Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Villa Memories => Topic started by: wittonwarrior on June 18, 2017, 11:45:46 AM
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For me this is an easy one - West Ham away in our FA Cup 1980. After struggling to beat Cambridge and Blackburn not sure what I should have expected, just given the fact that the happy hammers were a 2nd Division team and we always gave it to them on the pitch. Really disappointing. The rest of the season petered out after that culminating in having to watch Liverpool destroy us last game of the season at Anfield where like West Ham we were up against it on and off the pitch.
The next 48 months though I was in fantasy land.
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Bradford and being finally relegated after "notice of relegation" was served 5 seasons ago.
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2000 FA Cup Final.
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Agree that West Ham in 1980 was a big disappointment, especially as those fateful words - our name is on the Cup - was being banded around. However, as I've argued before, in some ways it may have been for the best that we didn't win it as we could start the following season as an unfancied, unregarded and largely unknown quantity, and without the inconvenience of midweek European football.
The quarter final Cup exit that book-ended the other end of those glory years was in someways more disappointing, as we knew what the team was capable of and the performance at Highbury was dire.
The one though that I'm still the most disappointed about was against Liverpool in 1992. That Liverpool side was mediocre - as their struggle to overcome Portsmouth in the semi-final showed - and then they got to play a second division Sunderland in the final. I know we've lost in two finals since, but that really was the year.
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Agree that West Ham in 1980 was a big disappointment, especially as those fateful words - our name is on the Cup - was being banded around. However, as I've argued before, in some ways it may have been for the best that we didn't win it as we could start the following season as an unfancied, unregarded and largely unknown quantity, and without the inconvenience of midweek European football.
The quarter final Cup exit that book-ended the other end of those glory years was in someways more disappointing, as we knew what the team was capable of and the performance at Highbury was dire.
The one though that I'm still the most disappointed about was against Liverpool in 1992. That Liverpool side was mediocre - as their struggle to overcome Portsmouth in the semi-final showed - and then they got to play a second division Sunderland in the final. I know we've lost in two finals since, but that really was the year.
We were talking about it only on Friday night. That was the year.
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2000 and 2015 Cup Finals.
The attitude, lack of effort and atmosphere in the relegation season.
Everything surrounding our losses to the knuckledraggers in 02/03.
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Games vs Birmingham 2002-05. Honestly if it could go wrong in those it did. And we haven't lost to them since.
2010 League Cup Final - i honestly thought we were going to win that.
2015-16 season - it was so bad that even winning sixteen games and only three defeats meant that last season was rather enjoyable for me.
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Agree that West Ham in 1980 was a big disappointment, especially as those fateful words - our name is on the Cup - was being banded around. However, as I've argued before, in some ways it may have been for the best that we didn't win it as we could start the following season as an unfancied, unregarded and largely unknown quantity, and without the inconvenience of midweek European football.
The quarter final Cup exit that book-ended the other end of those glory years was in someways more disappointing, as we knew what the team was capable of and the performance at Highbury was dire.
The one though that I'm still the most disappointed about was against Liverpool in 1992. That Liverpool side was mediocre - as their struggle to overcome Portsmouth in the semi-final showed - and then they got to play a second division Sunderland in the final. I know we've lost in two finals since, but that really was the year.
We were talking about it only on Friday night. That was the year.
New yellow away kit day? I thought we were unlucky that day. Every decision went their way. We were literally peed on by the ref P. Don.
Being in the away end that day I seem to recall Dean Saunders being rather 'chatty' and sharing his opinions with the ref. And he wasn't the only Liverpool player doing it.
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Yeah both FA Cup finals, I have been lucky enough to have been at all the major successes since 1972 but not witnessed the "Holy Grail" yet. Agree with Legion the way the we didn't "turn up" for either match was shocking and so disappointing.
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Andy Gray going to Wolves, Tony Morley going to Albion (and ending up in a Small Heath shirt for a brief time), West Ham 1980 (seeing the late goal come up on the screen as a kid watching the wrestling on World Of Sport). Losing our European crown in the Juventus ties. Spartak Moscows late winner. Liverpool quarter defeat in '92 and semi defeat in '96. And of course the two FA cup final defeats and two relegations I have witnessed.
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Going out to Trabzonspor in 1994.
Leicester coming back to snatch a 4-4. It was hell as a
Villa fan going to school in Leicester for many years.
Collymore in general.
Falling away in the 98-99 season.
2000 FA Cup final.
Man Utd coming back to beat us 3-2 in 2002.
All Blues games from 2002-2005.
Bolton semi in 2004.
Stern John
Not qualifying for Europe in O'Leary's first season.
Losing 8-0 to Chelsea and pretty much all of Lambert's reign.
The cup final 2 years ago.
Appointing Bruce.
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I watched the United cup comeback in my local pub. I genuinely wasn't aware of any United fans in the place until they went ahead. Not a f***ing peep out of them before that!
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Think you've pretty much covered everything Axl. #whathesaid
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The two FA Cup finals. Very disappointing. The Chelsea game was fucking awful because they barely turned up either but meandered to a very comfortable win in one of the worst cup finals for a neutral ever.
The Arsenal game was just horrific because we were naive, sloppy, totally lacking in desire, effort and quality. That really showed Sherwood's true colours. Probably even more so than the Southampton mauling. By the time we'd closed the season in the most pathetic way imaginable, we could all sense the guy had absolutely nothing about him at all. A fuck brained geezer pleaser and not much else.
It's more sad because we got through great games in both those cup runs and to not show up in the final (twice) is unforgivable. We weren't great in the LC final either but we gave a better account of ourselves I suppose, and we also had to contend with dire refereeing.
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Two for me - 2000 Cup Final and when Yorkie left 😢
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I've posted this before. Losing a pre-season friendly away to Bedford with a full strength team. Fucking Bedford! I'm of the opinion that that was when we bottomed out and it slowly, gradually and was actually the catalyst that ended in Rotterdam.
I was also there for that cup game against West Ham in 1980. Thoroughly depressing result made even worse by sitting among their racist fans, and that was just the women, seriously.
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2000 Cup Final. I've never felt worse after a game.
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2000 Cup Final. I've never felt worse after a game.
Me too. Such a let down.
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The run in to the 1992-93 season.
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When they changed one of the bars underneath the Holte end for some kind of healthy burger set up. Didn't last long. Dark days indeed.
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2010
2015
Randy Lerner
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The run in to the 1992-93 season.
2000 Cup Final. I've never felt worse after a game.
Me too. Such a let down.
I was thinking about these two the other day. It really would have been something of note to have won the first Premier League and the last FA Cup Final at the old Wembley.
The semi final against Bradford was a terrible feeling and I just felt a complete sense of desolation waiting for the train back to Birmingham after the FA Cup Final in 2015. I think the realisation of where we were heading finally sunk in.
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the appointment of Steve Bruce and Alex Mcliesh by a million miles
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I didn't expect us to win either FA cup final although of course both performances were wretched.
Bigger one for me was Carling cup final, a game we were capable of winning and really should've won but for a number of things mostly related to a P. Dowd.
In the league I'd probably say 08/09. To be 6-8 points clear of Arsenal and playing pretty well and then collapse and top 4 to be all over by start of May (it wasn't even a particularly good Arsenal team that year either) was massively disappointing and typical Villa. It mirrored our collapse from being league leaders to finishing below West Ham ten years previously.
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Randy Lerner
Can see where Peter is coming from here.
Of course things can change quickly in football for either better or worse but in the heady early seasons of his reign when we were one of the heaviest spenders in europe and were regularly in the top 6 I'd have laughed loudly in someone's face if say a SHA fan had at that point come up and said we'd be relegated from the premier league in an incredibly embarrassing fashion under his ownership.
It should never have happen but for some staggeringly inept decisions over a number of years.
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The majority of Villa fans idly accepting the appointment of McLeish.
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2008/09 season
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The majority of Villa fans idly accepting the appointment of McLeish.
I think the majority were unhappy but accepting the decision was done and dusted. Can you imagine Celtic appointing a bloke who had just relegated Rangers or Liverpool appointing a bloke who just been relegated with Everton? You would love the bloke because he had just relegated your enemy, but that doesn't mean you want him to manage your team.
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The majority of Villa fans idly accepting the appointment of McLeish.
I knocked an empty Pringles tube onto the floor in protest. It was the closest thing to me when my mate informed me of the news. I was at work in Shanghai, and at first thought he was joking.
That night after numerous joints, it dawned on me that we were about to become hopeless. And so it proved.
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I concur with many of these, and can add two more Yernited let downs:
1. Bruce getting that winner against Wednesday - we had walked a mile from the ground to the car before he stuck that in, still in Fergie time
2.. The last minute gut wrencher at OT when Macheda won it with the last kick in 2009. I was sat in the Stretford End which made the whole thing worse.
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The 2000 Cup Final. I went to Norfolk to watch it with my dad. Both of us sat througjh it in near silence and it was the last game we ever watched together.
The appointment of Bruce, a sign of how mediocre and predictable we have become on and off the pitch.
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The majority of Villa fans idly accepting the appointment of McLeish.
Really? How many club fans do you see protesting outside their stadium when a dodgy managerial decision is made?!
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This is a cheery thread.
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Losing 4-2 at home to Everton season 66/67. (Relegated to Division 2)
Charlton beating Blackburn at home in 69/70. (Relegated to Division 3)
Chivers at Wembley in 1970.
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I've posted this before. Losing a pre-season friendly away to Bedford with a full strength team. Fucking Bedford! I'm of the opinion that that was when we bottomed out and it slowly, gradually and was actually the catalyst that ended in Rotterdam.
I was also there for that cup game against West Ham in 1980. Thoroughly depressing result made even worse by sitting among their racist fans, and that was just the women, seriously.
I went to that friendly at Bedford and recall the Arce brothers playing - Oscar and Hector. My memory maybe playing tricks on me but I recall Hector being sent off
I found the one sheet programme confusing as it listed the Villa subs as:
A.N.Other and A.N.Other - an early version of the Djemba Djemba twins syndrome
The final insult following the defeat was to see a photo in the Monday Evening Mail showing a sparsely populated terrace with me, VCTM snr and VCTM bro, displaying glum looks that portrayed just how painful watching Villa in those days were - nothing has changed
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- The recentish FA Cup finals. The first for not giving it a go, and the second for being absolutely humiliated.
- The ten minutes of Fergie time when Bruce scored twice
- Chucking away the battle for 4th spot with Arsenal under Pubehead. The 2-2 draw with Stoke and signing Emile Heskey being symptomatic.
- Apparently agreeing a fee for Les Ferdinand and him then choosing Newcastle
- Stan Collymore not being the fabled "missing piece of the jigsaw after all".
- Sir Brian Little's final season as manager.
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The majority of Villa fans idly accepting the appointment of McLeish.
Really? How many club fans do you see protesting outside their stadium when a dodgy managerial decision is made?!
Yes Really! As a fan base we took that appointment lying down.
Randy was scoring petty points and showing us 'who's boss'.
Can you name similar 'dodgy' appointments of a relegated rivals Manager?
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The majority of Villa fans idly accepting the appointment of McLeish.
I knocked an empty Pringles tube onto the floor in protest. It was the closest thing to me when my mate informed me of the news. I was at work in Shanghai, and at first thought he was joking.
That night after numerous joints, it dawned on me that we were about to become hopeless. And so it proved.
I was on a day off and laughed at the silly rumours about TSM1 on the internet. Then it started to seem to be true. McLeish was like Lambert. Everything was always somebody else's fault and not theirs. If I'm pocketing about thirty grand a week I would expect to be held to account if I screwed up on a regular basis.
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- The recentish FA Cup finals. The first for not giving it a go, and the second for being absolutely humiliated.
- The ten minutes of Fergie time when Bruce scored twice
- Chucking away the battle for 4th spot with Arsenal under Pubehead. The 2-2 draw with Stoke and signing Emile Heskey being symptomatic.
- Apparently agreeing a fee for Les Ferdinand and him then choosing Newcastle
- Stan Collymore not being the fabled "missing piece of the jigsaw after all".
- Sir Brian Little's final season as manager.
*solemnly nods head in agreement*
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The majority of Villa fans idly accepting the appointment of McLeish.
Really? How many club fans do you see protesting outside their stadium when a dodgy managerial decision is made?!
Yes Really! As a fan base we took that appointment lying down.
Randy was scoring petty points and showing us 'who's boss'.
Can you name similar 'dodgy' appointments of a relegated rivals Manager?
Yeah, I reckon because I didn't feel the need to go and run around Trinity Road in front of news cameras with a hastily painted cardboard sign, and instead chose to express my disbelief by moaning about it on here or in real life with other fans, I am actually not a Villa fan at all and an example of the sheeple who took it lying down while people like you were engaged in what was a recreation of the storming of the Winter Palace in terms of attempting to nobly seize back control of our club.
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- The recentish FA Cup finals. The first for not giving it a go, and the second for being absolutely humiliated.
- The ten minutes of Fergie time when Bruce scored twice
- Chucking away the battle for 4th spot with Arsenal under Pubehead. The 2-2 draw with Stoke and signing Emile Heskey being symptomatic.
- Apparently agreeing a fee for Les Ferdinand and him then choosing Newcastle
- Stan Collymore not being the fabled "missing piece of the jigsaw after all".
- Sir Brian Little's final season as manager.
Sounds about right Martin. If I remember rightly we drew 0-0 at home to Coventry the day of the 10 minutes Fergie time when Bruce scored two goals in added time. We did everything but score against Coventry and when we left Villa Park gutted we hadn't won to hear that Sheff Wed were 1-0 up. Thinking that we had gained an extra point on Manure I was gutted when I heard the result.
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Not getting a ticket for the 2000 FA Cup Final, (then being relieved after I saw the match on telly in Qatar)
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The majority of Villa fans idly accepting the appointment of McLeish.
Really? How many club fans do you see protesting outside their stadium when a dodgy managerial decision is made?!
Yes Really! As a fan base we took that appointment lying down.
Randy was scoring petty points and showing us 'who's boss'.
Can you name similar 'dodgy' appointments of a relegated rivals Manager?
Still really don't see what more the fans should've done around that time. Yes protests could've continued into the season but it made sense to at least give him a chance.
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All my boyhood favourites from the great team of 80-83 being allowed/forced to leave the club by a jealous twat. Except Psycho Evans and Spinksy.
The treatment of Tony Barton by aforementioned jealous twat.
Relegation in 86/87.
Not winning the league in 89/90.
Ditto 92/93.
F.A cup finals 2000 and 2015.
Relegation 15/16.
Randy Lerner.
Most of last season.
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The majority of Villa fans idly accepting the appointment of McLeish.
Really? How many club fans do you see protesting outside their stadium when a dodgy managerial decision is made?!
Yes Really! As a fan base we took that appointment lying down.
Randy was scoring petty points and showing us 'who's boss'.
Can you name similar 'dodgy' appointments of a relegated rivals Manager?
Still really don't see what more the fans should've done around that time. Yes protests could've continued into the season but it made sense to at least give him a chance.
I remember a league cup tie early in his reign when people were still unhappy at his appointment. By the last home games of the season the atmosphere was toxic.
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FA Cup semi final with Liverpool in 96, the week after winning the league cup, we actually played well on the day, but Robbie Fowler scored a couple of great goals and we lost 3-0.
Its purely a personal thing, but i was more disappointed after that result than any of the wembley cup final defeats.
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Agree with those already mentioned.
Also us not making a big name signing under Doug when those around us did.
Lerner's villa not being able to make the top 5.
Our inability to win the fa cup in my lifetime.
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Hands down 2000.
Horrible day, beaten by a horrible team with horrible players and patronised by horrible fans.
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For me this is an easy one - West Ham away in our FA Cup 1980. After struggling to beat Cambridge and Blackburn not sure what I should have expected, just given the fact that the happy hammers were a 2nd Division team and we always gave it to them on the pitch. Really disappointing. The rest of the season petered out after that culminating in having to watch Liverpool destroy us last game of the season at Anfield where like West Ham we were up against it on and off the pitch.
The next 48 months though I was in fantasy land.
Yes, the way we lost - to a dubious last minute penalty puts this up there towards the top of the list - I really thought 1980 was our year for the FA Cup - a bitter disappointment (although I only watched in a hotel) was the 1996 semi final defeat - how we lost that game 3-0 I still don't know.
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- The recentish FA Cup finals. The first for not giving it a go, and the second for being absolutely humiliated.
- The ten minutes of Fergie time when Bruce scored twice
- Chucking away the battle for 4th spot with Arsenal under Pubehead. The 2-2 draw with Stoke and signing Emile Heskey being symptomatic.
- Apparently agreeing a fee for Les Ferdinand and him then choosing Newcastle
- Stan Collymore not being the fabled "missing piece of the jigsaw after all".
- Sir Brian Little's final season as manager.
Thats' the Who's Who for me. Although wasn't too fussed at Ferdinand because I thought we had a chance with Bergkamp.
Add in 96 SF
*solemnly nods head in agreement*
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A very big let down was exiting the EUFA Cup very meekly in the first round v FC Antwerp in 1975/76, losing 5-1 on aggregate. In the first leg away we were 4-0 down at half-time before pulling one back, then in the second leg (att 31,000) we conceded after 15 minutes and that was that. I dug out the match programme the other day, and was surprised to see that Louis Van Gaal played in both legs for them.
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Running out of steam in 89-90.
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Running out of steam in 89-90.
I walked out of White Hart Lane genuinely convinced we would win the league. Then we had a nightmare against Wimbledon and never really recovered. I seem to remember we won at Arsenal but lost at Coventry and at home to Man City and dropped points against QPR, Norwich and Everton. I think it was after the Norwich game it was mathematically impossible for us. I seem to remember a scrappy 1-0 win at Villa Park over a Millwall side on their way down.
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Running out of steam in 89-90.
I walked out of White Hart Lane genuinely convinced we would win the league. Then we had a nightmare against Wimbledon and never really recovered. I seem to remember we won at Arsenal but lost at Coventry and at home to Man City and dropped points against QPR, Norwich and Everton. I think it was after the Norwich game it was mathematically impossible for us. I seem to remember a scrappy 1-0 win at Villa Park over a Millwall side on their way down.
Looking back - how big a moment was David Platt's penalty miss ?
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Running out of steam in 89-90.
I walked out of White Hart Lane genuinely convinced we would win the league. Then we had a nightmare against Wimbledon and never really recovered. I seem to remember we won at Arsenal but lost at Coventry and at home to Man City and dropped points against QPR, Norwich and Everton. I think it was after the Norwich game it was mathematically impossible for us. I seem to remember a scrappy 1-0 win at Villa Park over a Millwall side on their way down.
Looking back - how big a moment was David Platt's penalty miss ?
Huge. Mountfields knee injury scuppered us as well
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Running out of steam in 89-90.
I walked out of White Hart Lane genuinely convinced we would win the league. Then we had a nightmare against Wimbledon and never really recovered. I seem to remember we won at Arsenal but lost at Coventry and at home to Man City and dropped points against QPR, Norwich and Everton. I think it was after the Norwich game it was mathematically impossible for us. I seem to remember a scrappy 1-0 win at Villa Park over a Millwall side on their way down.
Looking back - how big a moment was David Platt's penalty miss ?
Huge. Mountfields knee injury scuppered us as well
Coventry on Sky on the sunday was the defining moment, we never recovered. So sad.
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Running out of steam in 89-90.
I walked out of White Hart Lane genuinely convinced we would win the league. Then we had a nightmare against Wimbledon and never really recovered. I seem to remember we won at Arsenal but lost at Coventry and at home to Man City and dropped points against QPR, Norwich and Everton. I think it was after the Norwich game it was mathematically impossible for us. I seem to remember a scrappy 1-0 win at Villa Park over a Millwall side on their way down.
Looking back - how big a moment was David Platt's penalty miss ?
Huge. Mountfields knee injury scuppered us as well
Coventry on Sky on the sunday was the defining moment, we never recovered. So sad.
ITV
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The Man City game in 1990 was when I accepted it wasn't of going to happen but carried on hoping but, as we were strong relegation contenders the previous September, it was great season anyway. The 2000 Cup Final outstrips everything though as it was entirely our fault. In the League Cup in 2010 we could blame Dowd in 2000 there was no-one else but ourselves.
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Staying up all night listening to 'tut wireless' when we lost to Dangermouse's mate 'Penfold' in December 1982. We would have been champions of the world.
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Staying up all night listening to 'tut wireless' when we lost to Dangermouse's mate 'Penfold' in December 1982. We would have been champions of the world.
Me and my brother did that as well.
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Staying up all night listening to 'tut wireless' when we lost to Dangermouse's mate 'Penfold' in December 1982. We would have been champions of the world.
Me and my brother did that as well.
I distinctly remember that whilst listening to George Gavin's commentary on BRMB I was calming my nerves by decorating the Christmas tree.
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The appointment of McLeish was up there. I kept thinking this won't happen not even we are stupid enough to make such a mistake. Then the horrible horrible gut wrenching sense of helplessness when the announcement of his resignation came up on the sky sports news thingy.
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The appointment of McLeish was up there. I kept thinking this won't happen not even we are stupid enough to make such a mistake. Then the horrible horrible gut wrenching sense of helplessness when the announcement of his resignation came up on the sky sports news thingy.
I will see your McLeish appointment disappointment and raise you Graham Turner 1984.
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I think we've experienced more pain (in a how it could have been ) than any other team in English football.
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Despite knowing within ten minutes we were going to get a hammering in 2015, I've never felt as bad after a match as I did after the 2000 Final and I doubt I ever will.
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Despite knowing within ten minutes we were going to get a hammering in 2015, I've never felt as bad after a match as I did after the 2000 Final and I doubt I ever will.
I think I mentioned earlier on here one of my worst moments was the 1980 quarter final at West Ham, but even though at my age (I'm 60 on Friday) and having supported The Villa for 50 years now, the FA Cup Final 2 years ago left me distraught. The worst of it was the last 20 minutes or so was spent wishing the game to be over before it got any worse - thankfully although 4-0 was bad enough, we all know it could have been twice as bad.
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2000 Cup final was the biggest let down for me.The whole day from the drive down to the drive home was just awful
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Not winning the league under Big Ron
Chelsea and Arsenal cup finals
and getting relegated 15/16
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I was broken after the Arsenal cup final. So angry I couldn't face talking to anyone and couldn't even be arsed with drowning my sorrows. I sat in a hotel room and sulked like my two year old does when he gets told off.
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I felt far worse in 2000 than two years ago. I never felt we could beat Arsenal but against Chelsea it seemed like we didn't even try.
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The fact that we are not a top 6 competitive club which we should be in general but specifically League cup semi final knock out by Bradford and losing the FA cup to Millwall few days later has to be the lowest week ever.
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Chelsea was bad but Arsenal was humiliating.
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Watching Villa slaughter QPR 5-2 towards the end of the 85 season with a young striker,Paul Rideout,and midfield genius ,Sid Cowans,in impressive form.I was very optimistic for the next season.
Then in the summer,Ellis sold them both to Bari.Cue the inevitable decline and relegation 2 years later.
An incomprehensible self inflicted wound.
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My biggest let down was the 1971 league cup final beaten by lucky spurs and jammy chivers
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My biggest let down was the 1971 league cup final beaten by lucky spurs and jammy chivers
[/quotMy biggest let down was the 1971 league cup final beaten by lucky spurs and jammy chivers
The opposite of a let down, I've never felt prouder of my club than that day.
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I think the non displays in the FA Cup Finals in 2000 and 2015 have to be up there as we simply didn't turn up for either match but for me personally it has to be the humiliation of failing to beat Bradford, over two legs, for a place in the League Cup Final.
I had foolishly assumed we would have way too much for them over the two legs but we were deservedly beaten by a side two leagues below us that then went on to lose the final 0-5 to Swansea. I never forgave Lambert for that defeat and the disappointment I felt when the final whistle went.
It's a bit like therapy this thread!
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The Arsenal cup final wasn't even close and to be fair they played well on the day. The Chelsea final was a far worse feeling, probably as I was only 13 at the time aswell. They were poor on the day and it was a terrible final but we just never turned up.
Carling Cup Final 2010. We should have been a goal AND a man up early on. The fact it was against them made it worse and just added to the years of misery against them. Knowing us and our record against them we'd have probably still lost against ten men.
Bradford. To lose to a League Two team over two legs to reach a major final will always be unforgivable. It was the manner in which we lost aswell, outplayed away and then they were comfortable in the second half of the second leg. A League Two team strolling about while their fans did the oles. Up there with Doncaster as the most embarrassed I've felt as a Villa fan.
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I can never get worked-up about 2010. Taking the game to a 10-man Yanited team, we wouldn't have known what to do. O'Neill and front-foot against a big team didn't happen that often.
They probably would have played us at our own game and burned us on the break.
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We would've been o.k in that situation I reckon. We'd taken 4 points that season off them so the inferiority complex had (temporarily) disappeared at that time.
Wembley is a different sort of feeling as Spurs are finding out again. Bigger pitch, not a great surface so very difficult for a team playing with 10 men for 85 minutes. I'd have fancied Gabby or Young to have nicked another on the break. Would also imagine Fergie would've taken off Owen to bring on another midfielder.
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Yes, Owen would definitely have gone off.
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The wembley pitch is same length and only a metre wider than villa park.
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The wembley pitch is same length and only a metre wider than villa park.
It's perceptions though that affect things mentally. Wembley "big pitch", "draining day" even if it's not that bigger than many premier league games just like Stoke "cold, windy day" when it's 25 degrees there.
From watching countless England games it does seem to be a pitch that is slowly moving when playing crossfield balls so 10 men would be very tough whoever you are.
I think we'd have been in a very strong position to win the game anyway.
Spurs can't win a game there anyway and yet they went to Everton and turned them over 3-0 today no problem.
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Not so much a specific match. All those last minute winners against us since about 2011. We have a soft underbelly, we have it tickled, we concede. Every time it happens it still hurts even though its so predictable.
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Games against the shite between 2002-2005. The cup loss against them in 2010
The 2 1 defeat to away to albion in 2011 - they were a man down and we should have strolled it.
2000 cup final and 2015 cup final
The Bradford defeat, Millwall defeat and letting a 2 goal lead against Albion in the space of 6 days
The Bolton semi final defeat
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The biggest let down for me was the West Ham away cup quarter final - that was our season to win the cup
They were in the 2nd division at the time!
If anyone can bear to watch this game it is on the big match re-visited on Saturday 29th May
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The biggest was probably the first, just as I was becoming obsessed with Villa and on the promise of going to Wembley if we'd won, the Milk Cup semi with Oxford.
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The biggest was probably the first, just as I was becoming obsessed with Villa and on the promise of going to Wembley if we'd won, the Milk Cup semi with Oxford.
Oh yes, that’s probably mine too. Even though I was living here in Devon I had been to enough matches to get a cup final ticket.
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Not winning the league in 89/90 for me. The first season I can remember - spoilt!
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Losing to a last minute penalty at West Ham in the FA Cup quarter final in 1980.
Losing to Penarol in the World Club Cup in Tokyo when we had the chance to be world champions.
My favourite Villa player as a kid Tony Morley going on to play for Small Heath and Smethwick.
Coming second in 1990.
SGT leaving for the England job.
Referee Phillip Don giving us f*ck all at Anfield in the 1992 FA Cup quarter final when we would have played lower division Portsmouth and Sunderland in the semi and the final.
Coming second in 1993.
Our no shows (you couldn't use the word performance) in the last two FA Cup finals we got to.
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Doug Ellis
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Games against the shite between 2002-2005. The cup loss against them in 2010
The 2 1 defeat to away to albion in 2011 - they were a man down and we should have strolled it.
2000 cup final and 2015 cup final
The Bradford defeat, Millwall defeat and letting a 2 goal lead against Albion in the space of 6 days
The Bolton semi final defeat
We threw that Bolton League Cup semi final away with a pathetic no show in the first leg.
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2000 FA cup final. Nothing comes close.
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Losing the 2018 play off final was gutting seeing as I went to that one but couldn't get a ticket for the following years game vs Derby. I had a great day at Wembley and in the pubs in 2018 but the match itself was disappointing to say the least.
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Losing the 2018 play off final was gutting seeing as I went to that one but couldn't get a ticket for the following years game vs Derby. I had a great day at Wembley and in the pubs in 2018 but the match itself was disappointing to say the least.
Fulham should have been down to ten men in that game.
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Stan Collymore. And the week when Lambert knocked us out of both cups to Bradford and Millwall.
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2000 cup final, there for the taking
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2000 Cup Final will always be top, now and forever.
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I've put a lot of thought into this, so apologies if it's tedious.
My 25 years have been a near-constant stream of hundreds of weekly let-downs; countless weekends ruined. But I think if I had to pick, my biggest was losing to SHA in the League Cup in 2010/11.
After the final the year before, I genuinely felt positive (not only because that was the day I met my now-fiancee) because I thought it was normal service being resumed; the first final of many.
It both did and didn't matter that it was SHA we lost to in 2010/11. It wasn't from 'rivalry' because I congratulated my Nose mates when they won the final, but losing to them specifically signified to me that we'd lost a certain edge or competitiveness.
From that game on, until Dean took over, I just didn't feel like I could put my faith in us to be up for the challenge on any given day. We can say what we like about MON and Deano, but I don't believe we would've lost that game under either.
Obviously Arsenal are the least reliable club in the world unless they're playing us, so we almost certainly would've lost the final 7-0 anyway. But after the feeling around '07-'10 that we'd always at least be up for the 'big games', even if we were outclassed or outdone tactically, that game felt like a watershed moment and the only one that I really do hold against Houllier.
In summary, reaching the 2010 League Cup final felt like a final exorcism of the mediocrity of the early 21st century. Losing hurt, but 'no matter, there's always next year'. However, the next year I suddenly realised that we hadn't come that far, and hadn't achieved anything tangible whatsoever.
That, for me, was the most difficult thing to reconcile. Credit to Blose, they won that cup fair and square, but a no-mark outfit like that going one further than we managed to, only one year later and having beaten us on the way, was one hell of a fucking let-down.
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2000 FA Cup final. I thought our name was on it that year. We were a top side and had been for five or six seasons. We had won the League Cup at Wembley twice in the 90s. I was convinced that we would win. The build up was electric.
But the game, which I have never watched back, was a complete and utter let down. I don't remember any specifics but on that day I was gutted beyond words. None of our disappointments since that day even comes close.
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Another vote for the 2000 FA Cup Final. I met Johnny Dixon before the game, the last Villa captain to lift the Cup. I had a fantastic seat close to the Royal Box. It would have been amazing to be so close to our captain being presented with the Cup. Instead my abiding memory of the day was of the sickening Dennis Wise walking up the steps with his baby.
I loved John Gregory overall but his tactics that day did for us.
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Not winning the PL in 92/93 and the 2000 FA Cup Final.
The former I was devastated about as we were bloody good all season and just didn't get the breaks in those last 5/6 matches. What could've been had we won that.
The latter we were just dreadful. A horrid experience.
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Apart from the 2000 FA Cup final, selling off the Champions of Europe team instead of continuing to build it. It is so sad how quickly it was dismantled. FFS, we ruled Europe.
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Oldham on the plastic pitch FA Cup QF away in 1990.
We pushed Liverpool close for most of that season in the league but I wouldn't go as far as to say we should've won it (who knows if we'd signed Sheringham instead of Cantscorino though).
But a second division team in the QF is as good a chance as you'll get to make the semis. And Yanited (and Palarse after that) were no great shakes back then.
Hindsight being 20/20 vision n'all but: Win that and 'Fergie on the dole' becomes reality. No ECWC for them in 1991 and all the other bollocks that's followed since.
If our team of 1990 wasn't quite as good as a Liverpool team that has dominated for years, a team containing McGrath, Platt, Cowans and Daley close to their best should certainly have won something that season.
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Losing the league to Newton Heath, I absolutely detested them and to have us, of all teams be the one they beat to their first title in 26 years was galling, not to mention what has followed since.
But that is nothing compared to the 2 FA Cup Final losses. I hope it will be exorcised but if not I will go to my grave carrying that awful, hollow feeling of not only losing but not even turning in anything like an acceptable performance.
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Oldham on the plastic pitch FA Cup QF away in 1990.
We pushed Liverpool close for most of that season in the league but I wouldn't go as far as to say we should've won it (who knows if we'd signed Sheringham instead of Cantscorino though).
But a second division team in the QF is as good a chance as you'll get to make the semis. And Yanited (and Palarse after that) were no great shakes back then.
Hindsight being 20/20 vision n'all but: Win that and 'Fergie on the dole' becomes reality. No ECWC for them in 1991 and all the other bollocks that's followed since.
If our team of 1990 wasn't quite as good as a Liverpool team that has dominated for years, a team containing McGrath, Platt, Cowans and Daley close to their best should certainly have won something that season.
That was the only game I missed from Christmas that season, because I had City Cup semi-final for the school that afternoon. We lost 4-0 to Edmund Campion and went home to listen to that horror.
It's pretty high up the list for me too.
The final was at Villa Park.
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Liverpool FA Cup Qtr final for me in 91-92.
Athletico in the 97-98 UEFA Cup Qtr final runs it a close second.
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Much as I'll never get over our falling short in '93, nothing comes close to the 2000 Cup Final.
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Losing Wembley Cup finals , surrendering winning positions against manure and one game that really sticks in the craw is getting dumped out of the Uefa Cup at home to Trabzonspor in 1994.
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Both the Wembley FA cup final defeats. The first was the one I was more hopeful we could win but we just didn’t go for it. The second was really embarrassing, I don’t recall us having a shot, they murdered us.
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Randy Lerner
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Chelsea was awful but the Arsenal final was a bigger let down for me. I think I'd built myself up to think we could possibly spring a surprise and added to that by thinking about laws of average etc. Anyway virtually from kick off it was obvious that we were into damage limitation. It was horrible trudging back up Wembley Way.
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Chelsea was awful but the Arsenal final was a bigger let down for me. I think I'd built myself up to think we could possibly spring a surprise and added to that by thinking about laws of average etc. Anyway virtually from kick off it was obvious that we were into damage limitation. It was horrible trudging back up Wembley Way.
I think we kicked off, passed it to Okore and it bounced about 40 yards off his shin. I knew deep down at that point we were fucked.
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The Trabzonspor game must go down as the most frustrating Villa match I have ever watched.
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Mine was on TV yesterday the 1/4 at West Ham
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Losing the 2018 play off final was gutting seeing as I went to that one but couldn't get a ticket for the following years game vs Derby. I had a great day at Wembley and in the pubs in 2018 but the match itself was disappointing to say the least.
Worked out well in the long run but yeah that's one I was incredibly down about for a few weeks after, thought we'd blown our chance to get back into the prem for another 5 years after losing that with another unambitious Wembley performance.
Easy to forget how bad things got in the weeks after with cashflow, the whole squad being up for sale, not having the money to sack Bruce and general mudslinging between Xia and Wyness.
Thank god we sold to Wes and Nas otherwise we could easily be where Sunderland are now.
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2000 FA Cup final. I thought our name was on it that year. We were a top side and had been for five or six seasons. We had won the League Cup at Wembley twice in the 90s. I was convinced that we would win. The build up was electric.
But the game, which I have never watched back, was a complete and utter let down. I don't remember any specifics but on that day I was gutted beyond words. None of our disappointments since that day even comes close.
It's on YT believe it or not. Couldn't bear watching the actual game but there's two hours of build up aswell (forgot Matthew Stride was our mascot that day, think he sadly has a terminal illness now) and after match discussion with Souness and Townsend was interesting. Souness basically said we had no flair players in the team aside from Carbone while Chelsea had 5-6 and probably summed up our limitations in that time and since in big games.
That match really ended our status as a top 6 team, Chelsea long since overtaken us with what they've won and bar a couple of decent seasons under O'Neill not really got close to getting back in that group since. Hopefully the next decade will be different.
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McGrath above, I can only pick one?!
The 2015 Cup final for largely selfish reasons; I flew back from LA in a crazy 48 hour trip, convincing myself we were going to upset the odds and I didn’t want to miss it. We were so utterly woeful. Longest journey home of my life, such a let down.
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Chelsea at Wembley. There wasn't much between the sides back then, whereas you'd say Arsenal 2015 were significantly better than us (even still, the fact we were so good against liverpool in the semi, and failed to show for the final, was grating). I wouldn't say we were underdogs in 2000 by any stretch. We just never troubled them all game. To be fair, they did fuck all most of the game too and to lose to a sloppy goal like that was galling. A drab shitty final to close off Wembley, and it was the embodiment of Gregory's worst traits as a manager unfortunately, and why close but no cigar would always have been his ceiling. I don't remember us ever testing their keeper.
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We should have equalised just after they scored, but Carbone had his half-hit shot blocked by Mr. Beef with the 'keeper out of position.
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Anyone know why Hendrie didn't start the final that day, felt like that was the bit of spark we were missing centrally given we pinned all the creativity on Merson and Carbone.
Can't remember him scoring a penalty v Bolton in the SF which was even worse quality game and he was very good for most of 98/99 so had already broken through into team by then.
Barry started that day so wasn't like we just went with most experienced 11 we had either.
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Hendrie and Alan Thompson had been in and out of the side in the 5 or 6 league games late that season, in place of Boateng and/ or Taylor.
I suppose there is a case to be made for going with Taylor, Boateng and Merson as the midfield in a 5-3-2 formation. However, he brought on Steve Stone for Ian Taylor rather than Lee Hendrie (who came on in the 88th minute for Alan Wright).
The line-up that day just didn't turn up. Carbone was disappointing and I can't remember Dublin having a good day at the office. Julian Joachim had scored a few in the run-in but again he came on in the 79th minute.
Horrible day.
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I thought Steve Stone was a good player for Forest and England and I was delighted when we signed him but I don't think he was a success in his time with us.
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Yes, Stone was a good player. We signed him in the March of the 98-99 season when we went from top of the table to sixth.
Stone did ok with us but he wasn't going to be the player to turn us around and win big honours. £5.5m was a lot for a 28 year old in 1999.
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Yes, Stone was a good player. We signed him in the March of the 98-99 season when we went from top of the table to sixth.
Stone did ok with us but he wasn't going to be the player to turn us around and win big honours. £5.5m was a lot for a 28 year old in 1999.
He was a funny player Stone, I'd never heard of him until he was about 25 then he was suddenly in the England squad.
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Losing the 71 LC i have hated spurs ever since
Andy Gray signing for Wolves , could not believe it
Ron Leaving, beyond belief
That Small Heath game
Wembley 2000, travelled a long way to see it
Appointing TSM , decent guy but always going to end in tears.
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Yes, Stone was a good player. We signed him in the March of the 98-99 season when we went from top of the table to sixth.
Stone did ok with us but he wasn't going to be the player to turn us around and win big honours. £5.5m was a lot for a 28 year old in 1999.
Summed up the nearly but not quite Gregory era...nearly signed Juninho and two months later signed Steve Stone. Decent squad player but not the sort to push us towards the top teams.
Gregory also wanted to sign Muzzy Izzet just before he left and he'd have been similar and on big wages coming up to 30...indeed think he went to SHA, played for them five times and then had to retire through injury.
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Anyone know why Hendrie didn't start the final that day, felt like that was the bit of spark we were missing centrally given we pinned all the creativity on Merson and Carbone.
Can't remember him scoring a penalty v Bolton in the SF which was even worse quality game and he was very good for most of 98/99 so had already broken through into team by then.
Barry started that day so wasn't like we just went with most experienced 11 we had either.
I have a hazy memory that Ian Taylor was a fitness doubt leading up to the final too. So it's unfortunate for Lee he didn't get the nod in those circumstances.
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Yes, Stone was a good player. We signed him in the March of the 98-99 season when we went from top of the table to sixth.
Stone did ok with us but he wasn't going to be the player to turn us around and win big honours. £5.5m was a lot for a 28 year old in 1999.
He was a funny player Stone, I'd never heard of him until he was about 25 then he was suddenly in the England squad.
Looked like he should be laying patios for a living.
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SVC
I was so excited when we signed him, genuinley thought he could win us the league.
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2000 FA Cup final for me too. Was convinced it was our year, and that it was written in the stars that it was *our* cup final.
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Wednesday 9th June 2021 when Emiliano Buendia was unveiled as an Arsenal player after a late change of heart.
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2000 FA Cup final for me too. Was convinced it was our year, and that it was written in the stars that it was *our* cup final.
I was so frustrated that day. The whole world watching. I'd rather have lost 5-2 or similar so that the whole world remembered.
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This a pretty depressing thread.
As a Villa fan of over 50 years, with all the ups and downs over the years, I still can't go past the relegation of 15/16 as the worst experience being the worst let down ever.
I went to the 2015 FACup final which was awful as we could of lost by more than 4-0.
I bought a ticket from a questionable sourse so I wasn't even sure of admission.
The ticket cost me a small fortune and the air fare from Australia and two weeks off work.
The 2015/16 season though just kept giving.
Even in a poor season there can be the odd highlight but apart from the opening day win there wasn't anything positive.
We seemed to get worse every week and it was like death by a thousand cuts.
Definitely that whole season for me.
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Ray Stewarts penalty at Upton Park and Moscow Spartak putting us out of the EUFA Cup with literally the last kick of the game - from going through to going out in one second - the 4:0 debacle against the Gooners, the disgusting Small Heath Enckleman Saga, Ron Saunders defecting to the Stye. Got to go now as I'm having flashbacks.....
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A second division game v Charlton .My dad had been going on all morning how Charlton were our bogey team,how we always lose to them.
As a young kid,I didn't fancy watching them lose.My memory is awful but I can still see David Coleman reading out the score Aston Villa 11 Charlton Athletic 1 and to make doubly sure ,the teleprinter spelt out ELEVEN.
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I stayed up all night as a twelve year old listening to BRMB in December 1982 hoping and believing we were going to be champions of the world.
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The FA Cup Final of 2000 is an obvious one but losing to Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter final in 1992 sticks in my mind. Liverpool were not that good and then had two second tier teams in their path to win it, which they did.