The last time we got relegated

[russon]

I was 18 when McNeill took us down but apart from the last day at Old Trafford, can't remember much about the last few weeks. Were we doomed from March onwards? Was there hope till late on? I remember (I think) bad home defeats to Sheff Wed and Norwich towards the end but would be grateful for your memories and if they have parallells with this season.

[Reuben]

I always wondered why Kevin Poole played in place of Spink near the end of both this and the season before.  Not sure if it was coincidence but the results seemed to improve in 85/86 after his introduction. 

Seems like there are parallels - good results to Liverpool shit ones v Southampton...  I was only 8 or 9 so limited knowledge.  I am sure from my Dad's reports thay from day one that season 0-3 v Spurs it looked nailed on we were doomed unlike this season where it has slowly dawned on us

[Charlie8182]

I was 15 but remember it all very well.  It had been coming for much of the season, especially in the 2nd half of the campaign as we only won 2 games after new year, but all hope was effectively lost when we were soundly beaten 0-3 at Charlton on Easter Monday.  We could have gone down when we lost 2-1 at Highbury 2nd May but other results gave us a stay of execution.
It happened when Sheffield Wednesday beat us 2-1 at Villa Park on Bank holiday Monday - 4th May 1987, I remember being stood on the Holte End with aching feet from BRMB walkathon the day before, in a crowd of little over 15,000 (which was common then) and there was a brief pitch invasion near the end of the game for what it was worth.
That was a poor poor side who easily deserved to go down, although I've recently wondered, were the likes of Tony Dorigo, Paul Elliot, Paul Birch, Allan Evans, Nigel Spink, Garry Thompson, Steve Hunt et al really worse than what we have now?

[Simon Ward]

I cried on the Holte after that Sheff Wed defeat! Ashamed of myself now!

[kippaxvilla2]

McBungle came in around October.  We started off well, consecutive home wins 2-0 against Leicster and Newcastle, they kept in it until New Year - including a rebel rousing 3-3 draw at home to BFR's Manure who were going for the League but ended up nowhere again..After New Year it all fell away, some of the results were as embarrassing as this season - was it this season we lost 6-0 at Forest?  The Charlton defeat was an absolute killer followed by brief hope with a 4-0 against Wet Spam and then a meek 2-1 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday to finish it - they had Mark Chamberlain who I think scored for them.

At the very first home game of this season against Everton, I posted on the match thread from the ground that it felt like Norwich 1-4 from 1986 all over again such was the atmosphere by the end.....I hope I am proved wrong.

[He wears a magic hat]

So much of what is happening this season was happening the last time we went down.

As everyone knows a few seasons previous we had a really good team (Our greatest in history). When Doug came back he wasn't prepared to pay the players what they deserved. The year we won the league most of our players were earning less basic than the filth from down the road. What made our players earn so much was win bonuses. What Ellis did is very similar to what Lerner is doing now. Slowly dismantling a good side and replacing them with 'young, hungry, players with undoubted quality'

Our European cup winning side was replaced with players like Ray Walker, Darren Bradley, Phil Robinson, Dean Glover, Paul Kerr, Paul Birch.

I'm sure we started that season by losing something like 6 of the first 7 games including a home defeats by Spurs 0-3, Norwich 1-4 and the humping by Forest away 6-0. When Turner was sacked I think we had a little rally under McNeil and climbed upto 16th out of 22.

After Xmas we just folded winning only 3 of the last 21 games.

Sounds familiar doesn't it.

Relegated with a home defeat by Sheff Wed but in reality we where down weeks before

[Pat McMahon]

There were indeed a few glimmers of hope - drawing twice with the then mighty Liverpool, drawing 3-3 from 1-3 down v Man U, but there was an air of desperation about us from the opening day beating that Spurs dished out.

There was an improvement in form for a month or so once Billy McCaesar came in, but after that we were really, really poor.

It felt really bad coming only 5 years after Rotterdam and also, on paper we had some decent individuals - Evans, Dorigo, Spink, Hodge (for a while) were or had been decent players, with Cooper and Thompson arriving to bring some pre-season hope. But we didn't have a team, we didn't have team spirit and we were woeful up front. Creativity and scoring were our main issues that season, not a blancmange-strength defence.

The 2-1 defeat at Arsenal that effectively sealed our fate came exactly 6 years to the day after our championship winning game at the same ground, but in reality we were light years away. The Wednesday game was just inevitable, and I have a drunken recollection of a young player called Phil Robinson scoring to give us a glimmer of hope in a 1-2 defeat. No idea what ever happened to him.

There was a pitch invasion at the final whistle and I remember Danny (later always referred to as Black Danny) being pushed backwards by a steward and getting knocked clean out as he banged his head on the seats and floor in the corner of the Trinity / Holte.

Old Trafford 5 days later was a great day out though, if you like funerals.

I have always said that 3-0 away at Charlton on Easter Monday was the worst Villa performance I have ever seen. With hindsight I am wondering if Wigan or Chelsea this season were actually worse.

[tomd2103]

McBungle came in around October.  We started off well, consecutive home wins 2-0 against Leicster and Newcastle, they kept in it until New Year - including a rebel rousing 3-3 draw at home to BFR's Manure who were going for the League but ended up nowhere again..After New Year it all fell away, some of the results were as embarrassing as this season - was it this season we lost 6-0 at Forest?  The Charlton defeat was an absolute killer followed by brief hope with a 4-0 against Wet Spam and then a meek 2-1 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday to finish it - they had Mark Chamberlain who I think scored for them.

At the very first home game of this season against Everton, I posted on the match thread from the ground that it felt like Norwich 1-4 from 1986 all over again such was the atmosphere by the end.....I hope I am proved wrong.

The Forest game in pre-season set the alarm bells ringing for me and the Everton game just confirmed those worries.  We made a couple of signings after that, but I still don't think we've addressed the problems highlighted in those two games. 

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

McBungle came in around October.  We started off well, consecutive home wins 2-0 against Leicster and Newcastle, they kept in it until New Year - including a rebel rousing 3-3 draw at home to BFR's Manure who were going for the League but ended up nowhere again..After New Year it all fell away, some of the results were as embarrassing as this season - was it this season we lost 6-0 at Forest?  The Charlton defeat was an absolute killer followed by brief hope with a 4-0 against Wet Spam and then a meek 2-1 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday to finish it - they had Mark Chamberlain who I think scored for them.

At the very first home game of this season against Everton, I posted on the match thread from the ground that it felt like Norwich 1-4 from 1986 all over again such was the atmosphere by the end.....I hope I am proved wrong.

The Forest game in pre-season set the alarm bells ringing for me and the Everton game just confirmed those worries.  We made a couple of signings after that, but I still don't think we've addressed the problems highlighted in those two games. 

"Told you so. Look at how great I am. I'm right you wrong!"

[adrenachrome]

I remember going down to Division 2 and then 3, and it seemed to solidify the core support. I also remember walking through Northfield as a kid with Villa scarf and the Blues, Albion, and Wolves fans taking the piss. 

[Zakk Fatt]

I ignored it, I knew it was only temporary.  I watched us win the European Cup, I knew this was but a glitch in our history.  So is this debarcle from which we will recover, we will prevail, we are Aston Villa, and you are lucky enough like me to have found this great club and they are lucky enough to have found us.

This season is shit, like the two season's before it, next season will be a laugh and after that we get serious again.

[Damo70]

We were in trouble from the start but things got really bad after the turn of the year when we couldn't score enough goals at home to win games (I think we had pretty much given up hope of getting anything away). Then in the transfer window we made one signing, a nineteen year old who took time to settle but did a decent job in the second division the next season. Draw your own parallels where you think appropriate.

[Richie]

After surviving by the skin of our teeth in 85/86, I was optimistic that the following season we would improve after the signings of Gary Thompson (who had scored regularly in the top flight for Cov, The Boggies and Sheff Wed), a very young Martin Keown (who would later prove to be a top centre half) and most of all, Neale Cooper, who had been great in a very good Aberdeen side under Alex Ferguson.

In addition, we had an England world cup midfielder in Steve Hodge. Things could only improve.

Unfortunately we started the season badly and were in a relegation battle from week one onwards.

Cooper never kicked a ball for us before Christmas, Hodge couldn't wait to desert the sinking ship, Keown was ok but still learning his trade (sound familar ?) and Thommo never really got going for us until the season we came back up.

There were some shocking defeats that season (Forest, Saints and Charlton away to name but 3), culminating in a dark Bank Holiday Monday defeat against Sheffield Wednesday sealing our fate and a very lonely long walk home from me.

[kippaxvilla2]

McBungle came in around October.  We started off well, consecutive home wins 2-0 against Leicster and Newcastle, they kept in it until New Year - including a rebel rousing 3-3 draw at home to BFR's Manure who were going for the League but ended up nowhere again..After New Year it all fell away, some of the results were as embarrassing as this season - was it this season we lost 6-0 at Forest?  The Charlton defeat was an absolute killer followed by brief hope with a 4-0 against Wet Spam and then a meek 2-1 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday to finish it - they had Mark Chamberlain who I think scored for them.

At the very first home game of this season against Everton, I posted on the match thread from the ground that it felt like Norwich 1-4 from 1986 all over again such was the atmosphere by the end.....I hope I am proved wrong.

The Forest game in pre-season set the alarm bells ringing for me and the Everton game just confirmed those worries.  We made a couple of signings after that, but I still don't think we've addressed the problems highlighted in those two games. 

"Told you so. Look at how great I am. I'm right you wrong!"

That's just a ridiculous thing to say really isn't it.  I meant nothing of the sort.  I was comparing and contrasting a game in 1986 that demonstrated the writing on the wall, to another game where I felt similar this season - in point of fact, come to think of it, it would probably have been better to have compared this seasons Everton game with the opening game of 1986 - home to Spurs who smashed us 3-0 with a Clive Allen hat trick.

[Gib]

Was very, very young at the time. Have vague memories of getting outplayed at Maine Road not long after he arrived, kind of put the seal on him taking both of us down.

Could even be memory playing tricks as was about 7 years old, be interested if others recall it