THE SAN SIRO;
A one and a half day trip over to the Lakes of Northern Italy was not without it's incidents. One of our number had too much to drink and never made it! God bless Ratty! The rest of us mingled with the nightlife including some idiot who tried to sit in a basket on the front of a pushbike - stand up Spanner1969! Can't remember who was riding it at the time though - oops!
The locals were very friendly but once approaching the intimidating SAN SIRO their mood changed. The atmosphere was as intimadating as I've known to this day with our fans being placed in the top corner, out of sight and sound. Our flags and voices were out in force but it was all to no avail.
Villa were taken apart by a side containing 3 German internationals and 6 Italian, although we will argue to this day that the winning goal should never have been as the cross had already gone out of play.
We never stood a chance that night. The first leg gave us all hope but nobody could have prepared for what the San Siro had in store for us. Noise and intimidation beyond belief. You had to be there to understand it. The attendance that night was 76,000. It sounded more like 176,000.
It was a fantastic trip, one that none of us have ever forgotten.
VILLA PARK;
ASTON VILLA 3 TRANMERE ROVERS 1; March 1994
An incredible match, my favourite ever, had everything. The build up had been all about them and their fans were lapping it up. Their attitude was one of "we're already there" and they had no worries about doing the job at Villa Park. Those of us who were at Prenton Park for the first leg may not have disagreed!
First Deano and then Shaun Teale put us 2-0 up and seemingly on course. Bozzie gave away a pen by tripping Aldridge, the latter getting up to score. The second half was a tidal wave but I honestly felt we'd tried our best but it wouldn't happen. Yet with 2 minutes to go Tony Daley put in the perfect cross for Dalian Atkinson to head home. Mental scenes!
Extra-time came and went, and then came those penalties. Everyone was "on the edge" - my nerves had gone, along with the voice. Ugo had the chance but missed. Ricco then blasted over and they were one kick away from glory. I remember their manager John King getting ready to run on the pitch, the cameramen were poised - a mate looked at me and I just shook my head....but Bozzie was unstoppable and he let everyone know it. Suddenly Ian Nolan was stepping up to keep them in it - and he didn't. We were going to Wembley for the first time in 17 years! (Cue tingle down the spine).
I have to admit to leaping onto the pitch in sheer emotion - we went over to the Tranmere fans, some of who had just one message for us - "If you get United in the final - F*cking beat em for us".
On Sunday March 27th 1994 - we did just that.
WEMBLEY;
ASTON VILLA 3 LEEDS UNITED 0; March 1996
A perfect day. A great session before the game in a pub full of Leeds fans had set the tone...
Brian Little stood with arms raised as Savo Milosevic, a striker who'd been ridiculed by the press, smashed in a goal from 25 yards that sent Villa on their way.
It ended as one of the most one sided finals in years as Ian Taylor and Dwight Yorke completed the rout. Mark Draper and Andy Townsend were brilliant in the Villa midfield and Leeds simply had no answer.
VILLA PARK;
ASTON VILLA 2 INTER MILAN 0; Oct 1990
An oh so memorable European night at Villa Park.
A little guy called Paul Birch put German International Lothar Matthius in his back pocket with a fantastic display. Inter had 9 current Internationals in their side but were put to the sword by the men in Claret and Blue.
The superb David Platt had seemingly given Villa the tie by scoring a second goal created by Gordon Cowans. The real gem of the night was Kent Nielsen's stunning strike that put Villa ahead. Nielsen formed a great partnership with Paul McGrath, aka God, at the heart of the defence.
Nights like this made supporting Villa a wonderous experience.
ANFIELD;
LIVERPOOL 1 ASTON VILLA 2; Feb 1993
10 Visits to Anfield it took me to see this! I always remember at half time standing in the bog and everyone saying "this always happens here" - referring to the fact that we always played well, but never got the breaks. We were 1-0 down to a John Barnes goal, but 2nd half Villa came out fighting and Garry Parker fired a rocket to level things up.
Then Dean Saunders took advantage of Torben Pichnik's awful defending to silence the Kop End. The away corner was delierious, but with 20 minutes left no-one took anything for granted. Despite the pressure, Villa finally won at Anfield. Ron Atkinson had moulded a team capable of results like this.
At a regular pub stop in Stone (Staffs), we treated ourselves to champagne. It meant that much.
BAZALY STADIUM
BANIK OSTRAVA 1 ASTON VILLA 2: October 1990
The first English travellers into Europe since the ban was enforced after Heysel. Our destination was the Eastern corner of Czechoslovakia and a small mining town called Ostrava.
A great trip included a trip to Prague and a stay in Pilzen where myself and Spanner managed to annoy a local groundsman by playing on the pitch of FC Pilzen (a 1st division side).
On arriving the locals were looking up gobsmacked at the double-decker coach we arrived in. They were very friendly and wanted to swap any souveniers that they could.
The match itself was edgy, Banik going ahead just before half-time from a free-kick, making it 3-2 to Villa overall. Fortunately a great header from Derek Mountfield and an own goal from Villa legend Ivo Stas saw the visitors thorugh.
Only 150 Villa fans were there that night and if you take away our party of 4 that left 146. Not too many people can say they were there on a cold Tuesday night on the border of Poland to watch the likes of Chris Price and Ian Ormondroyd ply their trade. It's something I am very proud of and loved every minute of it.
THE COUNTY GROUND;
SWINDON TOWN 0 ASTON VILLA 0; May 1988
The sort of organisation that Swindon attempted that day would be the result of a public enquiry today. Home fans not bothered never turned up, while one corner of the ground had as many Villa fans squeezed in as possible. While their fans didn't care, the team did, and they gave Villa the toughest test.
The game was tense, and we never got going. We knew that Bradford and Leicester were doing us massive favours, but after the whistle the announcer declared WE had gone up. Radio listeners knew different - there were SEVEN agonising minutes of play left at Boro.
Finally it all went ballistic! Leicester had held out and Graham Taylor had got us back up at the first attempt. Many a beer followed as the celebrations got under way.
VILLA PARK;
ASTON VILLA 1 JUVENTUS 2; October 1982
An amazing night at VP. This gobsmacked kid had literally just got to his seat with his mate as Paulo Rossi scored. Villa Park was packed to the rafters, but shocked into silence. The Italians had players such as Rossi, Boniek and Bettiga but it was a measure of Aston Villa's stature that when Sid Cowans equalised, all we could see was a winner for us.
However, Boniek scored again and the tie was effectively over. That night, people parked on lawns and Villa Park was the one of the hubs of European football.
The crowd reaction to Sid's goal was absolutely stunning.
GOODISON PARK;
EVERTON 3 ASTON VILLA 3; May 1990
One of the best atmosphere's at an away game ever in my opinion. Many of us had decided on beach wear for the day and this was a sound move as the weather was superb.
During half-time the away end reverberated to "Graham Taylor's Claret & Blue army" - non stop for 15 minutes and then afterwards too as the Villa fans refused to leave until Sir Graham had come back out to acknowledge the travelling support. It was the last time he would do so before leaving for the England job.
The match, although technically meaningless was a corker - Villa going 3-1 ahead with goals from Tony Cascarino, Gordon Cowans and Tony Daley. TC had actually scored an OG and Everton rallied near the end to level things up - but nobody really cared as the atmosphere and singing was relentless.
The drinking on the way home was relentless too.....
VILLA PARK;
ASTON VILLA 3 BARCELONA 0; Jan 1983
These were the nights that made Villa Park such a special place. A crowd of 32,000 made a deafening noise that night as Villa set about overcoming a 0-1 first leg reverse against the mighty Spanish giants.
With just 10 minutes left it appeared Villa had done all they could but from a knocked down free-kick, Gary Shaw pounced to send the tie into extra time. The tackles were flying in and the Spaniards cheated, fouled and acted just as expected.
A penalty in extra time from Gordon Cowans put Villa 2-0 up (Sid was subsequently kicked in the net by the Barca keeper) and a Ken McNaught header finished the night off. Villa ended up with 10 men when Alan Evans was dismissed - Barcelona ended up with nine!
Just months after winning the European Cup, Aston Villa were still capable of beating the best that Europe had to offer. It was a fabulous night and one I'll never forget.
VILLA PARK;
ASTON VILLA 7 WIMBLEDON 1; Feb 1995
On the face of it just another routine league game against one of the most miserable opponents of their time. When Wimbledon went a goal ahead it looked like another fruitless afternoon against the Dons for the Villa.
Tommy Johnson and Dean Saunders had other ideas as they systematically tore the Dons apart - TJ claimed a hat-trick and also the match ball - Saunders also looked to have scored three but had one taken away as an own goal. Dwight Yorke completed the seven goal rout which was totally unexpected by a meagre crowd of under 24,000.
Brian Little's reign at Villa Park was just taking shape - Villa were to be 4-1 up against Leicester in the next home game only to end up drawing 4-4 and in the process starting a nightmare run that nearly saw us relegated.
OLD TRAFFORD;
MANCHESTER UNITED 3 ASTON VILLA 1; May 1987
A few of us decided to "train" this one. With Villa already relegated we were going to have a good laugh today (as we did with most away games that season). Unfortunately two of us overslept and the other two got an earlier train. Myself and "The Spanner" however enjoyed a very lively journey of song, beer and fire extinguishers.
A quick exit followed at Manchester! A bit worse for wear we eventually stumbled into OT to be greeted by Villa wearing that marvellous Yellow Henson Kit.
The away end was standing then - completely packed and singing that went on for the entire 90 minutes which was well reported in the papers. Villa lost 3-1 with Andy Gray giving Martin Keown a verbal lashing right in front of us and Paul Birch scoring on our final top flight game for at least one year.
The days of trains, standing, singing etc are gone now and despite the modern legislation which I agree must be followed, football is the poorer for it.
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