Villa were 4 points clear at the top of the table and only had 2 games
left - 'Boro at home - which we won, and Arsenal away - which of course
we lost - but by then it didn't matter. The program notes are excellent
- full of expectation, and it gives a fascinating look back - season
tickets in the Holte were £28 and £2 in on matchday!
Click on the Image to download a PDF copy of the programme.
It is 25mb in size - so it will take time.
I count myself very lucky when I think back and see
myself having been present when the great club lifted itself into the
newspaper headlines so many times after 20+ years in the doldrums (1935-1956)...
I can still see the BBC's Kenneth Wolstenholme's look of astonishment when he made
the announcement to the UK that Villa had scored 21 goals in 3 games (back
in that November of '59); I can now re-live the '57 final as I am lucky to
have the DVD of that occasion, and remind myself of the old Busby Babes and
the games I saw Villa playing on getting to Wembley that year - at Turf
Moor and Molineaux, as well as Villa Park. David Coleman's face is there
too, when he told us all that Villa had won their first championship in 71
years, and then seeing that famous European Cup win, albeit on TV. And
before and since, 5 League Cup wins, and those really great wins in '77
(final replay), '94 and '96.
And in-between, being at Wembley for the '71 League Cup Final, when it only
seemed logical that we - then as a third division side - would beat Spurs having
dumped Man U in the semis; and we should have done. And other sideshows,
like whipping Leicester 8-3 one Easter Saturday, and Notts Forest 5-1 on
the Monday; whipping Blues 6-2; Johnny Dixon's final game at the end of 1960/61,
and that glorious 4-0 win over Man U, when Law was sent off.
And having seen some really lovely players at Villa Park - many of them
playing for the opposition, granted, but still worth relishing: Matthews,
Finney, Haynes, Blanchflower, Greaves, MacKay, Johnny White, Edwards, R.
Charlton, Best, Moore, Peters ... And our own McParland, Sims, Hitchens,
Woosnam, Rioch, Little, Cowans, Gray, Shaw, Withe, Platt, McGrath...
Having seen all that (and more), anything else will be a bonus to me.
But a very welcome bonus! more...
