Interesting Villa Facts

[Brazilian Villain]

We were the first team to concede a league goal on Christmas Day. Preston's Nick Ross (not the Crimewatch bloke) scored against us after 6 mins on Dec. 25, 1889.

[Tony Daleys Shorts]

Not so much a stat but shared a drink in my local this weekend with a great niece of Villa legend Joe Bache.

[pablo_picasso]

Ever since our inception, there has only ever been one decade where we didn't at the very least compete for, or win a trophy or a title.

It was after World War 2.

Every other decade we have either won a title or trophy, or at the very least, competed in the final two of either league or cup.

Which is an incredible level of consistency over the course of 150 years...

[PeterWithesShin]

We were joint winners of the 1943/44 War Cup.

"With the score in the final tied at 1–1 and, due to transport restrictions and bombing threats, a replay not an option, the game ended a draw. Charlton Athletic and Aston Villa shared the 1944 trophy, an event that had not happened before and did not happen again."

[Bernie]

We were joint winners of the 1943/44 War Cup.

"With the score in the final tied at 1–1 and, due to transport restrictions and bombing threats, a replay not an option, the game ended a draw. Charlton Athletic and Aston Villa shared the 1944 trophy, an event that had not happened before and did not happen again."

Loving these stats, but I hope we will never need to compete for this honour ever again.

[PeterWithesShin]

Apparently Ian Wright played for us...

The Sun Football
41 minutes ago

Ian Wright tells amazing Dwight Yorke story: 🗣️ “I was at Aston Villa at the same time as Dwight Yorke and he was such a great player.
“Whenever I lifted my head up he was always there, giving me an option. One day I pulled him aside and asked him how he was always so open. He told me that when he first came over, Graham Taylor had told him that no matter where the ball was on the pitch he should be available. He was so easy to play with.
“He had a ridiculous amount of skill. He used to stand in a small bin in the dressing room, and any time a new player came in, he would bet them £100 that he could do 50 keep-ups with his head without falling out! Obviously everyone took the bet because it seems impossible – but I never saw him fail to do it!"

[Jean Quereue-Quereue]

Villa won the only professional baseball league in 1890-91 and are still the current holders of the title.

[nick harper]

Tommy Ball centre half for Aston Villa, still the only active professional footballer to be murdered, shot by his landlord, George Stagg in Perry Barr in Nov 1923, just over 100 years ago.

[Brend'Watkins]

Villa won the only professional baseball league in 1890-91 and are still the current holders of the title.

🎵 you’ll never sing that, you’ll never sing that, ets, etc…

[algy]

You can get from Villa's first match to the present day with 14 degrees of separation, using players whose playing careers at the club have overlapped:

1874 - 1883 - Teddy Lee (12+Games/? Goals)
1878 - 1890 - Archie Hunter (73/42)
1889 - 1902 - James Cowan (356/27)
1900 - 1914 - Joe Bache (474/184)
1914 - 1929 - Frank Moss (255/9)
1927 - 1947 - Eric Houghton (393/169)
1946 - 1961 - Johnny Dixon (388/132)
1959 - 1976 - Charlie Aitken (561/14)
1975 - 1985 - Gordon Cowans (414/49)
1979 - 1996 - Nigel Spink (361)
1995 - 2006 - Lee Hendrie (300/32)
2005 - 2018 - Gabby Agbonlahor (391/86)
2013 - 2021 - Jack Grealish (213/32)
2019 - present - Jacob Ramsey (108/13)