Ideal Premier League

[Sexual Ealing]

I wonder whether Barry was choosing the colours instead of taking the penalty.

[TopDeck113]

What's the difference between maroon and claret?

The uniform of the school where I currently teach is described as a maroon jumper and a sky blue polo shirt. Whenever I'm charged with replacing the school's sports team kit, the various suppliers always refer to maroon, yet in reality it is usually some variation of what has passed for claret on one Villa kit or another over the seasons.  Still, a rose by any other name and all that: I always ensure that there's one Greater Manchester primary school that take to the field looking like the Villa.

[PeterWithesShin]

We did apparently play in maroon in the early 1880s.

[dave.woodhall]

I'm stating facts. Hearts and Rangers were virtually unknown in England in 1887 and we didn't use their colours in any case. Hearts is maroon and Rangers is royal blue.

It still isn't a fact. It cannot be when no one knows the actual answer.

Let's not forget you even said " it's as likely a tale as any" 2 hours ago. So if no one knows the correct answer, no answer is definitely wrong either.

So I reckon aliens chose the colours.

What I've said there are facts. The theory I put forward earlier is a lot more likely than picking colours that look a bit like those of two random clubs and putting them together in a eay that neither wore. What is known is that Ollie Wheatley was asked to come up with a design and what we ended up with was his creation.

[cdbearsfan]

Who was Ollie Wheatley? A player? Director? Church person?

[PeterWithesShin]

He was a player.

[PeterWithesShin]

What I've said there are facts. The theory I put forward earlier is a lot more likely than picking colours that look a bit like those of two random clubs and putting them together in a eay that neither wore. What is known is that Ollie Wheatley was asked to come up with a design and what we ended up with was his creation.

I meant where the colours come from isn't fact.

It is impossible to say it wasn't xyz when no one can say it was abc.

[dave.woodhall]

What I've said there are facts. The theory I put forward earlier is a lot more likely than picking colours that look a bit like those of two random clubs and putting them together in a eay that neither wore. What is known is that Ollie Wheatley was asked to come up with a design and what we ended up with was his creation.

I meant where the colours come from isn't fact.

It is impossible to say it wasn't xyz when no one can say it was abc.

But it is possible to discount the Scottish connection as there is no logic behind it.

[PeterWithesShin]

Some stuff says WM had no interest in football before Brum, others say he was watching football while still in Scotland. As such I don't believe any theory can be discounted, including my aliens one.

[dave.woodhall]

Some stuff says WM had no interest in football before Brum, others say he was watching football while still in Scotland. As such I don't believe any theory can be discounted, including my aliens one.

 Every reputable historian, plus John Lerwill, says he had no tangible interest, and in any case where he lived was a long way from Edinburgh.

[PeterWithesShin]

It's compelling but so is aliens.

[wittonwarrior]

Can’t manipulate promotion and relegation otherwise the premiership would be full of mk dons and Salford city

[algy]

Well, the proto-villa colours seem to have come about (as chocolate/blue) in the 1886/7 season:


Heart of Midlothian also played in a kind of claret & blue from 1876-1889:


They'd have been reasonably prominent in Edinburgh, being the first association football club in the city & also the first side to have professional players in Scotland (in 1884 - against SFA rules, so they were fined & suspended for it). It seems plausible to me that there might been some link there.

Rangers don't really add anything to that though - they've played in their current colours throughout their history, and Hearts already had blue in the kit. In any case, this would've been also pre-old firm (the first Rangers-Celtic game was 1888 and in any case it Celtic's side was w
made of mostly guest Hibernian players) and Queen's Park would've dwarfed them in prominence.

[ASHTONVILLA]

I would like to see Villa (obviously), Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forrest, Derby County, Leeds, Sunderland, and West Brom all in the top flight. I would happily see Watford, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Huddersfield, Leicester City and Cardiff City and Brighton make space for them.

[dave.woodhall]

Well, the proto-villa colours seem to have come about (as chocolate/blue) in the 1886/7 season:


Heart of Midlothian also played in a kind of claret & blue from 1876-1889:


They'd have been reasonably prominent in Edinburgh, being the first association football club in the city & also the first side to have professional players in Scotland (in 1884 - against SFA rules, so they were fined & suspended for it). It seems plausible to me that there might been some link there.

Rangers don't really add anything to that though - they've played in their current colours throughout their history, and Hearts already had blue in the kit. In any case, this would've been also pre-old firm (the first Rangers-Celtic game was 1888 and in any case it Celtic's side was w
made of mostly guest Hibernian players) and Queen's Park would've dwarfed them in prominence.

There was no link at all. I'm pretty sure we'd never played Hearts at that point and they were a relatively unsuccessful team who would have been  little-known outside Edinburgh. Why we would have picked a sort-of similar shirt to the one they briefly wore makes no sense.