Ellis!

[dave.woodhall]

Him and the fragrant Heidi, obviously.

On the organ.

[SirSteveUK]

Him and the fragrant Heidi, obviously.
/quote]

fragrant as in been dead for a few years  ?

IIRC, it wasn't a consortium that backed Ellis - just Percy "Kindly call me Pat" Matthews and hi First National Finance Corporation - a dubious enough character to warrant a mention in Private Eye.

[Ron Manager]

He saved the club and brought in Tommy Doc and that's when I started supporting the Villa. Also to play Santos and see Pele at Villa Park was a special night in the dark times of 3 day weeks and power cuts etc.

"He" didn't save anything. He was part of a consortium, the rest of whose names are scandalously forgotten when great Villa men's names are mentioned. .

Although I tend to disagree with Dave on most things re Doug  in this case he is quite correct. Percy 'Pat' Matthews of First National put the board together and brought The Doc to the club. Doug made a song and dance about his glory being stolen but he wanted a media savvy
manager to suit his ego. He got one in the Doc and for a long time Villa Park was a wonderful place to be connected with.

Percy 'Pat' Mathews was the real force behind the takeover. He is largely forgotten now and that is very very wrong.

[dave.woodhall]

He saved the club and brought in Tommy Doc and that's when I started supporting the Villa. Also to play Santos and see Pele at Villa Park was a special night in the dark times of 3 day weeks and power cuts etc.

"He" didn't save anything. He was part of a consortium, the rest of whose names are scandalously forgotten when great Villa men's names are mentioned. .

Although I tend to disagree with Dave on most things re Doug  in this case he is quite correct. Percy 'Pat' Matthews of First National put the board together and brought The Doc to the club. Doug made a song and dance about his glory being stolen but he wanted a media savvy
manager to suit his ego. He got one in the Doc and for a long time Villa Park was a wonderful place to be connected with.

Percy 'Pat' Mathews was the real force behind the takeover. He is largely forgotten now and that is very very wrong.

Also Harry Parkes, Harry Kartz, Jim Hartley, Harry Cressman, Roy Ladbrooke and Bob Mackay.

[saunders_heroes]

How are we supposed to remember them though? This is football and we only remember players and managers in reality.

[Ron Manager]

He saved the club and brought in Tommy Doc and that's when I started supporting the Villa. Also to play Santos and see Pele at Villa Park was a special night in the dark times of 3 day weeks and power cuts etc.

"He" didn't save anything. He was part of a consortium, the rest of whose names are scandalously forgotten when great Villa men's names are mentioned. .

Although I tend to disagree with Dave on most things re Doug  in this case he is quite correct. Percy 'Pat' Matthews of First National put the board together and brought The Doc to the club. Doug made a song and dance about his glory being stolen but he wanted a media savvy
manager to suit his ego. He got one in the Doc and for a long time Villa Park was a wonderful place to be connected with.

Percy 'Pat' Mathews was the real force behind the takeover. He is largely forgotten now and that is very very wrong.

Also Harry Parkes, Harry Kartz, Jim Hartley, Harry Cressman, Roy Ladbrooke and Bob Mackay.

To be honest I had forgotten Roy Ladbrooke. What did he do for a living?

[Ron Manager]

How are we supposed to remember them though? This is football and we only remember players and managers in reality.

Er.. Harry Parkes played for us for about fifteen years at full back!

[Chris Jameson]

159 pages.

[saunders_heroes]

How are we supposed to remember them though? This is football and we only remember players and managers in reality.

Er.. Harry Parkes played for us for about fifteen years at full back!

Well apart from him. Even I remember him.

[ktvillan]

"His continued regular attendance keeps him in the spotlight" ?

Big deal.

It was in answer to someone else's point, and within the context of the previous points made, so your response is pointless.  Why not ignore it if you think it's so meaningless?

[dave.woodhall]

He saved the club and brought in Tommy Doc and that's when I started supporting the Villa. Also to play Santos and see Pele at Villa Park was a special night in the dark times of 3 day weeks and power cuts etc.

"He" didn't save anything. He was part of a consortium, the rest of whose names are scandalously forgotten when great Villa men's names are mentioned. .

Although I tend to disagree with Dave on most things re Doug  in this case he is quite correct. Percy 'Pat' Matthews of First National put the board together and brought The Doc to the club. Doug made a song and dance about his glory being stolen but he wanted a media savvy
manager to suit his ego. He got one in the Doc and for a long time Villa Park was a wonderful place to be connected with.

Percy 'Pat' Mathews was the real force behind the takeover. He is largely forgotten now and that is very very wrong.

Also Harry Parkes, Harry Kartz, Jim Hartley, Harry Cressman, Roy Ladbrooke and Bob Mackay.

To be honest I had forgotten Roy Ladbrooke. What did he do for a living?

No idea. This was back in the days when football clubs were the preserve of small local businessmen so he probably owned a factory or something.

[brian green]

The neatest epithet for him was Meg of Crossroads.   It may have been Pat Murphy who first used it.   The scenery shook, the cast forgot their lines, the story lines were unconvincing but the show went on.   I never was close to any of his worst stuff but the story my younger son tells about meeting him to plan a series about the Villa youth side and him laying down the law about his role in the series rings very true.   My son eventually despaired and went to Newcastle to make the programme.   My other son Damon tells the story about how he interfered so much in an interview with Merse that they shot it from two sofas in the centre circle of the pitch.   Oh, Herbert, boring you were not.

[RichardBatchelor]

He's an elderly man so let's just leave him alone. Let's just hope we get decent new owners in the summer.

I couldn't agree more, and just how many times now have we done this thread? Go outside, enjoy the sunshine, the Villa beating one of your most hated teams and the thought of Wembley. Dream a little about what it would mean to put a team you hate even more out of the Cup...

I didn't realise we had Man Utd in the Semi-Final?

[nigel]

I've no doubt that Doug is Villa through and through.
Some of the 'Bad' things he did could easily be forgiven, but the one thing I cannot is his, seemingly, resentment of the European Cup winning team which ultimately led to his disgraceful treatment of Tony Barton's widow and the testimonial match for her.

[Mortimer's Bear]

Are we only on page 4?