golden years? the 70s

[Witton Warrior]

Two of us travelling down to Highbury for the LC replay with QPR having bunked off school with no money for food or to get in.
Busking/begging for change from Villans outside the Clock End and a bloke sharing his slab of bread and butter pudding with us and anothe rpaying for us to get in...
Waving our home-made flag with the still-drying paint (shame about the fella who kissed it and had a claret face all the way home!)...

So many memories

[clash city rocker]

The..A V..floodlights

[Godfrey Brian]

The football shaped kiosk on top of the Witton End, the way the Witton used to split in half and empty when it poured down as people headed for the Trinity roof and witton lane overhang, watching the half times go up in the manual scoreboard-agonisingly slow, "Villa vouchers are valuable" -they were, got me to Wembley twice!, the club shop tiny and crammed under the Trinity Road steps, all night queuing for big match tickets, the Holte Pub last pint in at 2.30 and on the Holte by 2.50, Villa trotting out last to an explosion of noise, pitches that turned from lush, to boggy, to beaches to rock hard to rock hardbeaches as the season progressed, 70 empty double decker buses clogging up  Witton Island after everygame, Jimmy Cumbes kicking plastic footballs to the back of the Holte in our last 3rd div game, "get that one sub on-he's going to turn the game" , matchballs being hoofed over the Witton Lane stand by donkey centre-halves bouncing in the road and a ball boy being despatched to race to get it before the local kids did.  Whoops I was only going to write one thing .............................................

[Damo70]

The..A V..floodlights

I believe they were first used in 1971. I have been trying to think when we got rid of them. Around 1991 I reckon.

[clash city rocker]

Thinking about it makes me want to fuckin cry...We spent a large part of the 70's outside the top flight but I am fairly sure that some years only Man.U..had larger average attendances.We had respect [ grudgingly admitted] from a lot of other supporters..Where the fuck did it all go wrong..! Turn back the clock I say and let's do it all again.Proper football,proper music  strikes and unemployment. The politicians say we don't have the latter any more.

[class_of_82]

Just to let anyone know that the book children of the revolution about villa in the 70s I just purchased from lion books in Kidderminster brand new and still in the cellophane from the publishers for £30. The owner purchased the lot from Richard whitehead some years ago when he was raising funds to see the ashes in oz. absolute bargain purchase for villa fans from that era.

[Ron Manager]

Ive just watched the first half of Bristol Rovers v Villa from about 1974. No doubt I was there but the only thing I remember about Eastville is the flower beds behind the goal. I had never seen that before. 

Good job Chris Nichol is in form, nobody else is. Gidman and Ray Graydon keep running into trouble. Graham Moseley in goal.

As its half time and 0-0  I shall have a tepid cup of tea and a stale pie!

Anyway second halves about to begin. Come on the claret and blues!

Well we had a strike force of Sammy Morgan and..Bobby Campbell. Campbell did well in the lower leagues especially for Bradford if my memory serves me well. Worth watching for the commercials at half time (Harry Worth's in one) andthat Jimmy Saville. Often wondered what became of him!

[castlefields_villan]

The demolition of Liverpool still rates as the best 45 minutes football i've seen


I seem to remember we could've had another couple in the second half - remember Ray Clemence (whose day had been complete at hampden Park 6 months earlier !) making a couple of good saves.

WHY OH WHY did ITV choose to take their cameras to see a 0-0 draw that night at Derby ?

[dave shelley]

Because the chief football reporter/head of sport(?) for ITV Midlands at the time was one Trevor East, a known Derby County supporter, that, added to the fact that Derby had just signed Derek Hales from Charlton for, I think 100 grand where he had been a prolific goalscorer in the lower leagues.  He fired blanks at Derby IIRC.

[dave.woodhall]

Because the chief football reporter/head of sport(?) for ITV Midlands at the time was one Trevor East, a known Derby County supporter, that, added to the fact that Derby had just signed Derek Hales from Charlton for, I think 100 grand where he had been a prolific goalscorer in the lower leagues.  He fired blanks at Derby IIRC.

Aksherly it was Gary Newbon, and Hales was a record transfer so the decision made sense.

[dave shelley]

Didn't Gary Newbon just front the sports news bulletins and East the main man?  That's how I remember it.    I definitely remember the night after Newbon appearing on the sports news looking kind of sheepish and offering some kind of half-arsed apology along the lines of we can't have cameras everywhere.

I'm sure I read somewhere ages ago that Trevor East laid some of the groundwork for Sky when they first invented football.  I think he did this after initially opposing the whole Sky deal.  Anyway, East had a fairly high profile.  I just don't recall Newbon being the main man, but I've been away a long time.

[dave.woodhall]

Didn't Gary Newbon just front the sports news bulletins and East the main man?  That's how I remember it.    I definitely remember the night after Newbon appearing on the sports news looking kind of sheepish and offering some kind of half-arsed apology along the lines of we can't have cameras everywhere.

I'm sure I read somewhere ages ago that Trevor East laid some of the groundwork for Sky when they first invented football.  I think he did this after initially opposing the whole Sky deal.  Anyway, East had a fairly high profile.  I just don't recall Newbon being the main man, but I've been away a long time.

Newbon was head of sport, East was his deputy. East was ITV head of sport in 1992 then joined Sky.

[dave shelley]

Ah, I had all the right notes, just played them in the wrong order.

[Steve R]

Ive just watched the first half of Bristol Rovers v Villa from about 1974. No doubt I was there but the only thing I remember about Eastville is the flower beds behind the goal. I had never seen that before. 

Good job Chris Nichol is in form, nobody else is. Gidman and Ray Graydon keep running into trouble. Graham Moseley in goal.

As its half time and 0-0  I shall have a tepid cup of tea and a stale pie!

Anyway second halves about to begin. Come on the claret and blues!

Well we had a strike force of Sammy Morgan and..Bobby Campbell. Campbell did well in the lower leagues especially for Bradford if my memory serves me well. Worth watching for the commercials at half time (Harry Worth's in one) andthat Jimmy Saville. Often wondered what became of him!

Stamford Bridge mid 60's may have had flowers too, but that may be my memory playing tricks.

We had some really good games at Eastville. The league cup 1-1 in 70/71 was one of the best games I've ever seen. The ground did look a bit odd with the big tote board mounted up in the roof and the flower beds.

[dave shelley]

I went to that League Cup game on my own.  I was stood in amongst all the home supporters and it got a bit scary when we scored.  Not half as scary as the ambush on the way back to the station.  I always liked Bristol Rovers for some reason, still do.