pig sick jealous of the teams in the final, even when it was Stoke. I don't suppose I'm the only one of us who's daydreamed about the whole thing - what I'd be doing for the weekend, the night before, pre-match, Abide With Me, seeing the teams comes out, lifting the cup, celebrating - for so long that now it's approaching it doesn't seem real.
And of course, in all those hopes and dreams the one thing I never thought for a second was that I'd be married to someone who supports the other bloody team.
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I've never seen us win anything.
That is depressing.
That's my reason.
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We older gits sometimes forget there is a generation of Villa fans who haven't seen us win anything of note. Intertoto and Peace Cup aside.
At least we can remember the glory days to help us though when we're crap, for them, we were just a bit less crap.
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My kids asked me at the end of last season if I thought they would get to see villa win something. It would be nice to draw a line under the last 4-5 seasons of struggle by doing exactly that.
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I've never seen us win anything.
That is depressing.
That's my reason.
Your username, if you're 25/26 can't you remember the '96 League Cup?
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I suppose all supporters feel similarly about their own clubs, but I would argue there is something unique about the Villa. A club that has done it all, started it all, inspired it all. Yes we have fallen a long way and in my thirty years we've won the League Cup twice, so it would be something magnificent to emulate our former glories; to re-kindle the old flame and win the FA Cup again. God willing, this time.
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1. Only trophy I haven't seen us win- I don't count the Europa!
2. Exorcise 2000!
3. I've been out of the country for 8 years, but after the last 4-5 years of absolute shit, the people who go week in, week out, fucking deserve it I think.
4. 2 fingers to the Mail, WM, blues, Albion, coventry and all the other media pricks that routinely take the piss out of the midlands.
5. 140 years of tradition needs to be upheld.
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My Dad was there in 57, I used to love the song My eyes have seen the glory of the Villa win the Cup, 7 times we won it no one else can catch us up.
So like lots on here it is the missing link. I will be thinking of family no longer here when Abide with me is sung. There will be a few tears.
UTV
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I grew up watching the magic of the FA Cup and watching the build up and game was always the biggest day on my family's sporting calendar. Unfortunately my team was never in it.
In 2000 I remember watching the game in Christchurch with a group of friends in a pub owned by another friend who was a Chelsea fan, so the whole place was decked out in blue. All I remember is that we wouldn't have scored if we played for a week and that I sat outside on the street at 4am in the morning absolutely gutted with how shit we were.
This year just feels different and everyone I've spoken to over the past few weeks over here, no matter who they support (apart from Arsenal) want Villa to win.
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It's the only thing I've wanted us to win. 37 years is a long time to wait.
If we win, half of me thinks I may just stop, that would be it.
Do you know what I've had almost the same feelings. Of course I won't stop - even if I really wanted to I couldn't - but it's mission complete. I want to see us win more and more trophies BUT, win on the 30th and I won't care as much if we don't lift another pot in my living days. I'll be happy. They could say football is banned for ever more if they wanted to but winning this would just complete it all for me.
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I've never seen us win anything.
That is depressing.
That's my reason.
Your username, if you're 25/26 can't you remember the '96 League Cup?
No I can't Smirker. I don't actually have any memory of football before the '98 World Cup. My memory is terrible though and I unusually didn't become football mad until I was around 12.
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Like so many other people it is because it will complete the lifetime set. It's not the competition it was - and the FA themselves take much the blame for that - but that won't matter one jot it the old trophy is adorned with claret and blue ribbons in seven-and-half days time.
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My Dad was there in 57, I used to love the song My eyes have seen the glory of the Villa win the Cup, 7 times we won it no one else can catch us up.
So like lots on here it is the missing link. I will be thinking of family no longer here when Abide with me is sung. There will be a few tears.
UTV
Me too mate. My Dad will be there with me, but I'll be thinking of my Villa mad Grandad who passed away in 2003. Just before he died, he gave me one of his old books on the Football League in which he wrote "In the hope that when Villa next win the Cup, you'll be there cheering for me". I hope I will be.
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My Dad was there in 57, I used to love the song My eyes have seen the glory of the Villa win the Cup, 7 times we won it no one else can catch us up.
So like lots on here it is the missing link. I will be thinking of family no longer here when Abide with me is sung. There will be a few tears.
UTV
Me too mate. My Dad will be there with me, but I'll be thinking of my Villa mad Grandad who passed away in 2003. Just before he died, he gave me one of his old books on the Football League in which he wrote "In the hope that when Villa next win the Cup, you'll be there cheering for me". I hope I will be.
I will be cheering for both of you, for all of us.
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I started going regularly in 1980 so the FA Cup will complete the set for me too.
Its took us an age to get past the 1/4 final stage but we did eventually, then the semi final stage took us a couple of atempts but we got past it, now this is only our 2nd final in almost 60 yrs.... It really is time we put this ghost to bed !
Its our time, I really do believe that.
& if the team do need any sort of inspiration then they need look no further than this thread ......
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same here....to complete the set.
Abide with Me is one of my favourite hymns and I'll no doubt have a tear in my eye as my Grandad was the first person to tell me about Pongo Waring and his legendary scoring exploits and for my dear Dad who sadly passed away in 2009 and the more I think about him and the Villa...the more emotional I'm becoming.
Christ knows what state I will be in when Fabian lifts that famous old trophy on Saturday.
UTV
The Doc
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I've been lucky enough to see us win some things since I started supporting in the early 70's. At the time of the League Champions & European Cup I didn't truly appreciate the enormity of what I was watching. As a youngster you think that time will come around again. Even then, the one I wanted was the FA Cup.
The name of Aston Villa & the FA Cup used to go hand in hand, it's in our DNA but for a club of our stature we've been insignificant for too long.
Arsenal won't beat us for desire, passion or support & we're not short of ability either. Most of the rest of the country will be behind us. I want it for myself, my son, my fellow Villa fans; including those no longer with us; for the players, the manager & Randy. Young fans are desperate to see us win something & understand that Aston Villa are not just any club. There's even some sentiment left for Paul Lambert.
From the lowest low, 3 months ago, to the highest high is within reach. From joke team; ridiculed & humiliated by media & other fans; to FA Cup Winners. Wouldn't that be a wonderful & just response.
Come the end of 30th May the lions flag will be flying high & we'll show the world what it means to us.
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It will help me forget the league campaign this season.
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It will help me forget the league campaign this season.
Absolutely, finishing 17th below the likes of a shit Sunderland is quite depressing
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It will help me forget the league campaign this season.
Absolutely, finishing 17th below the likes of a shit Sunderland is quite depressing
We ARE better than both Sunderland and Newcastle though. I know all that table doesn't lie business but I'm confident that right now our squad is way better than there's. Throw in Lecister and the Albion too.
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It will help me forget the league campaign this season.
Absolutely, finishing 17th below the likes of a shit Sunderland is quite depressing
3 places below Leicester, 7 below Palace, both Newcastle and Sunderland looking down on us. Just FUBAR.
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It will help me forget the league campaign this season.
Absolutely, finishing 17th below the likes of a shit Sunderland is quite depressing
3 places below Leicester, 7 below Palace, both Newcastle and Sunderland looking down on us. Just FUBAR.
As long as you're happy, that's the main thing.
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Our best hope is that Arsenal players will have watched the Burnley game and decided they have the game won already.
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Our mate Steve here has a few reasons.
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-fa-cup-superfan-9321600
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Wouldn't a claret and blue scarf be better?
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Wouldn't a claret and blue scarf be better?
Like the one he's holding up you mean?
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Looks red and white to me!
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Unless my eyes have gone doolally that's red and white.
(http://i3.birminghammail.co.uk/incoming/article9321715.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/JS64109194.jpg)
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Looks red and white to me!
It may do, but look at the sky; that looks white as well. He had the scarf with him today and it's very claret and extremely blue.
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Wouldn't a claret and blue scarf be better?
Like the one he's holding up you mean?
This is turning into that "what colour is the dress" thing, but it's a red and white scarf to me in the link you posted!
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Looks red and white to me!
I've squinted, shut one eye etc and that scarf us definitely red and white!
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Wouldn't a claret and blue scarf be better?
Like the one he's holding up you mean?
This is turning into that "what colour is the dress" thing, but it's a red and white scarf to me in the link you posted!
it's not red and white. It's a very faded claret and blue. Why would a staunch Villa fan be holding up the colours of our FA Cup rivals?
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I bet Howell photoshopped it!
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Wouldn't a claret and blue scarf be better?
Like the one he's holding up you mean?
This is turning into that "what colour is the dress" thing, but it's a red and white scarf to me in the link you posted!
it's not red and white. It's a very faded claret and blue. Why would a staunch Villa fan be holding up the colours of our FA Cup rivals?
Well, touché! Hence my confusion!
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It does look red and white at first glance.
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It's also the biggest scarf i've ever seen.
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It's in our DNA as Football Club, it's in my DNA as a Villa fan, when Ray Stewart scored the last minute Penalty at West Ham - that was the closest I've ever come to tears about the result of a Football Match. If we win on Saturday - the Ghost of that moment will be Exorcised for ever.
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It's also the biggest scarf i've ever seen.
I wear one of a similar size. But mine's not red and white......
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It's in our DNA as Football Club, it's in my DNA as a Villa fan, when Ray Stewart scored the last minute Penalty at West Ham - that was the closest I've ever come to tears about the result of a Football Match. If we win on Saturday - the Ghost of that moment will be Exorcised for ever.
Same here, but I don't know if the feeling I had at the end of that game was because of the result or the fear I felt. Either way, not an experience I'm willing to repeat.
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I came late to supporting the Villa, 22 years old in September 1990. I read quickly about the history of the club in those early days and the thing that struck me immediately was this big FA Cup shaped hole in our modern history. I can quite honestly say on each occasion over the past 25 years when we've been knocked out its the one result of the season it takes me weeks to get over. I was boycotting the club in 2000 so that kind of passed me by so Saturday is starting to take on far more importance in the life of a 47 year old man that it should. Oh and I've always wanted to sing Abide with Me at Wembley though I'll probably blub whilst doing so.....
Abide with me, fast falls the eventide.............
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Unless my eyes have gone doolally that's red and white.
(http://i3.birminghammail.co.uk/incoming/article9321715.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/JS64109194.jpg)
The mail didnt bother colour correcting the image. Here this took me 5 seconds.
(http://i.imgur.com/GKUku0g.jpg)
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Oh no, is this going to end up as another "The Dress" style dispute?
Anyway. The scarf is quite clearly green and yellow.
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It's also the biggest scarf i've ever seen.
Not a Doctor Who fan, then?
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That is the anaconda of scarves
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It's a knitted scarf by his aunt. He"s had it for many years so has more sentimental attachment to it than he should. It's most definitely claret and blue.
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That is simply the distorsion created by a wide-angle lens.
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Online dave.woodhall
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Re: Any particular reasons for winning the fa cup
« Reply #53 on: May 22, 2015, 10:33:15 PM »
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As a spin-off from joe_c, I'm probably one of the youngest of the generation who started supporting Villa when we were at our lowest ebb yet we were always being told until we took it as a given that there was something uniquely magical about the club and the only tangible thing we could point to was most FA Cup wins, at a time when that was still the most important gauge of being a big club.
It's the only thing we haven't seen us win, but more than that it's the one thing we've looked forward to winning for decades. The glories of 1980-82 happened so quickly; they went from something that was so impossibly remote we would never even think about it, to happening, to gone, in a flash. The anticipation wasn't there, yet every year I'm pig sick jealous of the teams in the final, even when it was Stoke. I don't suppose I'm the only one of us who's daydreamed about the whole thing - what I'd be doing for the weekend, the night before, pre-match, Abide With Me, seeing the teams comes out, lifting the cup, celebrating - for so long that now it's approaching it doesn't seem real.
Same for me - I've loved seeing us win these trophies but this has always been the big one for me. The first final I remember was Man City v Leicester in 1969 and from then on I watched the tv coverage every year from early morning on cup final day. After seeing us beating Chesterfield in the third division on that Friday night in 1972 as Division 3 champions I remember watching the Leeds v Arsenal final the next day and thinking what if! It's been just a dream as we've cocked it up so many times. Of course, I'll be thinking of the old man and old lady, and uncles and aunts,all solid Astonians, who are no longer with us, who took me down the games in the sixties when I was really too young to know what it was all about. It's my birthday on Friday, too, so what can possible go wrong this weekend?
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I've been going to Villa regularly since I was 10 in 2005 and I have never seen us win a trophy. I was there in 2010, I was there at the semi, and I'll be there on Saturday.
We need a piece of modern success to sing about, the best us lot have seen is almost finishing fourth and I imagine it's quite hard to keep the next generation of fans away from the big plastic clubs.
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I want to see us win another trophy....
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I was 12 the last time I saw us win a trophy final. I've been too every Wembley appearance since 1994. I've never wanted anything more than a win on Saturday.
We deserve this.
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It's the FA Cup.
What other reason does anyone need?
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Simply because it will be so much sweeter because of the last few years, I can trace villa supporters from my family's history to the 1900s. Some would have been at our past FA Cup final wins and saw Villa dominate the early football era, I have family that saw us drop to the third tier and almost go out of existence and then come back and become Kings of Europe and almost the world. This is the one trophy many have not seen won. Its amazing that by the late 1920s we had won the thing 6 times. I am sure no one who would have seen those wins would have said in the next 80 - 90 years we would only make 3 more FA cup finals and possibly be only victorious in one of them. Simply we need this to help the club get back to what it once was and give new fans a taste of what the Villa were about. I managed to catch the 94 and 96 league cup victories as my introduction in my first few years supporting this fine institution but for many under the age of 25, successes has been few and far between. It would be nice to reflect on great cup winning teams in the Premier League era then on individual matches. This is why we need it and why I hope no matter the result we have 11 - 14 shattered players who gave it their all and did their best. We did not turn up in 2000 I hope we do this time. Come on Lads make history and your careers.
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It would just be good to put the pride back into the club.
The last 5 years have been awful, we all try to defend the club when the media and other rival clubs knock us but that's been very difficult especially during the Lambert years when we were getting knocked out by league 2 teams and setting all sorts of woeful non scoring records.
I'm not expecting a cup win to herald some sort of golden era but generally trophy wins get grudging respect from others and it would create a feel good factor going into next season which would make a change.
I went to my first game in 1997 and only really recall football from around then. I don't recall euro 1996 so can't remember us winning the league cup in 1996 either so yes it would be great to watch us win a trophy as obviously you can't predict the next chance we'd get and when it would occur.
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It's in our DNA as Football Club, it's in my DNA as a Villa fan, when Ray Stewart scored the last minute Penalty at West Ham - that was the closest I've ever come to tears about the result of a Football Match.
I've never forgotten that quarter final at West Ham - was convinced our name was on the cup that year after we'd overcome being drawn away to Bristol Rovers, Cambridge and Blackburn and we were within a whisker of getting them back to VP.
As you say - that and all the other big disappointments in the tournament; Man Utd (1977), Tottenham (1982), Arsenal (1983), the Liverpool and Chelsea semis and the disaster of 2000 can all be put away as a distant memory with a win on Saturday