collapse collapse

Please donate to help towards the costs of keeping this site going. Thank You.

Recent Topics

Recent Posts

Re: Gordon Cowans by Risso
[Today at 08:16:07 PM]


Re: Gordon Cowans by pablo_picasso
[Today at 08:07:11 PM]


Re: Gordon Cowans by The Edge
[Today at 07:51:24 PM]


Re: Gordon Cowans by Brazilian Villain
[Today at 07:47:37 PM]


Re: Chris Heck - President of Business Operations by Brazilian Villain
[Today at 07:39:18 PM]


Re: Other Games - 2023/24 by OCD
[Today at 07:39:18 PM]


Re: Gordon Cowans by Nev
[Today at 07:38:29 PM]


Re: Gordon Cowans by Ian.
[Today at 07:37:07 PM]

Follow us on...

Author Topic: The rapid decline of the 92/93 team  (Read 31127 times)

Offline brontebilly

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 9283
  • GM : 09.06.2024
Re: The rapid decline of the 92/93 team
« Reply #135 on: April 09, 2020, 01:28:37 PM »
My memory of this is somewhat hazy but top of the table with six games to go in 92/93 to barely avoiding relegation two seasons later minus Ron Atkinson. What are the explanations for this rapid decline? The squad wasn't that old, the likes of Daley, Atkinson, Staunton should have been at their peak and we had a young Yorke and Bosnich. The form and careers of so many players seemed to fall off a cliff after 1993.

Mate what a side that 92/93 was.

Bosnich
Barrett McGrath Teale Staunton
Froggatt Richardson Houghton Parker
Saunders Atkinson / Yorke

We started off average until Saunders signed and of course his home debut is the Liverpool win which propelled the team in confidence and play.

We hit a purple patch and just went on and on. Match of the Day was like “if you want to see great goals, get yourself down to Villa Park”.
“We need two goal of the seasons - one for Aston Villa and one for the rest”.

Putting this into context - Manure were losing at HOME to the plodders of Wimbledon.

There was always an anti-midlands bias by the London based media, bent FA of the time and of course the resentment were doing so well. The fergie-owls game is your proof along with the Premier league trophy being stored at OT while the league still in the balance and then the disheartening decisions constantly going manures way.

Dalian then began his sicknote tag and according to both Doug and Ron we had the chance to sign Collymore from Southend that probably would have won us the league - with both blaming each other for the failure.

We finished 10 points behind including losing at home to Oldham. Instead of pushing on we crapped in the league but raised ourselves in the cup to win it and deny manure the treble for the closest chance in their history.

Man City won the treble and nobody gives a f***.

By the time Big Ron left i think we had 5 or 6 players aged 30 or over in the XI.

Thank you for clearing up the mystery of why we lost 4 on the spin in Littles last season - all this behind scenes crap.

Thanks for that. I watched some of the highlights of our games back then last night on youtube.... Movement of our front two in particular stands out. There are lengthy highlights of the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford for anyone interested. To be fair, we seemed to get battered for a lot of it. Bosnich and McGrath were outstanding. Small at left back very poor. Our midfield seemed a bit short of mobility that day, likes of Ince in his prime I guess. The Oldham horror show is up there too.

Never realised that Yorke was top scorer in BFRs first season.

Offline SoccerHQ

  • Member
  • Posts: 42391
  • Location: Down, down, deeper and Down.
  • GM : 19.06.2021
Re: The rapid decline of the 92/93 team
« Reply #136 on: April 09, 2020, 02:00:32 PM »
I remember watching the review of the '97-98 season on Youtube last summer. The body-language between Little and Collymore in one of the post match interviews - I have a feeling it was against Steaua Bucharest - was very telling.

He mentioned that interview in his recent book but just said he looked completely drained so clearly he felt he just burnt out in the job.

Offline Damo70

  • Member
  • Posts: 30877
Re: The rapid decline of the 92/93 team
« Reply #137 on: April 09, 2020, 02:16:31 PM »
My memory of this is somewhat hazy but top of the table with six games to go in 92/93 to barely avoiding relegation two seasons later minus Ron Atkinson. What are the explanations for this rapid decline? The squad wasn't that old, the likes of Daley, Atkinson, Staunton should have been at their peak and we had a young Yorke and Bosnich. The form and careers of so many players seemed to fall off a cliff after 1993.

Mate what a side that 92/93 was.

Bosnich
Barrett McGrath Teale Staunton
Froggatt Richardson Houghton Parker
Saunders Atkinson / Yorke

We started off average until Saunders signed and of course his home debut is the Liverpool win which propelled the team in confidence and play.

We hit a purple patch and just went on and on. Match of the Day was like “if you want to see great goals, get yourself down to Villa Park”.
“We need two goal of the seasons - one for Aston Villa and one for the rest”.

Putting this into context - Manure were losing at HOME to the plodders of Wimbledon.

There was always an anti-midlands bias by the London based media, bent FA of the time and of course the resentment were doing so well. The fergie-owls game is your proof along with the Premier league trophy being stored at OT while the league still in the balance and then the disheartening decisions constantly going manures way.

Dalian then began his sicknote tag and according to both Doug and Ron we had the chance to sign Collymore from Southend that probably would have won us the league - with both blaming each other for the failure.

We finished 10 points behind including losing at home to Oldham. Instead of pushing on we crapped in the league but raised ourselves in the cup to win it and deny manure the treble for the closest chance in their history.

Man City won the treble and nobody gives a f***.

By the time Big Ron left i think we had 5 or 6 players aged 30 or over in the XI.

Thank you for clearing up the mystery of why we lost 4 on the spin in Littles last season - all this behind scenes crap.

Thanks for that. I watched some of the highlights of our games back then last night on youtube.... Movement of our front two in particular stands out. There are lengthy highlights of the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford for anyone interested. To be fair, we seemed to get battered for a lot of it. Bosnich and McGrath were outstanding. Small at left back very poor. Our midfield seemed a bit short of mobility that day, likes of Ince in his prime I guess. The Oldham horror show is up there too.

Never realised that Yorke was top scorer in BFRs first season.



One of the group of us who stood together on the Holte every other week was always convinced that Les Sealey's on pitch bollockings towards Bryan Small destroyed his confidence.

Online LeeB

  • Member
  • Posts: 31141
  • Location: Standing in the Klix-O-Gum queue.
  • GM : May, 2014
Re: The rapid decline of the 92/93 team
« Reply #138 on: April 09, 2020, 02:21:38 PM »
My memory of this is somewhat hazy but top of the table with six games to go in 92/93 to barely avoiding relegation two seasons later minus Ron Atkinson. What are the explanations for this rapid decline? The squad wasn't that old, the likes of Daley, Atkinson, Staunton should have been at their peak and we had a young Yorke and Bosnich. The form and careers of so many players seemed to fall off a cliff after 1993.

Mate what a side that 92/93 was.

Bosnich
Barrett McGrath Teale Staunton
Froggatt Richardson Houghton Parker
Saunders Atkinson / Yorke

We started off average until Saunders signed and of course his home debut is the Liverpool win which propelled the team in confidence and play.

We hit a purple patch and just went on and on. Match of the Day was like “if you want to see great goals, get yourself down to Villa Park”.
“We need two goal of the seasons - one for Aston Villa and one for the rest”.

Putting this into context - Manure were losing at HOME to the plodders of Wimbledon.

There was always an anti-midlands bias by the London based media, bent FA of the time and of course the resentment were doing so well. The fergie-owls game is your proof along with the Premier league trophy being stored at OT while the league still in the balance and then the disheartening decisions constantly going manures way.

Dalian then began his sicknote tag and according to both Doug and Ron we had the chance to sign Collymore from Southend that probably would have won us the league - with both blaming each other for the failure.

We finished 10 points behind including losing at home to Oldham. Instead of pushing on we crapped in the league but raised ourselves in the cup to win it and deny manure the treble for the closest chance in their history.

Man City won the treble and nobody gives a f***.

By the time Big Ron left i think we had 5 or 6 players aged 30 or over in the XI.

Thank you for clearing up the mystery of why we lost 4 on the spin in Littles last season - all this behind scenes crap.

Thanks for that. I watched some of the highlights of our games back then last night on youtube.... Movement of our front two in particular stands out. There are lengthy highlights of the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford for anyone interested. To be fair, we seemed to get battered for a lot of it. Bosnich and McGrath were outstanding. Small at left back very poor. Our midfield seemed a bit short of mobility that day, likes of Ince in his prime I guess. The Oldham horror show is up there too.

Never realised that Yorke was top scorer in BFRs first season.



One of the group of us who stood together on the Holte every other week was always convinced that Les Sealey's on pitch bollockings towards Bryan Small destroyed his confidence.

I loved Bryan Small, and played Sunday football with his brother for a few years, but he was a limited footballer. His primary function was as an anti-Andrei Kanchelskis device.

Offline remy

  • Member
  • Posts: 1294
  • Location: Pushed out of Birmingham into Solihull
  • Claret & Blue Flag ALWAYS flapping
Re: The rapid decline of the 92/93 team
« Reply #139 on: April 09, 2020, 02:56:38 PM »
Remy, we didn't stop Manure winning the treble in 1992/93, we stopped them winning the treble in 1993/94.

I went to about 25 games in the 1992/93 season and then emigrated to NZ in late Nov 1993, missing the League Cup Final :'(.
 

I know bud I was typing this at 6am this morning and should have typed 'following season' after the word Oldham.

Some more bits I recall -

Paul McGrath winning player of the year - a seasoned, established full international playing as a fucking rock all season - against the just entered first team Ryan Giggs who looked genuinely mystified when he didn't win and announced by Bobby Charlton.

Goal of the season - Atkinson v Wimbledon

Team goal of the season - v Owls at home

Parker should have been called up for England but again the bias and England Manager twattery prevalent at the time - check his goal at Anfield, any other team he'd played for the wankfest would have been immeasurable.

The beauty of that season's shirt - deep claret with a nod to our Victorian heritage.

Offline Villan82

  • Member
  • Posts: 3215
Re: The rapid decline of the 92/93 team
« Reply #140 on: April 09, 2020, 06:28:08 PM »
I remember watching the review of the '97-98 season on Youtube last summer. The body-language between Little and Collymore in one of the post match interviews - I have a feeling it was against Steaua Bucharest - was very telling.

He mentioned that interview in his recent book but just said he looked completely drained so clearly he felt he just burnt out in the job.

Oh really? That's interesting. I must try to get my hands on that book.

Offline JD

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 9943
  • Location: Canterbury NZ
  • Stay Free
  • GM : 19.01.2025
Re: The rapid decline of the 92/93 team
« Reply #141 on: April 09, 2020, 09:28:12 PM »
Remy, we didn't stop Manure winning the treble in 1992/93, we stopped them winning the treble in 1993/94.

I went to about 25 games in the 1992/93 season and then emigrated to NZ in late Nov 1993, missing the League Cup Final :'(.
 

I know bud I was typing this at 6am this morning and should have typed 'following season' after the word Oldham.

Some more bits I recall -

Paul McGrath winning player of the year - a seasoned, established full international playing as a fucking rock all season - against the just entered first team Ryan Giggs who looked genuinely mystified when he didn't win and announced by Bobby Charlton.

Goal of the season - Atkinson v Wimbledon

Team goal of the season - v Owls at home

Parker should have been called up for England but again the bias and England Manager twattery prevalent at the time - check his goal at Anfield, any other team he'd played for the wankfest would have been immeasurable.

The beauty of that season's shirt - deep claret with a nod to our Victorian heritage.

Great memories Remy, sorry for correcting you mate.

The goal against Sheff Wed was brilliant and I think we scored two brilliant goals against Ipswich at home as well, with Dean Saunders scoring from 90 yards or near abouts (it gets further away from the goal every time I think of it).

My favourite game of that season though was the home game against Liverpool 4-2 win. It had everything, including the greatest miss of all time.

Offline SoccerHQ

  • Member
  • Posts: 42391
  • Location: Down, down, deeper and Down.
  • GM : 19.06.2021
Re: The rapid decline of the 92/93 team
« Reply #142 on: April 09, 2020, 09:58:21 PM »
I remember watching the review of the '97-98 season on Youtube last summer. The body-language between Little and Collymore in one of the post match interviews - I have a feeling it was against Steaua Bucharest - was very telling.

He mentioned that interview in his recent book but just said he looked completely drained so clearly he felt he just burnt out in the job.

Oh really? That's interesting. I must try to get my hands on that book.

Also praised Stan so don't think there was huge falling out between the two either.

One interesting tidbit from the book is none of coaching or playing staff realised the away goals rule counted after 90 rather than 120 minutes going into Helsingborg second leg.

That was the case in the league cup at the time and how we got through v Arsenal.

Offline Villan82

  • Member
  • Posts: 3215
Re: The rapid decline of the 92/93 team
« Reply #143 on: April 09, 2020, 10:55:31 PM »
I remember watching the review of the '97-98 season on Youtube last summer. The body-language between Little and Collymore in one of the post match interviews - I have a feeling it was against Steaua Bucharest - was very telling.

He mentioned that interview in his recent book but just said he looked completely drained so clearly he felt he just burnt out in the job.

Oh really? That's interesting. I must try to get my hands on that book.

Also praised Stan so don't think there was huge falling out between the two either.

One interesting tidbit from the book is none of coaching or playing staff realised the away goals rule counted after 90 rather than 120 minutes going into Helsingborg second leg.

That was the case in the league cup at the time and how we got through v Arsenal.

My abiding memory of Helsingborg away tie is Alan Hansen complaining that we had too many men behind the ball...it now makes sense!

Online BC Villain

  • Member
  • Posts: 1499
Re: The rapid decline of the 92/93 team
« Reply #144 on: April 10, 2020, 10:22:08 AM »
For all the supposed flair and great football we played under Atkinson goalscoring was always pretty crap.

There were times when we could be a bit Lambert-esque under Big Ron

Offline Damo70

  • Member
  • Posts: 30877
Re: The rapid decline of the 92/93 team
« Reply #145 on: April 10, 2020, 01:50:24 PM »
For all the supposed flair and great football we played under Atkinson goalscoring was always pretty crap.

There were times when we could be a bit Lambert-esque under Big Ron


Under BFR we played some of the best attacking football I have ever seen from a Villa side. We probably saw more goals scored at Villa park in the Lambert years but the problem is the vast majority were going into our net! BFR won major trophies with three different clubs. I wouldn't hold my breath on Lambert ever getting close to doing that.

Offline Villan82

  • Member
  • Posts: 3215
Re: The rapid decline of the 92/93 team
« Reply #146 on: April 10, 2020, 03:54:29 PM »
Steve Stone. Another player we spent a lot of money on and after he had passed his best.

Offline oldhill_avfc

  • Member
  • Posts: 962
Re: The rapid decline of the 92/93 team
« Reply #147 on: April 10, 2020, 04:46:50 PM »
The odder one for me is the 95/6 team as we did, at least try, to strengthen that. It could be the age old Villa problem of being behind the curve. Football was changing but we still wanted to recreate the Saunders era.

The 90s, oh, what a missed opportunity they were for Villa.

Somebody said '90 was the real missed opportunity and, maybe by a shade, we looked more like champions in '90?

I was more disappointed that Brian Little's team didn't 'kick on'. Even though we finished 5th in 1996-97, at the time, it seemed somewhat disappointing after our superb season in 95-96. We were poor in the cups in 96-97.

1997-98 was really disappointing. Nothing seemed right. Little didn't seem himself that year and the performances were poor. At the time, it seemed the signing of Collymore upset things.

Overall, as others have said, on the three occasions where we had a chance to push on and  become champions ('90, '93 and '96-'97) we just didn't buy the top player(s) that would give us that edge. I often think the summer of 1997 was a real missed opportunity. I think we were a midfielder and an upgrade on Savo away from being an exceptional side. Instead we ended up with Collymore being shoe-horned into the side with Yorke and Milosevic.

Yep.  Quite firmly established in the higher reaches of the top flight at the time, though not always finishing there, we were behind the curve bringing in top quality foreign players when we could have probably attracted them.  Arsenal were bringing in Bergkamp, Chelsea brought in Gullit, Zola, Vialli,  Newcastle signed agin ola, Asprila etc. That was the time to show some real ambition, but not to be sadly.

The next chance we got were the early years under Lerner, but not to be again. 

The big problem was that we didn't really have anything to attract them. Never was the London factor so important.

The marker around that time was that we were never going to get anywhere with Taylor in the side on a regular basis.

Online Lastfootstamper

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 11370
  • Age: 58
  • Location: Greater Birmingham
  • GM : PCM
Re: The rapid decline of the 92/93 team
« Reply #148 on: April 10, 2020, 04:53:01 PM »
Steve Stone. Another player we spent a lot of money on and after he had passed his best.

"He'll want to win his place in the England side back" were words uttered by me, I'm pretty sure.

Offline SoccerHQ

  • Member
  • Posts: 42391
  • Location: Down, down, deeper and Down.
  • GM : 19.06.2021
Re: The rapid decline of the 92/93 team
« Reply #149 on: April 10, 2020, 10:46:06 PM »
The odder one for me is the 95/6 team as we did, at least try, to strengthen that. It could be the age old Villa problem of being behind the curve. Football was changing but we still wanted to recreate the Saunders era.

The 90s, oh, what a missed opportunity they were for Villa.

Somebody said '90 was the real missed opportunity and, maybe by a shade, we looked more like champions in '90?

I was more disappointed that Brian Little's team didn't 'kick on'. Even though we finished 5th in 1996-97, at the time, it seemed somewhat disappointing after our superb season in 95-96. We were poor in the cups in 96-97.

1997-98 was really disappointing. Nothing seemed right. Little didn't seem himself that year and the performances were poor. At the time, it seemed the signing of Collymore upset things.

Overall, as others have said, on the three occasions where we had a chance to push on and  become champions ('90, '93 and '96-'97) we just didn't buy the top player(s) that would give us that edge. I often think the summer of 1997 was a real missed opportunity. I think we were a midfielder and an upgrade on Savo away from being an exceptional side. Instead we ended up with Collymore being shoe-horned into the side with Yorke and Milosevic.

Yep.  Quite firmly established in the higher reaches of the top flight at the time, though not always finishing there, we were behind the curve bringing in top quality foreign players when we could have probably attracted them.  Arsenal were bringing in Bergkamp, Chelsea brought in Gullit, Zola, Vialli,  Newcastle signed agin ola, Asprila etc. That was the time to show some real ambition, but not to be sadly.

The next chance we got were the early years under Lerner, but not to be again. 

The big problem was that we didn't really have anything to attract them. Never was the London factor so important.

The marker around that time was that we were never going to get anywhere with Taylor in the side on a regular basis.

Guy who scored in a cup final and did well in the euro run against very decent opposition?

 


SimplePortal 2.3.6 © 2008-2014, SimplePortal