I've been reading a lot of post on various forums over the last few months, and obviouosly share the same disappointment in our decline since February, However, I feel we need some historical perspective here. For some supporters fighting for 5th place with 1 game to go in what is undoubtedly the best football league in the world is not enough. However, finishing 5th would represent our best league finish in 12 years. We have no automatc right to qualify for European competitions and the number of times we have actually qualified for the UEFA cup through our league position is relatively small. We played in the UEFA cup in 1975-76, but qualification was through winning the League Cup the previous season, 1977.78, 1983-84, 1990-91, 1993-94, 1994-95, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 2001-02, and 2008-09. This shows that we have never consistently qualified for European competitions in our history. We have a chance to remedy this situation with the our current manager and chairman.
We have great traditions, a unique ground and a glorious history which I think are iillustrated by a few quotes here:
"Aston Villa - a name to conjure with, a name to inspire world wide affection, a name to admire and revere."
Peter Morris The First 100 Years
"If there is a club in the country which deserves to be dubbed the greatest (and the matter is one of some delicacy) few will deny the right of Aston Villa to share the highest niche of fame with even the most historic of other aspirants. For brilliancy and, at the same time, for consistency of achievement, for activity in philanthropic enterprise, for astuteness of management and for general alertness, the superiors of Aston Villa cannot be found."
William McGregor - Football League founder & Villa chairman “The Book of Football” contributed by Wiliam McGregor 1906.
"You are one of the richest and most powerful clubs to be found in the football world, and I venture to say, without too much extravagence of speech, no club in the past has maintained such traditions in the football world as Aston Villa."
Joseph Ansell President Villa News and Record August 8, 1914
"The playing years with Aston Villa were the happiest of my whole life. About Villa Park itself hung an aura that seems almost to be visible. Most certainly it is there to be felt and I know of no other ground that has the same effect on one. Almost it seems to be peopled by ghosts - amiable ghosts whose job it is to breathe the great Villa spirit into generation after generation of ambitious youngsters who pass through the great gates to achieve a life´s ambition; to wear the famous claret and blue of the great club."
Billy Walker, Soccer In The Blood
"I remember arriving by train from Swindon. I took a taxi down to Villa Park. I had one look at the massive stand and impressive entrance and almost turned home. I thought, this place is too big for me."
John Neal after his transfer in July 1959 Villa Park 100 Years Simon Inglis
"Life at Vila Park was a dream. They’re the greatest club in the world as far as I’m concerned."
John Neal after his three years at Villa Villa Park 100 Years Simon Inglis
"My cousin played for Rangers and was always on about Ibrox. Well, the first time I came to Villa Park I couldn’t believe it. The thing which always gave me a thrill was the Carriage Drive, with the offices at the end, the bowling green on the side, and up on the facade of the stand, the lion. There was never a ground that came up to it, not even the marble halls of Arsenal. It looked old fashioned, but there was a real pride about the place."
Larry Canning, ex-player wing-half 1943 Villa Park 100 Years Simon Inglis
"I was never more happy than in my days in Birmingham. With all the moves, I spent 16 unbroken years living in the Sutton Coldfield/Streetly region, broken only when I moved to Middlesbrough. I remember, with affection, the help I received from club captain George Curtis, and the management duo of Vic Crowe and Ron Wylie. I cannot ever forget my first view of Villa Park, with that red brick frontage, and the enormous Holte End. There can’t be a better place to play than Villa Park."
Bruce Rioch interviewed by Eric Woodward Aston Villa News and Record 28th Nov 1990
"From the moment I joined Aston Villa in 1927, in the days of the great Billy Walker, I was immediately aware of the great traditions of this great club. I was taught to honour the famous claret and blue jersey and that nothing but the best is good enough for the Villa, on or off the field. Due to the club’s great past, the player’s, management and backrom staff always carry an extra responsibility."
Eric Houghton 1988, Aston Villa A Complete Record 1874-1988 David Goodyear and Tony matthews
"There is an aura about this club, a sense of history and tradition. Even the name is beautiful symmetrical, with five letters in each word."
John Gregory
"There is no other soccer club that is both so old and so rich in history as Aston Villa. It was mainly Aston Villa, through its founding fathers, their inspiration and the club´s successes, that gave the impetus to make professional football what it is in the world to-day. And, unlike their Birmingham neighbours, Aston Villa never had cause to change their proud name!"
John Lerwill Aston Villa’s Official Historian
"Many football clubs are proud of their histories, but Aston Villa can genuinely lay claim to having inspired the foundation of the Football League itself. The league was the brainchild of the club's then chairman, William McGregor, who invited 11 other clubs, Preston North End, Wolves, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion, Accrington FC, Everton, Burnley, Derby County, Notts County and Stoke City, to form the Football League, the world's first, in 1888. Villa's battles with Sunderland, "the team of all talents", formed the game's first titanic rivalry, and Villa won the league five times between 1894 and 1900, doing the double in 1897. But after another championship in 1910 it was 71 years before Villa won it again. The following year that team, captained by Dennis Mortimer and starring the midfielder Gordon Cowans and strikers Gary Shaw and Peter Withe, beat Bayern Munich 1-0 to win the European Cup, still Villa's greatest moment."
David Conn The Guardian March 5 2008
''Aston Villa are potentially a massive, massive Club, whom with the right leadership can be as big as anyone''
Martin O'Neill 1991.
"I feel immensely proud and priveleged to be the manager of this football club. After 15 months out of the game, I didn’t need asking twice when Doug Ellis enquired about my availability. And within half anhour of signing the contract, I received confirmation that I had made the right decision. The welcome I received on my arrival at Villa Park that evening was truly overwhelming, as was the reception I was given before our opening home match against Reading a couple of weeks later. .. I’m making no promises of instant success. That would be foolish in the extreme, because everybody at the club appreciates just how difficult it will be to revive Villa’s glory days of the early 80s and mid-90s. But you can rest assured that I will be doing my very best to make this club a major force in the Premiership."
Martin O'Neill August 2006 Aston Villa Yearbook 2006-07
In this last quote from Martin O'Neill he clearly articulates his mission for the club, and I feel that he and Randy Lerner are fulfilling their promises.
Finishing in the top 6 2 years running is real progress if we look at the situation of the club 3 years ago. In 2006 the team were near the bottom of the league with an unpopular chairman and an even more unpopular manager, there was discontent in the dressing room and on the terraces. If Randy Lerner had not taken over and installed Martin O'Neill as manager, I feel that we would be struggling to achieve 5th place in the Championship (old 2nd division). What Randy Lerner, Martin O'Neill, and the club have achieved in less than years is nothing short of astounding. We have a club at the top echelons of the most competitive in the world, an owner a board of directors who care about the fans and take their opinions into account when taking decisions which affect them, a stadium which has been rennovated in a tasteful manner with respect to our traditions, improved attendances, the rennovation of the Holte pub.
Whenever I hear criticism of Martin O'Neill, I always think back to a game against Manchester United on Boxing Day 1989 when Alex Ferguson was having a bad run, Villa won that day and the majority of the travelling United supporters were calling for the head of Ferguson. However, the club showed patience and look what Ferguson has achieved over the years.
We need to show patience and appreciate what Martin O'Neill has done for the club, and look forward to new chapters in our glorious history under his leadership.
Keep The Faith
