James Fisher - Aston Villa Greatest Games

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2015

Pitch Publishing

A2 Yeoman Gate

Yeoman Way

Durrington

BN13 3QZ

www.pitchpublishing.co.uk

James Driver-Fisher, 2015

All images, Express & Star newspaper

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A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library

Print ISBN: 978-1-78531-037-9

eBook ISBN: 978-1-78531-100-0

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The Games:

FOLLOWING any football club is full of highs and lows and Aston Villa is no different.

Compiling a book focussing on Villas greatest games has been tricky because when covering 140 years of history, a few are going to slip under the radar.

The joy of following a football club like Villa, with a history so vast and the fan base so large, there have been so many thrilling games to look back at.

There have been tremendous highs and lows along the way but those that have made it into this book have been memorable for a variety of reasons.

Boring score draws that had so much riding on them, close defeats with an abundance of goals, cup wins that failed to live up to the expectations but still brought silverware back to Birmingham, games that drew huge crowds and one-sided hammerings that remain records to this day.

All have been selected from the thousands of matches played by Aston Villa over the years, stretching from the formation of the Football League, across more than 140 years to the Premier League era of today.

Starting with the clubs earliest games, through to dominance of club football during the Victoria era, when Villa were the first powerhouse in English football, through relegation to the third division, lifting Europes biggest trophy, flirting with greatness during the early 1990s, a few years of wilderness and the struggles of recent years, all are featured in this book.

Some games have been just as memorable for helping to keep Villa in the top flight during the modern age of the money-spinning Premier League as the major cup clashes that have seen the club march to Wembley on so many occasions.

Club legends like Charlie Athersmith, Pongo Waring, Johnny Dixon, Peter Withe, Charlie Aitken, Paul McGrath, Peter McParland, Dwight Yorke and numerous others have helped Villa achieve great thing along the way and this book is a glimpse at some of the best matches to be played during the clubs amazing journey so far.

THE first game I ever saw was between Birmingham City and Villa at St Andrews.

I remember the goalkeepers at that time stood out more than any other player.

They were Alan Wakeman and Gil Merrick, the latter probably being the most famous Blues player to ever wear their shirt, apart from Trevor Francis.

He was in goal when England lost to Hungary during that famous game in 1953, 6-3, but he couldnt stop Villa drawing that game 1-1.

I lived in the area at the time and my dad decided to take me.

I always played football with school and with my mates, any time I could in the streets. I had already well and truly caught the football bug.

Any spare moment we had we would be playing football and I was happy to see my first professional league game.

It was 1949 and Arthur Turner was playing for Birmingham, who would later become my manager when I played for Oxford. He also went on to become one of Birminghams most successful managers.

I had always, however, been a Villa fan. They were the team I supported so it was a dream come true to eventually go on to wear the shirt and play for them.

My most vivid memory as a player was the 1957 FA Cup, when Villa beat Manchester United 2-1 thanks to two goals from Peter McParland.

I wasnt in the side but all the players associated with the club went down to see the game. It was a great United side and most people thought they would win.

Of course everyone remembers McParlands goal after his challenge on the goalkeeper but there was a story behind that incident.

To start with Peter should have scored first time really but instead of bringing it down he chose to head it from about fifteen yards out.

The United keeper, Ray Wood, a few days before the Final, had come up against Real Madrid and a similar thing happened with Wood catching the ball.

When the Madrid player came running in Wood simply brushed him aside, so when he was faced with the similar situation, only this time with Peter charging in, he did the same thing.

Peter, shall we say, was more angular than the Madrid player so when the keeper stood his ground this time he was badly injured.

It would be a foul these days but not back then and unfortunately there were no substitutes in those days.

Jackie Blanchflower went in goal for them but Peter, who had been the mainstay of the team and basically carried them to the Final, went on to score two goals.

Villa were not a great league side at the time and even got relegated a couple of seasons later but they played well in the cups and no one would have thought that would be the last time they would lift the trophy.

Once Id become a manager I was offered the Villa job two or three times on different occasions.

The first time was when I was manager of Man United but it never seemed to be the right time.

Villa had always been my favourite club and although I was manager of Sheffield Wednesday I still lived in the Midlands and had to drive past Villa Park every morning at seven oclock.

I had just won promotion with Wednesday and we had also won the cup, so I felt I was leaving them in good shape when I finally took over at Villa.

Sheffield went on to finish third the following season and also made it into a couple of cup finals, which they lost to Arsenal, so I think my decision was justified.

Aston Villa is a massive club and a lot of people, especially outside the Midlands, do not realise the magnitude of it.

With the right sort of investment and backing it could go so far. Historically, success wise, its not as big as Liverpool but in every other aspect it is.

The ground is arguably better than Anfield and the captive audience is on par with them as well.

If the team was doing well and the ground was expanded it could be filled with fifty-thousand fans easily every week, with a side challenging at the top of the Premiership.

When I took over we had some good players who helped us play some really nice football.