Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Villa Memories => Topic started by: Deano's Mullet on December 08, 2016, 10:24:12 PM
-
This was the biggest crowd anywhere in the first two seasons (maybe even three) of the Premiership, 45,000. I was in the North Stand Upper that day and remember the singer trying to get the Holte End to sing You'll Never Walk Alone which didn't go down too well. We were on a bad run following the League Cup Final win but thankfully Yorkie sent us all home happy. if I remember the national papers barely mentioned it was the last day of the Holte compared to a week earlier when the Kop at Anfield was used for the last time. A year later and Yorke got another double in the final home game against the same opposition which essentially kept us from being relegated.
-
Was in Aus that year so another wish I was there moment.
As for YNWA - not sure when and where it stopped being sung by other teams. I remember OT and Rotterdam when certainly the Villa belted it out at the end of both games.
-
A great day, made all the sweeter by beating "the Kop", who lost their last match in front of their famous terrace to Norwich the week before. The less said about Dave Chance, his pink suit and ill advised "turn" the better.
The Vine was bouncing afterwards, singing "Happy Days are here again" about Small Heath going down while everyone danced on the tables, chairs and the pool table.
There were two Scousers in there that were shitfaced on Diamond White, taking the lead from all the Villa fans who claimed souvenirs from The Holte, one of them scaled the outside of the pub and proceeded to remove the "Vine" gold lettering for posterity to good natured barracking from us watching on the pavement.
And I fell asleep on the bus home.
-
Dave Chance in a pink suit.Big Ron should have sung "Dwight Yorke Dwight Yorke".
Still got the certificate the turnstile operators handed out somewhere.
(http://www.avillafan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/last-day-of-holte-end-terrace-certificate-aston-villa-liverpool-07-may-1994.jpg)
-
I've still got the sign I liberated during the game
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/EnglishPride2004/IMG_1725.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/EnglishPride2004/IMG_1726.jpg)
-
I was 13 and only really fell in love with the Holte a few months before, think Swindon 5-0 was the deal breaker. A very enjoyable day and rare win following the LC final. Any other opposition and YNWA might have been acceptable but they all lifted their scarves and flags as you'd expect and the crescendo of boos from the Holte meant you literally couldn't hear him singing. I distinctly remember a bit of a pause in the cacophony to see if it'd finished then the boos starting right back up when it was apparent it hadn't.
-
And you're right about the media coverage or lack of it. Think we were last on MOTD compared to wall to wall coverage of the Kop.
-
Yeah, isn't there better highlights on the season review vid showing people nicking brickwork and signage?
-
I remember people coming out of the bogs with toilet seats around their necks. Rather them than me! I still have the programme and certificate.
-
I thought it hilarious the singing of the Liverpool anthem in front of the Holte when the singer Dave Chance (David Williams) was obviously miming and when the boo's and flack came from the Holte he had to keep miming because the tannoy was still playing. How embarrassing for him even in his pink suit
-
It was said, and may well be true, Dave Chance and others advised against the song but were overruled. Poor bugger, but it added a surreal and memorable twist to one of the best days I've ever had supporting the Villa.
-
Having stood, swayed, sang and cried on the Holte between 68 and 78 I have so many memories.
The Holte at its most Majestic had to be in games against the Blues, Albion, Utd and Lverpool.
Specials, Arsenal, poor Bob Wilson having to run up to the Holte for the Cup replay, second leg League cup game against Utd, Sunderland for the promotion game, some menacing ones against Blues and albion, 5-1 Liverpool. Any game at the beginning of the balloons phase, A festive Few over Christmas and new year, Torquay utd Last but one game of the 71/72 promotion season. We were ( I think ) already promoted or guaranteed if we won.
All around the Holte there were groups,(older guys than me) who had brought in bottles of Champagne and beers, no public safety in those days.
, and had a party. 37,000 against Torquay !!!
I brought my kids to witness a Blues game at Villa Park, we sat in the upper Trinity opposite the Noses.
5-1
I have been blessed, they will never forget that day , the view of the Holte in all its glory.
Nor the later celebrations.
-
The last time I had to carry the crates into the Holte for the kids to stand on and getting there at 1.30 to ensure their place behind the barrier.
-
Despite having been a ST holder on the Holte for a number of years, I ended up missing this game due to my sister getting married that day. I've never forgiven her.
-
one of my friends was on her honeymoon and i never her forget lol. she still goes but the other half does not like football
-
I don't think there is a great deal of difference between the atmosphere on the Holte to the stand today. Sure for some big games in particular Blues it was something special, for anything but the bigger games the stand was fairly quite.
What I do remember though was going through each player when they came out to warm up prior to kick off. Less anti blues songs and more Villa.
One of the best atmospheres was the cup tie v Port Vale just before the QPR league cup semi.
PS if anyone can copy and send me one of the Certificates I would be really grateful.
-
I was living in Paris and came back for this. I was amazed tolerance when I got home the night before that it was all ticket - a rarity in those days - and was sold out. Undeterred, I arrived early, begged and pleaded with strangers for a spare and managed to get one about 15 minutes to kick off.
It was on the right side of the Holte - I was a left sider - and at the end I ran around and managed to catch up with 2 mates on our usual spot on the left side. I knew them from university, and one had moved to Exeter by then, but in those pre-Internet days had no mobile or email addresses for them. As the all seater Holte came along, and dispersal of the old clusters, I have never seen either since.
-
Dave Chance in a pink suit.Big Ron should have sung "Dwight Yorke Dwight Yorke".
Still got the certificate the turnstile operators handed out somewhere.
(http://www.avillafan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/last-day-of-holte-end-terrace-certificate-aston-villa-liverpool-07-may-1994.jpg)
They never gave me one!
-
I don't think there is a great deal of difference between the atmosphere on the Holte to the stand today. Sure for some big games in particular Blues it was something special, for anything but the bigger games the stand was fairly quite.
What I do remember though was going through each player when they came out to warm up prior to kick off. Less anti blues songs and more Villa.
One of the best atmospheres was the cup tie v Port Vale just before the QPR league cup semi.
PS if anyone can copy and send me one of the Certificates I would be really grateful.
I think Port Vale was just after not before. 3-0?
-
Best atmosphere I remember ever was Inter Milan in 1994. Ground was rocking that night. edged out Tranmere in my opinion.
-
Athletico madrid was quality
-
Bradford 87-88
-
Athletico madrid was quality
Bilbao and Bucharest weren't shabby either.
-
I was working at VP back then on the turnstiles. I was given a turnstile on the left side of the Holte that day.
I may have made a few quid extra that day.
I have never counted my stubs so quickly and weighed them in, literally by 10 past three I was done.
Great atmosphere, then off into town. Billy's bar then the Actress and Bishop in St. Pauls square.
Got back into Redditch about 4.00 am. My ex went mental!
That was without her knowing what happened with the tea girl!!
Happy days!
-
Best atmosphere I remember ever was Inter Milan in 1994. Ground was rocking that night. edged out Tranmere in my opinion.
I've experienced many magical atmospheres on all the big games from between the late 1960s up until I stopped going regularly in the mid 1990s - but I agree with Deanno - this was the best of all. I was in the Doug Ellis Stand level with the Witton End penalty - a superb place to be for the shoot out and Phil King's unforgettable minute of fame.
-
Best atmosphere I remember ever was Inter Milan in 1994. Ground was rocking that night. edged out Tranmere in my opinion.
I've experienced many magical atmospheres on all the big games from between the late 1960s up until I stopped going regularly in the mid 1990s - but I agree with Deanno - this was the best of all. I was in the Doug Ellis Stand level with the Witton End penalty - a superb place to be for the shoot out and Phil King's unforgettable minute of fame.
So was I - and part of the reason that it was probably such a good atmosphere was we had to sit in there as our seats in the Holte weren't built yet!
-
I was working at VP back then on the turnstiles. I was given a turnstile on the left side of the Holte that day.
I may have made a few quid extra that day.
I have never counted my stubs so quickly and weighed them in, literally by 10 past three I was done.
Great atmosphere, then off into town. Billy's bar then the Actress and Bishop in St. Pauls square.
Got back into Redditch about 4.00 am. My ex went mental!
That was without her knowing what happened with the tea girl!!
Happy days!
Have you got my certificate? (smiley emoticon thingy)
-
One of my biggest-ever financial mistakes - thinking we'd only sell as many of the special H&Vs as for a normal game. I ended up with me handing them out, Greg who had been passing and got roped in bending down every thirty seconds to grab another pile and his wife taking the money. We'd sold out by ten to two and had two re-prints done.
-
One of my biggest-ever financial mistakes - thinking we'd only sell as many of the special H&Vs as for a normal game. I ended up with me handing them out, Greg who had been passing and got roped in bending down every thirty seconds to grab another pile and his wife taking the money. We'd sold out by ten to two and had two re-prints done.
That special H&V was great, best ever issue in my opinion.
-
One of my biggest-ever financial mistakes - thinking we'd only sell as many of the special H&Vs as for a normal game. I ended up with me handing them out, Greg who had been passing and got roped in bending down every thirty seconds to grab another pile and his wife taking the money. We'd sold out by ten to two and had two re-prints done.
That special H&V was great, best ever issue in my opinion.
It was responsible for one of the great moments of life. Answering the phone to be met by "Hello David. This is Ron Saunders 'ere."
-
One of my biggest-ever financial mistakes - thinking we'd only sell as many of the special H&Vs as for a normal game. I ended up with me handing them out, Greg who had been passing and got roped in bending down every thirty seconds to grab another pile and his wife taking the money. We'd sold out by ten to two and had two re-prints done.
That special H&V was great, best ever issue in my opinion.
I agree.
I have got rid of most of my old programmes and fanzines but I will keep that one forever.
-
I realise that was the last time I was in the Holte, I've never sat in the stand.
-
That was a great time to go to Villa Park. Looking back, that last game on the Holte was really something special, as though it had to end that way. I was on the left side, as always. What an atmosphere. When Yorke scored that goal...great memories.
In that period, the Tranmere game was also immense, as was the Inter game, although the fact that the Holte was being re-developed probably just puts it a shade lower for me. I was right behind the goal in the Lower North that night. Great times.
-
I realise that was the last time I was in the Holte, I've never sat in the stand.
Likewise - the last time I was in the Holte End when we lost 1-0 to Man. Utd in 1991 - I seem to remember their goal was a penalty, but I can't remember who scored it !!!! So, apart from being given a ticket for a game in 2002 - that's it for me in the new Holte End.
That was the time when I knew it was time to go back to where I started life at Villa Park in 1967 - the dear old Trinity Road Stand.
-
I realise that was the last time I was in the Holte, I've never sat in the stand.
Likewise - the last time I was in the Holte End when we lost 1-0 to Man. Utd in 1991 - I seem to remember their goal was a penalty, but I can't remember who scored it !!!! So, apart from being given a ticket for a game in 2002 - that's it for me in the new Holte End.
That was the time when I knew it was time to go back to where I started life at Villa Park in 1967 - the dear old Trinity Road Stand.
Big Ron's first home game. Pretty sure Hughes scored after Robson went down as though he had been shot.
-
I thought it was our manager that took it for them, could be Hughes though.
-
I thought it was our manager that took it for them, could be Hughes though.
I have just googled this and I bow to your better memory. It was Bruce who took that penalty.
-
We beat Arsenal the following Saturday. Gary Penrice scored for us, his only Villa goal I believe. Tony Daley got a stunner too plus a Staunton penalty.
-
Left Siders but my brothers and could only get on the right side that day. At least we got in! I have a whole brick that came from the Holte when it was finally demolished as one of my Villa "treasures"
-
I realise that was the last time I was in the Holte, I've never sat in the stand.
Likewise - the last time I was in the Holte End when we lost 1-0 to Man. Utd in 1991 - I seem to remember their goal was a penalty, but I can't remember who scored it !!!! So, apart from being given a ticket for a game in 2002 - that's it for me in the new Holte End.
That was the time when I knew it was time to go back to where I started life at Villa Park in 1967 - the dear old Trinity Road Stand.
Big Ron's first home game. Pretty sure Hughes scored after Robson went down as though he had been shot.
It was also my first home game as a season ticket holder. I was 7 years old. I've had a season ticket ever since. I'm 32 now!
-
I think it was declared a flag day but nobody told the stewards who were taking them off people at the turnstiles. Many years later i bought a chunk of holte end concrete on a little wooden plinth off ebay for a few quid. I still have it somewhere. Apparently the club were selling them in the souvenir shop for a while.
-
I was stood on the left side of the Holte (as usual) and I still have the certificate stored away somewhere in the loft.
If I can find the photos I will try and post them at some point.
-
I found the certificate in one of my drawers the other day. It's quite badly faded from being pinned on my bedroom wall in sunny Shrewsbury for a good few years.
-
Its good to know that Dave Chance can still pull a crowd.
He was the "turn" at a residential care home in New Oscott on Sat night.
The residents were advised to boo any rendition of YNWA.
-
Its good to know that Dave Chance can still pull a crowd.
He was the "turn" at a residential care home in New Oscott on Sat night.
The residents were advised to boo any rendition of YNWA.
That has Phoenix Nights written all over it