Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Villa Memories => Topic started by: Legion on May 28, 2021, 10:13:00 AM
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Who was the first Villa player or manager you met in person?
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Lee Hendrie in Rosie's Solihull. A total douchebag.
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Tony Daley, he was signing autographs in a local school when I was a kid.
First manager was Gregory, at Bodymoor Heath. He was really cool to meet at the time, chatted to us for ages.
(Side topic - most random meeting was sitting next to Savo (and his wife...!) in the Trinity Rd for a game.)
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It was either Tony Daley or Cyrille Regis at school for a fete type thing. Both were there at different times but can't remember who was first.
Both perfectly pleasant as far as I can remember.
Never met a manager.
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Managers
Graham Taylor ( 2nd term) going into Villa Park for Youth Cup Final Against Chelsea. My young son at the time thought it very funny that I addressed him as "Mr Taylor". As people who have met him will confirm, a lovely guy.
I met Big Ron at a Tony Bennet concert (he was more concerned about getting to his seat before the concert started!),Brian Little outside Villa Park (another lovely guy) and said a brief hello to Alex McLeish.
Players
Ray Graydon & Dennis Mortimer at St Teresa's Club Wellington Rd in the 70's . I remember watching them walking off in the direction of Perry Barr after they had finished their hellos with supporters.
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Lee Hendrie in Rosie's Solihull. A total douchebag.
Villa Rosie? All seems a bit of a blur.
What did he do?
And isn't this thread one for the Memories?
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Brian Little and Andy Gray when I was 5.
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Peter Withe - pub somewhere near Solihull in approx 1980.
He asked me if it was my jumper that had been left on the seat next to him.
I was starstruck and fell off me stool.
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Cyrille Regis in a church!
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I grew up living about 2 doors away from the girlfriend of John Deehan so had a few kickarounds with him. Well he just got the ball booted at him "accidentally" and passed it back really.
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John Gidman, Antwerp away, 1975
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Lee Hendrie in Rosie's Solihull. A total douchebag.
Villa Rosie? All seems a bit of a blur.
So tasty!
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Player - Ray Houghton while queuing for tickets for the 94 League Cup final.
Manager - Ron Atkinson, walking his dogs in the Lickey Hills.
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Daley and Platt in Pagoda Park after we had lost that afternoon - did not seem to let them ruin there weekend
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I've been friends with Gary Shaw since we were 4 years old, does that count?
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I've been friends with Gary Shaw since we were 4 years old, does that count?
Did he ever get the ugly one?
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Who was the first Villa player or manager you met in person?
God.
Our school class went on a tour of Villa Park and, because the Ryder Cup was at The Belfry, they had switched training to VP. As we were being shown around he was just sat on the stairs near one of the offices for some reason.
Well, we didn't really "meet" him, just shuffled past awestruck, but I'm counting it.
It must have been 22nd September 1989, so not long after he signed. I already loved him.
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Ron Saunders.
I'd sent a letter to Villa offering my services as a player, (I wasn't a great player, similar to meatball without the skill; but kids - what can you do).
While in Brum for Christmas my Uncle took me to Bodymoor and I was able to talk to him about the letter. He was very polite, said that would only happen if I'd been scouted and signed it again, (he had replied to the original).
I didn't get a trial, no surprise really. I never kept the letter either.
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Johnny Dixon. Used to live just down the road, and walked past on the way to his shop.
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I haven't met any of them. My in-laws knew Gerry Hitchens and were mates with Kevin Keelan if that counts?
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Lee Hendrie in Rosie's Solihull. A total douchebag.
Villa Rosie? All seems a bit of a blur.
What did he do?
He was out with a load of his hangers on, stood at the bar like he was the fucking mayor or something. He was out injured at the time and when I was at the bar I asked him when he was due back - I said 'We need you man!'. He looked at me blankly and replied "Who's 'we'?"
Twat.
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Does anybody remember Villa park having an open day about 1996 or 1997-ish?
I met a few of the players then, Ian Taylor and Ugo.
I've often thought the club should seriously consider doing another one.
There's probably various reasons why not, logistics, player availability, security etc.
But imagine doing it just before the season starts, after the new kit has come out. The club shop alone would do a booming trade.
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Apparently I met a few of the European cup winning team but i was 2 and don't remember any of it.
That I actually know of I met Little, Gregory, Evans and few other staff that I don't remember the names of at an event just before we sign Taylor so probably 3-4 weeks after they arrived.
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In the wild, never met one until bumping into Savo and Sasa Curcic at the bar in Stoodi's one afternoon. We exchanged head-nodding, eyebrow-flicking "alright?"s.
Edit: although Gary Shaw pushed in in front of me in the queue for the till in Harry Parkes'. Wanker*.
Not really, love you Gary. Although I might've muttered it in my head at the time.
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I have never met any of them.
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Stan Lynn, I was playing in the festival league at perry Barr park and he was playing on cricket at the local cricket ground and him and a couple of others sat on the sidelines watching us for about fifteen minutes, he made a few comments, disappointed he never got me signed up.
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I think I was about thirteen when I found myself at Villa Park just before the gates opened for the match, I'd guess about two hours before kick-off. On my own, with nothing better to do I went in as soon as they opened, I was one of the first in if not the very first and unusually for me I went into the paddock in front of the Trinity stand as opposed to my usual patch down the Witton End.
I nestled right in the corner by the players tunnel and who should come out but Ray Moore. He took the time to talk to me about being early and that day's forthcoming game; which was I think, Leyton Orient in their only season in the first division. To say I was starstruck would be an understatement.
I've met Tommy Docherty, Ron Atkinson and Ron Saunders and a good few players as well as having had the privilege of refereeing the Villa Old Stars where I met the great Johnny Dixon who, in conversation told me the story of how his last game for the Villa came about.
I also had the privilege of refereeing a match in which the late Eamonn Deacey was playing in competition. Sadly, this eventually led on to an occasion when once again I became starstruck. It was at the after match reception for Eamonn Deacey's memorial match in Galway which also gave me the pleasure of meeting Ger Regan and Eamonn of this parish. At this reception I met a good few of the European Cup winning side and then had the honour of meeting Ron Saunders.
Finally, I first met Allan Evans in Good Hope hospital when my daughter was born as Mrs S was in the same ward as his missus after his sadly now deceased daughter was also born.
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Brian Tiler came into our classroom at junior school.I have no recollection of it except his lovely hair and sideburns.
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Gary Shaw half time during a game in 1996. I remember it happening clearly but I was 5 and didn’t know who he was and was more interested in getting some chips. My dad says he was full of himself.
First one I remember properly (apart from a quick shake of the hand with McGrath in Dublin) was Shaun Teale a few years ago - he was sound. Kept calling my dad “fucking short arse” down the microphone. Given we were in hospitality and Teale was the guest speaker for his birthday I reckon someone somewhere got in trouble for it but dad had a great day and remembers very fondly. I tweeted Shaun a photo of them and said thanks for a great day and he replied “short arse”.
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Dion at Stratford Jazz Club. He bought us a drink too. I savour the memory of the encounter but I can't remember the specific details of when (he'd already left Villa - I suspect it was during our 'lost years'...) Discussed more music than football (confirmed his awesome respect for the fans, though). Musically, he's a big fan of the Yellowjackets and jazzfusion.
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Who was the first Villa player or manager you met in person?
My first 4 got increasingly better ...
1. Mark Blake
2. Tony Daley
3. Tony Morley
4. Dennis Mortimer
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Savo or Ian Taylor, can't remember which way round it was.
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Who was the first Villa player or manager you met in person?
Gary Shaw in the Championship winning season when I was ten. I think we had played at home against Coventry earlier that day. He was a guest at my next door neighbours 21st birthday party at some venue in Solihull and somebody told him there was a Villa mad youngster in the room and introduced us. He asked me if I would look after his jacket while he danced so I sat and guarded it with my life until he came back for it. He then collected it and thanked me for looking after his coat,shook my hand and told me I was his friend for life. As a ten year old Villa nut that made me feel ten feet tall.
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Dennis Mortimer, 1981. He came to speak at the boys club I was in (Bournville Beavers - yes really) and he signed my poster. Quite shy as I remember.
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Who was the first Villa player or manager you met in person?
My first 4 got increasingly better ...
1. Mark Blake
2. Tony Daley
3. Tony Morley
4. Dennis Mortimer
I went Villa Park to get my season ticket just before the 1989 season started. At the time I was driving a ten year old Porsche 924 with a private plate and when I parked outside the ticket office half a dozen youths who had been kicking a ball around the car park surrounded me and asked me if I was a Villa player. On the spur of the moment I said yes and when they asked me my name the first name I could think of who wasn't well known yet was Mark Blake. Quick as a flash the lads all produced autograph books for me to sign, which I duly did. When Mark Blake finally made his debut shortly after those kids must have been a bit confused because the Mark Blake they had met that day was a white lad.
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Tommy Docherty. FA Cup 4th round replay in 1969 v Southampton.
11 years old and I'm sitting 6 rows back in the Witton stand with my Dad. I don't know if it was the 1st or 2nd goal but I've run down the aisle jumped over the wall and run up to The Doc to hug him. The Doc picks me up and hands me back to my Dad with them both laughing while a 59k crowd erupts.
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The first manager I met was SGT when he was impressed by a completely fluke goal I scored in a five-a-side competition at the Villa Leisure Centre.
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I've said this elsewhere, but I met the whole '96/'97 squad after my Dad won a competition. As I remember, Tommy Johnson, Ian Taylor and Andy Townsend were lovely blokes, Dwight Yorke was a twat.
The person who gave me the most of their time was MON, managing Leicester. I was 7 and had no idea who he was, but my Dad told me to ask for his autograph and he was really friendly. Asked me about my favourite players, laughed when I said I didn't know who he was, told me what a great manager we had and how Villa Park was his favourite away ground when he was a player. Probably all bullshit, but he still took the time to talk to me.
I technically met Saint Brian, but he's my Dad's favourite ever player and after about 12 pints of Guinness (my Dad, not Brian), he wouldn't let anybody else get a word in.
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Who was the first Villa player or manager you met in person?
My first 4 got increasingly better ...
1. Mark Blake
2. Tony Daley
3. Tony Morley
4. Dennis Mortimer
I went Villa Park to get my season ticket just before the 1989 season started. At the time I was driving a ten year old Porsche 924 with a private plate and when I parked outside the ticket office half a dozen youths who had been kicking a ball around the car park surrounded me and asked me if I was a Villa player. On the spur of the moment I said yes and when they asked me my name the first name I could think of who wasn't well known yet was Mark Blake. Quick as a flash the lads all produced autograph books for me to sign, which I duly did. When Mark Blake finally made his debut shortly after those kids must have been a bit confused because the Mark Blake they had met that day was a white lad.
Did he cop off? I imagine he rarely didn't at parties.
Did Shaw ever do an auto-biog? He must have a few stories. Also, for those old enough to see him regularly in the flesh - how good could he have been without the injuries? From highlights, it looks like he had a really good football brain to go with the natural talent.
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Saw loads in the Villa Park car parks through the gates but first I properly remember speaking to was Garry Parker. He had not long scored a fantastic double at Sheffield United and he was sound, he signed my programme and said he was loving life at the Villa.
My missus hasn't been to many games but her first player encounter was Ian Taylor outside the Trinity Road before the Brighton home game, last day of the first Championship season.
I brought a neutral up with me from Sussex before the Blackburn game in the promotion season and he got to see JPA and Martin Laursen pulling out of cars outside the Trinity before the game.
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Who was the first Villa player or manager you met in person?
My first 4 got increasingly better ...
1. Mark Blake
2. Tony Daley
3. Tony Morley
4. Dennis Mortimer
I went Villa Park to get my season ticket just before the 1989 season started. At the time I was driving a ten year old Porsche 924 with a private plate and when I parked outside the ticket office half a dozen youths who had been kicking a ball around the car park surrounded me and asked me if I was a Villa player. On the spur of the moment I said yes and when they asked me my name the first name I could think of who wasn't well known yet was Mark Blake. Quick as a flash the lads all produced autograph books for me to sign, which I duly did. When Mark Blake finally made his debut shortly after those kids must have been a bit confused because the Mark Blake they had met that day was a white lad.
Did he cop off? I imagine he rarely didn't at parties.
Did Shaw ever do an auto-biog? He must have a few stories. Also, for those old enough to see him regularly in the flesh - how good could he have been without the injuries? From highlights, it looks like he had a really good football brain to go with the natural talent.
a) That season we won the league I had more women than I scored goals. I scored 23 goals."
b) God knows, he's been asked enough times but he says he wasn't around long enough.
c) As Terry Weir put it, "To watch Gary Shaw was to look at England's main forward for the next ten years."
-
Who was the first Villa player or manager you met in person?
My first 4 got increasingly better ...
1. Mark Blake
2. Tony Daley
3. Tony Morley
4. Dennis Mortimer
I went Villa Park to get my season ticket just before the 1989 season started. At the time I was driving a ten year old Porsche 924 with a private plate and when I parked outside the ticket office half a dozen youths who had been kicking a ball around the car park surrounded me and asked me if I was a Villa player. On the spur of the moment I said yes and when they asked me my name the first name I could think of who wasn't well known yet was Mark Blake. Quick as a flash the lads all produced autograph books for me to sign, which I duly did. When Mark Blake finally made his debut shortly after those kids must have been a bit confused because the Mark Blake they had met that day was a white lad.
Did he cop off? I imagine he rarely didn't at parties.
Did Shaw ever do an auto-biog? He must have a few stories. Also, for those old enough to see him regularly in the flesh - how good could he have been without the injuries? From highlights, it looks like he had a really good football brain to go with the natural talent.
a) "The season we won the league I had more women than I scored goals. I scored 23 goals."
b) God knows, he's been asked enough times but he says he wasn't around long enough.
c) As Terry Weir put it, "To watch Gary Shaw was to look at England's main forward for the next ten years."
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Johnny Dixon in his shop, I was with a friend who knew him but I was too overwhelmed to say much. He called me smiler because that's about all I did.
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Who was the first Villa player or manager you met in person?
My first 4 got increasingly better ...
1. Mark Blake
2. Tony Daley
3. Tony Morley
4. Dennis Mortimer
I went Villa Park to get my season ticket just before the 1989 season started. At the time I was driving a ten year old Porsche 924 with a private plate and when I parked outside the ticket office half a dozen youths who had been kicking a ball around the car park surrounded me and asked me if I was a Villa player. On the spur of the moment I said yes and when they asked me my name the first name I could think of who wasn't well known yet was Mark Blake. Quick as a flash the lads all produced autograph books for me to sign, which I duly did. When Mark Blake finally made his debut shortly after those kids must have been a bit confused because the Mark Blake they had met that day was a white lad.
Did he cop off? I imagine he rarely didn't at parties.
Did Shaw ever do an auto-biog? He must have a few stories. Also, for those old enough to see him regularly in the flesh - how good could he have been without the injuries? From highlights, it looks like he had a really good football brain to go with the natural talent.
a) That season we won the league I had more women than I scored goals. I scored 23 goals."
b) God knows, he's been asked enough times but he says he wasn't around long enough.
c) As Terry Weir put it, "To watch Gary Shaw was to look at England's main forward for the next ten years."
Proof I guess that everyone likes to exaggerate about their exploits. He scored 21 goals in 1980/81.
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Paul Birch at the 1993 Ryder cup , final day at the Belfry.
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I played against Charlie Aitken in a Sunday league game. He could give us all a decade or so but was still the fastest player on the pitch! During the game I couldn't get near enough to meet him (unless futile slide tackles six feet behind him count) but shook hands and had a chat afterwards. He was a nice guy.
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Who was the first Villa player or manager you met in person?
My first 4 got increasingly better ...
1. Mark Blake
2. Tony Daley
3. Tony Morley
4. Dennis Mortimer
I went Villa Park to get my season ticket just before the 1989 season started. At the time I was driving a ten year old Porsche 924 with a private plate and when I parked outside the ticket office half a dozen youths who had been kicking a ball around the car park surrounded me and asked me if I was a Villa player. On the spur of the moment I said yes and when they asked me my name the first name I could think of who wasn't well known yet was Mark Blake. Quick as a flash the lads all produced autograph books for me to sign, which I duly did. When Mark Blake finally made his debut shortly after those kids must have been a bit confused because the Mark Blake they had met that day was a white lad.
Did he cop off? I imagine he rarely didn't at parties.
Did Shaw ever do an auto-biog? He must have a few stories. Also, for those old enough to see him regularly in the flesh - how good could he have been without the injuries? From highlights, it looks like he had a really good football brain to go with the natural talent.
a) That season we won the league I had more women than I scored goals. I scored 23 goals."
b) God knows, he's been asked enough times but he says he wasn't around long enough.
c) As Terry Weir put it, "To watch Gary Shaw was to look at England's main forward for the next ten years."
Proof I guess that everyone likes to exaggerate about their exploits. He scored 21 goals in 1980/81.
Plus a couple for England under-21s.
-
Who was the first Villa player or manager you met in person?
My first 4 got increasingly better ...
1. Mark Blake
2. Tony Daley
3. Tony Morley
4. Dennis Mortimer
I went Villa Park to get my season ticket just before the 1989 season started. At the time I was driving a ten year old Porsche 924 with a private plate and when I parked outside the ticket office half a dozen youths who had been kicking a ball around the car park surrounded me and asked me if I was a Villa player. On the spur of the moment I said yes and when they asked me my name the first name I could think of who wasn't well known yet was Mark Blake. Quick as a flash the lads all produced autograph books for me to sign, which I duly did. When Mark Blake finally made his debut shortly after those kids must have been a bit confused because the Mark Blake they had met that day was a white lad.
Did he cop off? I imagine he rarely didn't at parties.
Did Shaw ever do an auto-biog? He must have a few stories. Also, for those old enough to see him regularly in the flesh - how good could he have been without the injuries? From highlights, it looks like he had a really good football brain to go with the natural talent.
a) "The season we won the league I had more women than I scored goals. I scored 23 goals."
b) God knows, he's been asked enough times but he says he wasn't around long enough.
c) As Terry Weir put it, "To watch Gary Shaw was to look at England's main forward for the next ten years."
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Sammy Morgan came round my parents' house in late summer/autumn of 1974 to present me with a TS (Subbuteo) trophy I'd won the previous season.
Seemed like a decent fellow; didn't much like what then passed for the modern game.