Upcoming 150th anniversary

[dcdavecollett]

I think an H&V anniversary special sounds like a great idea!

[trinityoap]

Woodhall to buy another round.

[Rory]

I wouldn't necessarily buy it, but I would go about bothering the sellers, trying to put some faces to names.

[eamonn]

So if November 1874 is wrong, when is the right season to be marking this - 2023/24 or next season, 2024/25?

[Mortimer's Bear]

Win the FA Cup, that will do for me.

[algy]

Please, anything but Bayern Munich.

Why?

Can't think of that many fixtures that we could have, where it's something relatively meaningful to us and would be seen as a 'special occasion'.  The club has had two, maybe three, really dominant periods in it's history.  1880s-1900s, late 70s/early 80s, and .. well, I'm not sure there are any others.  So you're really looking at clubs like Preston/Albion/Sunderland/Everton for the earlier period ... although I'd not have thought any of those would be a big draw ... or Ipswich, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, maybe Everton again from the latter period.

I don't see as we have much option.  Bayern Munich and Barcelona are comfortably the biggest clubs (current size) we've beaten a proper final, and of those Bayern Munich was comfortably the bigger occasion.

[DeKuip]

We should just split the squad in two and play a game between ourselves… the week before the season starts, at Wembley, with a shield to the winners. That’ll do me.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Win the FA Cup, that will do for me.

If ever there was a year to win it. No parade though. That can wait until we bring the Euro Conference Cup back a few days later. Oh and like JD, I still have my 1974 programme.

[algy]

Win the FA Cup, that will do for me.

If ever there was a year to win it. No parade though. That can wait until we bring the Euro Conference Cup back a few days later. Oh and like JD, I still have my 1974 programme.

Good thinking, then we can just do one parade for all 5 trophies (League, FA Cup, League Cup, Europa Conference, and the kids with the Leyland DAF Shield or whatever it's called)

[dave.woodhall]

Please, anything but Bayern Munich.

Why?

Can't think of that many fixtures that we could have, where it's something relatively meaningful to us and would be seen as a 'special occasion'.  The club has had two, maybe three, really dominant periods in it's history.  1880s-1900s, late 70s/early 80s, and .. well, I'm not sure there are any others.  So you're really looking at clubs like Preston/Albion/Sunderland/Everton for the earlier period ... although I'd not have thought any of those would be a big draw ... or Ipswich, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, maybe Everton again from the latter period.

I don't see as we have much option.  Bayern Munich and Barcelona are comfortably the biggest clubs (current size) we've beaten a proper final, and of those Bayern Munich was comfortably the bigger occasion.

Because all we ever seem to talk about is 198bloody2 and because why would Bayern want to play us?

[Dick Edwards]

Probably not practical but a guest opponent made up of former Villa players still playing would be nostalgic for us fans at least. There's plenty of them - Grealish, Walker, Milner, Young, Targett, El Ghazi, Benteke, Nakamba, Bannon, Carson, Weimann, Davis, Heaton, Clark, Hogg, Wesley, Veretout, Gueye, Abraham, Snodgrass, Hourihane, Johnstone, Tuanzebe, Green and Bree come to mind - and have them managed by Dean Smith. Recent retired former favourites like Hutton too, maybe Barry and Petrovic. Plenty of substitutions would allow our fans to give them all a fond welcome back (maybe not McCormack, Gardner or Hogan).

I was at the centenary game against Leeds. Jesus, I can't believe that was nearly 50 years ago! I'm getting old very quickly.

[Des Little]

Just a gold stand alone lion on the shirt next season will do for me, possibly with 150 underneath it.

[steamer]

As very few us on here will be around for the bicentennial, do we know what the club has planned for 2024 ?
For the centenary we played a pre season game at VP against Dirty Leeds. There was a special edition programme which inside also had a full reproduction of the very first Villa News & Record.
There was 29k at the game, we lost 2-1. Sammy Morgan scored for us, Chris Nicholl scored an own goal and IIRC Ray Graydon missed two pens.
What are the club planning if anything ? What should they be planning ?

I went to that game and still have the special edition programme from it.

I was also there and have the programme, time has wiped out my memory so good to read the details

[danno]

For Villa Parks centenary in 1997 the club held an open day, with players dotted around at various parts of the ground to sign autographs.  It was packed, and I got to see all round the offices walk round the pitch etc.  There were a few stalls set up to buy old match day programs too I think.

It wouldn’t be as appealing to me now as a grumpy adult, but me and every other villa mad twelve year old had an awesome experience that day.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Villa v League Select X1 (players from Accrington, Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Derby, Everton, Notts C, Preston, Stoke, WBA, and Wolves).
An old stars game followed by current players.