5th April 1969 - Oxford v Villa - King Ron - Big Ron.

[gregavfc69/70]

I was there!  Anyone else?  (I was 11 years old).
Oxford Boss Ron Saunders managing Ron Atkinson!
If nothing else, that's a small claim to fame, I suppose.
Ron was manager for just 12 games, won 6, drew 3 and saved Oxford from relegation.
He then moved on to Norwich as their boss.
Following season on 25th October at The Manor, Big Ron played in a 2-2 draw; Pat McMahon scoring twice for us.
And I remember being up on the Holte on 31st March, 1970, Ron again played for them in a goalless draw.
If you type in these match dates or any other EXACT match dates, you will get onto the AVFC HISTORY website which gives an excellent run down of match details, team line-ups, scorers, crowd attendance, match report.
Maybe some of you know about it?

[Meanwood Villa]

What was the score in this one?

(Using you rather than the website)

[dcdavecollett]

I was there, too!

1-0 to Oxford, Easter Saturday. John Shuker scored the only goal.

By coincidence, I met an Oxford fan at an antique shop in Cromford a couple of years ago. He saw my hat and thought I was a West Ham fan(!) We got over this and swapped Saunders stories. He said at the end of the season (1969) the local paper ran an article in which Ron made a case for Oxford offering him a new deal so he could continue the good work he'd started.

The following day, he went to Norwich!!

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Which game at Oxford had a pitch invasion by Villa fans before the game ? I was sat in that funny little corner stand with my Dad, so it would be around then.

The AVFC history site is an incredible mine of information.

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

[Bernie]

I was there. It was my first 'proper' away game and I remember being awed by how many Villa fans were there.
I think it was the day of the Boat Race , Villa fans were chanting 'Cambridge '. I remember BFR playing for Oxford, but it somehow how passed me by that Sir Ron S. was their manager that day. We lost 1-0 if memory serves.
(Andy L....., I think the pitch invasion game was a bit later, 1972??)

[gregavfc69/70]

Correct Bernie.
It was on 25th November, 1972 and I always remember the programme for the following home game showed a wide-angle
photo of Oxford's home end with hundreds of Villa fans booted out and walking round the sides of the pitch.
I recall also how it ''kicked off'' in the home end for this 0-0 game, the nutters waded into each other whilst everyone else
swarmed outwards. From the opposite end, it would have looked like a huge hole appearing on the packed home end terrace.
I also bumped into an aged Oxford fan wearing his club shirt about six years ago and he told me that the Oxford lads had a reputation back in the 1960's. Their hard men probably came out of the sprawling Cowley and Black Bird Leys council estates.

[gregavfc69/70]

My first ever away game was a month before on the 8th March, 1969 at Fulham, a 1-1 draw.
Their home end was like a mini-Holte End and the right half was taken entirely by a vast number of Villa fans.
There was a lot of good natured ''banter'' including the old Jim reeves classic....''and do they smell (da-da-da ...da-da-da) like
effing hell,...over there, over there''....pointing at the home end fans.
In those days, there were probably football special trains as thousands of Villa fans seemed to travel, especially to matches in London....even though the team and club were in very poor shape during the 60's.