Everything about Aston Villa totally explained
Aston Villa Football Club (also known as
The Villa,
Villa and
The Villans) The club was floated by the previous owner and chairman
Doug Ellis, but in
2006 full control of the club was acquired by
Randy Lerner.
They are one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in England, having won the First Division Championship seven times and the
FA Cup seven times. Aston Villa is the fourth most successful club in English football history, having won 20 major honours, although most of these were won before the
Second World War and the most recent was in 1996.
They have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with local rivals
Birmingham City, although
West Bromwich Albion is actually the closest professional football club. The
Birmingham Derby, also known as the
Second City Derby, between Aston Villa and Birmingham City has been played since 1879. The club's traditional
kit colours are claret shirts with sky blue sleeves, white shorts and sky blue socks. Their traditional crest is of a rampant gold lion on a light blue background with the club's motto 'Prepared' underneath; a modified version of this was adopted in 2007. Aston Villa's first match was against the local Aston Brook St Mary's
Rugby team. As a condition of the
match, the Villa side had to agree to play the first half under rugby rules and the second half under football rules. Villa quickly became one of the best teams in the Midlands, winning their first honour, the
Birmingham Senior Cup in 1880, under the captaincy of Scotsman
George Ramsay.
The club won its first
FA Cup in
1887 with captain
Archie Hunter becoming one of the game's first household names. Aston Villa were one of the dozen teams that competed in the inaugural Football League in
1888 with one of the club's directors,
William McGregor being the league's founder. Aston Villa emerged as the most successful English club of the Victorian era, with numerous League titles and FA Cup wins. In 1897, the year Villa won
The Double, they moved into their present home, the Aston Lower Grounds. Supporters coined the name "Villa Park"; no official declaration listed the ground as
Villa Park. Like all English clubs, Villa lost seven seasons to the
Second World War, and that conflict brought several careers to a premature end. The team was rebuilt under the guidance of former player
Alex Massie for the remainder of the 1940s. Aston Villa's first trophy for 37 years came in the 1956–57 season which included an unexpected FA Cup run that would culminate in them defeating the 'Busby Babes' of
Manchester United in the final. The team were relegated though two seasons later, in 1958–59, and a complacency had set in at Villa Park. This was soon overcome as Villa returned to the top flight in 1960 as Second Division Champions and the following season Villa won the inaugural League Cup.
The late 1960s brought a period of turmoil at the club with fan pressure leading to a takeover and managerial changes. This started with Villa being relegated for the third time, under manager
Dick Taylor in
1967. The following season the fans called for the board to resign as Villa finished 16th in the Second Division. With mounting debts and Villa lying at the bottom of Division Two, the board sacked
Cummings (the manager brought in to replace Taylor), and within weeks the entire board resigned under overwhelming pressure from fans. After much speculation, control of the club was bought by
London financier
Pat Matthews, who also brought in
Doug Ellis as chairman. However, new ownership couldn't prevent Villa being relegated to the Third Division for the first time at the end of the
1969–70 season. In the
1971–72 season they returned to the Second Division as Champions with a record 70 points. In 1973
Ron Saunders was appointed manager and by 1977 he'd taken them back into the First Division and Europe.
Villa were back amongst the elite and enjoyed much success under Saunders, winning the league in the
1980–81 season. To the surprise of commentators and fans, Saunders quit halfway through the
1981–82 season, after falling out with the chairman, with Villa in the quarter final of the European Cup. He was replaced by his softly-spoken assistant manager
Tony Barton who guided them to 1–0 victory over
Bayern Munich in the
European Cup final in Rotterdam. Villa remain to this day one of only four English teams to have won the European Cup, along with
Liverpool,
Manchester United and
Nottingham Forest. This marked a pinnacle though and Villa declined for most of the 1980s, culminating in relegation in 1987. This was followed by promotion the following year and second place in the football League in 1989.
Villa were one of the founding members of the
Premier League in 1992, and finished runners-up to Manchester United in the inaugural season. In the rest of the nineties however Villa went through three different managers and their league positions were inconsistent, although they did win two League Cups. Villa reached the FA Cup final in 2000 (for the first time since 1957) but lost 1–0 to
Chelsea in the last game to be played at the old
Wembley Stadium. Once again Villa's league position fluctuated under several different managers and things came to a head in the summer of 2006 when
David O'Leary left in acrimony.
Martin O'Neill soon arrived to a jubilant reception. After 23 years as chairman and single biggest shareholder (approximately 38%),
Doug Ellis finally decided to sell his stake in
Aston Villa to American Businessman
Randy Lerner, the owner of
NFL franchise the
Cleveland Browns. The arrival of a new owner and manager marked the start of a new period of optimism at Villa Park and sweeping changes occurred throughout the club including a new crest, a new kit sponsor and team changes in the summer of 2007.
Club colours & crest
The club colours are claret shirt with sky blue sleeves, white shorts with claret and blue trim, and sky blue socks with claret and white trim. Villa's colours at the outset were generally comprised of plain shirts (white, grey or a shade of blue), with either white or black shorts. For a few years after that (1877–79) the team wore several different kits from all white, blue and black, red and blue to plain green. By 1880, black jerseys with a red lion embroidered on the chest were introduced by William McGregor. This remained the first choice strip for six years. On Monday,
8 November 1886, an entry in the club's official minute book states:
The chocolate colour later became claret.
Nobody is quite sure why claret and blue became the club's adopted colours. The main theory surrounding the colours suggests that with the Scottish influence of characters such as
George Ramsay and
William McGregor the kit was created from the combination of the maroon of
Hearts and the blue of
Rangers, with the Scottish lion rampant included in the badge. Aston Villa's success inspired some other clubs to adopt claret as their home colours, most notably
Burnley and
West Ham United.
A new crest was revealed on
2 May 2007, for the
2007–08 season and beyond. The new crest includes a
star to represent the European Cup win in 1982, and has a light blue background behind Villa's 'lion rampant'. The traditional motto "Prepared" remains in the crest, and the name Aston Villa has been shortened to AVFC, FC having been omitted from the previous crest.
Randy Lerner petitioned fans to help with the design of the new crest. The three kits that carry the new crest were unveiled on
17 July,
2007, in
The Mailbox, Birmingham.
Stadium
Aston Villa's current home venue is
Villa Park, which is a
UEFA 4-star rated stadium, having previously played at Aston Park (1874–1876) and Perry Barr (1876–1897). Villa Park is currently the largest football stadium in the Midlands, and the eighth largest stadium in England. It has hosted 16 England internationals at senior level, the first in 1899, and the most recent in 2005. Thus it was the first English ground to stage international football in three different centuries. Villa Park is the most used stadium in FA Cup semi-final history, having hosted 55 semi-finals. The Club have planning permission to extend the North Stand; This will involve the 'filling in' of the corners to either side of the North Stand. If and when completed, the capacity of Villa Park will be increased to approximately 51,000.
The current training ground is located at
Bodymoor Heath in north
Warwickshire, the site for which was purchased by former Aston Villa Chairman
Doug Ellis in the early 1970s from a local farmer. Although Bodymoor Heath was state-of-the-art in the 1970s, by the late 1990s the facilities had started to look dated. In November 2005, Ellis and Aston Villa plc announced a state of the art
GB£13 million redevelopment of Bodymoor in 2 phases. However work on Bodymoor was suspended by Ellis due to financial problems, and was left in an unfinished state until new owner Randy Lerner made it one of his priorities to make the site one of the best in world football. The new training ground was officially unveiled on
6 May,
2007, by current manager Martin O'Neill, current team captain
Gareth Barry and 1982 European Cup winning team captain
Dennis Mortimer, with the Aston Villa squad moving in for the 2007–08 season.
Club ownership
The first shares in the club were issued towards the end of the 19th century as a result of legislation that was intended to codify the growing numbers of professional teams and players in the Association Football leagues. FA teams were required to distribute shares to investors as a way of facilitating trading amongst the teams without implicating the FA itself. This trading continued for much of the 20th century until
Doug Ellis started buying up many of the shares in the 1960s. He was the chairman and substantial shareholder of "Aston Villa F.C." from 1968–1975 and the majority shareholder from 1982–2006. The club was
floated on the
London Stock Exchange in 1996, and the share price fluctuated in the ten years after the flotation. In 2006 it was announced that several consortia and individuals were considering bids for Aston Villa. In Ellis's last year in charge Villa lost GB£8.2m before tax, compared with a GB£3m profit the previous year, and income had fallen from GB£51.6m to GB£49m. Randy Lerner took full control on
18 September as he'd 89.69% of the share. On
19 September,
2006, Aston Villa plc executive Chairman
Doug Ellis and his board resigned to be replaced with a new board headed by Lerner.
Board Officials
Supporters
Former Villa chief executive Richard FitzGerald has stated that the ethnicity of the supporters is currently 98% white. The new regime is aiming to improve the support from amongst ethnic minorities in the next few years. A number of organisations have been set up to support the local community including
Aston Pride. A
Villa in the community programme has also been set up to encourage support amongst young people in the region. The new owners have also initiated several surveys aimed at gaining the opinions of Villa fans and to involve them in the decision making process. Meetings also occur every three months where supporters are invited by ballot and are invited to ask questions to the Board.
Like many English football clubs Aston Villa has had several
hooligan firms associated with it:
Villa Youth,
Steamers,
Villa Hardcore and the
C-Crew, the latter being very active during the 1970s and 1980s. As can be seen across the whole of English football, the hooligan groups have now been marginalised. In 2004 several Villa firms were involved in a fight with
QPR fans outside Villa Park in which a steward died. The main groupings of supporters can now be found in a number of domestic supporters' clubs. This includes the Official Aston Villa Supporters Club which also has many smaller regional and international sections. There were several independent supporters clubs during the reign of Doug Ellis but most of these disbanded after his retirement. The club's supporters also publish
fanzines such as
Heroes and Villains and
Holtenders in the sky. The latter fanzine is named after a popular match day
chant that's predominantly sung in the Holte End. The use of the
abbreviation Itsotp (in the shirt, on the pitch) is believed to have originated on Aston Villa
messageboards in relation to the transfer speculation that has become the norm during transfer windows.
Aston Villa's arch-rivals are
Birmingham City, with games between the two clubs known as the '
Second City Derby'. Today, Villa also enjoy less heated local rivalries with
West Bromwich Albion,
Wolverhampton Wanderers and
Coventry City. (These five clubs plus
Walsall are collectively referred to in the West Midlands as the 'Big Six'.) Historically though, West Bromwich Albion have been one of Villa's greatest rivals, a view highlighted in a fan survey, conducted in 2003. The two teams contested three FA Cup finals in the late 19th century. Through the relegation of West Brom and Birmingham to the The Championship in the 2005–06 season in the
2006–07 Premiership season Villa were the only Midlands club in that League. The nearest opposing team Villa faced during that season was
Sheffield United, who played away in
South Yorkshire. For the
2007–08 season Villa once again had two local derbies after Birmingham were promoted to the Premier League on
29 April 2007. Villa were victorious on the both occasions. Birmingham were relegated at the end of the 2007-08 season, as such, there will be no Second City derby for the 2008-09 season though West Bromwich Albion were promoted.
In popular culture
Many television programmes have included references to Aston Villa over the past few decades. In the sitcom
Porridge, the character
Lennie Godber is a Villa supporter. In the first episode of
Yes Minister Jim Hacker MP says he needs to get off early to watch Aston Villa play. However, in a later episode, he launches a campaign to save his local team, the fictional "Aston Wanderers". During episodes of the
Fast Show, Villa supporter Mark Williams is regularly pictured behaving antisocially while wearing a shirt of rival club, Birmingham City, so as to further damage their reputation. When filming began on
Dad's Army, Villa fan,
Ian Lavender was allowed to choose
Frank Pike's scarf from an array in the BBC wardrobe, he chose a claret and blue one—Aston Villa's colours..
Aston Villa has also featured on several occasions in prose. Joseph Gallivan's book "Oi, Ref" is about a referee who is a Villa fan who conspires to turn an FA Cup Semi-Final in his team's favour. Stanley Woolley, a character in
Derek Robinson's Booker shortlisted novel
Goshawk Squadron is an Aston Villa fan and names a pre-war starting eleven Villa side. Together with
The Oval, Villa Park is referenced by the poet
Philip Larkin in his poem about the
First World War,
MCMXIV.
Statistics
To date Aston Villa have spent 98 seasons in the top-flight, the only club to have spent longer in the top-flight is
Everton with 105 seasons. As a result, Aston Villa versus Everton is the most played fixture in English top-flight football. Aston Villa is one of an elite group of seven clubs that has played in every
Premiership season, they are:
Arsenal, Aston Villa,
Chelsea,
Everton,
Liverpool,
Manchester United and
Tottenham Hotspur. Aston Villa is fifth in the
All-time FA Premier League table. Aston Villa is the fourth most successful club in English football history, having won 20 major honours. Villa legend
Archie Hunter became the first player to score in every round of the FA Cup in Villa's victorious 1887 campaign. Villa's longest unbeaten home run in the
FA Cup spanned 13 years and 19 games, from 1888 to 1901.
Aston Villa are one of four
English teams that have won the
European Champions Cup. The other three are
Liverpool,
Manchester United and
Nottingham Forest. They did so on
May 26 1982 in
Rotterdam, beating
Bayern Munich 1–0 thanks to
Peter Withe's goal. Villa became the first club ever to beat Bayern Munich in a final.
Club honours
Aston Villa have won European and domestic league honours. The club's last major honour was in 1996 when they won the
League Cup. The youth team however won the FA Youth Cup in 2002.
European/International
For the Reserve team and details on the Academy, see Aston Villa F.C. Reserves and Academy
For recent transfers, see List of English football transfers 2007-08.
For a list of the more notable players, and of the team's past captains, see List of Aston Villa F.C. players.
For a list of all past and present players, see .
Notable players
There have been many players who can be called notable throughout Aston Villa's history. These can be classified and recorded in several forms. The Halls of Fame and PFA Players of the Year are noted below. For all players with over 100 appearances for Aston Villa, see List of Aston Villa F.C. players and for those players that only played for Aston Villa see One-club man.
Several Aston Villa players have won the PFA Players' Player of the Year award. At the end of every English football season, the members of the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) vote on which of its members has played the best football in the previous year. In 1977 Andy Gray won the award. In 1990 it was awarded to David Platt, whilst Paul McGrath won it in 1993. Two Villa players have won the PFA Young Player of the Year which is awarded to players under the age of 23. In 1977 Andy Gray won the award and in 1981 Gary Shaw received it. Only one Villa player has been inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame, housed in the The National Football Museum in Preston, England. This was Danny Blanchflower who was inducted in 2003. Aston Villa though, have provided more England internationals than any other club, 66 to date.
Aston Villa Hall of Fame
This was voted for by fans and to this date there has been one induction of 12 players in 2006.
William McGregor
George Ramsay
Trevor Ford
Eric Houghton
Peter McParland
Charlie Aitken
Brian Little
Ron Saunders
Peter Withe
Dennis Mortimer
Gordon Cowans
Paul McGrath
Football League 100 Legends
The Football League 100 Legends is a list of "100 legendary football players" produced by The Football League in 1998, to celebrate the 100th season of League football.
Danny Blanchflower
Trevor Ford
Archie Hunter
Sam Hardy
Paul McGrath
Peter Schmeichel
Clem Stephenson
Management
Current management and coaching staff
» As of 18 September 2007.
Notable managers
The following managers have all won at least one trophy when in charge or have been notable for Villa in the context of the League, for example Josef Venglos who holds a League record.
Footnotes
Further Information
Get more info on 'Aston Villa'.
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