Villa What-If Moments

[ADVILLAFAN]

Reading Children of the Revolution about Villa in the 1970s and there are a number of What-If moments.

What if the Athletic Bilbao Director hadn't died in a car crash and Tommy Docherty had become their manager instead of Villa?

Whilst ultimately unsuccessful with Villa, I know a lot of our fans said he gave Villa back some confidence that had been eroded from about 1963.

What if Lochhead had scored in the 1971 League Cup Final and we had beaten Spurs?

I actually think this could have been a bad thing for us. The winners got into the UEFA Cup and that might have derailed our promotion push in 1972.

What if we had been promoted to the 1st Division instead of finishing 3rd in 1973?

Presumably Crowe would have rained as manager and Ron Saunders wouldn't have been appointed. Worth pointing out that whilst we were some distance behind 2nd place, this was the last season when only 2 teams were promoted.

What if we'd hired Brian Clough instead of Ron Saunders?

Clough practically begged to be the Villa boss. If we had given it to him, would we have done a Forest? Or would we miss out on all the success that we had under Saunders? I think Clough may have struggled with us, as he'd have been at loggerheads with Ellis.

Any other thoughts on this, or other great What-If moments?

[Steve67]

If John Gregory had signed Juninho.  I wonder if he'd been any good?

[Deano's Mullet]

What if Dean Saunders had scored just one of those chances vs Spurs in 1993 at the height of the title race. Garry Parker missing a vital chance at Norwich too. What if the ref at Old Trafford hadn't let United play till they won vs Sheff Weds while we only draw with Coventry.

[Brazilian Villain]

What if we'd signed Sheringham instead of Cascarino? What if Leeds hadn't sold Cantona to Man U in Nov. 1992.

Would we have won 2 league titles in the early 90s and thus been in the vanguard of the Premier League revolution?

[richtheholtender]

What if Dean Saunders had scored just one of those chances vs Spurs in 1993 at the height of the title race. Garry Parker missing a vital chance at Norwich too. What if the ref at Old Trafford hadn't let United play till they won vs Sheff Weds while we only draw with Coventry.

Yes

[richtheholtender]

So many what ifs but the long and short of it is we've watched as clubs have just overtaken us. We slipped from second under Ron, winning a cup, to 4th &5th under little again winning the cup but that has pretty much been it. If someone said to me when we finished 4th under little that it would get as good as this for 25 years and counting I wouldn't have believed them. I would say the "What if" moments as mentioned above were pretty much anything from the 92-93 season. However  I'd say our most defining moment, the nail in the coffin that said we couldn't really compete anymore was the decision to sell Yorke. I know what has performance was like against Everton but we should have refused him and gave it another year. He would have had to have played well to keep his move alive anyway and we proved with Southgate and Chelsea we could do it. Doug saw the colour of the money though didn't he.

[LeeB]

What if we hadn't bought Collymore, and instead signed Andy Cole, to play with York's.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

What if Archduke Franz Ferdinand hadn't been assassinated and Frederick Rinder had been able to carry through his plans for a 120,000 capacity Villa Park ?

[richtheholtender]

What if we hadn't bought Collymore, and instead signed Andy Cole, to play with York's.

Brian little confirmed thr other night that he wanted Cole to play up front with Yorke but was told in no uncertain terms they would only deal with united and it didn't matter what villa offered.

[LeeB]

What if we hadn't bought Collymore, and instead signed Andy Cole, to play with York's.

Brian little confirmed thr other night that he wanted Cole to play up front with Yorke but was told in no uncertain terms they would only deal with united and it didn't matter what villa offered.

Thank you, we were linked in the press before to him and I always felt he was more of a Brian Little type player.

[Richard E]

What if Luc Nilis hadn’t got injured?

[dave.woodhall]

The greatest what-if in history:

The unknown hero turns up, Villa don't kick off a man short and George Ramsay doesn't get a game. 

[adrenachrome]

What if Gary Shaw didn't get crocked?

What if Doug hadn't hung around for so long?

As the famous whistling troubadour Roger Whittaker once warbled, if's an illusion.

[Villan82]

1992-93 and 1997-98 are the what ifs of my time. In the 90s I thought our time was coming but we made the wrong decisions at critical times.

[Cliftonville Villlain]

What if Doug Ellis accepted his fate and stayed away from Villa Park for good? And what if a fawning media and a bent referee allowed Sheffield Wednesday to rightfully win a match at Old Trafford without literally waiting on United to score no matter how long it took. And in the same season what if a comfortably mid-table Spurs came to Villa Park and didn't defend as if their very fucking lives depended on it? And what if England didn't appoint Graham Taylor?