20 years today

[LTA]

Doug Ellis sacked Big Ron! That makes me feel old!  Best Villa manager in my years as a fan (25 years).  Win, lose or draw, you knew you be entertained.  Must admit I was upset as a kid that he went, even though our form was Poor at the time.

[Deano's Mullet]

Performances were still fairly pleasing on the eye but we were having problems putting the ball in the back of the net. Since the previous Christmas, league form had been fairly in and out and then just completely disintegrated after winning the League Cup. Would he have turned it around? We'll never know but it worked out for the best as we saw what happened under Sir Brian. At least under BFR we always felt big time, the media actually gave us a lot of attention and press.

[richtheholtender]

In comparison to how much time Lambert has had, he wasn't given long enough.

[LTA]

I was only 10 at the time, but I do vaguely remember the outcry at the time towards Ellis (although theres no way would the present incumbent have lasted this long under Doug), but to be fair, we were on a bad run at the time and it was a team which was ageing and needed some new faces.  Ron always seemed to go for older players as opposed to up and coming ones.  Still, he was a big presence about the place.

Incidentally, I ever realized until recently that Ron and Shaun Teale haven't spoken for about 20 years.

[Villa in Denmark]

For a few weeks before he got chopped, a couple of the blokes I used to go with had been discussing "this has a bit of a whiff of relegation about it" with me.

These days the stench is getting overpowering.

[TopDeck113]

I can remember exactly where I was when I heard the news - driving home from a trade exhibition at the cricketing Old Trafford and about to go over the Barton viaduct to the west of Manchester.  Back then I was a home-and-away supporter and having witnessed much of the previous twelve months, the League Cup triumph aside, I wasn't altogether surprised.  Indeed, I think Ron lost the plot a bit and after the win at Wembley began to consider himself untouchable (hence his successful "scouting" trip to the previous summer's World Cup...) The reality was that he'd assembled an ageing squad that, having missed out on the inaugural Premier League, rather confined itself to one-off performances and was in desperate need of rebuilding. He didn't seem to have the desire to do it.     

[ez]

I was only 10 at the time, but I do vaguely remember the outcry at the time towards Ellis (although theres no way would the present incumbent have lasted this long under Doug), but to be fair, we were on a bad run at the time and it was a team which was ageing and needed some new faces.  Ron always seemed to go for older players as opposed to up and coming ones.  Still, he was a big presence about the place.

Incidentally, I ever realized until recently that Ron and Shaun Teale haven't spoken for about 20 years.

If you read Ron's book he gives about 2 pages criticising Shaun Teale's wife.

[Meanwood Villa]

Doug Ellis sacked Big Ron! That makes me feel old!  Best Villa manager in my years as a fan (25 years).  Win, lose or draw, you knew you be entertained.  Must admit I was upset as a kid that he went, even though our form was Poor at the time.

He wasn't as good as Brian and some of the worst games I witnessed were during his tenure. Ipswich and Norwich at home in 93/94 spring immediately to mind. We had long, long spells under him where we really struggled to score, including the run in of 92/93.

[LTA]

You could possibly say the same thing about Brian in fairness. We had one fantastic season, but we seemed to dip after that. 96\97 we were really inconsistent, though we still finished 5th, and the year after we were on the fringes of a relegation battle until Gregory took over.   I seem to recall Andy Gray laying into Brian in the press that season, which didn't go down that well either.

[Meanwood Villa]

You could possibly say the same thing about Brian in fairness. We had one fantastic season, but we seemed to dip after that. 96\97 we were really inconsistent, though we still finished 5th, and the year after we were on the fringes of a relegation battle until Gregory took over.   I seem to recall Andy Gray laying into Brian in the press that season, which didn't go down that well either.

Fair comment, 97/98 in particular was very disappointing. The back end of 94/95 wasn't a barrel of laughs either. I think with Ron though because he was such a big character and because of the great "big games" (Tranmere, LC final, Inter) sometimes it's glossed over that there was also a lot of dross, much of it in very close proximity to the aforementioned great games.

[Meanwood Villa]

I don't necessarily agree we were inconsistent in 96/97 either. Unspectacular at times maybe but I think we were pretty consistent, as reflected in the league table. 95/96 is still my favourite year.

[LTA]

I don't necessarily agree we were inconsistent in 96/97 either. Unspectacular at times maybe but I think we were pretty consistent, as reflected in the league table. 95/96 is still my favourite year.

I guess that was the problem in a nutsell.  We set such a good standard in 95/96, yet we somehow never quite hit those heights in 96/97.  We had some brilliant results, like beating Wimbledon 5-0 before Christmas when they were on a long unbeaten run, but then we had some parts of the season where we looked quite pedestrian-like.  Losing to Helsingborg in the UEFA Cup was a massive let-down, as we should on paper have had far too much for them.

[Meanwood Villa]

Wouldn't it be nice to "only" finish 5th this season?

[PeterWithesShin]

I can't think of an occasion in my time (nearly 40 years) where we've ever built on any form of success. Rather than the foundation to push on it's as though the success catches us by surprise and is actually the peak as we then go backwards.

[dave.woodhall]

I can't think of an occasion in my time (nearly 40 years) where we've ever built on any form of success. Rather than the foundation to push on it's as though the success catches us by surprise and is actually the peak as we then go backwards.

"The biggest job at Villa is to persuade them that they can win trophies" - Ron Atkinson.

"Why do people at this club think it has to end? When I cracked that, I've cracked the club." - John Gregory.