Arsenal v The Villa 1996 League Game

[Dr Butler]

the Villa played some great stuff at this time, and a sighting of our latest guvnor Remi

UTV
The Doc

[kiddylion]

Depressing looking at how we could go toe to toe with the big clubs on there patch & on a par with them back then when you look at where we are now.

[Deano's Mullet]

Littles team at its peak never knew when it was beaten, you always felt it capable of beating whatever odds were up against it. OK there was the odd duff result but generally we were very consistent. I remember this game well, Arsenal started well but we bossed the second half and Yorke and Savo gave them all sorts of problems.

[Virgil Caine]

Thanks Dr B - I was at this game and it was the occasion I changed my view of Ian Wright. Following the goal line clearance by Scimicea I watched Wright go up to Ricardo and shake his hand and congratulate him for an outstanding piece of defending, an example of a piece of sportsmanship that was back then a rare occurrence.

Milosevic and Yorke always seem to play well against Arsenal the league cup semi-final around that time was another great example of how classy that particular partnership was.

[Deano's Mullet]

Savo got both in the 2-2 with arsenal at villa park earlier that year. Win and we'd have gone top but they pulled it back from two down when the ref gave them lots of injury time

[Banburysmiler]

Remember the 2-2 home game so vividly, we were playing some wonderful football at the time and a 20 minute spell during this tie still lies fresh in the mind when we were taking them apart. The equaliser at the death was sickening. I can remember an article in an old edition of H&V which went through a list of gut wrenching moments involving the Villa. Carlton Palmers late winner at Leeds was mentioned and described a feeling like: the girl taken hostage in Silence of the Lambs, and realising there were finger nails in the wall of the pit she was trapped in and doom was impending........
The Gooners equaliser invoked an emotion just as nasty.
This was my favourite period following the team and that match of day clip brings it all back nice one!

[dave.woodhall]

If you really want to get upset, imagine the buzz of Randy's first three years happening then.

[SoccerHQ]

Early days of Wenger's reign that.

Was that the year we finished above them on GD or was that the previous year?

[SoccerHQ]

Remember the 2-2 home game so vividly, we were playing some wonderful football at the time and a 20 minute spell during this tie still lies fresh in the mind when we were taking them apart. The equaliser at the death was sickening. I can remember an article in an old edition of H&V which went through a list of gut wrenching moments involving the Villa. Carlton Palmers late winner at Leeds was mentioned and described a feeling like: the girl taken hostage in Silence of the Lambs, and realising there were finger nails in the wall of the pit she was trapped in and doom was impending........
The Gooners equaliser invoked an emotion just as nasty.
This was my favourite period following the team and that match of day clip brings it all back nice one!

Here's the Youtube of that game, from the excellent villaboy account:

[kippaxvilla2]

Little.  'In the first half we were poor.'  Oh to be that poor now.

[Irish villain]

If you really want to get upset, imagine the buzz of Randy's first three years happening then.

Why spoil my memories of an era when we competed for the league title, finished top five twice in a row and won two cup competitions by reminding me of the clown that has made a footballing institution a complete and utter laughing stock, smashing all the worst records in the process.

It was all smoke and mirrors, there was o silverware, the best we could muster was sixth and unlike the mid 1990s, those three years offer absolutely nothing to be nostalgic for. He will go down in villa history alright and it won't be for anything positive.

[Pat McMahon]

Remember the 2-2 home game so vividly, we were playing some wonderful football at the time and a 20 minute spell during this tie still lies fresh in the mind when we were taking them apart. The equaliser at the death was sickening. I can remember an article in an old edition of H&V which went through a list of gut wrenching moments involving the Villa. Carlton Palmers late winner at Leeds was mentioned and described a feeling like: the girl taken hostage in Silence of the Lambs, and realising there were finger nails in the wall of the pit she was trapped in and doom was impending........
The Gooners equaliser invoked an emotion just as nasty.
This was my favourite period following the team and that match of day clip brings it all back nice one!

I wrote that article Banburysmiler. Not sure if my comment was regarding the Carlton Palmer goal though as I can't recall that one - there were many other gut wrenching moments though.

[dave.woodhall]

If you really want to get upset, imagine the buzz of Randy's first three years happening then.

Why spoil my memories of an era when we competed for the league title, finished top five twice in a row and won two cup competitions by reminding me of the clown that has made a footballing institution a complete and utter laughing stock, smashing all the worst records in the process.

It was all smoke and mirrors, there was o silverware, the best we could muster was sixth and unlike the mid 1990s, those three years offer absolutely nothing to be nostalgic for. He will go down in villa history alright and it won't be for anything positive.

I'm not that bothered about your selective memories but I do remember when everyone was pulling in the same direction and the club's marketing, customer relations and community work were on a different scale to anything we'd seen before. It was a time when anything seemed possible and the subsequent years can't alter that fact.   

[saunders_heroes]

If you really want to get upset, imagine the buzz of Randy's first three years happening then.

Why spoil my memories of an era when we competed for the league title, finished top five twice in a row and won two cup competitions by reminding me of the clown that has made a footballing institution a complete and utter laughing stock, smashing all the worst records in the process.

It was all smoke and mirrors, there was o silverware, the best we could muster was sixth and unlike the mid 1990s, those three years offer absolutely nothing to be nostalgic for. He will go down in villa history alright and it won't be for anything positive.

I'm not that bothered about your selective memories but I do remember when everyone was pulling in the same direction and the club's marketing, customer relations and community work were on a different scale to anything we'd seen before. It was a time when anything seemed possible and the subsequent years can't alter that fact.   

Basically we were conned though.

[Irish villain]

What's selective about my memory? Before 2006 I had thirteen years as a villa fan and saw the team win two trophies and compete for the league on a few occasions.

Yeah, it was exciting when Lerner bought us and we had four good years. I made some money on shares bought for me when I was a kid. But I won't be getting nostalgic about it the way I do for the mid-1990s and I certainly won't delude myself into thinking villa has a more secure future today than it did in say 2005-2006 when that patently isn't the case.