40 YEARS AGO TODAY

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Can anybody name the three youth team players on the front of the programme ?
Two should not be too difficult to get. The tricky one is the lad on the left, he suffered a bad injury which ultimately blighted his chances to make it.

Right: Jake Findley, Goalkeeper (unlucky never to get a fair crack)
Middle: John Gidman (wish we had him now)
Left: Could be Keith Leonard (great centre forward, two footed and a great touch)

2 out of 3. Jake Findlay and Giddy yes, but its not Keith Leonard.

[SarkGrime]

Can anybody name the three youth team players on the front of the programme ?
Two should not be too difficult to get. The tricky one is the lad on the left, he suffered a bad injury which ultimately blighted his chances to make it.

Roy Stark I think.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Can anybody name the three youth team players on the front of the programme ?
Two should not be too difficult to get. The tricky one is the lad on the left, he suffered a bad injury which ultimately blighted his chances to make it.

Roy Stark I think.

Spot on,Roy Stark. He was a central defender that came from Nottingham, but got a bad injury and only played two first team games.

[The Left Side]

Great game and amazing atmosphere, wish I could have been there!

[nigel]

Can anybody name the three youth team players on the front of the programme ?
Two should not be too difficult to get. The tricky one is the lad on the left, he suffered a bad injury which ultimately blighted his chances to make it.

Right: Jake Findley, Goalkeeper (unlucky never to get a fair crack)
Middle: John Gidman (wish we had him now)
Left: Could be Keith Leonard (great centre forward, two footed and a great touch)

2 out of 3. Jake Findlay and Giddy yes, but its not Keith Leonard.

Bah!!

Have to say that I didn't think it was Keith, but, the career ending injury threw me.
Nice one Andy

[Steve R]

Don't know if anyone has tried it, but on the right of that youtube page is a link to the full Sunday highlights show on ITV which featured the 1971 league cup final. Well worth an hour of anyone's time.

Spot the third division team

RIP Vic Crowe, a credit to all that is Aston Villa. We still owe you.

[Bernie]

I have posted this before but, for those who missed it, there was a documentary about behind the scenes on a match day at a football club. This match was chosen. I think the programme was called Contact. Filming included crowds entering the ground and the computer that added up how many were in each stand. They said that 1000 entered the ground per minute at the peak.
It went on to the bit where the team names were called out. Geoff Vowden's name was booed. He scored later.
Then it continued to the bedlam that led up to and followed Andy Lochhead's goal.
If one a copy of the programme could be found. Plenty of coverage of the goals exists but nothing else.

If this is the programme I think it was. The girl on the reception is constantly answering the phone during the game, people enquiring what the score is. Imagine these days, it is almost impossible to be anywhere and not have access to such information instantly.

That's the programme. I remember her laughing at one of the callers' (unheard, probably "fruity") response to her giving the score. That match certainly has impinted itself in the minds of those of us of a certain age, me included; it could have been so different- as I recall we'd not played that well and hadn't looked like scoring until those 2 memorable late goals.

[Ron Manager]

Can anybody name the three youth team players on the front of the programme ?
Two should not be too difficult to get. The tricky one is the lad on the left, he suffered a bad injury which ultimately blighted his chances to make it.

Its Roy Stark!  Another I hoped would make and didnt

[villan from luton]

Thought Findlay was going to be a top keeper, same with Stark actually, good centre half, not sure what happened to him. Likewise Charlie Young, anyone remember him playing in 5-1 trouncing of the scouse shite on that great evening

[richard moore]

Jake Findlay, now there is a memory of a player who I had completely forgotten about

Great too to see those old programme covers, sigh, I have a little tear in my eye. Whatever went wrong? They were fabulous days never to be repeated. Oh dear..

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Jake Findlay can still be seen around the Sutton/Erdington area as he is a driving instructor - Jake Findlay School of Motoring.
Roy Stark was a Nottingham lad who sustained a bad injury as a youngster at Villa. He actually stopped at my Mom and Dads house for a short while during his recuperation. Many of the apprentices used to be at a club hostel they had on the Chester Road just up from the Gravelly Lane/Boldmere Road junction, but I think it was full for a while so Starky had nowhere to stop.
The records show that after Villa he went to Canberra in Oz, but thats all I can find.   

[Charlie8182]

I believe Findlay was in goal for us when we beat Liverpool 5-1 in 76/77?

[SarkGrime]

Roy Stark. He wasn't one of the "stars" back in 71/72. Those were John Gidman, Jimmy Brown and Brian Little. But I really felt he was one of the best. Solid, quietly commanding.

Jake Findlay and Charlie Young both played against Liverpool in December 1976.

I remember one match at Leicester (not the Chris Nicholl spectacular when he scored all four goals in a 2-2 draw). Findlay was in goal and Nicholl was doing to him what he always did to Burridge and much later was to do to Pat Jennings in the 1982 World Cup. That is to say, he used to get in the goalkeeper's way by going  for all the high balls. Findlay was above all very confident with high balls and was clearly getting a bit pissed off with Nicholl heading balls away that he (Findlay) could have caught.

Suddenly Jake went down "injured" and the game was stopped while he received attention. Whoever was wielding the magic sponge then stayed behind the goal and remonstrated with Nicholl the next time Nicholl got in Findlay's way. In the end the referee either sent him back to the dugout or sent him off, I can't remember. I think Chris got the message though.

[SarkGrime]

As for Charlie Young...

On Vital Villa 3 or 4 years ago there was a thread about the worst Villa player they'd  seen. One poster, a very nice chap, said he thought Charlie Young was the worst.

Hey presto, who should appear but Charlie Young, replete with a Charlie Young avatar. A bit embarrassing.

[Pat McMahon]

Jake Findlay can still be seen around the Sutton/Erdington area as he is a driving instructor - Jake Findlay School of Motoring.
Roy Stark was a Nottingham lad who sustained a bad injury as a youngster at Villa. He actually stopped at my Mom and Dads house for a short while during his recuperation. Many of the apprentices used to be at a club hostel they had on the Chester Road just up from the Gravelly Lane/Boldmere Road junction, but I think it was full for a while so Starky had nowhere to stop.
The records show that after Villa he went to Canberra in Oz, but thats all I can find.   

One of our neighbours loved that youth team. When Saunders discarded Findlay and Bobby MacDonald he stopped going down (around 1977) telling me and my dad that we would never win anything with him in charge...