Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Villa Memories => Topic started by: Chico Hamilton III on September 05, 2008, 12:01:45 PM
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Straightforward poll. Only answer if you've experience both eras
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1980s no contest
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1981 or 1987?
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It's a close call at the moment.
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80's
I fucking hate the way football has become, and this has nothing to do with hoolies, atmosphere or terracing.
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Can we add the 1990's to the poll?
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The 80s started and finished well but the bit in the middle was truly shit. Far worse than anything we've witnessed in this decade.
Off the pitch there was hooliganism, low crowds, crumbling grounds but it seemed more of a laugh; however, how much of that is just nostalgia I'm not sure.
Like many of these sort of things people will look at the past era with more fondness but what they are really doing is missing being younger.
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my villa experience started in 88. does that qualify me to vote? if so i definitely vote late 80s early 90s.
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Like many of these sort of things people will look at the past era with more fondness but what they are really doing is missing being younger.
Which option did you go for, Chris? (I'll guess option 3?)
If someobody asked me whether I preferred the standard of living in the 80s or now, I'd choose now. so I don't think the football question can be explained away conveniently by assuming it's just people missing their youth.
I think it's just a personal preference
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Only caught the last few years of the 1980s so I missed out on most of the mayhem, but I'd choose the '80s purely because of the old Holte and the lack of Jamie Redknapp.
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I started watching the Villa in the 80's. As that fat bearded bloke from the Friday Night Project says "Good Times".
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Gates of 8,000
Rioting and deaths in dilapadated stadiums.
The worst Villa team in living memory
Really useless Villa managers
Crap kits
Simon Stainrod
Or
Overpaid players
Expensive tickets
Selling the game's soul
Blues in the Premier League
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Like many of these sort of things people will look at the past era with more fondness but what they are really doing is missing being younger.
Which option did you go for, Chris? (I'll guess option 3?)
If someobody asked me whether I preferred the standard of living in the 80s or now, I'd choose now. so I don't think the football question can be explained away conveniently by assuming it's just people missing their youth.
I think it's just a personal preference
The 80s just about because I remember some real good times with my mates, you experience football differently when you're young, free and single. I don't particulary miss all the shit around the grounds with opposition fans, being treated like a terrorist by the coppers, standing in 2 inches of piss in the bogs, half empty grounds much of the time and the truly awful football we witnessd between Barton leaving and Taylor arriving. I wouldn't go back to that for all the tea in China.
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The 80s.
Standing on a packed Holte end in full song.
The left side...
knees up mother brown..
burning one of the opposing supporters scarves from the rafters above your heads! (Yes, it really did happen, almost every week as far as i remember).
Tickets that were affordable.
football was crap though.
Would i swap it for now..?
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It would have been nice for us OAPs to have a choice of other decades.
In which case I'd go for the 70s.
Of the two choices on offer, I'd go for football today. Save for the golden seasons early on, the 80s were the second worst time to watch Villa in particular and easily the worst to watch football from a more general perspective.
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It would have been nice for us OAPs to have a choice of other decades.
In which case I'd go for the 70s.
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I'm pretty certain most of us would have chosen the 70s as their favourite era.
The reason I only put the 80s and now as options ( apart from the comedy option 3 which seems to have backfired on me spectacularly) was in direct response to the Football in the 80s thread on here
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Weighing up the horrible stuff that we took for granted (standing in piss, constant trouble, crap football, being shoved around weird towns and cities by aggressive coppers, shocking kits etc. I would still have to say the 80's outstrip nowadays.
As much as I don't want to go back to those days, some of our supporters, the TV/advertising influence, players attitude to money above everything and soap opera tranfsfer deals makes me think that we are heading towards a future of American football style proportions.
Big fat families, no atmosphere and every second played out through the media to come me thinks.
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I have the Zeneth Data cup tie v Middlesboro, in 1989 (it absolutely pissed it down), and the 1-2 defeat by Oldham, in 1988 on video - i must dig them out again !!!!
The Oldham game in particular had a terrible strandard of football. David Norton hoofing it in the sky at every opportunity !
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I have the Zeneth Data cup tie v Middlesboro, in 1989 (it absolutely pissed it down), and the 1-2 defeat by Oldham, in 1988 on video - i must dig them out again !!!!
The Oldham game in particular had a terrible strandard of football. David Norton hoofing it in the sky at every opportunity !
was this the Boro game, Oldham?
boro vs villa (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG0B6nb7QT8)
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No, that was the league match in Division 2.
The one i was referring to was when we were in the 1st Division (Ormondroyd and Cowans had been signed). I'll try and dig it out to look at the line up.
I'm sure it was a 2 legged match, with the final leg at Villa. It was filmed on Sky.
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Gates of 8,000
Rioting and deaths in dilapadated stadiums.
The worst Villa team in living memory
Really useless Villa managers
Crap kits
Simon Stainrod
Or
Overpaid players
Expensive tickets
Selling the game's soul
Blues in the Premier League
Paying in on the door ( in cash) no debit cards
Turning up at an away game and paying on the door
Getting an alcoholic drink in a ground (Platt Lane end at Citeh was brilliant)
Standing or sitting (your choice)
Football specials
Gordon Cowans
or
Buying tickets days before in a controlled military fashion
Needing to be a club director (or have 352 away stamps and attended the Dinamo Berlin away game) to get an away ticket....including booking fee.
Shit beer (in fairness it always was) away from pitch view, except European games where no beer is available at all
Paying for a seat.....and standing all day
Network Rail taking the piss
Didier Agathe
We can argue the pro's and cons all day....thats why we love it.
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Turning up at an away game and paying on the door
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I remember going to see us at Leeds with my bro in law and we only decided on the morning of the game to go. Jumped on the special at New Street and paid on the gates at Elland Road.
The locals were pretty friendly too - they gave us a thorough cardiovascular workout after the match. I've never ran so fast in my life.
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Turning up at an away game and paying on the door
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I remember going to see us at Leeds with my bro in law and we only decided on the morning of the game to go. Jumped on the special at New Street and paid on the gates at Elland Road.
The locals were pretty friendly too - they gave us a thorough cardiovascular workout after the match. I've never ran so fast in my life.
That was always difficult with a gallon of ale swilling around inside you.
It was another of those grounds where the Police said 'it's your fault for coming here' as they pitched you out into a baying mob.
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Gates of 8,000
Rioting and deaths in dilapadated stadiums.
The worst Villa team in living memory
Really useless Villa managers
Crap kits
Simon Stainrod
Or
Overpaid players
Expensive tickets
Selling the game's soul
Blues in the Premier League
Paying in on the door ( in cash) no debit cards
Turning up at an away game and paying on the door
Getting an alcoholic drink in a ground (Platt Lane end at Citeh was brilliant)
Standing or sitting (your choice)
Football specials
Gordon Cowans
or
Buying tickets days before in a controlled military fashion
Needing to be a club director (or have 352 away stamps and attended the Dinamo Berlin away game) to get an away ticket....including booking fee.
Shit beer (in fairness it always was) away from pitch view, except European games where no beer is available at all
Paying for a seat.....and standing all day
Network Rail taking the piss
Didier Agathe
We can argue the pro's and cons all day....thats why we love it.
Absolutley. That's why I voted...
Eat your own shit Chico, you bummer.
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I have to say now as my first season ticket was the Golden 'Graham Turner' era............. followed by Mcneill.
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The 80s.
Standing on a packed Holte end in full song.
The left side...
knees up mother brown..
burning one of the opposing supporters scarves from the rafters above your heads! (Yes, it really did happen, almost every week as far as i remember).
Tickets that were affordable.
football was crap though.
Would i swap it for now..?
That's pretty much as I remember it.
The players were more approachable and when we were good we were awesome. All too often though when we were bad we were fucking dire.
Happy days all things considered.
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That's why I voted...
Eat your own shit Chico, you bummer.
you and several others, it would appear
actually I voted for that one myself
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Ok... some more positive one...
80s
First ever live game
AV Floodlights
Wooden seats in the Trinity
Taken into various pubs on Summer Lane
Best team in Europe
Now
Full houses everyweek
Best manager since RS
Decent coverage on TV
Great football
Competing with the best
And I voted for option 3 because it made me smile on a crappy weather day....
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How tight were those shorts in the 80s??!
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The first season I really remember is 89/90. Although I've been told my first match was during the 80/81 season when I was about 2 years old.
But I read thread likes this, and other in the Memories section. The footy specials, the dark days of div 3 etc. And I really do wish I was born about 30 years earlier, just so I can say I experienced it.
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I have never experianced football much in the 80`s but would`ve much prefered it then to now. Money is ruining the game it`s turning so many average footballers into miilionaires and class footballers into breedy wankers who always want more.
I would prefer to be in terracing too.
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In terms of being just a good laugh with like-minded mates your late teens and early twenties is the best age for going to watch football IMO. So as someone who was 15 years old at the start on the 80s I have to vote for that era. There were lots of things that were horribly wrong with the game in general and, in the middle of the decade, with the Villa in particular, but I have some great memories.
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Just given up my seat in the Trinity after 15years.
Can't stand the kick-off times changes any more. Too much emphasis on the top 4 clubs.
And as for all the bollox this week over transfers, money & managers walking out the Prem needs to wake-up and smell the coffee.
Yeh sure, football in the 80's had its problems and disasters, but the game was not infected so much by money and television then. You were a real football fan. Someone who stood on open terraces in the pissing rain often getting home just in time to watch Match Of The Day, then the main source of TV football.
Feels a bit like biting your nose off to spite your face having had a season ticket for so many years and then giving up when things look promising.
The good old 80's. See you at the Saturday 3o'clock games.
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Money is ruining the game it`s turning so many average footballers into miilionaires.
I was following a car P3 SCH yesterday and spotted it going into an enormous house. Guess who owns that expensive motor. What did he ever do on the football pitch? We all know what he did off the pitch.
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80's
still think my fav ever season for having fun was GT's resurgence from the old Div 2. Did every game and we won 17 away games i think
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I don't remember anything about the 1980's. Too young i'm afraid :-
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Now. Even though we were very successful at the start of the 80s football is better on every front now. Stadia, pitches, less abandonments, better facilities for players and fans alike, safer environment to watch games for families and individual fans, better healthcare in place for players, players looked after better post football, better standard of football, better TV coverage, better atmospheres (yeah right, we lost it all when we lost standing. 8000 v Southampton suggetsts otherwise, 20 000 v Oxford in the LC semis loike wise).
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Coopers Injury wrote
still think my fav ever season for having fun was GT's resurgence from the old Div 2. Did every game and we won 17 away games i think
Won 13 Drew 5 and lost only 4 away. Our home form had not been good losing 6 games.
I Remember last game at Swindon when we were promoted. Game was over, we had drawn 0-0 and were waiting for Boro's game at home to Leicester to finish. I had the radio on me walkman and everyone was crowded around like a scrum waiting for the final whistle. Boro lost at home 1-2 and we were up by the skin of our teeth just missing the dreaded play-offs.
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After Leicester had also beat Bradford 3-2 away.
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Coopers Injury wrote
still think my fav ever season for having fun was GT's resurgence from the old Div 2. Did every game and we won 17 away games i think
Won 13 Drew 5 and lost only 4 away. Our home form had not been good losing 6 games.
I Remember last game at Swindon when we were promoted. Game was over, we had drawn 0-0 and were waiting for Boro's game at home to Leicester to finish. I had the radio on me walkman and everyone was crowded around like a scrum waiting for the final whistle. Boro lost at home 1-2 and we were up by the skin of our teeth just missing the dreaded play-offs.
Swindon away....the day of days.
A group of us from Vale / Erdington had paid a chap to drive our minibus on the proviso he stayed sober. After the game (anyone remember the 100-a-side football match on the waste ground), our bus was only one left on the car park (about 5.45 by now). A quick recce around the ground revealed that Eddie the driver, was stood in their social club on about his 8th pint of bitter.
We bowled into the club up some stairs, expecting a knock back at any moment by some steward or commissionaire, but hey presto no-one stopped us and in we went, only to find that this club also doubled up as their players lounge and in were coming all the Villa players.
Abiding memory is of me, Mark Lillis and Spinky standing on a table singing 'we are going up' with a group of Swindon chaps cheering us on !
We left the ground when the players did (about 7.30 ish) and they were giving us cans of beer and sandwiches off the team coach.....then we drove back to Brum (Eddie was not driving !) and got properly wankered - perfect !
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Was anyone else at the car park - a service station I think - that turned into a 50 a-side game? I scored the first.
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Was anyone else at the car park - a service station I think - that turned into a 50 a-side game? I scored the first.
Yeah, but you were a mile offside.
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For me the perfect era was around 1989-92. Post-Hillsborough so we were starting to be treated decently and violence was more or less out of fashion. Pre-Premier League so matches were still invariably on Saturday afternoon and hype-free. Thenalong came Sky to bugger it all up.
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For me the perfect era was around 1989-92. Post-Hillsborough so we were starting to be treated decently and violence was more or less out of fashion. Pre-Premier League so matches were still invariably on Saturday afternoon and hype-free. Thenalong came Sky to bugger it all up.
Same hear 88 was when I stared going 3-3 at Goodison, couldn't talk for a week.
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For me the perfect era was around 1989-92. Post-Hillsborough so we were starting to be treated decently and violence was more or less out of fashion. Pre-Premier League so matches were still invariably on Saturday afternoon and hype-free. Thenalong came Sky to bugger it all up.
I think there's a lot of credence to that arguement. I would also say that the early years of the Premier League were also OK: more money in the game, but not too much (and a lot of it it has to be remembered was used to improve some of the more crappy grounds) and a tolerable number of games moved by Sky. I think it was Euro 96 that was the moment that football at the top level became a fashion-statement and led ultimately to where we are today.
Putting a Villa angle on it: a golden era starting with Platt's volley against Belgium and ending with Southgate's penalty against Germany.
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I would say our golden era began with Sir Graham's arrival and ended when we signed Collymore but that's a side issue.
Thinking about it, a moment of significance came with the false imprisonments at Nottingham station - for the first time I can recall there was a media outcry at the way we'd been treated. Control of supporters wasn't just about security anymore.
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I would say our golden era began with Sir Graham's arrival and ended when we signed Collymore but that's a side issue.
For the Villa, without a doubt. I was using Villa players to book-end what I think of a golden era for football in general
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I would say our golden era began with Sir Graham's arrival and ended when we signed Collymore but that's a side issue.
Thinking about it, a moment of significance came with the false imprisonments at Nottingham station - for the first time I can recall there was a media outcry at the way we'd been treated. Control of supporters wasn't just about security anymore.
88 to late 98 for me. once Gregory's honeymoon period was over we were on a downward spiral from then on in - cup final appearance aside although the less said about that the better!
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I would say our golden era began with Sir Graham's arrival and ended when we signed Collymore but that's a side issue.
Thinking about it, a moment of significance came with the false imprisonments at Nottingham station - for the first time I can recall there was a media outcry at the way we'd been treated. Control of supporters wasn't just about security anymore.
88 to late 98 for me. once Gregory's honeymoon period was over we were on a downward spiral from then on in - cup final appearance aside although the less said about that the better!
Yeah, i started going in '88 and thoroughly enjoyed it every time until early '99 really. That was about the time i realised we weren't going to win the league whilst football was the way it was, and if it continued (which it has). Gregory had produced a winning team, albeit slightly dull, but when that dull team started getting duller and winning less the enjoyment slowly started to fizzle out. GT's second stint was a disaster, O'Leary had a good start and then faded very badly. A lot of the problem was that from around 98 until the last 18 months we had too many players that didn't really want to play for us, and quite a few we tried to sign were not interested. The image of the club was at an all time low in the years i'd been coming, and we are now slowly starting to reverse that.
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I would say our golden era began with Sir Graham's arrival and ended when we signed Collymore but that's a side issue.
Thinking about it, a moment of significance came with the false imprisonments at Nottingham station - for the first time I can recall there was a media outcry at the way we'd been treated. Control of supporters wasn't just about security anymore.
88 to late 98 for me. once Gregory's honeymoon period was over we were on a downward spiral from then on in - cup final appearance aside although the less said about that the better!
Yeah, i started going in '88 and thoroughly enjoyed it every time until early '99 really. That was about the time i realised we weren't going to win the league whilst football was the way it was, and if it continued (which it has). Gregory had produced a winning team, albeit slightly dull, but when that dull team started getting duller and winning less the enjoyment slowly started to fizzle out. GT's second stint was a disaster, O'Leary had a good start and then faded very badly. A lot of the problem was that from around 98 until the last 18 months we had too many players that didn't really want to play for us, and quite a few we tried to sign were not interested. The image of the club was at an all time low in the years i'd been coming, and we are now slowly starting to reverse that.
it really didnt help that Blues came up whilst we had already started to struggle under GT and gubbed us in both games. we know and they know whos the biggest in the region but the media - and loads of people i know who should have known better - started a bandwagon and championed Blues forward as being the bigger force in the Second City.
edit - which obviously didnt last too long! plus we had Southgate, Ehiogu and Merson questioning our ambition. the press had a field day with us until our name was mud.
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The Christmas of '89' playing Man United and beating them on boxing day 3-0, Arsenal a few days later beating the then Champs 2-1 both, at Villa Park. Also, it was packed on the Holte End with a great Atmosphere and 40,000 plus crowds, sheer bliss.
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The Christmas of '89' playing Man United and beating them on boxing day 3-0, Arsenal a few days later beating the then Champs 2-1 both, at Villa Park. Also, it was packed on the Holte End with a great Atmosphere and 40,000 plus crowds, sheer bliss.
That was a great 3 or 4 days. The queues for the Holte on Boxing Day were back to the Holte Hotel.
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The Christmas of '89' playing Man United and beating them on boxing day 3-0, Arsenal a few days later beating the then Champs 2-1 both, at Villa Park. Also, it was packed on the Holte End with a great Atmosphere and 40,000 plus crowds, sheer bliss.
That was a great 3 or 4 days. The queues for the Holte on Boxing Day were back to the Holte Hotel.
"Fergie, on the dole,
Fergie fergie on the dole"
"Thank you very much for Paul McGrath...."
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For me the perfect era was around 1989-92. Post-Hillsborough so we were starting to be treated decently and violence was more or less out of fashion. Pre-Premier League so matches were still invariably on Saturday afternoon and hype-free. Thenalong came Sky to bugger it all up.
Same hear 88 was when I stared going 3-3 at Goodison, couldn't talk for a week.
GT's last game before departing for England
think we sang solid through half time and the entire second half - GT's claret n blue army !"
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Turning up at an away game and paying on the door
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I remember going to see us at Leeds with my bro in law and we only decided on the morning of the game to go. Jumped on the special at New Street and paid on the gates at Elland Road.
True but how many grounds have you been to when there was a mad crush to get in with only a couple of turnstiles open, missed part of the match or they've sold out and shut the gates?
It was at times frightening at times but the atmosphere once inside was always special. I really hate having to sit at games now, it really takes the edge off the game, unless it's a non-Villa game, whereby it doesn't really matter which team wins, you just fancy a good game of football.