Born in Hockley, just off Summer Lane, in a back to back in Rodway Street.
Villa was just what we did. We were already solid claret and blue but Auntie Jessie marrying Frank was definitely icing on the cake.
Moved to Tamworth as part of the Brum slum clearance and Brum overspill.
Mates at school in the 60s were a mix of Villa and that lot with the odd baggy or doghead thrown in. Lots of the lads at school followed Yanited/Leeds but hardly any of them went to games. It was a bit of a badge of honour with me that on a Monday morning I would talk about the game I'd been to, the "trouble" I'd been involved in and the whole away game experience. They talked about watching Match of the Day!
Lived on Castle Vale (more Villa than them) when I taught there (70s), then North Warwickshire (all Villa!),then Stourbridge ( mostly Villa, some Tesco bags, some dogheads).
Now Pershore. More Villa than I expected, 1 Nose, 1 baggy, 1 doghead, everyone else Liverpool! I only know one of them who goes to games - a really dedicated L'pool fan. The rest just watch "the footy" on the telly and pretend to be experts.
Made contact with my old school mates from Tamworth about 6 years ago. Most of the noses are still very gobby but none of them go to games. The Villa fans do!
Speaks volumes!
Living in Tamworth most of my life I always thought it was a big Villa stronghold, then when they were first promoted there was the explosion of what I called the car sticker brigade, all came out of the woodwork. Now you don't see it much at all, assume they have just gone quiet again, although derby day is always interesting when they split the pubs and they again come out of the woodwork. Tamworth also seems to have quite a few Albion fans too which I always found odd
The odd Man City shirt round here piping up irritates me
