Last Stand

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

The Wilton really is an awful stand, no character, upper tier concourse is far too small, facade is forgettable. Another Doug classic.

Lovely carpets though.

[LeeB]

Common decency normally prevents you from denigrating the dead, In the case of Doug and his wilful destruction of a piece of footballs iconic past I make an exception, Doug was a small minded , self Idolating , opinionated twat.
Apart from that he was a C**t as well.

Don't sit on the fence mate!

You're bang right of course.

[brian green]

You are right of course.  Doug Ellis got a unique hat trick of pissing off me and my two sons in three separate instances.  Green D. hijacking a centre circle television interview with Paul Merson, Green L attempting to hijack a television series about youth football, Green B. hijacking information about national stadium cost projections.  He was a complete menace.

[The Edge]

The most telling comment from the OP "why when 3 stands were built in 7 years were they not designed to compliment each other?" Entirely due to the penny pinching ways of Ellis.
We ended up with a hotch potch and the baffling situation at the front right of the Holte at a completely different rake to the DE corner. And don't get me started on the North Stand. The blandness of the design only matched by the blandness of the name they bestowed on it. However, after saying all that there's still something special about a packed Villa Park especially on a big occasion under the lights. Somehow it seems to work when really it shouldn't. It's our very own Mona Lisa.

[Mac]

Someone said (possibly here) that the original Trinity was commissioned at a time when only the best was good enough for Aston Villa.

The current effort was the embodiment of Ellis' 'that'll do' approach.

That might have been me in the original post.

[DB]

The most telling comment from the OP "why when 3 stands were built in 7 years were they not designed to compliment each other?" Entirely due to the penny pinching ways of Ellis.
We ended up with a hotch potch and the baffling situation at the front right of the Holte at a completely different rake to the DE corner. And don't get me started on the North Stand. The blandness of the design only matched by the blandness of the name they bestowed on it. However, after saying all that there's still something special about a packed Villa Park especially on a big occasion under the lights. Somehow it seems to work when really it shouldn't. It's our very own Mona Lisa.

I remember Ellis having a thing about the corners and that the roofs of the stands had to be the same height, that was only joined up thinking he had.

[brian green]

Probably because he was a Freemason to whom right angles have great significance.

[SoccerHQ]

It was the last CWC final, I think.

Think we had a go at hosting a Uefa cup final a few years afterwards. Plenty of grounds below 40k have hosted that since it isn't a capacity issue.

[dave.woodhall]

Someone said (possibly here) that the original Trinity was commissioned at a time when only the best was good enough for Aston Villa.

The current effort was the embodiment of Ellis' 'that'll do' approach.

That might have been me in the original post.

Shhhh. I told them you were dead. We had a collection.

[Neil Hawkes]

Someone said (possibly here) that the original Trinity was commissioned at a time when only the best was good enough for Aston Villa.

The current effort was the embodiment of Ellis' 'that'll do' approach.

That might have been me in the original post.

Is that really you or an impersonator?

[JD]

Someone said (possibly here) that the original Trinity was commissioned at a time when only the best was good enough for Aston Villa.

The current effort was the embodiment of Ellis' 'that'll do' approach.

That might have been me in the original post.

Mac, great to see you post, I do hope you are well. Dave no doubt kept the collection money he raised for you.

[Nev]

The revisionism about "Good old Doug" when he sat on the Holte etc really stuck in my craw because of the Trinity. As a student of football ground design it made me immensely proud that we had such an iconic and grand main stand, so it's wanton destruction was heartbreaking.

While the exterior of the new stand is poor, post Lerner the interior is fabulous with quality fixtures and fittings, stained glass and, in the corporate areas at least, a sense of the old construction. Yes, it's something of a pastiche but the grand old building is now gone forever so we must look forward. The four separate entities that make up our ground give it an unusual air and feel in the age of sleek curves and symmetry and I hope it remains this way for some time to come. I have a real affection for the North Stand now as well, it's goalpost design, brutalist concrete is of it's time and I have found myself watching the majority of our games from there recently. Yes the concourse is cramped, facilities rather poor but it affords an great vantage point in which to "watch" not only the game but the actual ground in action as it were. From participant on the Holte to observer from the other end in my dotage there is no finer sight than Villa Park in full regalia, the noise, the colour and the atmosphere. That camera position from the North Stand, showing goals (and hands reaching up as the ball hits the net), the full time reports from our games or all those semi finals is part of the rich tapestry that makes our home one of the most iconic in football.

I don't want joined up roofs, filled in corners and order. I want individuality, the view of the M6 or Aston Church between the stands, instantly recognisable structures and the continuation of that thrill I always feel as I approach what can absolutely be called a cathedral of football.

[LeeB]

Superb Nev, I concur with every point made.

[Flamingo Lane]

Yes indeed, an excellent post by Nev.  Having watched games over several (7) decades from from all points of the ground, but most often sat in the old Trinity Road and stood on the old Holte, I do now find a special feel watching from the Upper North (for all it's deficiencies).

[dave.woodhall]

I've said it many times; if you prefer watching from behind the goal there's no better place in football than the first few rows of the Upper North Stand.