Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: waynejames on December 03, 2013, 10:28:48 PM
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Bit of fun on here for everybody to have a bash at.
When i was a lad many moons ago, i grew up in Alum Rock slap bang between Small Heath and Aston........ so i thought.
Having just checked how far i lived from the two grounds (Villa Park and the San Giro) i have discovered that i when lived in George Arthur Road, from 1972 to 1998 i was 0.6 miles closer to that shower of shite.
So my question to you all is...........
Who are ya?
Or who, might you have become? ( that's a scary fecking thought!)
Villa Park is B6 6HE as well all know. (2.3 miles from my childhood home)
That shite is B9 4RL...........Plaaaaa mouthwash please (1.7 miles from my childhood home)
I now live within walking distance of Nuneaton Town and Coventry City come from Northampton so they just don't matter.
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Being from Stratford-Upon-Avon, I'm pretty sure my closest club is Cov. Dodged a bullet with that one.
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I would guess my nearest league club was Cheltenham Town. Villa were the nearest top flight team but I was sold on family ties to us.
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Only if ASTON VILLA did not exist ....nooooooooooooooo that's a horrible thought.
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Coventry are my nearest too :-[
But Grandad used to have a farm at Whittington, Lichfield
When he moved here he still supported Villa, so did Dad
Then Dad took me, now I take my son :)
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Born in Wolverhampton. Did not even have to think about it to be honest.
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Blessed to live close enough to see the ground from my sons bedroom ;D
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I do however have a soft spot for Hednesford Town and Kidderminster Harriers.
Doctor !
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I was born in Stourbridge, with my family there was never any doubt it would be Villa for me.
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I have a soft spot for Kiddy Harriers.
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Born at the old Sorrento hospital. The dark side edges it by a couple of miles by my reckoning. Jeez this is like that revelation in Star Wars but worse and dirtier. Think I need a drink and a bath.
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I should have been Wolves but after receiving a Villa shirt at 5 years old and then my uncle taking me under his wing there was no turning back. Moving down to Devon only helped my love in with Villa with my uncles match day programmes arriving in the post every other week. I used to love getting them.
I still have a soft spot for Wolves and would love to see them back in the Premier just as long as we do the double over them of course.
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As a child I lived a little closer to the Hawthorns than Villa Park and most of my mates were Baggies. My uncle who was some sort of official at the baggies took me there when I was very young but for some reason that I can't remember I didn't like it. I think that prompted my dad to start telling me about his hero, Billy Walker and when the Villa were playing at home and the wind was in the right direction I could hear the roar from Villa Park from my open bedroom window, so when he did eventually take me I was hooked immediately.
The Albion had their chance, but blew it. Never could understand what people saw in them.
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Hong Kong for me....so do I get to choose? My Dad was a West Ham fan (from a 60/70's footballing ideological standpoint) born in Kent, my Mum's family are Nuneaton and Hinckley. No choice as far as I was concerned. Currently the Baggies are the nearest PL club by 2.7 miles, I'd always go the extra 2.7 miles for Villa.
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Born in Sutton Coldfield, grew up on the Vale so it was either Villa or a car thief, I chose Villa! ;)
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Looks like most people would be prepared to 'walk a mile and a bit'
Hong Kong for me....so do I get to choose? My Dad was a West Ham fan (from a 60/70's footballing ideological standpoint) born in Kent, my Mum's family are Nuneaton and Hinckley. No choice as far as I was concerned. Currently the Baggies are the nearest PL club by 2.7 miles, I'd always go the extra 2.7 miles for Villa.
Looks like you would walk 'a mile and a bit'
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I should be a Hibs supporter.
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Shrewsbury. Then Telford, then Wolves, then Walsall, then Stoke, then Albion. Oh God. I'm one of them. And I'm even a shit if I do go loyal to my roots because I quite like Shrewsbury AND Telford, which is a bit of a no-no, they say. For shame.
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http://www.hopewiser.com/proximity-search/ is a good way to check.
Grew up in Erdington / Sutton so comfortably Villa. Now I'm between a cock and an arse place.
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Grandad had an off=licence in Bracebridge Road, a stone's throw from Villa Park before the 2nd World War. I grew up on stories about his heroes - Pongo, Billy and the rest -and they were good enough for me. I was hooked and Gerry Hitchens scored the first goal I ever saw at Villa Park. Why would you want to support any other club?
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I grew up in Shard End which is slap bang in the middle of nose territory apparently although most people I knew growing up were Villa. My dad grew up on Little Green Lane right behind the sty, my mom grew up within sight of Villa Park but I'm not sure of the road. Luckily for me my dad hates football.
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Villa is easily the closest, walking distance.
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We had one of these many moons ago, with a web site url for checking.
Mine were, at the time:
1. Born. WBA
2. Grew up. Blues
3. Living. Brighton.
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I'm not playing.
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Where i grew up i could look out of my sisters window and see Villa Park, It was a easy decision. None of my mates even liked football or supported Villa, fucking glory's!
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I live in Winson Green (the area) so I think I'm just a tad closer to the Hawthorns. Luckily I hadn't even heard of Albion when I was young: my brother used to go and stand on the old Holte and persuaded me.
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Born in Wolverhampton, then lived in Smethwick before moving to Southampton when I was 7. Even when I came back to Birmingham I was on the south side of the city, firstly, Bartley Green, then Moseley.
It's only the last 10 years when I have lived in Sutton that I am finally closest to Villa, who by location, it would seem are the last local team I should support.
However, the generations of Villa fans before me ensured that location had nothing to do with it.
Interestingly, my new nephew born yesterday should be the latest Villa fan, but my brother says he will make his own mind up when he gets old enough. Of course - I will pretend to go along with this, but if he thinks a baby whose first game (in his mummy's tummy) was a 6-1 thrashing of Sunderland, and who was born on the 23rd birthday of Christian Benteke is going to be supporting anyone but Villa, he is sadly mistaken.
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Grew up in Newton/Lozells area.
Whole family on both sides are fervent Villa fans.
No supporters of any other team are in our family or, indeed, allowed in our family, that includes boyfriends/girlfriends/spouses.
It really is a Villa family.
Lovely.
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Fulham would have been my closest team to support just shading Crystal Palace. Incidentally my first ever Villa game was away at Craven Cottage in the old 3rd Division, we won 2-0 and so it began.
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I grew up in a nose family and in a nose area and have always lived closer to the temple of tossers. Thankfully the next door neighbours got me hooked on Villa when I was about six before my family could lead me down the wrong path.
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I could have supported one of the other clubs who've been around since the dawn of football, Marlow. Or Wycombe, but even they were non-league when I first got into footy.
Could have been a Liverpool fan as my dad was, but he wasn't a big football fan and never really has been. I also seemed to take a bit of a dislike to Liverpool from early on because a mate of mine (who got me into Villa) hate them.
Before I was about 10 I wasn't hugely interested in football. I suppose because I didn't live and breathe footy like a lot of kids, I didn't get to local matches. Then I found myself becoming more and more interested. I liked the Villa, purely because I liked the kit and the name and my mate supported them. Then I started collecting Pro Cards. I remember liking Wolves too because of their gold kit, and the Wolf badge. So had I not succumbed to peer pressure from my best mate (at the time) I could easily have been a Wolves fan.
As it was I decided to join the Villa ranks around 90. I figured they were 2nd, they must be good. By 93 I was well and truly hooked and my interest in Footy had grown substantially. Ironically my mate who was football obsessed when he was younger seemed to lose interest throughout his teens and onward.
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Born in Acocks green but moved to Coventry when I was 3 and lived there till my early thirties, never a chance of being a Sky Blues fan (thank god) on regular visits to Brum to see my relatives my Grandad would tell me tales of Villa's greatness and that was it, I was hooked, never ever felt like a Coventry kid, I was always a brummie, when I returned to Brum many years ago it felt like coming home.
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Dads side of the family from Erdington, Moms side from Witton. I am not aware of any part of the family ever following anybody else.
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Born in nuneaton and as a kid there used to be loads of coaches going to the villa - still a big villa following in the town , we moved to coventry in the 70s and there are quite a few villa fans there too.
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In order of approximate distance:
MK Dons (thakfully they didn't exist) - 15 miles
Northampton Town - 21 miles
Oxford United - 24 miles
Coventry - 41 miles
Reading - 49 miles
Leicester - 53 miles
Villa/Blues - 59 miles
Watford - 66 miles
Chelsea - 70 miles
Arsenal - 73 miles
I got a bit carried away there. Basically I could take my pick, I chose wisely.
http://www.freemaptools.com/how-far-is-it-between.htm
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Born at the old Sorrento hospital.
Me too! Do you tell people you were born in Sorrento?
Then lived in Hall Green. Father was from Stourbridge and took me there for cleansing in the early 60's and I recovered equilibrium to start supporting Villa in 1971.
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Born and brought up in Stripeyfilth territory, I should be one of them but my dad was born and raised in Handsworth and brought us all up Villa fans for which i'll be eternally grateful.
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Place of birth: Birmingham City
Grew up: Coventry City
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Place of birth: Birmingham City
Grew up: Coventry City
phewwww!
you turned the right way!
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Likewise for me Villa were the 3rd closest after Cov and Blues, the other 2 don't bear thinking about.
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Born and raised in Cambridge, Mom and Dad moved down from Brum in 1962, Dad born in Small Heath and Mom I think in Erdington.....Mom's side all Blosers and Dad's side (which is a big family) always have been Villa.
I should be a Cambridge Utd supporter as I was born and lived about a quarter of a mile away and I do follow them abit, but always wanted a season ticket at the Villa just like my Great Grandad and Grandad and have had one for 15 years now after I stopped playing local football myself.
UTV
The Doc
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Yep, I should support the Villa. 4.6 miles away from me. Nearest next football club is the Bescot Stadium, Walsall (4.9)
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Born in good Hope Sutton, raised in Walmley. Dad from Hockley and Mom's family from Erdington and then the Vale. There was never another option.
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I was actually born in Portsmouth. My excuse, however, for not following them apart from the fact they are shit and their ground is the pits, is that my dad was down from Birmingham doing his National Service as a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF on Thorney Island in 1961 when I came along. We returned to Birmingham shortly afterwards so I think that qualifies me ok as a natural Villa fan! Particularly as it has run in my dad's side of the family for 2 or 3 generations. It's funny to think I have come full circle and am now back down in the same area
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Born in South Bham and lived in Kings Heath and Kings Norton most my life about from 3 years up in Leeds.
Didn't ever consider SHA, if you are born in Bham and consider yourself a football fan, there's only one team.
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My Dad grew up in Small Heath but his Grandad still, thank God, brought him up to follow The True Faith. I spent my childhood in Tividale and now live in Tipton but the question simply does not compute - how could anyone not be Villa?
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Now i did have a decision to make as i have no Villa background whatsoever, my father was a Taff who supported Cardiff but was living in Birmingham so as a consequence he had no local allegiance.
His mate though was a full on nose who asked my dad and me to a game - Blues v Everton 59/60 season and i went....shock horror!
I was fortunate i suppose that nothing on display that afternoon excited me. When i got home playing out with my mate,Pete, as you do at that age. Anyway i told him where i had been at the age of 5/6 he was shocked,anyway the upshot being he went home and told his dad(Sam).
Sunday morning knock on my door - Sam to see my dad!!!! Would i be interested in going down the Villa the following Saturday.
The rest his history....Thank the Lord for Sam & Pete Webb.
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Born at the old Sorrento hospital.
Me too! Do you tell people you were born in Sorrento?
No, but I am from now on (it sounds quite exotic) lol. Thanks for that :-)
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Born at the old Sorrento hospital.
Me too! Do you tell people you were born in Sorrento?
No, but I am from now on (it sounds quite exotic) lol. Thanks for that :-)
You should, I've been to Sorrento and it's a bloody lovely place.
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I grew up in Yorkshire so should support Liverpool or Manchester United.
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Fulham would have been my closest team to support just shading Crystal Palace. Incidentally my first ever Villa game was away at Craven Cottage in the old 3rd Division, we won 2-0 and so it began.
Lovely, Jon.
Myself, coming from the North side of the city, it could only be Villa. Three years in Sheffield (Utd), five in Leeds and over 20 years here (Sporting Clube de Portugal). In all that time I've only ever known two Noses. Two too many admittedly but reading this thread I realise just how lucky I've been, not that there's many out there. Villa fans I've met all over the place and every one a gent.
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Born in Kidderminster so Harriers would be home town club.
Nearest league club to me now is Crawley Town.
Nearest current Prem side is either Palace or Southampton. Not sure which is nearer.
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Born - Solihull Moors (I refuse to entertain the idea of being born nearer to the Sty)
Raised - Tamworth (for a year at most). Then Erdington (in a family of Erdington based Villa fans).
Now - Darlington (who ground share with Bishop Auckland these days), but my nearest league club is Middlesbrough.
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Arsenal were walking distance from my old house (and are still the nearest team to my new one) but I still think I made the sensible and correct decision in supporting Villa 8)
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Closer to Blose, but probably closest to Solihull Moors, out of decent sized clubs. My father is from Glasgow and moved down here. Went to games for Villa and Blues and preferred us, even though we were a division below them at the time (we'd just come up from the 3rd tier).
Cheers dad :)
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Born at the old Sorrento hospital.
Me too! Do you tell people you were born in Sorrento?
Then lived in Hall Green. Father was from Stourbridge and took me there for cleansing in the early 60's and I recovered equilibrium to start supporting Villa in 1971.
I was also born in Sorrento Hospital, sounds kind cool doesn't it.
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Born in Walsall to a dad who played local football and didnt have any allegiance but did take me to Fellows Park a few times. It was my step dads, dad who took me to my first Villa game against Liverpool im January 1988 and i was blown away by the experience even though we lost....i was in the Trinity Road upper and i will never forget the walk up the steps and then seeing the pitch for the first time and being amongst a crowd of 46000, definetly a life changing experience.
I still have a soft spot for Walsall as my brother is a mad saddlers fan and i go to the occasional game with him.
My nearest football league team is Tranmere Rovers although i havent set foot inside Prenton Park since we lost 1-3 in the league cup semi in 1994.
My 6 year old daughter is officially a Villa fan and has been to a couple of games already which im quite proud of as her scouse relatives were trying to influence her otherwise.
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Doncaster is the obvious one for me, although growing up in the 70's there was a lot of kids saying I should support Leeds as they were a Yorkshire team (ignoring all the other teams in Yorkshire).
Going back a couple of generations, my grandfather was from a family of Albion fans. Fortunately he was a bit of an argumentative bigger and went with the Villa to be different, and two generations later here I am.
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Born at the old Sorrento hospital.
Me too! Do you tell people you were born in Sorrento?
No, but I am from now on (it sounds quite exotic) lol. Thanks for that :-)
You should, I've been to Sorrento and it's a bloody lovely place.
It looks it!! I've never checked photos of there before - Jeez! 15 years ago it could have been my chat up line lol
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Reading or Swindon.
Only support Villa because one of my old man's mates gave me a Villa shirt when I was a kid. That decided it.
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I grew up less than three miles from each of VP, Yawnthornes and the Sty. The Sty was marginally the closest, but I was brought up properly, not dragged up.
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I was born in Hallam Hospital, where Sandwell General now resides. If you think I'd even entertain the idea of following that shower of shit you've got another thing coming.
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Never a doubt for me, born in 1957 in monochrome Handsworth at 19 Villa Road just up from Villa Cross. All relatives were Villa through and through and the family DNA is claret and blue. I can remember my Dad taking to my first game in 1968 and it was with a huge amount of pride I was able to take my boy to Villa Park for his first game in 2003.
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Not born in the UK , moved to Brum when I was 5;, we were having a slight blip , my old man a tyke said what a shame that Aston Villa could be relegated , after understanding the word , I watched us lose against Pompey .
I cried , and became Villa .
Lived in Moseley ,went to school in Kings Norton .
Despite the shite never waivered
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Born and raised in Kingsbury I only ever wanted to support who my dad supported, and thank god I did.
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1.7 miles PR West Bromwich Albion Football Club B71 4LF
1.9 miles PR Aston Villa Football Club B6 6HE
I still think I should support Villa though because West Bromwich is not in Birmingham.
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I would guess my nearest league club was Cheltenham Town. Villa were the nearest top flight team but I was sold on family ties to us.
Hereford for me, Cheltenham weren't a league club at the time. Those were the days.
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We had one of these many moons ago, with a web site url for checking.
Mine were, at the time:
1. Born. WBA
2. Grew up. Blues
3. Living. Brighton.
This the site? It's pretty interesting
http://www.hopewiser.com/proximity-search/
I was born in Leicester
Grew up in a village equally between Nuneaton and Leicester.
Now live in Tokyo
Dad supports Leicester, though after leaving school to play for Notts County, has a soft spot for them.
Mum supports Cardiff
Grandfather pointed me in the right direction of Villa, despite being a Cardiff fan.
'Smartest ground in England' he would tell me.
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Born near Lincoln, bought up midway between Cambridge and Peterbrough moved to Lichfield when I was 18. Didn't first set foot in Villa Park until I was 22 and it was love at first sight.......many clubs had been visited before including Lincoln, Grimsby, Cambridge, Peterbrough, QPR, Watford, Arsenal, Spurs but nothing compared to that first taste of the Holte End there was an electricity that I hadn't felt at a ground before, you could just feel the history coming out of the place. I'm proud to say my son is a Villa fan now as well, the only one at his school in Chester but he wears his shirt with pride despite the piss taking from all the plastic mancs and scouser hes surrounded by.
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Born: Heathfield Road Maternity (almost in the shadow of the floodlights)
Lived:
Handsworth 0-3 years
Chelmsley Wood; Kingshurst; Castle Bromwich 0-18 years
Dad is a nose and took me to see a few games during the Beelzebub, Latchford, Burns era.
I was a lost, tortured soul until a bunch of lads from B37, Percy, Jim and Phil (the last two don't post on here), saved me by taking me to Villa Park (against Tottenham I believe).
I am eternally grateful.
Having lived in France for 28 years, my local teams would be Montpellier, FC Girona and FC Barcelona (I live near the Spanish border). However, I follow AJ Auxerre (now in Ligue 2) because I love Burgundy and they are better than Dijon (who are about as significant as Walsall in footballing terms).
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Born in Marston Green, went to school in Castle Bromwich, pretty even split amongst us and that lot, now live 3 miles from VP.
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Dragged up on the Pype Hayes estate, Erdington. I had no choice. I've lived all over Brum since and my boy will still have no choice.
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Born in Kings Norton and was surrounded by Noses. There were very few Villa fans.
To my shame I did start out as a Liverpool fan from 1974. My dad took me to the Sty to see them and nothing clicked. My brother took me to Villa and the atmosphere on the Holte had me hooked and I was converted.