Brian Little Speaks

[260475]

Correct, 57266 acc to a link I had in my notes. I was 14 at the time. Stands out like yesterday for the size of the crowd, expectation, result, and struggling to get out in the crush at the end.

Good win for us.

Some stats I found at 11v11.com (tried to post the link but apparently that is "not allowed")

Maybe someone will know if that was the last largest crowd at VP, or if not where it stands in a table of attendances?

UTV

[brian green]

Welcome 260475.  That was indeed a memorable game.  At 57k it was some way short of the ground record attendance.

[MalcolmP]

Correct, 57266 acc to a link I had in my notes. I was 14 at the time. Stands out like yesterday for the size of the crowd, expectation, result, and struggling to get out in the crush at the end.

Good win for us.

Some stats I found at 11v11.com (tried to post the link but apparently that is "not allowed")

Maybe someone will know if that was the last largest crowd at VP, or if not where it stands in a table of attendances?

UTV

My largest attendance at Villa Park was 62,500 league cup semi-final 2nd leg against Man U in 1970 - one of my greatest Villa Park nights ever watching Third Division Aston Villa beat the 1968 European Champions and not only beat them but outplay them in both legs. As Mary Hopkin once sang  "Those were the days my friend , We thought they'd never end ,We'd sing and dance forever and a day!

[brian green]

Traffic to that Man U game was horrendous.  I drove down the Coventry Rd to Sheldon then past the Swan to Acocks Green then the 44 bus to Dale End thence on foot.  Worth every yard of the journey.  What a game.

[260475]

Thanks for the Welcome, have been tracking the site since Christmas, as I now have more time on my hands. I must say it has been interesting (the comments even sometimes entertaining!) to observe from the side, at a time when it has all been going wrong. Although it clearly had been for some years.

Maybe now we are starting to turn the corner, and when you look back at those years '75 was about when we were building momentum for '77 and onwards to '81/82, so it's going to take some time I reckon.

I was moved to register and post when my favourite game ever got a mention, realise it wasn't an all time record attendance, but in terms of 'last' (i.e. in reverse date order) great crowd numbers must be up there? If I ask the question slightly differently - which attendance has not been bettered by any that follow it?

My first game was in '71 as a one off - Villa / Port Vale I think in Div 3 (Still have the programme somewhere), which reminds me of an old adage that says when you look where you've come from you know just how far you've been.

UTV

[brian green]

Odd you should mention that Port Vale game 260, it has a place in our family history as the last game attended by my oldest brother Val (as in Kilmer).  He is still going strong at 90 years of age.  Half way through the second half he tore off his scarf, jumped on it and left.  He has not been back since though his grandchildren and even great grandchildren come up from Cheltenham to Villa Park.  In our family it is called "doing an Uncle Val".

[PeterWithesShin]

We haven't had a bigger crowd since that Sunderland game. The following season we had 53,782 v sha, 51,300 v West Ham and 50,094 v manure. 76/77 we had 50,084 v sha and that was it for 50K crowds.

[berneboy]

Odd you should mention that Port Vale game 260, it has a place in our family history as the last game attended by my oldest brother Val (as in Kilmer).  He is still going strong at 90 years of age.  Half way through the second half he tore off his scarf, jumped on it and left.  He has not been back since though his grandchildren and even great grandchildren come up from Cheltenham to Villa Park.  In our family it is called "doing an Uncle Val".

Who's the oldest poster on here, Brian?
You are the Venerable Brian but there must be someone older?

[old man villa fan]

Thanks for the Welcome, have been tracking the site since Christmas, as I now have more time on my hands. I must say it has been interesting (the comments even sometimes entertaining!) to observe from the side, at a time when it has all been going wrong. Although it clearly had been for some years.

Maybe now we are starting to turn the corner, and when you look back at those years '75 was about when we were building momentum for '77 and onwards to '81/82, so it's going to take some time I reckon.

I was moved to register and post when my favourite game ever got a mention, realise it wasn't an all time record attendance, but in terms of 'last' (i.e. in reverse date order) great crowd numbers must be up there? If I ask the question slightly differently - which attendance has not been bettered by any that follow it?

My first game was in '71 as a one off - Villa / Port Vale I think in Div 3 (Still have the programme somewhere), which reminds me of an old adage that says when you look where you've come from you know just how far you've been.

UTV

I remember the Port Vale game as the programme had the form for sticking the programme vouchers to for getting a ticket for the League Cup Final. We had so many copies of that programme.

[260475]

The Port Vale Game was a 1-0 home win on 16th Jan '71, and although I was there, I had to look up the result.

Plenty of goals in other games against them in Div 3, incl a 4-4 away draw the following November.

As far as the Sunderland home game we are talking about goes, made my day that I was at the last biggest crowd, and thanks to PWS for the data.

UTV

[dave.woodhall]

Something I've wondered before - which was the last game where we had 50,000 Villa supporters? I've a feeling it might be Boxing Day 1975 as West Ham were never particularly well-supported away.

[brian green]

Not me by a mile Bernie. Amy Dainty has had a couple of posts via my late brother John's computer on here.  She is 99 and says she actually remembers seeing Harry Hampton riding his bike to Villa Park.  She lived by my grandparents in Portugal Place Nechells.  She now lives in a nursing home in Northamptonshire. We have one surviving member of the family well into her nineties, Auntie Peg who lives round the corner from BE's mom in Castle Vale but she is a nose.

[Pat McMahon]

Something I've wondered before - which was the last game where we had 50,000 Villa supporters? I've a feeling it might be Boxing Day 1975 as West Ham were never particularly well-supported away.

You may well be right there. I was at that game on the Witton End with my dad and we had an uncle and cousin who only came once a year if we were at home on Boxing Day. I think an annual trip to see us at xmas was common for many floating or lapsed fans back then. There were usually a number of away fans in the Witton End - generally with no trouble - and I have no recollection at all of any there that day, though to be fair I am sure there were no trains and far less car ownership back then. It was a common site to see white vans (Kenning Hire Vans always spring to mind) with 12-15 boozed up blokes springing out near the ground while their poor driver had to spend ages looking for a parking space.

The first game of the following season against West Ham they had several thousand in the Witton End. We walked in on a boiling hot afternoon to see loads of bare chested cockneys being pushed down the steps and arrested by the police.

[Damo70]

Something I've wondered before - which was the last game where we had 50,000 Villa supporters? I've a feeling it might be Boxing Day 1975 as West Ham were never particularly well-supported away.

On the subject of attendances Dave have we actually had a bigger crowd since the Albion and Ipswich games in 1981? I seem to recall they were both around the 46,000 mark but I may be wrong.

Just remembered Juventus in '83 must have been similar.

[PeterWithesShin]

Albion was 47988 and our capacity was 48000.