My first Villa shirt had the 1969-1973 blue lion atop the AV. I vaguely remember that the seven year-old me felt disappointed that it wasn't the same crest that adorned the Trinity Road stand. Now I really like its pared down simplicity. Whether it works in the twenty-first century world of merchandise and corporate branding is another matter - although as others have said, Spurs and Liverpool have moved away from crests that looked like every heraldic symbol possible had to be included to a simple cockerel and liver bird.
