Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: ADVILLAFAN on November 19, 2021, 09:49:29 PM
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Reading Children of the Revolution about Villa in the 1970s and there are a number of What-If moments.
What if the Athletic Bilbao Director hadn't died in a car crash and Tommy Docherty had become their manager instead of Villa?
Whilst ultimately unsuccessful with Villa, I know a lot of our fans said he gave Villa back some confidence that had been eroded from about 1963.
What if Lochhead had scored in the 1971 League Cup Final and we had beaten Spurs?
I actually think this could have been a bad thing for us. The winners got into the UEFA Cup and that might have derailed our promotion push in 1972.
What if we had been promoted to the 1st Division instead of finishing 3rd in 1973?
Presumably Crowe would have rained as manager and Ron Saunders wouldn't have been appointed. Worth pointing out that whilst we were some distance behind 2nd place, this was the last season when only 2 teams were promoted.
What if we'd hired Brian Clough instead of Ron Saunders?
Clough practically begged to be the Villa boss. If we had given it to him, would we have done a Forest? Or would we miss out on all the success that we had under Saunders? I think Clough may have struggled with us, as he'd have been at loggerheads with Ellis.
Any other thoughts on this, or other great What-If moments?
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If John Gregory had signed Juninho. I wonder if he'd been any good?
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What if Dean Saunders had scored just one of those chances vs Spurs in 1993 at the height of the title race. Garry Parker missing a vital chance at Norwich too. What if the ref at Old Trafford hadn't let United play till they won vs Sheff Weds while we only draw with Coventry.
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What if we'd signed Sheringham instead of Cascarino? What if Leeds hadn't sold Cantona to Man U in Nov. 1992.
Would we have won 2 league titles in the early 90s and thus been in the vanguard of the Premier League revolution?
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What if Dean Saunders had scored just one of those chances vs Spurs in 1993 at the height of the title race. Garry Parker missing a vital chance at Norwich too. What if the ref at Old Trafford hadn't let United play till they won vs Sheff Weds while we only draw with Coventry.
Yes
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So many what ifs but the long and short of it is we've watched as clubs have just overtaken us. We slipped from second under Ron, winning a cup, to 4th &5th under little again winning the cup but that has pretty much been it. If someone said to me when we finished 4th under little that it would get as good as this for 25 years and counting I wouldn't have believed them. I would say the "What if" moments as mentioned above were pretty much anything from the 92-93 season. However I'd say our most defining moment, the nail in the coffin that said we couldn't really compete anymore was the decision to sell Yorke. I know what has performance was like against Everton but we should have refused him and gave it another year. He would have had to have played well to keep his move alive anyway and we proved with Southgate and Chelsea we could do it. Doug saw the colour of the money though didn't he.
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What if we hadn't bought Collymore, and instead signed Andy Cole, to play with York's.
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What if Archduke Franz Ferdinand hadn't been assassinated and Frederick Rinder had been able to carry through his plans for a 120,000 capacity Villa Park ?
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What if we hadn't bought Collymore, and instead signed Andy Cole, to play with York's.
Brian little confirmed thr other night that he wanted Cole to play up front with Yorke but was told in no uncertain terms they would only deal with united and it didn't matter what villa offered.
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What if we hadn't bought Collymore, and instead signed Andy Cole, to play with York's.
Brian little confirmed thr other night that he wanted Cole to play up front with Yorke but was told in no uncertain terms they would only deal with united and it didn't matter what villa offered.
Thank you, we were linked in the press before to him and I always felt he was more of a Brian Little type player.
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What if Luc Nilis hadn’t got injured?
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The greatest what-if in history:
The unknown hero turns up, Villa don't kick off a man short and George Ramsay doesn't get a game.
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What if Gary Shaw didn't get crocked?
What if Doug hadn't hung around for so long?
As the famous whistling troubadour Roger Whittaker once warbled, if's an illusion.
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1992-93 and 1997-98 are the what ifs of my time. In the 90s I thought our time was coming but we made the wrong decisions at critical times.
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What if Doug Ellis accepted his fate and stayed away from Villa Park for good? And what if a fawning media and a bent referee allowed Sheffield Wednesday to rightfully win a match at Old Trafford without literally waiting on United to score no matter how long it took. And in the same season what if a comfortably mid-table Spurs came to Villa Park and didn't defend as if their very fucking lives depended on it? And what if England didn't appoint Graham Taylor?
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What if Barry had taken the penalty?
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What if Grealish hadn’t been such a selfish arrogant untrustworthy xxxx
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What if Les Ferdinand had decided to sign us for in 1995 instead of Newcastle and he played up front that season with Yorke?
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What if Luc Nilis hadn’t got injured?
This one is something i’ve often wondered. Apparently Gregory had wanted to sign him to replace Yorke. So what if we had signed Nilis in 98 to replace Yorke when Nilis was still in his prime?
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What if Archduke Franz Ferdinand hadn't been assassinated and Frederick Rinder had been able to carry through his plans for a 120,000 capacity Villa Park ?
I heard WW2 started when a bloke called Archieduke shot an ostrich because he was hungry. So what if he wasn’t hungry that day?
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What if Glen Whelan had sliced that last minute equaliser wide v Stoke and we’d won 2-1 and justified O’Neill’s decision to prioritise top four over the UEFA Cup.
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What if David James hadn't dropped that corner at Wembley in 2000.
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What if Glen Whelan had sliced that last minute equaliser wide v Stoke and we’d won 2-1 and justified O’Neill’s decision to prioritise top four over the UEFA Cup.
This would be mine aswell, or generally "What if O'Neill's Russian gambit had paid off."
I'd actually erased from my memory that we were 6 points clear of Arsenal in fifth at that time, nailed on to finish in the top 4 and qualify for the champions league. One of the great "What ifs"
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What if David James hadn't dropped that corner at Wembley in 2000.
He dropped it because Southgate got in his way.
Talking of Wembley finals, what if Phil fcuking Dowd had rightly sent off Vidic in the 2010 LCF?!
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What if David James hadn't dropped that corner at Wembley in 2000.
He dropped it because Southgate got in his way.
Talking of Wembley finals, what if Phil fcuking Dowd had rightly sent off Vidic in the 2010 LCF?!
Well it still would have been better if he hadn't dropped it :)
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What if we hadn't capitulated in 10 minutes against Wolves a few weeks back?
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What if Lee Hendrix had scored against Atletico…
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What if we hadn't capitulated in 10 minutes against Wolves a few weeks back?
I did think that earlier
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What if Lee Hendrix had scored against Atletico…
I'd have gone in to a purple haze if he had
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What if Glen Whelan had sliced that last minute equaliser wide v Stoke and we’d won 2-1 and justified O’Neill’s decision to prioritise top four over the UEFA Cup.
That could be argued both ways. What if he gone with a stronger side and maintained fitness and team spirit. That's crap by the way, I agree with you.
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February 1990, what if Platt hadn’t missed a first minute penalty at home to Wimbledon and we didn’t instead go on to lose 3-0. Im sure we were a few points ahead of Liverpool in the title race at the time.
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February 1990, what if Platt hadn’t missed a first minute penalty at home to Wimbledon and we didn’t instead go on to lose 3-0. Im sure we were a few points ahead of Liverpool in the title race at the time.
That would've put us 5 points clear but it was only Feb, still a long way to go. Mountfield getting injured probably cost us more.
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What if that Tranmere free kick in extra time in the 1994 League Cup Semi Final hadn’t hit the post? Would Doug have pulled the plug on BFR sooner than he did? To be fair Ron’s bad run that season had only been a six game winless run and we were on a good run up to the semi. It was after we progressed to Wembley that the league form went to shit. With no Wenbley distraction we might have finished higher than 10th but without a trophy…..
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What if that Tranmere free kick in extra time in the 1994 League Cup Semi Final hadn’t hit the post? Would Doug have pulled the plug on BFR sooner than he did? To be fair Ron’s bad run that season had only been a six game winless run and we were on a good run up to the semi. It was after we progressed to Wembley that the league form went to shit. With no Wenbley distraction we might have finished higher than 10th but without a trophy…..
We'd started the season quite well, we went second with the superb late win at Arsenal in November, but without being anywhere near as fluid as we'd been the season before.
I think it was just that the team had run it's course and needed a youthful injection.
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I do agree with that. And clearly BFR … didn’t. Out went Cox, Froggatt and Daley and we ended up with John Fashanu, Phil King and Nil Lamptey. I remember Andy Gray raving during a live game saying Fash was a better parter for Deano as he was more physical than Dalian. He got injured real quick, King did ok and Lamptey was never played unless it was Wigan in the Coca Cola.
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What if Jed Steer hadn't saved the shot from Jay Rodrigues in the play off semi first leg.
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What if Vidic had been sent off at Wembley 2010….
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What if Vidic had been sent off at Wembley 2010….
Milner would have missed the penalty.
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Clough practically begged to be the Villa boss. If we had given it to him, would we have done a Forest? Or would we miss out on all the success that we had under Saunders? I think Clough may have struggled with us, as he'd have been at loggerheads with Ellis.
Loved Clough but wouldn't like to have missed out on the Saunders era. It would have been interesting to see what happened if he took over after Saunders put he was probably on the wane then.
FWIW I've always felt we wouldn't have won the European Cup if Saunders had stayed and Rimmer hadn't got injured. Certainly wouldn't like to put those 'what ifs' they hadn't to the test.
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1998-99.
What if Michael Oakes wasn't sent off against Blackburn. What if Ugo Ehiogu hadn't got injured? Our collapse was pretty bad but our luck seemed to change over that Blackburn game on Boxing Day and Ehiogu getting injured a few weeks later.
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What if David James hadn't dropped that corner at Wembley in 2000.
We would still have lost. We were gash that day.
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What if Vidic had been sent off at Wembley 2010….
It may have been decisive. I still think O'Neill would have flounced out the door the following August and left us in the lurch, and so started the rot.
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What if we hadn't capitulated in 10 minutes against Wolves a few weeks back?
Well Dean Smith would still be manager, rather than Stevie Meeeee.
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What if they'd not played 7 minutes at Old Trafford when they were 1 down to Wednesday, what if we'd not let it slip at Arsenal and imploded...and won the league in 93.
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What if Mark Bosnich had been sent off (like he could easily have been, let's face it) in the 1994 LC semi final second leg? We probably wouldn't have even got as far as the penalty shoot out in which he ended up being the hero.
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What if Vidic had been sent off at Wembley 2010….
Milner would have missed the penalty.
No chance. He would have scored
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What if we hadn't capitulated in 10 minutes against Wolves a few weeks back?
I did think that earlier
Danny Ings had a free header in the box from a corner, just after it had gone 2-2. If he'd have scored that, suddenly it was a triumphant win and everyone would be praising the character, fighting spirit etc etc.
Some others:
What if Sherwood would have brought on Jordan Veretout instead of Jordan Ayew when we'd gone 2-0 up at Leicester. We may have still got relegated, but I really doubt they would have won the league.
What if Grealish would have scored at the end of that long run against Fulham at Wembley? Would we have gone on to win? Would we still have Dr Tony?
What if there wasn't a Covid outbreak at the club at the turn of the year? Or, for that matter, what if Covid had never existed? What league would we be in now?
What if we'd have given Dr Jo another year or two...? Would he have done what Wenger went on to do for Arsenal? Or were we doomed under him?
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UEFA Quarter Final 1998 away in Madrid. What if that harsh penalty award on Ugo hadn’t been given…..
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What if Jed Steer hadn't saved the shot from Jay Rodrigues in the play off semi first leg.
Or that penalty away at Wednesday, right in the middle of the 10 game run.
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What if Peter Schmeichel had been available for the 94 league cup final?
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What if we'd have been drawn at home to Oldham in 1990 instead of having to play on their plastic pitch.
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After big Ron had played a blinder for us with transfers in 1991 and 1992 things went off the boil in 93 and even more in 94. In 93 Andy Townsend was a quality player with leadership quality’s but was no spring chicken. We already had older players like Houghton and Richardson. We signed Whittingham as well, who didn’t get a massive chance but hadn’t played in the top flight before. Daley I think was on the way down from injuries so we should have been looking to spend big to replace him with someone young and as I say a younger midfielder in addition to Townsend, and an up and coming defender and striker should have been signed really. Daley was a good outlet and it would have been interesting to see what we’d done in 92-93 had he been available with the rest of the squad.
Fast forward a few years and the transfer record signings of Curcic and then Collymore in 96 and 97 really fucked things up for the club and for Little. You wonder what research went into those in terms of temperament and attitude.
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Jan 2009. Villa in the top 4, Lerner and MON's plans to get us into the CL are on course, guaranteeing the big bucks. Then he goes out and buys Ivanhoe and upsets the whole team's balance with the grand total of 2 (two) goals from the bigman.
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If Ian Bowyer hadn't pulled Gary Shaw up and left him to get up by himself.
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If Ian Bowyer hadn't pulled Gary Shaw up and left him to get up by himself.
He'd have been sold within twelve months. That's the thing with What Ifs; something else tends to happen that puts history back on course.
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What if Bayern Munich had turned their dominance into goals. I'll get my coat.
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If Ian Bowyer hadn't pulled Gary Shaw up and left him to get up by himself.
He'd have been sold within twelve months. That's the thing with What Ifs; something else tends to happen that puts history back on course.
I was thinking that as I typed it. At least there would have been a fee which Doug and Turner would have ultimately wasted.
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Two recent ones:
What if we had appointed Henry instead of Dean Smith
What if Engles Header in the last minutes of the final 2020 had gone in
What if NSWE came in at the point the Dr did
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Two recent ones:
What if we had appointed Henry instead of Dean Smith
What if Engles Header in the last minutes of the final 2020 had gone in
What if NSWE came in at the point the Dr did
Thats clearly three
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Two recent ones:
What if we had appointed Henry instead of Dean Smith
What if Engles Header in the last minutes of the final 2020 had gone in
What if NSWE came in at the point the Dr did
Thats clearly three
If Beard82 hadn't miscounted would he have made that post? Would I have made this post? ;)
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Two recent ones:
What if we had appointed Henry instead of Dean Smith
What if Engles Header in the last minutes of the final 2020 had gone in
What if NSWE came in at the point the Dr did
Thats clearly three
If Beard82 hadn't miscounted would he have made that post? Would I have made this post? ;)
If a butterfly flaps it's wings in Patagonia, another stand closes at the sty.
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Two recent ones:
What if we had appointed Henry instead of Dean Smith
What if Engles Header in the last minutes of the final 2020 had gone in
What if NSWE came in at the point the Dr did
Thats clearly three
If Beard82 hadn't miscounted would he have made that post? Would I have made this post? ;)
;D ;D ;D
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What if David James hadn't dropped that corner at Wembley in 2000.
Having seen that goal numerous times, it is more 'what if Southgate hadn't obstructed him?
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What if Sanson didn't go to disneyland
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What if Sanson didn't go to disneyland
Brilliant
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The Fergie time game has to be biggest what if.
Would have potentially changed football for the next 20 years.
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what if....
(https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/10/06/12/3928C42200000578-0-image-a-5_1475752458642.jpg)
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Two recent ones:
What if we had appointed Henry instead of Dean Smith
What if Engles Header in the last minutes of the final 2020 had gone in
What if NSWE came in at the point the Dr did
What if NSWE had come in around about 2010....
Two quite niche ones from 1996-97: what if all that injury time hadn't been played against Arsenal at Villa Park in September 1996 and what if Yorke had scored his penalty against Newcastle in January 1997. Those would have been two big wins against title challengers that season and may have propelled us forward at critical times in that season.
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What if that pillock hadn't ran on the pitch and slapped Jack?
Blues were on top at that point but the whole atmosphere and direction of the game was changed.
That was game 2 of the 10 wins and he may have inadvertently helped us get promoted.
We will never know for sure but it sure is fun floating the theory to blosers!
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What if Collymore had been well is the big one for me. At his best he was astonishing.
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What if Collymore had been well is the big one for me. At his best he was astonishing.
yeah, he appeared to have everything.
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What if Collymore had been well is the big one for me. At his best he was astonishing.
yeah, he appeared to have everything.
Second only to the real Ronaldo when he had his dander up.
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What if that pillock hadn't ran on the pitch and slapped Jack?
Blues were on top at that point but the whole atmosphere and direction of the game was changed.
That was game 2 of the 10 wins and he may have inadvertently helped us get promoted.
We will never know for sure but it sure is fun floating the theory to blosers!
The good folk on the Small Time Alliance website cite that day as a real sliding doors moment. They were above us that day but from that game onwards we went on a successful run culminating in promotion and their form tailed off badly.
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What if Gilles de Bilde had not hit the post against Man Utd on his debut?
Maybe not…
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Sherwood away at Leicester City.
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What if Helenius didn't have his shorts pulled down.
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What if the 1981 squad had not been broken up so quickly is the biggest what if to me.
Also what if we had signed Bent instead of Heskey.
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What if Les Ferdinand had decided to sign us for in 1995 instead of Newcastle and he played up front that season with Yorke?
This is what I thought. As a teenager it feels like every summer Teletext was convincing me we were going to sign him. I guess it was a good lesson for dealing with false hope...
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What if Helenius didn't have his shorts pulled down.
I know this is said as a joke but how that wasn't a red card and penalty I'll never know
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What if Les Ferdinand had decided to sign us for in 1995 instead of Newcastle and he played up front that season with Yorke?
This is what I thought. As a teenager it feels like every summer Teletext was convincing me we were going to sign him. I guess it was a good lesson for dealing with false hope...
Ferdinand said that he sat down with both us and Newcastle that summer but Keegan convinced him more. A peak Les Ferdinand with Yorke that season with our defence...
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Two recent ones:
What if we had appointed Henry instead of Dean Smith
What if Engles Header in the last minutes of the final 2020 had gone in
What if NSWE came in at the point the Dr did
Thats clearly three
If Beard82 hadn't miscounted would he have made that post? Would I have made this post? ;)
If a butterfly flaps it's wings in Patagonia, another stand closes at the sty.
Haha
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What if NSWE didn’t come in at the vital time they did?
What if we had played a full strength team against Spartak Moscow under O’Leary?
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What if NSWE didn’t come in at the vital time they did?
What if we had played a full strength team against Spartak Moscow under O’Leary?
That wasn't O'Leary, mate!
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What if NSWE didn’t come in at the vital time they did?
What if we had played a full strength team against Spartak Moscow under O’Leary?
Poison Dwarf.
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What if Collymore had been well is the big one for me. At his best he was astonishing.
yeah, he appeared to have everything.
Aah, but if he had been stable we would never have had the opportunity to buy him in the first place.
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What if Whelan scored that pen and the shopper had fancied steak for his supper rather than a vegetarian option
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What if Gary Shaw didn't get crocked?
He'd have been sold to Liverpool according to popular rumour.
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Reading Children of the Revolution about Villa in the 1970s and there are a number of What-If moments.
What if the Athletic Bilbao Director hadn't died in a car crash and Tommy Docherty had become their manager instead of Villa?
Whilst ultimately unsuccessful with Villa, I know a lot of our fans said he gave Villa back some confidence that had been eroded from about 1963.
What if Lochhead had scored in the 1971 League Cup Final and we had beaten Spurs?
I actually think this could have been a bad thing for us. The winners got into the UEFA Cup and that might have derailed our promotion push in 1972.
What if we had been promoted to the 1st Division instead of finishing 3rd in 1973?
Presumably Crowe would have rained as manager and Ron Saunders wouldn't have been appointed. Worth pointing out that whilst we were some distance behind 2nd place, this was the last season when only 2 teams were promoted.
What if we'd hired Brian Clough instead of Ron Saunders?
Clough practically begged to be the Villa boss. If we had given it to him, would we have done a Forest? Or would we miss out on all the success that we had under Saunders? I think Clough may have struggled with us, as he'd have been at loggerheads with Ellis.
Any other thoughts on this, or other great What-If moments?
I didn't know this. I know it worked out OK for us anyway, but I wish it would have happened. I like Clough a lot. Would have been great to see him as the England manager (I wasn't born then but you get the point).
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What if Collymore had been well is the big one for me. At his best he was astonishing.
yeah, he appeared to have everything.
Aah, but if he had been stable we would never have had the opportunity to buy him in the first place.
What if when he came to us, we found a way of supporting him that improved his health
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Biggest what if for me in recent years would be what if the Abu Dhabi lot didn't buy Man City. That was when Lerner gave up on getting us into the Champions League and pulled the plug on bankrolling us.
Second is what if we had got promoted in the playoff final under Xia. Think we actually dodged a bullet there in the long run.
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Biggest what if for me in recent years would be what if the Abu Dhabi lot didn't buy Man City. That was when Lerner gave up on getting us into the Champions League and pulled the plug on bankrolling us.
Second is what if we had got promoted in the playoff final under Xia. Think we actually dodged a bullet there in the long run.
I was wondering the other day what would have happened if the stupid money in the sport was there in the 90s when we were actually pretty good - regularly top six. Would that been we were now a big six as we would have had the odds stacked in our favour for a period that would allow us build the future - a bit like Spurs have
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Reading Children of the Revolution about Villa in the 1970s and there are a number of What-If moments.
What if the Athletic Bilbao Director hadn't died in a car crash and Tommy Docherty had become their manager instead of Villa?
Whilst ultimately unsuccessful with Villa, I know a lot of our fans said he gave Villa back some confidence that had been eroded from about 1963.
What if Lochhead had scored in the 1971 League Cup Final and we had beaten Spurs?
I actually think this could have been a bad thing for us. The winners got into the UEFA Cup and that might have derailed our promotion push in 1972.
What if we had been promoted to the 1st Division instead of finishing 3rd in 1973?
Presumably Crowe would have rained as manager and Ron Saunders wouldn't have been appointed. Worth pointing out that whilst we were some distance behind 2nd place, this was the last season when only 2 teams were promoted.
What if we'd hired Brian Clough instead of Ron Saunders?
Clough practically begged to be the Villa boss. If we had given it to him, would we have done a Forest? Or would we miss out on all the success that we had under Saunders? I think Clough may have struggled with us, as he'd have been at loggerheads with Ellis.
Any other thoughts on this, or other great What-If moments?
I didn't know this. I know it worked out OK for us anyway, but I wish it would have happened. I like Clough a lot. Would have been great to see him as the England manager (I wasn't born then but you get the point).
Twice apparently. Once just after Crowe had taken us up from the 3rd Division and again when Crowe was sacked. Apparently the bookies stopped taking bets on him becoming the next Villa manager.
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What if we’d have got past an average Liverpool team in the FA Cup quarter final in 1992? They went on to play two division 2 teams in the semi and the final to win the cup.
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Second is what if we had got promoted in the playoff final under Xia. Think we actually dodged a bullet there in the long run.
Yep, I really think we did dodge a bullet.
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What if NSWE had been as delusional about Steve Bruce's performance as a manager in the second half of 2018 as Steve Bruce was?
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Biggest what if for me in recent years would be what if the Abu Dhabi lot didn't buy Man City. That was when Lerner gave up on getting us into the Champions League and pulled the plug on bankrolling us.
Second is what if we had got promoted in the playoff final under Xia. Think we actually dodged a bullet there in the long run.
I was wondering the other day what would have happened if the stupid money in the sport was there in the 90s when we were actually pretty good - regularly top six. Would that been we were now a big six as we would have had the odds stacked in our favour for a period that would allow us build the future - a bit like Spurs have
Look at who was spending the money for the answer to that.
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If Bosco Jankovic for hadn’t come up with the goods for Middlesbrough against Ipswich on 02-05-81, or we had beaten Ipswich instead in the FA cup 3rd round that season, would it have made a difference because of more games to play and lessened their workload.
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Biggest what if for me in recent years would be what if the Abu Dhabi lot didn't buy Man City. That was when Lerner gave up on getting us into the Champions League and pulled the plug on bankrolling us.
Second is what if we had got promoted in the playoff final under Xia. Think we actually dodged a bullet there in the long run.
One of the lowest ive ever felt at a football match the day we lost to Fulham, took me days to get over it. In hindsight winning would of been a disaster for the club.
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Best thing that could have happened to us in recent years.
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What if my brother never gave me a Villa kit?
I’d probably have had 40 odd years of supporting Wolves.
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What if Fred Turnbull hadn't put through his own goal in November 1968 at home to Preston sparking protests beneath the directors box ?
What if Pat McMahons goal at Leicester in April 1970 had been seen and given ?
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What if Steve Perryman has been a bit slower to react and couldn’t get to Andy Lochheads goal bound shot?
Another
What if Savo had found his goal scoring boots immediately on joining us?
No Collymore and two 20 goal a season strikers
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What if we had beaten Bradford in the semi final and played Swansea in the final of the league cup
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If the three up three down system had been introduced a season earlier and Vic Crowe's Villa had got promoted in 1973.
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...luc nilis hadn't got injured?
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What if Peter Withe had scuffed it wide...
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What if we'd given Dwight Yorke the Manager's job?
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What if Glen Whelan had scored the penalty...
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What if Glen Whelan had scored the penalty...
repeat
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What if my dad hadn't been a villa fan. What if I hadn't been a villa fan ? What would my daughter have been then ?
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- What if Martin Laursen hadn't got injured in January 2009?
- What if Tammy Abraham had decided to return to Chelsea/sign for Wolves in January 2019 rather than complete his loan spell with us?
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What if Collymore had been well is the big one for me. At his best he was astonishing.
yeah, he appeared to have everything.
Second only to the real Ronaldo when he had his dander up.
I feel as though I'm taking a liberty with this, but I disagree. Collymore was good, but the late, great Dalian Atkinson was better, at the top of his game.
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Which leads to, what if Dalian hadn't got injured in 92-93? He was absolutely on fire in the first of that season scoring every kind of goal you could think of and few you couldn't.
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What if Collymore had been well is the big one for me. At his best he was astonishing.
yeah, he appeared to have everything.
Second only to the real Ronaldo when he had his dander up.
I feel as though I'm taking a liberty with this, but I disagree. Collymore was good, but the late, great Dalian Atkinson was better, at the top of his game.
You won't find any denigration of Dalian's talent here!
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What if your Aunt had balls she'd be your Uncle.
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What if your Aunt had balls she'd be your Uncle.
She might still identify as a women and you should respect that.
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Signing Bent instead of Heskey.
Making signings when we were top in 99, someone who would have adequately covered Ehiogu who'd been superb but then got injured.
Nilis.
Had Ellis signed Robbie Keane.
Had Les Ferdinand opted for us over Newcastle.
Juninho.
Not signing Fashanu, Collymore or Balaban at those respective times, for players who'd have been more fitting.
I also wonder how we might have finished had Gregory finished the season he left, and maybe had one more after that.
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Signing Bent instead of Heskey.
Making signings when we were top in 99, someone who would have adequately covered Ehiogu who'd been superb but then got injured.
Nilis.
Had Ellis signed Robbie Keane.
Had Les Ferdinand opted for us over Newcastle.
Juninho.
Not signing Fashanu, Collymore or Balaban at those respective times, for players who'd have been more fitting.
I also wonder how we might have finished had Gregory finished the season he left, and maybe had one more after that.
Oh yes - Had Ellis signed Robbie Keane - that's a good one.
I can remember following it on Teletext and being gutted when he went to Coventry.
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What if Bruce had not scored those two goals in illegal time?😥
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What if Steve Perryman's little legs hadn't moved quite as quickly at Wembley in 1971?
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What if Doug Ellis had felt pride, worth and value in our European Cup winners.
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What if Nigel Spink had rolled the ball to Ian Ormondroyd
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What if Doug Ellis had felt pride, worth and value in our European Cup winners.
He wouldn't have been Doug Ellis.
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Where would I be now if we'd never met?
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What if we appointed Clough instead of Ron ?
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What if Chris Nicholl, Ray Graydon and Andy Gray weren't injured when we played Manure in the 1977 FA Cup Quarter Final?
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Where would I be now if we'd never met?
I'd be writing this song about someone else instead
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What if Doug Ellis had felt pride, worth and value in our European Cup winners.
He wouldn't have been Doug Ellis.
This is the very biggest disappointment for me. I remember doing the tour not long after Ellis came back and seeing that pretty much all pictures of that glorious night had been removed from any of the corridors.
On a slightly different direction, what if, we build to 50,000 and Wes and Nassef make us super huge. Exciting times ahead I hope.
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There’s been plenty of ‘what ifs’ regarding the takeover etc, but what if we didn’t have catastrophic money issues in the summer of 2018 and we signed Grabban and Johnstone permanently? We certainly wouldn’t have got Abraham that season and Steer played a significant role that season too.
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For me the most significant 'what-if' of my era is the day of 'Fergie Time'. I think we'd drawn 0-0 at home to Coventry - they had a knob called Leigh Jenkinson who infuriated everyone with his time wasting - what if he didn't do that?
What if the ref at Manure hadn't played hours of injury time? What if Nigel Worthington had the ability to jump? I'd walked up to the Birchfield Road, waited for a 51 with space & we'd gone through the Scott Arms traffic lights on the way to the M6 flyover when someone with a radio announced that goal had gone in. Deflating.
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What if Glen Whelan had sliced that last minute equaliser wide v Stoke and we’d won 2-1 and justified O’Neill’s decision to prioritise top four over the UEFA Cup.
This would be mine aswell, or generally "What if O'Neill's Russian gambit had paid off."
I'd actually erased from my memory that we were 6 points clear of Arsenal in fifth at that time, nailed on to finish in the top 4 and qualify for the champions league. One of the great "What ifs"
That's quite easily answered though isn't it?
History suggests that O'Neill would have stuck around for an extra season or two, spent a bit more money on (probably) another new defence, and Man City would still have steamrollered us out of contention within a couple of years.
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And we'd have gone out in the qualifying round of the Champions League to some two bob outfit.
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Re ManYoo v Sheff Wed - taking Villa-tinted specs off, was there an actual reason for so much stoppage time? And how much of it was there in the end?
It's become so apocryphal/we've always been bitter about it, that I'm picturing "100 mins" appearing on the TV clock-counter but I'm guessing more like 5-7 due to someone being down injured for a while at some point in the second half?
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Re ManYoo v Sheff Wed - taking Villa-tinted specs off, was there an actual reason for so much stoppage time? And how much of it was there in the end?
It's become so apocryphal/we've always been bitter about it, that I'm picturing "100 mins" appearing on the TV clock-counter but I'm guessing more like 5-7 due to someone being down injured for a while at some point in the second half?
A linesman was injured.
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Almost as infuriating as the amount of added time at OT was Nigel Worthington standing on the post literally watching the ball go in and not bothering to head it away. I’m still amazed when I see it. Looks dodgy as fuck.