History of Aston Villa F.C. (1961–present)

This article details the History of Aston Villa F.C. from 1967 to present day.

1960s: Decline and fall (1967-1970)

The slow decline continued throughout the 1960s due to a deep seated malaise; the club had failed to adapt to the new football reality, they had a non-existent scouting network, coaching was conducted in the same way as it had been 40 years earlier and the 5 man board contained 3 members over the age of 70. It was the board who decided that they could not refuse offers for their two most valuable players, Phil Woosnam and Tony Hateley. Without them Villa were in real trouble and were relegated for the third time, under manager Dick Taylor in 1967. The fans' calls for the board to resign became more and more urgent when Villa finished 16th in the Second Division in 1968. In an attempt to avert relegation to the Third Division, the manager, Tommy Cummings was given £200,000 to spend on new players, and with supporters boycotting Villa's home games in protest at the board, debts mounted. Events on the pitch came to a head in November 1968, with Villa lying at the bottom of Division Two; the board sacked Cummings and within weeks the entire board resigned due to overwhelming pressure from fans. After much speculation, control of the club was bought by London financier Pat Matthews, he also brought in Doug Ellis as chairman and Tommy Docherty as manager.

Rebuilding (1971-1976)

However, despite breathing new life into the club and initial success, Docherty was unable to lift the team out of the danger zone and he was sacked after just a year in charge. His successor Vic Crowe, was unable to prevent Aston Villa from being relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in its history. Nevertheless, the following season Villa reached the League Cup final after beating Manchester United in the semi-final. They were eventually defeated in the final by two late Tottenham goals.

In 1971-72 they were crowned Third Division champions at the end of a season which saw Third Division record attendances at Villa Park. The team narrowly missed out on a second successive promotion when they finished third on their return to Second Division football in 1972-73. However the following season Villa struggled and Doug Ellis sacked Crowe, replacing him with Ron Saunders.

Back amongst the elite (1977-1981)

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.

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. This was truly remarkable as Villa only used 14 playing staff used in the whole season. It was a side brimming with talent such as midfield dynamo Gordon (Sid) Cowans; skillful winger Tony Morley; Captain Dennis Mortimer; and the strikeforce 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.

Champions of Europe (1982-83)

Main article: European Cup 1981-82

File:Mortimer.jpg

Aston Villa became only the 4th English club to win the European Cup in 1982

On 26 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 after beating FC Valur, Dynamo Berlin, Dinamo Kiev and RSC Anderlecht over two legs. 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. 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. 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 Tony Morley, Gordon Cowans and Dennis Mortimer.

Rapid decline (1984-1987)

Barton remained in charge for two seasons after the European Cup triumph, but was sacked at the end of 1983-84 despite Villa having finished tenth in the First Division and having reached the semi-finals of the League Cup. In came Shrewsbury Town manager Graham Turner as his successor. Turner was unable to reverse the decline, and in 1986 they narrowly avoided relegation to the Second Division. A terrible start to the following season saw Turner sacked halfway through September. Billy McNeill's reign at Villa Park was even more difficult and shorter lived than Turner's reign. He was unable to save Villa from relegation and they went down to the Second Division in bottom place, just five years after winning the European Cup. McNeill handed in his notice and moved to Celtic just after the end of the season. Chairman Doug Ellis persuaded Watford manager Graham Taylor to take over the reins and set about bringing good fortunes back to the club.

Good times return (1988-1991)

Taylor's first season at Villa ended in automatic promotion as Second Division runners-up, being pipped to the title by Millwall. A key player in the promotion-winning side was 22-year-old midfielder David Platt, a former Manchester United reserve who had been signed from Crewe Alexandra for £200,000 just after Taylor's arrival. Platt's impressive goalscoring record and Taylor's managerial know-how ensured that Villa avoided relegation in their first season back in the top flight, and the following season (1989-90) they emerged as surprise contenders for the title. For a few weeks during the second half of the season, Villa led the league but eventually finished in second place - nine points behind champions Liverpool. Taylor then departed for the England manager's job and was succeeded by Slovak coach Jozef Venglos - the first foreign manager in the First Division.

Venglos spent one season as manager of Aston Villa (1990-91). Having finished second in Division 1 the season previous, Villa went on to qualify for the UEFA Cup, and in turn be one of the first English clubs to enter European competition following the lifting of the ban following the Heysel disaster. Furthermore, they were the first English club to play in mainland Europe in a competitive match (against Banik Ostrava). The second round also brought arguably Villa's best result since the 1982 European Cup Final, by beating a star-studded Inter Milan side 2-0 at Villa Park. However this lead was overturned by Inter in the return leg 3-0, and Villa were out. Venglos stepped down after they finished just two places above the First Division relegation zone and David Platt was sold to Italian side Bari for £5 million. Aston Villa's new manager was Ron Atkinson, who had achieved considerable success with West Bromwich Albion, Manchester United and more recently Sheffield Wednesday. Villa progressed to finish sixth in 1991-92 and book their place in the new Premier League.

Villa in the Premiership (1992-2006)

Atkinson spent heavily, making expensive additions to the squad including Earl Barrett, Dean Saunders, Andy Townsend, Dalian Atkinson, Kevin Richardson, Ray Houghton and Shaun Teale. The policy nearly paid off in 1993 when Aston Villa finished runners-up to Manchester United (Atkinson's old club) in the inaugural Premier League. During that season, the strike partnership of Saunders and Atkinson was an instant hit with the Villa Park faithful and established itself as one of the most feared partnerships in the Premiership.

Villa gained their revenge over United with a 3-1 League Cup final victory the following season (which prevented United from winning a unique domestic treble) to secure a second successive UEFA Cup campaign. It was fine compensation for Atkinson's men, who had finished tenth after a slump in league form. Atkinson was dismissed in November 1994 following a poor start to the season, just 18 months after they had almost won the league championship, secured a UEFA Cup place and secured their first trophy in a decade.

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 Milošević, 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 establishing himself 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.

Brian Little quit in February 1998 with Villa standing 15th in the Premiership, and his successor John Gregory, a former Aston Villa coach who had left to take charge of Wycombe Wanderers 18 months earlier, revitalised the club's fortunes and they finished seventh in the Premiership and qualified for the UEFA Cup; due to the progress of other teams in the top seven it was the first time that a seventh placed club had automatically qualified for the UEFA Cup.

Despite the £12.6million sale of Dwight Yorke to Manchester United in August 1998, John Gregory had guided Aston Villa to the top of the Premiership by the middle of the 1998-99 season. New signings Paul Merson and Dion Dublin were proving to be worth the money, while 18-year-old defender Gareth Barry was making a number of impressive performances. But Villa's form slipped during the final weeks and they finished sixth - not even enough for a UEFA Cup place.

Villa reached the FA Cup final in 2000 (for the first time since 1957), but lost 1-0 to Chelsea in a poor game. 2000-01 saw Villa finish eighth in the Premiership, although they did eventually qualify for the UEFA Cup after a successful campaign in the Intertoto Cup over the summer of 2001. Gregory quit the club in January 2002 with Villa occupying an increasingly familiar place around the middle of the Premiership.

Chairman Doug Ellis made a surprise decision to appoint Graham Taylor as manager for the second time after Gregory's sudden resignation in January 2002. Villa finished the 2001-02 season in eighth place, which was similar to most of their other Premiership finishes. Taylor quit as manager for the second time after the end of the 2002-03 season. Villa had just finished 16th in the Premiership, losing twice to arch rivals Birmingham City. Only their fine home form had saved them from relegation. Taylor's second reign at Villa had been little short of disastrous, and he had fielded, in the opinion of few, some of the least popular players ever to pull on the famous claret-and-blue shirt; Bosko Balaban signed by John Gregory on 24/08/2001 (who made eight substitute appearances in three seasons despite costing nearly £6million) and Alpay Özalan.

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. O'Leary failed to build on the early promise and Villa's form dipped, managing to achieve only 10th place in 2004-05. The following season saw Villa slip even further, flirting dangerously close to relegation, finishing in 16th place with the worst points total in their Premiership history.

Frustration within the club appeared to be coming to a head. On 14 July, a group of Villa players took the unprecedented step of criticising the chairman's alleged parsimony and lack of ambition in an interview with a local newspaper. The club immediately dismissed the report as "ridiculous", but it emerged over the following few days that a group of senior players had indeed instigated the move, possibly with O'Leary's backing.

The following week, David O'Leary left the club by mutual consent after three years as Aston Villa manager and his assistant Roy Aitken became caretaker manager.

Randy Lerner (2006 -)

Doug Ellis introduced Martin O'Neill to over a thousand jubilant fans and the press as the Aston Villa manager at a press conference on 4 August 2006. John Robertson and Steve Walford also joined the managerial team as assistant manager and coach respectively.

At the press conference O'Neill stated "It's absolutely fantastic to be back and with a club such as this. This is a fantastic challenge. I am well aware of the history of this football club. Trying to restore it to its days of former glory seems a long way away - but why not try? It is nearly 25 years since they won the European Cup but that is the dream".

After 23 years as chairman and single biggest shareholder (approx 38%), Doug Ellis finally decided to sell his stake in Aston Villa. This was a decision welcomed by many Villa fans, most visibly shown by the two major "Ellis Out" protests, and the large "Ellis out" march (organised mostly by the Aston Villa fanzine "Heroes and Villains"), who felt that fresh blood and better investment was needed to recapture the glory years. The decision was likely to have been prompted by Ellis' ill-health. In September 2005, the club was put up for sale. There followed 10 months of little serious interest, save for an abortive bid by local businessman and self-professed life-long Villa fan Michael Neville, who formed a consortium backed by Irish property developers the Comer brothers.

After the consequences of the infamous "Villa Statement" in July 2006 saw the departure of David O'Leary, Ellis reiterated his desire to sell the club, stating that there were several interested parties, "which may or may not lead to an offer for the club". The hunt for a new manager was put on the back burner as the bidding started. Neville, once more, stated his desire to buy the club, but he was joined by the AV06 consortium of QC Nicholas Padfield, a group put together by Sven-Göran Eriksson's agent Athole Still, and the owner of NFL franchise, the Cleveland Browns, Randy Lerner.

The conclusion of the Lerner deal became a formality on 25 August when it was announced that he had secured 59.69% of the club's shares, effectively ending the Doug Ellis era at Villa Park. The 21 day period for shareholders to sell their shares expired on 4 September, and it was announced that Lerner had acquired just over 85% of the club's shares. The offer period was extended until 18 September in order to give Lerner an opportunity to obtain his desired 90% share, then extended again when it became clear that Lerner was going to achieve that share without difficulty. On 26 September it was announced that Lerner had achieved a 90% shareholding, and could complete his buy-out of the rest of the shares . General Charles C Krulak, Bob Kain and Michael Martin are Villa's new non-executive directors, and Lerner appointed Richard FitzGerald as Chief Executive to replace the long departed Bruce Langham, who resigned in May 2005. Along with this Lerner is also trying to tie up a £100million+ sponsorship deal, that would see Martin O'Neill given a huge war chest for the up coming transfer windows. In October 2006, rumours were started that linked Lerner with a deal to remove "Villa Park" as the club's historical home name and replace it with that of a sponsor. Although no names have been put forward for the renaming of the stadium, on the 7th February 2007 Aston Villa announced that their kit sponsor for the 07/08 Barclays Premiership season would be Nike. With Randy Lerner owning the club and controlling the purse strings, the first six months in control saw the club make two multi million pound signings in the shape of Ashley Young and Stiliyan Petrov. There has been further speculation that other high-profile signings will follow them into Villa Park.

Although he would no longer have any power at the club, Ellis was given an President Emeritus (Life President) role.

Current Premier League Campaign

Villa had the longest unbeaten start to the 2006-07 Premiership campaign, not losing until 28 October 2006, which included being the first competitive visitors to Arsenal's new Emirates Stadium when the 2006-07 season kicked off on Saturday August 192006. Aston Villa also scored the first competitive goal at the Emirates Stadium in the same game when Olof Mellberg gave Aston Villa the lead on the 53rd minute. [1] The match finished 1-1. But as the season progressed, injuries took their toll on the already paper-thin squad and Villa suffered a significant drop in form, at one stage going 11 games without a win in the league, with the threat of being sucked into a relegation battle. The January signings of Carew, Young, Bardsley (loan) and Maloney helped bolster the squad, but took them a while to gel. But after avoiding the threat of relegation with a good run of form, Villa finished 11th place in the league with 50 points ending the season with an unbeaten run of 9 league outings.