Villa What-If Moments

[Cliftonville Villlain]

Greatest what if for me is if we had beaten Fulham in the play-off final. Bruce still in charge and Xia still chairman. *shudder*

[nigel]

Greatest what if for me is if we had beaten Fulham in the play-off final. Bruce still in charge and Xia still chairman. *shudder*

As soon as the final whistle went at Wembley I said to my lad ‘this could be a blessing in disguise’

[dcdavecollett]

Indeed it was!

But it didn't seem like that at the time...

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

What if Fred Turnbull hadn't put through his own goal on 9th November 1968.

https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/3002

“As yet the computers have not discovered the magic formula to produce a winning football team overnight. Money does not guarantee success.

"Sometimes potential stars. in whom one is justified in showing great confidence, do not mature as anticipated.

“Luck still plays a big part in this game of football. And sometimes it is our turn to suffer the disappointments.

“That's the way the cookie crumbles.”

Board statement published in the Aston Villa News & Record, Saturday, 9 November 1968.

ASTON VILLA'S directors tonight face what could be the most crucial meeting in the club's crisis-fraught history of recent years. Their home defeat against Preston on Saturday dropped them firmly into the Second Division's last position and aroused the most serious crowd demonstration of disapproval that can ever have been seen at Villa Park.

What will be the Board's solution when they hold their weekly meeting?

Three times in the last decade they have parted company with their manager at. moments of crisis. Eric Houghton left almost exactly ten years ago. Joe Mercer's departure was in July1964, and his successor, Dick Taylor, lasted less than three years.

Manager Tommy Cummings. who joined them from Mansfield at the start of last season, has bought players at a reputed cost of £200,000 and yet they have made no impact on the Second Division.

Chairman Norman Smith, who left Villa Park at half-time on Saturday to attend the Arsenal dinner in London and missed the crowd demonstrations, said recently that he would announce an important development soon.

He was not available for comment last night.

Does this mean a managerial change or changes in the Board?

If it is the former, where does it leave Villa?

In the present state of the club, can they expect any manager to produce a recovery?

Saving them from relegation to the Third Division will be a gargantuan job, let alone building them up to challenging for a return to the First.

The time has come to pose the clear question: How long can Villa continue as a club of any sort of distinction with its present Board considered as an entity?

*Birmingham Daily Post*
Monday, 11 November 1968

[dave.woodhall]

Mr R, who as we know had more than a passing interest in proceedings, has said that if they'd known how cheaply the club was sold for, he and his fellow conspirators would have found the money themselves. You can only wonder what an Ellisless Villa would have done.

[dcdavecollett]

I went to that Preston game -a thoroughly depressing experience.

It was the first time I witnessed a bedsheet/banner protest. It was a weedy if worthy effort -"The Board Must Go".

[KingstandingVilla]

What if Ivo Stas, the Slovakian McGrath had stayed fit.

[KingstandingVilla]

What if Ken Mcnaught had a dead arm and couldn't lift it in 1980

[Tayls_7]

What if Luc Nillis hadn't broke his leg.

What if the ref had the balls to send off Vidic.

[dcdavecollett]

What if Steve Perryman hadn't got back to hack clear Andy Lochhead's half-hit shot from a few yards out?

[Dave P]

Obvious one, but what if hawkeye worked?  It wouldn't have led to instant relegation like others had said but that point was obviously vital.

[itbrvilla]

What if Luc Nillis hadn't broke his leg.

He'd be our Zola/Bergkamp

[Exeter 77]

What if Steve Perryman hadn't got back to hack clear Andy Lochhead's half-hit shot from a few yards out?

If we had won that final would we have got into the following season's UEFA Cup? It was the first one replacing the Fairs Cup and Spurs ultimately won it (beating Wolves in the final).

I know QPR and Swindon had been previously denied entry to the old Fairs Cup because they were in the 3rd division and the Anglo Italian Cup was designed as some sort of compensation.

[Kevin Dawson]

What if I hadn't watched Star Soccer in 1975 at the age of 5 and seen Ray Graydon playing for the Villa? What if it had been one of the other Midlands teams?

[Risso]

Obvious one, but what if hawkeye worked?  It wouldn't have led to instant relegation like others had said but that point was obviously vital.

Well, we'd have had the rest of the match to play, and obviously our approach would have been different at 1-0 down to 0-0. And even if we'd have lost, there was still the rest of the season to go.