The club has won the Football League First Division and the FA Cup seven times each. In the 1981-82 season, they won the UEFA Champions League cup, now known as the UEFA Champions League, and are one of the six English teams to win this cup. With five EFL Cup titles and one FA Charity Shield title, Aston Villa is the fourth biggest team in England in terms of trophies won.
Villa has a big rivalry with Birmingham City, another team from Birmingham. Matches played between the two clubs since 1879 are called Birmingham derbies. The club's traditional jersey; It consists of a plain, burgundy jersey with sky blue sleeves, white shorts and sky blue socks. The club's crest, which was redesigned in 2007, is on a light blue background; It consists of a rearing, golden lion and the club's motto, "Prepared", written below the lion.
History
Founding and early years
Aston Villa; It was founded in March 1874 by Jack Hughes, Frederick Matthews, Walter Price and William Scattergood, members of the cricket team affiliated with Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel in Birmingham. He played his first match against Aston Brook St Mary's, one of the city's local rugby teams, at Wilson Road in Aston.
Since the opponent was a rugby team, rugby rules were valid in the first half of the 90-minute match and football rules were valid in the second half. While the first half of the match, played in teams of fifteen, ended in a 0-0 draw, Villa won the first match 1-0 with the goal scored by Jack Hughes in the second half.
In 1876 the club began playing its home matches at Perry Barr. In 1880, with the squad under the captaincy of George Ramsay, who joined the squad in the same year, he won his first cup by winning the Birmingham Senior Cup, beating Saltley College 3-1 in the final. Ramsey, who played for Villa for many years, after ending his active football career, rose to the position of club secretary, which has the same function as today's coach, and then to the position of vice president.
Villa, who faced West Bromwich Albion in the 1887 FA Cup final and won the match 2-0, won its first FA Cup championship. Archie Hunter, one of the legendary players of the club, won the FA Cup championship with the captaincy he took over from Ramsay in the 1880-81 season and made history as the first Villa captain to win this cup.
The Football Federation was established in 1885; Until the legalization of football, football was played as an amateur sport. William McGregor, one of the club's managers, was saddened by the low number of fans who watched the club's matches other than the FA Cup matches. In order to increase interest in the matches, he founded a league called the English Football League in 1888, which included 12 of the country's leading clubs.
Aston Villa was among the 12 teams competing in the league, whose first season was held in 1888. Villa played its first league match against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 8 September 1888, and left the match with a 1-1 draw. Tommy Green, who scored the team's only goal in the match, made history as the player who scored the club's first goal in the leagues. In their first season in the league, Villa finished second, 11 points behind Preston North End.
Victorian and Edwardian periods
After a few seasons in the middle ranks, the team reached the final of the FA Cup in 1892, but was content with second place, losing to West Bromwich Albion with a score of 3-0 in the final. He achieved his first championship in the league with 44 points after 30 matches played in the 1893-94 season. The following year, he achieved the second FA Cup victory in his history.
The club, which enjoyed the league championship two years in a row, in the 1895-96 and 1896-97 and 1898-99 and 1899-1900 seasons, moved to their stadium, Aston Lower Grounds, which still hosts the team today, after winning both the league and cup championships in 1897. The name of the stadium, which started to be called Villa Park by the fans since the 1900s, remained as Villa Park, although no official statement was made.
John Devey and Howard Spencer, who were in the squad in all of these successes, are considered among the players who had the biggest share in the team's success.
As football made great progress in England at the beginning of the 20th century, competition between clubs and players began to increase. Despite victories in the first four matches of the 1900–01 season, Villa finished the league in fourth place from the bottom. Crystal Palace won the FA Cup title for the fourth time by beating Newcastle United 2-0 in the 1905 FA Cup final, played at the National Sports Centre, with goals from Harry Hampton, the second top scorer in the club's history.
The match, watched by 101,117 fans, went down in history as the FA Cup final watched by the most people. Although it went into a short-term decline after this victory, it won its sixth league championship in the 1909-10 season and took its place in history as the club that won the league championship the most in England at the time.
The 1910-11 season, in which Clem Stephenson, considered one of the most successful players in the club's history, was transferred, was a very competitive season, and the last match determined the champion. Villa, which entered the last week as the leader, lost to Liverpool in the last match of the season. United became the champion after Manchester United, which was right behind them in the rankings, beat Sunderland.
By 1911 Villa Park was purchased by the club. In 1912, Sam Hardy, one of the most successful goalkeepers in the world, joined the team. With the fifth FA Cup in 1913, Aston Villa took its place among the most successful clubs in England and won a total of six league and five FA Cup championships until World War I. Both the league and cup championships achieved in the 1896-97 season could not be repeated until Tottenham Hotspur's victory in the 1960-61 season.
Post World War I
Villa finished the league in eighth place, which continued with the 1919-20 season after the break due to World War I, and won its seventh FA Cup championship in the same season. Frank Moss, who played for the club at that time and was also the captain of the England national team, and Billy Walker, who holds the title of the top scorer in the club's history with 244 goals, are considered among the club's best players ever.
Villa experienced a short-term decline after winning the cup championship. Club managers made various transfer efforts to prevent this decline. As part of the work, in 1927, Jimmy Gibson and Eric Houghton were added to the cast. Although Tom Waring, who was recruited for the forward position in 1928, became the league's top scorer by scoring 49 goals in the 1930-31 season, Villa was able to finish the season in second place, 7 points behind Arsenal.
Waring, who scored 50 goals throughout the season, became the player who scored the most goals in a season in the club's history. Houghton reached 30 goals in the same season.
The team finished the following seasons in 5th, 2nd and 13th places, respectively. In the 1935-36 season, when George Cummings, one of the important players in its history, started to play, the team finished second from last in the league, conceding 110 goals in 42 matches, and was relegated to the Second Division for the first time since its establishment.
Following this incident, a change was made in the club, where a secretary appointed by the committee had determined the squad until then, and an agreement was made with Jimmy Hogan for the position of coach. In the first season under the new manager, Villa finished ninth in the Second Division, and the following season they were promoted back to the First Division with the championship.
But after one season here, II. Since the league was suspended due to World War II, it could not compete in the league for seven seasons, like many English clubs.
II. post World War
After the war, there was a change in the team under the leadership of coach Alex Massie. With the addition of 23-year-old Welsh striker Trevor Ford, who was transferred from Swansea Town for £9,500, to the team in 1946, the 1946-47 season, the first season played after the war, finished in eighth place. Ford, who wore the claret-blue jersey for four seasons, was sold to Sunderland for £ 30,000 in 1950, making it the most expensive transfer of the time in Britain.
Johnny Dixon, who joined the team in 1945, played 430 matches for the club and found himself among the important players in the club's history.
After finishing in the middle ranks for several seasons, Massie continued to add new players to the team. Danny Blanchflower, who was acquired from Barnsley for £ 15,000 in 1951, is one of the leading transfers. Villa; He made a good start to the 1951-52 season and was in second position behind the leader Manchester United after eight matches.
Even though the season had the best start in the last 19 years, the league finished in sixth place. After the 1952-53 season finished in 11th place, Alex Massie was dismissed and Eric Houghton was appointed as the head of the team again in September 1953. The first of Houghton's actions was the acquisition of 19-year-old striker Peter McParland, who plays for Dundalk.
McParland, who played for the club for many years, played over 350 matches with the club and scored over 120 goals. The 1953-54 season, the first season under Houghton's management, finished in 13th place. Although the next few years showed ups and downs, Villa won the league cup for the first time in 37 years with a 2-1 victory against Manchester United in the 1957 FA Cup final.
Both of Villa's goals in the final match were scored by McParland. The main transfers made during the Houghton period were Nigel Sims, one of the best goalkeepers in Villa history, who was transferred in 1956, and striker Gerry Hitchens, who joined the team in 1957.
Years of ups and downs
Although Joe Mercer replaced Houghton in the middle of the 1958-59 season, the team finished second from last in the league and was relegated for the second time. They finished the 1960-61 season as champions and were promoted to the upper league again. After Johnny Dixon retired from football and Gerry Hitchens left the team at the end of the season, rejuvenation efforts were made in the squad and names such as Charlie Aitken, Alan Deakin, John Sleeuwenhoek and Harry Burrows started to get the chance to play.
The following season, Villa won the EFL Cup, which was held for the first time, and became the first owner of the cup. Since most of the squad that won the cup consisted of young players, the squad was given the name "Mercer's Minors, which means Mercer's little ones. Although it finished the 1961-62 season in seventh place, it finished the 1962-63 season in 15th place and the 1963-64 season in 19th place, fourth from the bottom.
In July 1964, coach Mercer, due to the bad results and He had to leave his post due to health problems. After a bad start to the 1964-65 season under his successor Dick Taylor, the league finished in 16th place the following season.
The team was relegated for the third time, losing 4-2 to Everton in the last match of the 1966-67 season. Tommy Cummings was brought in to replace Dick Taylor, who was sent from the team due to the failure. However, the club, not seeing the technical director as the only responsible for the failure, dismissed five members of the board of directors on the grounds that they "could not keep up with modern football".
However, Phil Woosnam and Tony Hateley, who were considered to be the best players of the team, were sent to other teams. Following a 16th-place finish the following season, fans called on Cummings and his team to resign. Cummings, who was the head of the team that was in the last place of the league as of November 1968, was dismissed.
On November 21, 1968, board member George Robinson resigned. A few weeks later, the club management resigned due to increasing fan pressure. The club, which was put up for sale due to bad progress and financial difficulties, was purchased by London businessman Pat Matthews. Matthews appointed Doug Ellis to head the new board of directors, which was formed on December 16, 1968. Two days later, an agreement was reached with Tommy Docherty for the managerial position.
restructuring
With the new coach Docherty, confidence in the team increased again and the team won the first five league matches. Although Villa initially attracted very few spectators to its matches, an increase was observed in the number of fans in a short time. It reached its peak with over 12,000 people watching the Charlton Athletic match played in December.
The 1967-68 and 1968-69 seasons finished in 16th and 18th places respectively. By the summer of 1969, the club's shares had increased by £200,000 compared to 1896, while the money spent on the transfer was put at £140,000. At the end of 1969, due to the inability to escape the relegation zone in the Second Division, Docherty was sent off from the team and replaced by Vic Crowe.
There was no improvement in the team's performance and at the end of the 1969–70 season it was relegated to the Third Division for the first time in its history.
Although he finished his first season in the Third Division in fourth place, he reached the final of the League Cup; But they lost 2-0 to Tottenham Hotspur in the final. The team completed the 1971-72 season as champion with a record 70 points and was promoted to the Second Division again. As a result of management unrest in the fall of 1972, four of five board members called for the removal of chairman Doug Ellis.
Within 43 days; Ellis, who received the support of Pat Matthews, the club's largest partner, and most of the fans who attended the extraordinary general assembly, made changes to the board of directors while continuing to serve as president. Villa finished third in the 1972-73 season, in which they were promoted to the Second Division, and narrowly missed promotion to the next league.
After finishing the following season in 14th place, chairman Ellis dismissed Vic Crowe and replaced him with Ron Saunders.
Villa, who qualified for the next league by finishing the league in second place at the end of the 1974-75 season, won the Football League Cup championship for the second time by beating Norwich City 1-0 in the final. Frank Carrodus and Leighton Phillips, who were transferred at the beginning of the season, and young players John Gidman and Brian Little have a share in this success, which came on the 100th anniversary of its establishment.
Although club president Ellis resigned at the beginning of the 1975-76 season, he served on the board of directors. At the time Ellis left the presidency, Villa had qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history thanks to last year's Football League Cup title. His first match in Europe; Although they competed against the Belgian team Royal Antwerp in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Cup, they were eliminated from the cup with a 5-1 defeat.
The team finished the 1975-76 season in 16th place, finished the following season in fourth place and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup. In the 1977 Football League Cup final, which was played in three matches, it won the Football League Cup again after two years by prevailing with a total score of 3-2 against Everton.
Gordon Cowans, John Deehan, Gary Williams, Gary Shaw, Andy Gray and Dennis Mortimer are among the important players who played for the club during this period.
League and European victories
Although Villa reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, in which it participated for the second time in the 1977-78 season, it lost to Barcelona in this round with a score of 4-3 on aggregate. After the eighth place in the league, renewals began to be made in the team squad. These changes were reflected in the board of directors, and Ellis proposed sending several members of the management.
However, the proposal was not deemed successful and Doug Ellis left his position at the club altogether. As part of the renewal of the team, players who are considered among the most productive players in the club's history were transferred. Defenders Allan Evans, Ken McNaught, Kenny Swain; Des Bremner in midfield; Tony Morley and Gary Shaw were reinforced for the strikers.
Together with Peter Withe, who was acquired from Newcastle United in the summer of 1980, coach Saunders created a squad that would be successful in the coming years.
The first success after the restructuring came in the 1980-81 season. Completing the league as champions this season, Villa reached the league championship after 71 years. The FA Charity Shield match played against FA Cup champion Tottenham Hotspur on 22 August 1981 ended in a 2-2 draw. With this result, the cup was considered jointly won by both teams.
He did not start well the following season and found himself in the middle ranks towards the end of the year. Villa, which also competed in the Champion Clubs' Cup, was getting good results in the cup matches. In February 1982, coach Saunders, who was dismissed after the team finished 19th in the league, was replaced by his assistant Tony Barton on a temporary basis.
The team under the management of Barton, who took charge of the team in the quarter-finals of the Champion Clubs' Cup; By beating Dynamo Kiev in the quarter-finals and Anderlecht in the semi-finals, they became Bayern Munich's opponent in the final. In the final match played in Rotterdam on 26 May 1982, the first European cup in the club's history was achieved with a 1-0 victory against the German team with a goal by Peter Withe. In this way, Villa became the fourth English team to win the cup and maintains this title today.
On January 19, 1983, the club won the two-legged Super Cup matches with Barcelona, the Cup Winners' Cup champion, with a score of 3-1 in total, thus achieving the greatest success in its history. After these successes in the European cups, Barton continued his duty for two more seasons and was dismissed from the club after the league finished in 10th place in the 1983-84 season.
Under the management of Graham Turner, Villa finished the 1985-86 season two steps above the relegation zone; He finished 16th. Following a bad start to the 1986-87 season, Turner was fired in September 1986 and Billy McNeill took over the team. However, the team did not recover and finished the league in last place. Just four seasons after European triumphs, Villa found themselves back in the Second Division.
Thereupon, for the position of technical director; An agreement was reached with Graham Taylor, who coaches Watford.
Taylor, Vengloš and Atkinson periods
They returned to the First Division by finishing second behind Millwall in the 1987–88 season, which was the first season under Taylor management. The following season, the team, which had a poor performance, managed to stay in the league, just above the relegation pot, as the last match of the season ended in a victory and the other matches ended in favor of Villa.
Although it surprisingly took the leadership seat for three weeks at the end of the 1989-90 season, it finished the league in second place, 9 points behind Liverpool. Taylor, who became the head of the England national team at the end of the season, left his post at Villa and was replaced by Slovak coach Jozef Vengloš.
Vengloš made history as the first foreign coach to take charge of a team in the history of England's top-level football leagues.
The 1990–91 season was the only season in which Vengloš was in charge of the team. The team, which qualified to compete in the UEFA Cup after finishing second last season, became one of the first English teams to participate in the European cups after English clubs were excluded from European cups for five years due to the Heysel Disaster.
They beat Baník Ostrava, their opponents in the first round of the cup, with an aggregate score of 5-2 in two-legged matches. Although they won 2-0 in the first match against the Italian representative Internazionale Milano in the next round, they lost 3-0 in the second match and were eliminated from the cup. The failure in Europe continued in the league.
At the end of the season, the team finished the season two steps above the relegation zone. While Vengloš resigned from his post, David Platt, who was considered one of the successful actors of the period; Sold to Bari for £5.5 million. Ron Atkinson, who led West Bromwich Albion to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, was appointed to the seat vacated by the resignation of the Slovak coach. In the 1991–92 season, the first season under Atkinson, Villa finished sixth.
Villa in the Premier League
Villa, one of the founders of the Premier League, which was established in 1992, finished the league's inaugural season, the 1992-93 season, in second place, 10 points behind Manchester United. Villa, who faced Manchester United in the LFootball League Cup final on March 27, 1994, won the cup by beating its opponent with a score of 3-1.
During these years, Dalian Atkinson and Dean Saunders formed a productive duo in the forwards, while Mark Bosnich in goal was among the notable players. Among the midfielders, Kevin Richardson and Steve Staunton stood out. After the tenth place in the 1993-94 season, Atkinson was dismissed in November 1994 due to a bad start to the next season.
In a short time, news began to appear in the media that Leicester City coach Brian Little would be the head coach of the team. Around this time, Little, who had a contract until the end of the 1997–98 season, resigned from his position at Leicester. Just three days after the resignation, Villa chairman Ellis appointed Little, one of the team's former players, as manager of the team.
