Top Five Away Days

[Flamingo Lane]

Two people have said 1975 v Sheffield Wednesday, 4-1.  Wasn't it 4-0?

[neil strevens]

It was 4-0. Followed by an epic lap of honour by the fans on the pitch.

[The Left Side]

Newcastle 0 Villa 3

Can't remember the year but I remember Newcastle players fighting between themselves and at least 80% of their fans leaving before the end.

March 2005, a very funny game... 3 toon sendings off and all deserved.

[TopDeck113]

Everton in SGT Mark 1's last game will probably always be my favourite away day which didn't result in celebrating a promotion/trophy.

[peter w]

Newcastle 0 Villa 3

Can't remember the year but I remember Newcastle players fighting between themselves and at least 80% of their fans leaving before the end.

March 2005, a very funny game... 3 toon sendings off and all deserved.

May have been April 2nd or 1st. If that is right I'm amazed.

[Pat McMahon]

1982 Anderlecht 0-0 - the best Villa away day ever, anywhere. Nothing else has ever come close.
1981 Leicester 2-4 We were great, unbelievable support and the Boggies went against their DNA and beat Ipswich. I thought we had peaked at the right time, reinforced by the win over Albion 4 days later.
1987 Blues 1-2 a combination of winning a derby on my birthday, booze, women and drugs. And the most scared I have ever been at football in the crush outside the Tilton ( took us 60 minutes to get in)
2001 Liverpool 1-3 taking my nephew to his first away game and numpty Houllier deciding chat Michael Owen, fresh after scoring a hat trick against Germany 7 days before, was only worthy of a place on the bench.
1982 0-1 Blues away. Down from Sheffield for the weekend with a mate from Newcastle. Barmy shenanigans all weekend, propa nawty stuff around town and booze filled hallucinations with us somehow waking up in Coventry at 4am. To this day, none the wiser.
1997 0-0 Bordeaux. A dreary game, realising Collymore was a waste, but an 18 hour session involving booze, dance and some very interesting local ladies.

[peter w]

Just for the sheer drama

[Virgil Caine]

November 27th 1971' Oldham 0 Villa 6 - Andy Lochead hat trick , Bruce Rioch 2 and I think Willie Anderson scored the other. Jim Cumbes' debut and I don't think he had to do anything. It poured down with rain and although the attendance is given at around 12, 500 it seemed that the only people in the ground with 15 minutes to go were Villa fans. I still think of that game as everything was perfect, I was 14, my dear Dad was alive, bless him, and we went with my brother, my Dads mate Ralph and his son Neil Thomas. Special treat on the way home was to stop at the Motorway Services for a cup of tea and some chips. Great memories.

[dave shelley]

Two people have said 1975 v Sheffield Wednesday, 4-1.  Wasn't it 4-0?

You are quite right Ian.  I was one of those that posted 4-1.  I thought that it was 4-0 as I was typing but I honestly couldn't remember, such is my memory these days.  I was scratching my head trying to remember when it was during the game and just couldn't remember.  I just took the previous poster's word for it.

One thing I do remember, due to the traffic I didn't get home until the early hours.  Very happy mind.

[Pete3206]

1) Everton 3 Aston Villa 3 1990  -  Teams that blow the league title these days are seen as failures and their fans go into deep depression and flood radio shows with tales of woe and demand that heads roll. Make no mistake, Villa blew it in 89-90. But, the Villa faithful used this dead rubber finale to celebrate the great side that Graham Taylor had assembled. Only 12 months earlier, we had survived relegation by the skin of our teeth after a torrid first season back in the top flight. The season that followed was nothing short of a miracle. The Villa fans showed their appreciation by turning Goodison into a massive party. The singing didn't stop throughout and even went on at half time, to the amazement of the Everton fans. The game was great, but the absolute highlight was Taylor coming over to the fans at the end. The man was so humble and reluctant to hog the limelight, but the Villa faithful wouldn't let him go without taking a bow. It was a fantastic sight and a cherished memory.

2) Stoke 1 Villa 3 2013 - Away days are rare for me these days. Too expensive, too much hassle and yes, I have to admit, I find myself tutting and shaking my head at the behaviour of our younger contingent at times. This game though, turned me into an utter loon. Maybe I was overcome by the importance of the occasion or the constant goading of the Stoke fans stood about ten yards away from me, but when Lowton and then Benteke scored, I became this whole other person. Screaming like a banshee, jumping up and down on my seat, grabbing total strangers for a hug and making not to kind gestures to the Stoke faithful, all of whom couldn't look at us anyway and stood rigid with eyes firmly front. I'm still very hazy on the post match drinking details, to this day.

3) Sheff Wed 2 Aston Villa 3 1991 -  Quick return for Big Ron after he left them in a great position and a league cup win. Suddenly he was a judas and public enemy no.1. We had a brand new team who were on the ropes after 20 mintues. 2-0 down and looking doomed, big Cyrille Regis grabs a header before the break and Dalian and Staunton completed an amazing comeback. Many sulky and moody Yorshiremen after the match. Snigger.

4) Newcastle 0 Villa 3 2005  -  Sometimes, some of the best days are ones you're not expecting. A week after trudging out of the Sty after another Sorenson horror show, we went up to Toonland, fully expecting to get turned over, so it was a case of making the best of it. What followed was a legendary piss up, followed by a bizarre 90 minutes in which the opposition and fans self destructed in front of our very eyes. Bowyer and Dyer decided to have a punch up with each other and as Villa cruised to a 3-0 lead, the Newcastle fans started to lamp each other, much to the amusement of the Villa faithful. 

5) Reading 0 Villa 2 1988 - There were many fun away days that season, but this was my favourite. Didn't stop laughing all day from the moment we boarded the old football 'special' trains. Everything that followed was perfect. The drinking, the match, the banter. It was a great day to be alive. Lovely.

[Deano's Mullet]

Most of my away trips were in the BFR and Little era so - and in no particular order

Norwich 1-2 Villa  Xmas 1993  Long range winner from Saunders, Norwich played Another One Bites The Dust over the tannoy when they scored!
Spurs 3-4 1994  Jim Barron care-taker match, 3-0 then 3-3 then 4-3 Villa in the last minute.
Wimbledon 2-3 Villa 1992 for obvious reasons
Sheff Wed 1-2 Villa 1995  Deano double, great night in Sheffield with my Sheffield relatives later that evening.
Arsenal 1-2 Villa 1993 Townsend later winner when Arsenal should have been out of sight

[LeeB]

Swindon 88 - First away days don't get much better, as well as getting promotion I got Alan McInally coming to shake my hand and have a little chat amid the celebrations (I was 11 and pinned up against the fence), and the nice copper collected all the coins that had somehow rained onto the pitch and handed them to me.

Everton 2000 - shit game, on the telly, bonfire night and not the biggest following we've ever took. Got piss wet through in the lower bullens, a few lads in front started going through a repertoire of old songs, and it may well have been the rebirth of "my old man". We joined in for the entirety of the match, which passed without incident till Paul Merson smacked in thunderbastard in the last minute, which was celebrated like we'd won the Champions League.

Spurs 1994, the 3-4 game, was a great trip. I think we went with Premier and landed at the Northumberland Arms. I remember feeling very drunk, and the surreal events that unfolded didn't help sober me up. The bastard walk back to the coaches did though.

Inter 1990 0-3 - probably not a lot of peoples choice but it was my first European trip, as a 13 year old, and aside from the bloody game it had the lot. Going to the San Siro after we'd been glued to the World Cup, the players they had, stopping at the border to get body searched by bloody armed guards, hookers in the streets, the ground looking like a spaceship as we pulled up to, all 75,000 of them whistling when we had the ball, and then jumping up and down together and making the stadium shake, it was just a massive sensory overload. Marvellous.
Sheffield Wednesday 1991 - To win, like that, on the opening day when you're filled with optimism and you've got loads of new players to watch, with the circumstances of the manager moving, and with an army of Villa fans there is bloody hard to top.

I was at Everton in 1990, but was a bit heartbroken because I'd been convinced we'd win the league.

[Sunny Villa]

Haha I was in there with my 10 year old .  everyone on the seats singing .   my Lad still chats about it to this day
It could take forever butr mine:
Bolton 3-2 Villa Nov 67 simply because it was my first away game
Bilbao 2 v 2 Villa 76 first european away day
Blackpool 0-3 Villa 75 - we all thought, mistakenly that we had gained promotion that day
Sheff Wed 1-4 Villa  75 when we did get promotion
QPR 0-3 Villa 77 at Highbury Little hat trick

[PGW]

November 27th 1971' Oldham 0 Villa 6 - Andy Lochead hat trick , Bruce Rioch 2 and I think Willie Anderson scored the other. Jim Cumbes' debut and I don't think he had to do anything. It poured down with rain and although the attendance is given at around 12, 500 it seemed that the only people in the ground with 15 minutes to go were Villa fans. I still think of that game as everything was perfect, I was 14, my dear Dad was alive, bless him, and we went with my brother, my Dads mate Ralph and his son Neil Thomas. Special treat on the way home was to stop at the Motorway Services for a cup of tea and some chips. Great memories.

I was at that game also - a week on from one of our lowest points in our history losing 1-0 away at Southend in the 1st Rd of FA Cup!!!

[class-of-82]

Anderlecht
Rotterdam
Blackpool in the 70s
Arsenal when we won the league
First game at the sty in the 75/76 season villa packed into the Tilton up the floodlights on the roof of the Tilton big crew in the scoreboard corner and in the railway end