Villa Park at its finest

[Walters Flat top]

http://youtu.be/rGvTvZ-ynuA

This game was the first time I witnessed a full house at Villa Park. I was 13 at the time and the atmosphere was electric. Liverpool were the best team in the land and we were ridding high in division 2. At the end of the game I didn't really care about the result as I had seen something special. The Holte end in its full glory.

Given the predicament in which the clubs finds it's self in currently if Lambert/Lerner/Fox was able to give the fans something to cheer about I am sure an atmosphere like this would return.

[dave.woodhall]

The only full house we had between 1982 and 1993. Had it not been for the European ban that Liverpool side might have been their best ever.

[Walters Flat top]

I never got to see the Villa under Saunders or Barton so this game was a real buzz. I remember my dad getting my mum to record the game as it was the first time he had taken me to a match when it was on the telly. Even though we lost I watched it over and over again. I was glad I came across it once more on you tube as I think mum recorded over it with an episode of Bergerac!

[aj2k77]

Look at that stand from 51.26 onwards, absolutely huge.

[garyshawsknee]

It shows you how little football was on TV back then, as I recorded that and the Middlesbrough game on the same video, and even though we lost both games, I would still watch them to death.

I remember in the Liverpool game, Tony Daley done a surge through the middle of the pitch, the roar of the crowd was amazing to my young ears.

[Walters Flat top]

It shows you how little football was on TV back then, as I recorded that and the Middlesbrough game on the same video, and even though we lost both games, I would still watch them to death.

I remember in the Liverpool game, Tony Daley done a surge through the middle of the pitch, the roar of the crowd was amazing to my young ears.

I haven't watched it back yet but I do remember watching that Daley run over and over again myself. I  seem to recall he either went around a couple of players and got taken out or just over run the ball? Football on the tele was so limited. I used to record both Saint and Greavsie and football focus each week in the hope of getting to see a glimpse of the goals from our game.  How things have changed.

[FrankyH]

Was that the game the Holte End were singing "England's number one" about Spinksy, while Grobbelaar held two fingers behind his back saying he was.

[fbriai]

It shows you how little footbaseconds on TV back then, as I recorded that and the Middlesbrough game on the same video, and even though we lost both games, I would still watch them to death.

I remember in the Liverpool game, Tony Daley done a surge through the middle of the pitch, the roar of the crowd was amazing to my young ears.

I haven't watched it back yet but I do remember watching that Daley run over and over again myself. I  seem to recall he either went around a couple of players and got taken out or just over run the ball? Football on the tele was so limited. I used to record both Saint and Greavsie and football focus each week in the hope of getting to see a glimpse of the goals from our game.  How things have changed.

I was the same. I remember I even recorded footage of the 6000th goal scored at Villa Park - Mark Walters against Bournemouth in a 1-1 draw in '87, I think - on Midlands Today. They dedicated about 30 seconds to it.

[Damo70]

We gave them a good game that day. I remember two things apart from the match  itself. It was the Superbowl final that night and the following day I started my first proper job after spending the previous six months after leaving school on a YTS training course.

[thick_mike]

What a forward line we had, for the second division it was extraordinary...Thompson, McInally and Daley!

Plus, that was the classic "My Old Man" line up!

[Jon Crofts]

We were top of Div 2 and they were top of Div 1 that day if I remember rightly.  I can even remember speaking to Dave Woodall before the game and he said something along the lines of 'I hope we don't try and play football against them'

[Charlie8182]

The gate was 46,324, Liverpool didn't sell all of their tickets for the old Witton Lane seating which is why it wasn't quite full at 48,000.
We got 30,000+ once in a blue moon at that time so it was an extraordinary experience being in a packed terraced Holte End on that day.

[Damo70]

The gate was 46,324, Liverpool didn't sell all of their tickets for the old Witton Lane seating which is why it wasn't quite full at 48,000.
We got 30,000+ once in a blue moon at that time so it was an extraordinary experience being in a packed terraced Holte End on that day.

That is an incredible crowd for a second division team in 1988. Especially for a cup/non season ticket game. The Bradford crowd was very impressive at the end of the season too. Was it officially 36,000? I reckon there were more, even Bradford had a big turn out. I wonder how many top flight teams topped 46,000 that season? I reckon two maximum, Liverpool and United.

[dave.woodhall]

The gate was 46,324, Liverpool didn't sell all of their tickets for the old Witton Lane seating which is why it wasn't quite full at 48,000.
We got 30,000+ once in a blue moon at that time so it was an extraordinary experience being in a packed terraced Holte End on that day.

It didn't hold 48,000 by then - some extra boxes had been built which reduced the capacity by around 1500.

EDIT: My mistake - they were in Witton Lane and went in during the following summer.

[AV82EC]

What's amazing about it was the amount of people waving at the TV cameras because as someone mentioned even then televised live football was such a novelty.