Ipswich away in the league - Championship Season

[Richie]

http://www.itnsource.com/clipdetails.aspx?partner=itn&year=1980&month=09&day=06&libref=fs060980004&s=aston+villa+1980&st=0&pn=1#.Ty0D1xKd2pM.email

Footage I haven't seen since the day of the match.

Although you still hear the likes of Alan Brazil whinging that they beat us 3 times that season and should have won the league, it doesn't tell the full story.

As a kid I went to all 3 games against Ipswich that season and in this particular game, we played Ipswich off the park and should have won.

Anybody else there that day who can back me up or am I looking through the Claret & Blue specs again ?

[Rico]

Two class teams, but if it had been 3 points for a win instead of two we would have won the league by a mile!

[Exeter 77]

Two class teams, but if it had been 3 points for a win instead of two we would have won the league by a mile!

I'd never thought about that before but have just checked. Villa won 26 and drew 8 while Ipswich won 23 and drew 10 which would have given us 86 points to their 79.

Ipswich's last 10 league results make interesting reading which being only ten, I didn't consider at the time. They lost 7 and only won three whereas Villa only lost three of the last ten (won 5 and drew 2).

With that form in the run-in there is no way Ipswich deserved anything in the league - they chose to concentrate on the cups and paid for it in the league. Not that Alan Brazil would see it that way.

[cdbearsfan]

Funny how the media never say we should've won the league in 1992-93 as we beat Man U twice and drew once in our three meetings.

We won more games than them, we lost fewer games than them, despite the disgraceful non-penalty that gave them victory at Villa Park. We were the better team, they're just bitter.

[Pat McMahon]

In those days my dad used to buy the Mirror which I read when he got home frm work.

I remember the journalist who covered the game waxing lyrical about us, saying he had seen the future of English football that day - us, not Ipswich. He very presciently noted we had a combination of steel, energy and flair which, together with Ron Saunders' organisation and motivation would see us become a force to reckon with.

He was a pretty good judge - not sure of his name but it may have been Frank McGhee and if my memory is good he once stated in print that he had a soft spot for Villa. He had picked Johnny Dixon as his man for the 57 cup final - apparently in those days journalists each picked a player with exclusive access to their thoughts before the big day. Not only had Dixon been the winning captain but said journalist was in the Munich air crash and Johnny Dixon went to visit him in hospital back in England.

I may be mixing 2 journalists here but I definitely remember the fulsome praise for our display at Ipswich.

[Villan For Life]

I still love it that, after almost 31 years Brazil still goes on about it.

[Flamingo Lane]

The recollections of the press coverage of that game, and of the praise heaped upon Villa, are spot on.  I remember it all very well.

[Damo70]

When it came to the crunch Easter weekend after Ipswich won at Villa Park we bounced back with a win over Forest and a draw at Stoke while they lost at home to Arsenal and at Norwich (who went down). And as has already been mentioned, it's interesting how some of the media seem to think the 1980/81 title would have been more fair if it was decided on a head to head basis rather than points but they never suggest the first PL title should be taken from United and awarded to us on the same basis.

[villan from luton]

Went to all three games as well. Two excellent teams with different styles. To be fair, Alan Brazil, while he does always mention about the three wins, is always complimentary of the Villa side of that era.   

[ktvillan]

It's true that Ipswich faded badly in the last 10 games and it's easy to get the impression that they threw it away, rather than us winning it.  Especially as certain parties like to espouse that view.   However we could have said the same in 92-93, where we fell apart from a very strong position.  Yet no-one ever seems to doubt United's credentials as champs that year. Fact is we won more games and won more points, simple as.

[pooligan]

I went to all three games against Ipswich that season Richie and your right we played them off the park. I can remember the long car journey home with my brother and father trying to work out we had actually lost.

[Zhong Yi]

Funny how the media never say we should've won the league in 1992-93 as we beat Man U twice and drew once in our three meetings.

We won more games than them, we lost fewer games than them, despite the disgraceful non-penalty that gave them victory at Villa Park. We were the better team, they're just bitter.

insert also the well documented (but still worth redocumenting) 6ish minutes of injury time with a very suspect piece of defending (match fixing, in my opinion) on the near post by a Wednesday player who stood and watched a header from Steve Bruce.

I drink guinness.

[TonyD]

The Ipswich home game still to this day sticks in the mind  when I remember coming up to under the Express Way and seeing the biggest queue of people I have ever seen in my life.   Special night at VP under the AV floodlights despite the result. 

[TonyD]

Zhong don't exaggerate.  It was 9 mins!