What a legend this guy is and was. I will be there on the 24th March to hopefully shake the hand of the guy that gave me my most memorable moment in over 50 years of following the Villa.
Some of the new guys to the Villa 'family' were devastated when we got relegated from the Premier League, but I remember much darker days when we were relegated to the old 3rd Division - that had to be the lowest point but I saw the lion start to rise again with some great performances to get us back to where we rightly belong and all of those bad memories were erased on that night in Rotterdam when Withey did what he did best and scored from inside the box. I was pleased to say that I was there and on my 50th birthday tour of Villa Park I found a picture of me in the crowd at Rotterdam 25 years earlier. I am 10 years older now and I still get a buzz now from watching 'that' video. I will try to reduce the size of the picture and post it so that others might recognise themselves - I can see a few that I went with in Gary Loveday and Sammy Neville.
That night also was what brought my wife and I together as we met the week before whilst sorting out travel arrangements to the final because our ferry to Rotterdam had been sent to the Falklands as a hospital ship. We met at the bar and I said that if Villa won, I would bring her back a bottle of champagne - perhaps if Withey hadn't scored, I would not be happily married 34 years later!!
And when I finally join the Holte Enders in the Sky, my attire will be a certain white with claret striped shirt - with short sleeves of course - so that others will know that 'I was there'
