Our resident historian has uneathged this gem. Thank you, Mr Russell.
Of all the big clubs which stand for the most in the football world, the biggest in any sense of the word without the slightest doubt is Aston Villa. Possibly the partisans of other clubs might dissent with that statement but none has ever held or even holds today quite the same place in the minds of the great mass of followers of football as Aston Villa.
Aston Villa all along the line have stood for something more than a football team which could be depended on to be somewhere around when the honours are being handed out. The Villa have meant more than any club because they have always stood for what was the highest and best in the pure footballing sense. A team playing real football, of a club which has had in its ranks the most accomplished scientist of the game.
It may be argued Villa have not always lived up to the highest traditions of the club but they have always struggled after the highest. Their motto all along the line has been, ‘only the best’.
They have striven to be the best, to find the men who were most likely to live up to the old traditions.
The club has never been run by the flourishing of the cheque book, though at times the club could have adopted this policy. Villa have never bought a player simply for the sake of buying. When they have dire need of a man for this or that position they have taken a look around and done without that man for a spell rather than be satisfied with a player they did not particularly want or about whom they were not completely satisfied.
Most of their buying has been discrete. Just after the war when danger of relegation threatened they took the plunge and acquired Frank Barson. At the end of that season they were in a respectable position in the league and once again had the cup in their possession.
Just as Aston Villa has stood for good in the playing sense they have the courage of their convictions. Some years ago they decided as a principle that players should reside in the vicinity of Birmingham. Seeing that several of their stars lived far from the city such a decision was not taken lightly. But they have made it stick in spite of losing nearly half a team of internationals.
As a boy and man George Ramsay has been with the club for 50 years. The question being asked is are Villa living in the past or will they be a power in the future? The men who are with the club today are not, as a team, the most accomplished that has ever appeared in the colours but the bones of as great Aston Villa team are there.
The players of Aston Villa can never have any complaint about their accommodation, the dressing rooms at Villa Park are second to none, and include implements calculated to make for physical efficiency. And the arena itself is just wonderful.
Devon & Exeter Gazette, 21st September 1929
