FA Cup, The Doc... and that bench!

[DeKuip]

Anyone know why the bench was originally on the other side of the field?

I imagine it's because there was a wall at the front on the Witton Lane Stand, but on the Trinity Road side there were just low railings and with the eye level of fans at the front being so low they wouldn't have been too pleased at looking at someone's fat arse hanging off the back of a bench all game. It was a year or two later that a dugout was sunk into the Trinity Road side.

Trinity Road lower was standing then, though.

I know, but from what I remember if you stood at the front your feet were below pitch level and your eyeline was quite low, for kids at least. Witton Lane side above the wall your eyeline was a lot higher, even in the front row of seats (see AGM pic on p38 of Terry Weir's book of photos). So it make senses to have had the bench in front of there.

[The Left Side]

What a pair of ego's we had back then with Doug and the Doc!

[dave.woodhall]

What a pair of ego's we had back then with Doug and the Doc!

And what a perfect combination they were for the time.

[The Left Side]

What a pair of ego's we had back then with Doug and the Doc!

And what a perfect combination they were for the time.

Doc lasted just over a year didn't he?

[Steve R]

...
Doc lasted just over a year didn't he?

About 15 months, split into the latter half of the 68/69 season (a dream) and the first half of 69/70 (a nightmare). I was at the QPR game, the gate was 39,000+. Small Heath and the Albion we at home at the same time, all games were 3 o'clock kick offs. The other two pulled about 30,000.

You could always tell if it was a really big crowd, the symmetrical blocks of heads at the Witton end would steadily merge into one great mass as kick off approached, with the aisles filling with people who could not physically get onto the terraces proper.

The Doc had just left QPR after spending only about a month there. It was a bit of a grudge match. The Morgan brothers (twins I think) gave us a hard time early on, but we always seemed capable of coming back from a goal down.

It was some cup run that year, with the Southampton games and the Spurs match to follow.

Southampton were a seriously good top division side, with Ron Davies and a young Mick Channon up front. Dick Edwards would have been a top centre half if he weren't more interested in going on the piss.

Letting Southampton back from 2-0 in the first game was a real disappointment - until the replay at Villa Park. What a game that was, with 59000+ in the ground. 2-1 from 1-0 down, with the winner coming from Dave Rudge's run and cross, Brian Godfrey's near post block on a defender and Lionel Martin slotting home unmarked in front of the Holte. The place went crazy.

The fifth round Spurs game was midweek too, following a postponement. They couldn't believe how many fans we took. My school actually sent teachers to New Street station to catch kids who were wagging off to get to the match. 3-2 in the end, we were well beaten in truth but I still could not believe we had lost.

[SteveN]

...
Doc lasted just over a year didn't he?

The fifth round Spurs game was midweek too, following a postponement. They couldn't believe how many fans we took. My school actually sent teachers to New Street station to catch kids who were wagging off to get to the match. 3-2 in the end, we were well beaten in truth but I still could not believe we had lost.

I can still picture Greaves side footing one in from about the edge of the area, I was right behind that goal. 

1960 to about 69 are still my favourite times for supporting the Villa, despite us being pretty dire for most of that time.  I suspect that says more about my lost youth rather than the football.

[SarkGrime]

The Morgans were indeed twins. The better one, Roger, the left winger, was eventually transferred to Tottenham.

One Saturday Ian Morgan was playing on the right wing for QPR at Loftus Road when he felt a sharp pain in his leg. At halftime the physio had a look at it but could find nothing at all wrong. It was later learnt that Roger had broken his leg or done his ligaments or whatever up at White Hart Lane at exactly the same moment that Ian felt the aforementioned pain. Hmm. According to one paper anyway!

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

What a pair of ego's we had back then with Doug and the Doc!

And what a perfect combination they were for the time.

Doc lasted just over a year didn't he?

13 months. From a 2-1 win at home to Norwich, over 40,000 for boxing day with Brian Tiler against Cardiff, that QPR Cup game, the first 5 games all won,  two epic games with Southamton (59,000 at Villa), upsetting Bob Stokoe, beating the blues the last home game of the season, telling the world if you put 11 Aston Villa shirts out to dry 20,000 will turn up to watch,  signing the Rioch brothers, Chico and Pat McMahon, losing the first game of the next  season at home to Norwich and not winning any of the next 8 either, 15 year old Jimmy Brown making his debut and the Doc telling us he is the future captain of Scotland, Watford home and away amongst the worst Villa performances ever, Oscar Arce, Kapengwe and Mwila. When the Doc arrived we were absolutely rock bottom, he rose us to the heights in no time at all then put us back down there again, an absolute whirlwind from start to finish who blew away all the cobwebs that had been covering Villa Park for years .

[pestria]

What a fantastic site.

This one is ace

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=5017

That one looks more like the old molinox than highbury

Observe the Villa fans rattling their rattles and tipping their hats amongst the Gooners when we score.