Aston Villa: Memory Lane | Page 83 | Vital Football

Aston Villa: Memory Lane

In response to JP Healy after JPA evicted us from the Relegation thread. I was at Chris Nicholls debut and remember thinking what the hell have we signed here. He went on to be a tremendous player for us.
Marauding Vikings really sums it up. Those away days were like nothing I have ever experienced since with Villa. The never ending cavalcades of cars and coaches up and down the motorways and the looks on the locals faces as the mighty Villa army came to town.
When we came out of the tunnel it seemed like all four sides of the ground were Villa.
Great times JP.
 
wittonite said:
In response to JP Healy after JPA evicted us from the Relegation thread. I was at Chris Nicholls debut and remember thinking what the hell have we signed here. He went on to be a tremendous player for us.
Marauding Vikings really sums it up. Those away days were like nothing I have ever experienced since with Villa. The never ending cavalcades of cars and coaches up and down the motorways and the looks on the locals faces as the mighty Villa army came to town.
When we came out of the tunnel it seemed like all four sides of the ground were Villa.
Great times JP.
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I remember going to Shrewsbury on a cold and very wet Wednesday night when Nicholl scored his first Villa goal I think, the equaliser in a 1-1 draw. We went on a Villa special, always a tale to tell on those, and the train in front had broke down of had some problems so the police got us off the train further back down the line and marched us up the track to the station, 'elf and safety would have a missy fit these days, to meet the rest of the travelling hordes. The ground seemed packed out with Villa fans though not unusual in the days....great memories. A big special thank you to Chris Nicholl for THAT goal at Old Trafford....never to be forgotten!!!!!
 
Villa since '63 said:
I remember going to Shrewsbury on a cold and very wet Wednesday night when Nicholl scored his first Villa goal I think, the equaliser in a 1-1 draw. We went on a Villa special, always a tale to tell on those, and the train in front had broke down of had some problems so the police got us off the train further back down the line and marched us up the track to the station, 'elf and safety would have a missy fit these days, to meet the rest of the travelling hordes. The ground seemed packed out with Villa fans though not unusual in the days....great memories. A big special thank you to Chris Nicholl for THAT goal at Old Trafford....never to be forgotten!!!!!
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Back in the good old days when the ball used to go into the River Severn and a bloke in a boat used to fish it out.
I remember going to Huddersfield on a special and being chased all the way back to the station after the game.
Frequently on those specials when going back into New Street there would be no carriage lights when you go into the tunnel approaching the station and that was always the que for trouble to start.
 
Villa since '63 said:
I remember going to Shrewsbury on a cold and very wet Wednesday night when Nicholl scored his first Villa goal I think, the equaliser in a 1-1 draw. We went on a Villa special, always a tale to tell on those, and the train in front had broke down of had some problems so the police got us off the train further back down the line and marched us up the track to the station, 'elf and safety would have a missy fit these days, to meet the rest of the travelling hordes. The ground seemed packed out with Villa fans though not unusual in the days....great memories. A big special thank you to Chris Nicholl for THAT goal at Old Trafford....never to be forgotten!!!!!
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I remember sciving the afternoon off school to go on the coach , I'd have been about 14 ish.
 
Villan57 said:
I remember sciving the afternoon off school to go on the coach , I'd have been about 14 ish.
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Lefty Wright and l used to skive off and watch the boys training on that land we owned in Trinity Road. Still got Cookery O level as l remind the Missus from time to time.
 
wittonite said:
Back in the good old days when the ball used to go into the River Severn and a bloke in a boat used to fish it out.
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Yes. It was a coracle.
In my teenage talented footballer days I was playing for the county and we went on a tour with one of the games playing against Shropshire. We went on a tour of Gay Meadow and remember them showing us the coracle they used when fishing the balls out.

As a side note of this most interesting story we stayed at the opposition players houses on the tour ( I'm guessing CRB and safeguarding checks were somewhat lax in the 80's) . I stayed at this fairly big house not really thinking much of it. Nice family etc. Following morning the opposition player said 'you don't know who my dad is do you ?". Clearly i was oblivious having been there since the following day.
His dad was the current at the time Shrewsbury Town manager called Chic Bates. Oops. Would have been helpful for someone to give the heads up.
 
Melon Donkey said:
Yes. It was a coracle.
In my teenage talented footballer days I was playing for the county and we went on a tour with one of the games playing against Shropshire. We went on a tour of Gay Meadow and remember them showing us the coracle they used when fishing the balls out.

As a side note of this most interesting story we stayed at the opposition players houses on the tour ( I'm guessing CRB and safeguarding checks were somewhat lax in the 80's) . I stayed at this fairly big house not really thinking much of it. Nice family etc. Following morning the opposition player said 'you don't know who my dad is do you ?". Clearly i was oblivious having been there since the following day.
His dad was the current at the time Shrewsbury Town manager called Chic Bates. Oops. Would have been helpful for someone to give the heads up.
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Dad worked at the Austin with a few yam yams from Stourbridge. They were forever ranting on about these hot strikers called Bates and Hayward. Both did well stepping up and the yams bathed in the reflective glory. They were a mixture of Villa, Baggies and Wolves but proud of their own boys.
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/1264482016369815553

I'd completely forgotten this goal as I've tried my best to erase the 15/16 season from memory but it popped up as the "goal of the day" on the clubs official twitter feed. Its a absolute beauty.

I will never understand how consecutive Villa managers looked at all the attributes Adama has and couldn't be arsed to try and develop him more. He's got literally everything you want from a winger and we seemingly couldn't be bothered to do anything with him.
 
I've just found out, today it's 38 years since our finest hour and it's also 80 years today since the evacuation at Dunkirk.

So, I suppose it must of been written in the stars that we'd beat a german side in the final.
 
Just watched us beat Manchester in the 1957 FA Cup final
Good old Kenneth Wolstenholme on the mike referred to us as Villa and them as Manchester all throughout the game. At ko it was our 9th final and their 3rd , bloody hell how did we allow them to get above us
 
Villan57 said:
Just watched us beat Manchester in the 1957 FA Cup final
Good old Kenneth Wolstenholme on the mike referred to us as Villa and them as Manchester all throughout the game. At ko it was our 9th final and their 3rd , bloody hell how did we allow them to get above us
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Once the Victorian era was over we just couldn't seem to sustain any success. Didn't we spend the majority of the decade after that FA cup win struggling against relegation till we finally slid ignominiously down to the 3rd tier. Much like how we were relegated 5 years after winning the highest honour in club football.

Whenever its time to take the next step to either challenge for the top honours or in the case of the European cup winners dominate we just seem to take a step back and fall apart.
 
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