It's also worth remembering that Tony Barton was sacked by Ellis for being a 'failure'. In his 2 full seasons we finished 6th and 10th, reached a EC QF, an FAC QF, a LC SF, won the ESC and obviously in his first part season the EC. And all that despite Ellis dismantling the 80-82 side, having 2 of the best players in the country crocked, although I have little doubt Ellis would have sold them if they'd been fit as he was getting rid of pretty much anything to do with 80-82 that he could. Pretty sure that within about 3 years of Ellis returning only 3 of the 80-82 side were left, plus Shaw whose career was all but over. Still, at least we had a lot of success under the manager of Shrewsbury.
The last few pages have been a real eye-opener...I didn't know any of this (thanks Dave). His name needs to come off that stand now while he's still alive to see it, and replaced with Ron Saunders', again while he's still alive to see it. Disgraceful.
Quote from: Cliftonville Villain on June 07, 2017, 05:58:14 PMThe last few pages have been a real eye-opener...I didn't know any of this (thanks Dave). His name needs to come off that stand now while he's still alive to see it, and replaced with Ron Saunders', again while he's still alive to see it. Disgraceful.This would be a dream come true. Where do I sign up? When do we march?
many of our supporters still believe him to be good old Deadly, who did a grand job and who loves the Villa.
Quote from: Pete on June 07, 2017, 02:58:15 PMSacking Tony Barton a few days before his son's wedding leaves a sour taste in the mouth too. The reception was booked for Villa Park, by the way.Shit! What did they do? Did they still have the reception at Villa Park?
Sacking Tony Barton a few days before his son's wedding leaves a sour taste in the mouth too. The reception was booked for Villa Park, by the way.
So dignified was Barton that he encouraged Gary, the second of his three sons, to push ahead with plans to hold his wedding reception at Villa Park just five days after he had been ousted.Rose said: “A lot of the big hotels in Birmingham contacted us to say they would happily host the reception if Tony didn’t want it to be at Villa Park.“But he was keen not to leave under a cloud and wanted it to be at the ground.
Quote from: Diablo on June 07, 2017, 03:55:45 PMQuote from: Pete on June 07, 2017, 02:58:15 PMSacking Tony Barton a few days before his son's wedding leaves a sour taste in the mouth too. The reception was booked for Villa Park, by the way.Shit! What did they do? Did they still have the reception at Villa Park? I had to look it up, found an interview with Mrs Barton in the Mail:QuoteSo dignified was Barton that he encouraged Gary, the second of his three sons, to push ahead with plans to hold his wedding reception at Villa Park just five days after he had been ousted.Rose said: “A lot of the big hotels in Birmingham contacted us to say they would happily host the reception if Tony didn’t want it to be at Villa Park.“But he was keen not to leave under a cloud and wanted it to be at the ground.
For those of you with subscriptions to the Athletic, there's a good article about HDE today - https://theathletic.com/2580890/2021/05/16/deadly-doug-ellis-the-aston-villa-years-hiring-firing-and-haggling-over-broccoli?source=user-shared-articleSeems like lots of research gone in to what he was really like. Spoiler - turns out he really was as tight and as self-centred as we all thought!!