Villa man walks on water 1975

[Dr Butler]

3 mins into it,  sees a man who can walk on water.

UTV
The Doc

[He wears a magic hat]

Tremendous - my first Villa boyhood hero.

Question for the older generation

My name 'He wears a magic hat' comes from my memory of BL being my hero and my dad used to sing a song about him.

Brian Little' magic he wears a magic hat
He plays for Aston Villa
But he lives in a council flat
He scores with his left foot
He scores with his right
And when we play against the blues
He scores all f8cking night

So my question is - was this song sung on the terraces or was it just one of those 'pub' songs

[willywombat]

I dont remember it being sung at VP although Wolves used to sing something similar for Stayvie Bull

[Witton Warrior]

While many other games and goals have faded from memory many of Sir Brian's live long and vivid - he seemed to produce those moments of magic with his light-footed, darting movement and viper-sharp shots.
His League Cup exploits are some of my favourites especially the replay at Arsenal and, of course, his brace at Old Trafford in the third Final.
He just looked so good in those clips, why didn't he get more games for England?

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

I went to that England v Wales game purely because Brian Little was on the subs. bench.
Stood in the upper terrace at the players tunnel end.
I was so proud that a Villa player was on wearing an England shirt, the first since when? Gerry Hitchens?
When he started performing and then put the cross over for the equaliser I wanted to tell everybody around me he was from my club, Aston Villa.
How did he never win any more caps?

[The Laughing Policeman]

Tremendous - my first Villa boyhood hero.

Question for the older generation

My name 'He wears a magic hat' comes from my memory of BL being my hero and my dad used to sing a song about him.

Brian Little' magic he wears a magic hat
He plays for Aston Villa
But he lives in a council flat
He scores with his left foot
He scores with his right
And when we play against the blues
He scores all f8cking night

So my question is - was this song sung on the terraces or was it just one of those 'pub' songs

Can't remember it being sung on The Holte but we definitely used to sing it in the Aston Tavern.

[5ft811st2 Durham]

I went to that England v Wales game purely because Brian Little was on the subs. bench.
Stood in the upper terrace at the players tunnel end.
I was so proud that a Villa player was on wearing an England shirt, the first since when? Gerry Hitchens?
When he started performing and then put the cross over for the equaliser I wanted to tell everybody around me he was from my club, Aston Villa.
How did he never win any more caps?

I've got a DVD of the highlights of this game purely of course because of Sir Brian.

The annoying thing for me though is that although there's a fair amount of Brian's excellent performance you don't get the moment that I recall from the original BBC highlights of Brian standing on the touchline waiting to be brought on. I was 8 at the time and that remains one of the enduring images of my life and I'd love to see it again.

The reason Brian never played again for England is  in my view because he never really did reproduce the form of January to May 1975 (even in 76/77 when he came closest) when he was unquestionably the best inside forward in the country.

No doubt if he'd played for a more fashionable club there would have been more caps irrespective of this, but if he'd managed to maintain that level in 75/76 and beyond the caps would have followed. 

[dave shelley]

As an aside, watching that clip put me in mind of a story I heard.  Apparently David Johnson was not a very nice person.  I'd heard from a football league linesman that during the warm up before kick off, he would deliberately aim the ball at the linesman whilst he was checking the nets and find it funny if he hit him.

A guest speaker at our referees association meeting, I think it was the late Neil Midgley, told us a funny story about him.  It was during a game when Johnson was playing for Liverpool and the game was being refereed by a man by the name of John Key from Rotherham.  Anyway according to Midgley, Johnson was a substitute and eventually got on.  From the moment he got on he did nothing but moan at Key eventually saying to him, " for fucks sake referee get a grip, you've been fucking this game up from the start" to which Key replied with sardonic wit, " aye lad, but at least I got on't from fuckin' start!" a great put down,  I loved it.

[Flamingo Lane]

A couple of notes on that week or so.

1.  Kevin Keegan had been dropped for that game v Wales, threw a strop and walked out.  Thus, after Brian's immediate impact as sub (and England's indifferent form) it was widely believed that he would start against Scotland on the Saturday.  Instead, Keegan was brought back into the side, I don't think Brian even made the subs bench and, as it happened, England beat Scotland 5-1.

2.  Brian's call-up to the England squad came after a scintillating run of form that no-one could reasonably have foreseen, and his wedding had been arranged for the time when the home internationals were being played.  The wedding was postponed to a later date to allow him to join the squad.

3.  one poster has suggested that Brian never quite reproduced his form of 74-75 but in 76-77 he was majestic, and that I think was when he'd have got his England place if he himself had been less unassuming, and if he'd played for a London side. 

[bertlambshank]

Talking of walking on water.http://www.astonvillafpa.org/?q=content/football-crazy-brian-little-bruce-rioch
Cheap bar prices in Arden Hall as well.

[berneboy]

From the OS:

1971

It seems like only yesterday but on this day forty-one years ago Brian Little made his senior debut for Villa.

The young striker came on as a substitute in the tremendous 4-1 win over Blackburn as Villa marched towards the Third Division crown.

Ironically it was almost six months later to the day that he starred in his second senior game, this time from the start.

It was a full-blown party as Villa demolished Torquay 5-1.

While the dependable Geoff Vowden scored twice and talisman Andy Lochhead was also on target, a teenager with the nickname "Superboy" stole the show.

Little scored one and set up another two to power Villa to the title.

Cliff Jackson completed the scoring by putting into his own net.

However, it was the impressive debut from Little that grabbed the headlines.

The Sunday Mercury wrote: "On his first full senior appearance, teenager Brian Little showed the necessary touches of skill and maturity making another two goals and scoring another in the first 31 minutes.

"It was Little's touch of quick thinking and anticipation which led to Lochhead scoring the second in the 18th minute."

The rest, they say, is history.

[berneboy]

I am a happily married, heterosexual man but .....

I LOVE Bri!!

Sheer genius in claret & blue.

[Pat McMahon]

From the OS:

1971

It seems like only yesterday but on this day forty-one years ago Brian Little made his senior debut for Villa.

The young striker came on as a substitute in the tremendous 4-1 win over Blackburn as Villa marched towards the Third Division crown.

Ironically it was almost six months later to the day that he starred in his second senior game, this time from the start.

It was a full-blown party as Villa demolished Torquay 5-1.

While the dependable Geoff Vowden scored twice and talisman Andy Lochhead was also on target, a teenager with the nickname "Superboy" stole the show.

Little scored one and set up another two to power Villa to the title.

Cliff Jackson completed the scoring by putting into his own net.

However, it was the impressive debut from Little that grabbed the headlines.

The Sunday Mercury wrote: "On his first full senior appearance, teenager Brian Little showed the necessary touches of skill and maturity making another two goals and scoring another in the first 31 minutes.

"It was Little's touch of quick thinking and anticipation which led to Lochhead scoring the second in the 18th minute."

The rest, they say, is history.

Berneboy, I was at that game and even as a nine year old I could see we had a new player who had potential.

It poured down with rain, the pitch was as muddy as hell but we were promoted and had a great day out.

[Exeter 77]

To think a player with that talent never played for England again while the inept goalkeeper and defenders involved in conceding the two Wales goals won nearly two hundred caps between them.

[wittonwarrior]

He did the business in the big games what more do you want from your player.

On occasions he was the sole forward, not exactly his forte but he game 110%