Villa What-If Moments

[Beard82]

Biggest what if for me in recent years would be what if the Abu Dhabi lot didn't buy Man City. That was when Lerner gave up on getting us into the Champions League and pulled the plug on bankrolling us.

Second is what if we had got promoted in the playoff final under Xia. Think we actually dodged a bullet there in the long run.

I was wondering the other day what would have happened if the stupid money in the sport was there in the 90s when we were actually pretty good - regularly top six.  Would that been we were now a big six as we would have had the odds stacked in our favour for a period that would allow us build the future - a bit like Spurs have

[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?

I didn't know this. I know it worked out OK for us anyway, but I wish it would have happened. I like Clough a lot. Would have been great to see him as the England manager (I wasn't born then but you get the point).

Twice apparently. Once just after Crowe had taken us up from the 3rd Division and again when Crowe was sacked. Apparently the bookies stopped taking bets on him becoming the next Villa manager.

[Dave P]

What if we’d have got past an average Liverpool team in the FA Cup quarter final in 1992? They went on to play two division 2 teams in the semi and the final to win the cup.

[Chris Harte]

Second is what if we had got promoted in the playoff final under Xia. Think we actually dodged a bullet there in the long run.

Yep, I really think we did dodge a bullet.

[Chris Harte]

What if NSWE had been as delusional about Steve Bruce's performance as a manager in the second half of 2018 as Steve Bruce was?

[dave.woodhall]

Biggest what if for me in recent years would be what if the Abu Dhabi lot didn't buy Man City. That was when Lerner gave up on getting us into the Champions League and pulled the plug on bankrolling us.

Second is what if we had got promoted in the playoff final under Xia. Think we actually dodged a bullet there in the long run.

I was wondering the other day what would have happened if the stupid money in the sport was there in the 90s when we were actually pretty good - regularly top six.  Would that been we were now a big six as we would have had the odds stacked in our favour for a period that would allow us build the future - a bit like Spurs have

Look at who was spending the money for the answer to that.

[Charlie8182]

If Bosco Jankovic for hadn’t come up with the goods for Middlesbrough against Ipswich on 02-05-81, or we had beaten Ipswich instead in the FA cup 3rd round that season, would it have made a difference because of more games to play and lessened their workload.

[RamboandBruno]

Biggest what if for me in recent years would be what if the Abu Dhabi lot didn't buy Man City. That was when Lerner gave up on getting us into the Champions League and pulled the plug on bankrolling us.

Second is what if we had got promoted in the playoff final under Xia. Think we actually dodged a bullet there in the long run.

One of the lowest ive ever felt at a football match the day we lost to Fulham, took me days to get over it. In hindsight winning would of been a disaster for the club.

[Legion]

Best thing that could have happened to us in recent years.

[Ian.]

What if my brother never gave me a Villa kit?
I’d probably have had 40 odd years of supporting Wolves.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

What if Fred Turnbull hadn't put through his own goal in November 1968 at home to Preston sparking protests beneath the directors box ?

What if Pat McMahons goal at Leicester in April 1970 had been seen and given ?

[nigel]

What if Steve Perryman has been a bit slower to react and couldn’t get to Andy Lochheads goal bound shot?

Another
What if Savo had found his goal scoring boots immediately on joining us?
No Collymore and two 20 goal a season strikers

[richtheholtender]

What if we had beaten Bradford in the semi final and played Swansea in the final of the league cup

[Exeter 77]

If the three up three down system had been introduced a season earlier and Vic Crowe's Villa had got promoted in 1973.

[chrisw1]

...luc nilis hadn't got injured?