Villa v Birmingham city 1983.

[bertlambshank]

Warning bring a brolly.What a bonkers day all round it was.

[Mortimer's Bear]

Looks like that was a feisty encounter!

[Chico Hamilton III]

Remember it well. It was my birthday

[Charlie8182]

I haven't seen any footage of this for probably decades, a real nasty and spiteful affair and as close as you could get to 030303.  This was against the infamous mob of Blake, Hopkins, Coton, Harford, Gayle et al and we weren't exactly shrinking violets that day either.
I do recall there being a stoppage in play for an injury (there were many) and a so-called Zulu/headcase came onto the pitch and casually walked towards the Holte End in the pouring rain with his arms aloft chanting something or other until the police came after him in a wild goose chase which ended in a massive cheer when they caught him.
And what an awful penalty from Blake, and I bet he felt a right dick after that celebration which the ref never gave a goal for.

[Des Little]

This was the game that represents all you need to know about us and them.  It wouldn't bother me if we never played them again.

[dave shelley]

we weren't exactly shrinking violets that day either

We had some hard cases ourselves that day, Withe, Evans, McMahon and McNaught to name four.   The difference between those players and the thugs you mentioned was that our lads were capable of playing football, and always did.

[Richie]

McNaught had moved on to Albion by the time of this match. Steve McMahon is the last real hard knock central midfielder I can remember playing for us. But he could play a bit as well.

[WarszaVillan]

There's a circus in the town, Ronnie Saunders is the clown, Noel Blake is a fucking thief (why btw??) and Birmingham are going down.

I had a letter printed on Jimmy Greaves letter page in Shoot, because he'd said on Saint and Greavsie that he didn't think that they shouldn't use TV evidence to prosecute Noel Blake because that wasn't fair.

[willywombat]

There's a circus in the town, Ronnie Saunders is the clown, Noel Blake is a fucking thief (why btw??) and Birmingham are going down.

I had a letter printed on Jimmy Greaves letter page in Shoot, because he'd said on Saint and Greavsie that he didn't think that they shouldn't use TV evidence to prosecute Noel Blake because that wasn't fair.

Noel Blake was caught rifling the players pockets in the dressing room when he was a youth player at Villa

[Des Little]

There's a circus in the town, Ronnie Saunders is the clown, Noel Blake is a fucking thief (why btw??) and Birmingham are going down.

I had a letter printed on Jimmy Greaves letter page in Shoot, because he'd said on Saint and Greavsie that he didn't think that they shouldn't use TV evidence to prosecute Noel Blake because that wasn't fair.

Noel Blake was caught rifling the players pockets in the dressing room when he was a youth player at Villa

He was looking for a book on how to take a decent penalty

[dl9]

There's a circus in the town, Ronnie Saunders is the clown, Noel Blake is a fucking thief (why btw??) and Birmingham are going down.

I had a letter printed on Jimmy Greaves letter page in Shoot, because he'd said on Saint and Greavsie that he didn't think that they shouldn't use TV evidence to prosecute Noel Blake because that wasn't fair.

Noel Blake was caught rifling the players pockets in the dressing room when he was a youth player at Villa

He was looking for a book on how to take a decent penalty

Then there would have been the additional challenge of him being able to read it....

[Damo70]

I was there that day and we had got an old second hand Phillips V2000 video recorder a few weeks before. I practically wore out a tape watching that clip over and over again. I hadn't seen the footage in about thirty years though. I had remembered everything in the clip apart from Blake missing a penalty! I can recall the BRMB phone in the night before. They had had a slightly better start than us and were just above us so they were giving it the old balance of power thing. That win restored the natural order if I remember right.

[davevillan]

unless my memory is playing tricks, i dont think they marked the pitch out until just before ko, i remember the ball taking an age to go over the line, i think the Holte sucked it in that day..happy memories, thank you to the poster for finding it

[Damo70]

Interesting bit at the end when Newbon says Saunders claimed he didn't see Blake's head butt at the time. If I remember right he was banned due to the footage and Saunders banned Central cameras from the sty for a while.

[Villan For Life]

Not seen that for years. Was it played on Easter Monday?

I was on the Holte with a Blose mate. He didn't say a word all game!!