Aston Villa

Aston Villa Football Club was formed in March 1874 by members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel in Aston, Birmingham. Members of the Aston Villa cricket team were looking for a way to stay fit during the winter months and decided to adopt the new sport of football. The 'Four Founding Fathers' were Jack Hughes, Frederick Matthews, Walter Price and William Scattergood. Aston Villa's first match was against the local Aston Brook St Mary's Rugby team and 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 managed to hold St Mary's to a scoreless draw up to half time and in the second half won the historic affair by one goal, scored by Jack Hughes. Villa won their first honour, the Birmingham Challenge Cup in 1880, under the captaincy of Scotsman George Ramsay.

The club won its first FA Cup in 1887, under the captaincy of another Scotsman, Archie Hunter. English football had become professional in 1885. However, the Scottish draper and director of Aston Villa, William McGregor had become frustrated with one-sided friendly matches and low attendances for all games but FA Cup ties. He saw that in order to keep interest in the game alive the top teams needed to play each other in a league much like American baseball teams did. So he wrote to the 12 leading clubs in England proposing the formation of a league. The reason the Football League was never called the English League is because McGregor intended Scottish and Welsh teams to join eventually. Welsh teams, most notably Cardiff City, did so but Scottish teams did not. Naturally, Aston Villa were one of the dozen teams that competed in the inaugural Football League in 1888 finishing runners-up.

It didn't take long for Villa to lift their first League Championship trophy, and this was achieved in 1893/94. This would signal the start of Aston Villa's 'Golden Age' and by the start of the First World War the club had won the League Championship six times and the FA Cup five times, including in 1896/97, a League and Cup Double, a feat which would not be repeated for more than 60 years. The captain during this era was John Devey.

Villa attracted such big crowds that a new ground was needed. The club could regularly expect 25,000 people to attend home games, at a time when the FA Cup Final would attract only about 20,000. The League and FA Cup winners had previously played at Wilson Road (Birchfields), then in 1878 moved to Perry Barr, where they stayed until 1897. In 1897, they moved to their current home ground, the Aston Lower Grounds. It would be a number of years before it was officially known as Villa Park.

Aston Villa's centenary season provided the double success of a League Cup final victory over Norwich and promotion to the First Division after an absence of eight seasons in 1974/75. Villa were back and due to their League Cup success were in Europe for the first time. Although Villa were knocked out in the first round by Antwerp, Saunders was assembling a team that would go on to win the European Cup seven years later. Villa won the League Cup again in 1977 by beating Everton after two final replays. The following season saw Villa reach the quarter-final of the UEFA Cup where they held their own against Spanish giants, Barcelona. That night, at the Nou Camp, the nightmare of the previous 10 years were finally laid to rest ; Aston Villa were back amongst the footballing elite.

The 1980s was another mixed era in the history of Aston Villa Football Club, but it is most fondly remembered as a period in which the club scaled new heights as Champions of Europe. Villa won their first League Championship for 71 years, fighting off competition from Liverpool and Ipswich, in 1980-81 under the managership of Ron Saunders. It was a side brimming with talent such as midfield dynamo Gordon Cowans; skillful winger Tony Morley; Captain Dennis Mortimer; and the skrikeforce partnership of Peter Withe and local lad, Gary Shaw. To everyone's surprise, 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.

In May 1982, just three months after being appointed manager, Barton guided Villa to a 1-0 victory over Bayern Munich in the European Cup final in Rotterdam. While Peter Withe scored the winner in the 67th minute, the key player that night was Nigel Spink, the 23-year-old reserve goalkeeper who had only played one match for the club in five years since joining from Chelmsford City. First-choice keeper Jimmy Rimmer suffered a shoulder injury and was substituted after just 10 minutes. But Spink went on to make a number of fine saves in the game from the lethal Bayern strikeforce, which included Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Other key players in this Villa side included Des Bremner and Gordon Cowans. Barton remained in charge for two seasons after the European Cup triumph, and was sacked at the end of 1983-84 after Villa had finished tenth in the First Division. In came Shrewsbury manager Graham Turner as his successor.

Atkinson's successor Brian Little did well to keep a demoralised team in the Premiership and in the summer of 1995 reshaped the squad by selling most of the club's older players and buying in many younger players. New arrivals included Alan Wright, Gary Charles, Ian Taylor, Mark Draper, Savo Milosevic, Gareth Southgate and Tommy Johnson. Several home grown players were also progressing well, especially striker Dwight Yorke and defender Ugo Ehiogu.

Aston Villa made huge progress in 1995-96 under Brian Little. They won the League Cup, reached the FA Cup semi finals and finished fourth in the Premiership. Dwight Yorke was now established as a world class striker and other players like Ugo Ehiogu and Gareth Southgate were already gaining international recognition. Villa's form dipped slightly in 1996-97 and they finished fifth, but still qualified for the UEFA Cup.
David O'Leary, who had taken Leeds United to the semi-finals of the 2000-01 Champions League, was drafted in as Taylor's replacement. After a poor start to the season, O'Leary transformed the team's fortunes and by Spring 2004 they were in contention for a UEFA Champions League place. But a 2-0 home defeat against Manchester United saw them finish sixth in the Premiership and narrowly miss out on a UEFA Cup place. Since then, though, Aston Villa's fortunes have dipped and they only finished 10th in 2004-05.

Pacy striker Darius Vassell moved to Premiership side Manchester City on 27 July, 2005, for a reported fee of £2 million, and was replaced within a month by Euro 2004 Golden Boot winner Milan Baros, who arrived from Liverpool for a fee of £6.5 million (with a further £0.5 million dependent on appearances). Influential winger Nolberto Solano left the club prior to the transfer deadline to return to Newcastle United. James Milner was a part of the transfer and was on loan at the club for the 2005/2006 season -- a decision on whether to make the move permanent is pending and is looking in doubt due to the stalling of the £1 million sale of Mathieu Berson to Auxerre after their manager was sacked. Off the field, the club's future is uncertain, and elderly chairman Doug Ellis, who was treated for cancer in 2005, is seeking to sell his stake.

David O'Leary's future at Villa Park has been thrown into doubt due to Villa's poor form in the 2005-06 season, which saw them caught up in a relegation battle. The battle to avoid relegation was won at the end of April, but many of the club's fans, together with the club's board, have higher expectations. Still, some supporters argue that since Villa don't invest as heavily as many Premier League clubs in the transfer market, it is unrealistic to expect the team to return to the upper reaches of the league table. Many fans fear that Villa will be relegated in 2006-07 unless there is a change of chairman and manager during the close season. This however has not happened and early season ticket sales are 8000 down from this time last year.