ASTON VILLA

Third Division to European Champions

In season 1969/70 Aston Villa were relegated to the Third Division for the first time in their history. A change of ownership in December 1968 had seen Doug Ellis appointed Chairman and his first managerial appointment , Tommy Docherty was replaced after 13 months by Vic Crowe.

1970/71

Villa although finishing 4th in the Third Division , managed to go on an incredible run in the League Cup where after wins over Notts County , Burnley, Northampton and Carlisle, they beat Bristol Rovers in a Quarter Final replay to reach a two legged semi final against Manchester Utd.

Old Trafford saw a 1-1 draw and when Villa returned to Villa Park they won 2-1 to qualify for the final which they lost to Tottenham 2-0, but was a major achievement for a club in Third Division.

1971/72

This season would see Aston Villa crowned Third Division champions and promoted along with Brighton.

1972/73

The first year in Division Two saw Aston Villa miss out on promotion finishing third behind the two promoted clubs Burnley & QPR

1973/74

A 14th place finish in the Second Division has seen Vic Crowe replaced as manager by Ron Saunders, in August 1974.

1974/75

This season was a major turning point in Villa’s history, after winning the League Cup at Wembley with a 1-0 win over Norwich, through a Ray Graydon goal after his penalty was saved , he netted the rebound.

Aston Villa and Norwich were both promoted from the Second Division behind Champions Manchester Utd, with Villa’s Brian Little being the Division’s top scorer.

1975/76

Aston Villa signed striker Andy Gray from Dundee Utd as they finished 16th in the First Division.

1976/77

The link up between Brian Little and Andy Gray led Aston Villa to finish 4th in the First Division and win the League Cup beating Everton in a classic match.

The first game at Wembley ended 0-0 and then a replay at Hillsborough ended 1-1 after extra time. It took a second replay at Old Trafford before Aston Villa won 3-2.

Andy Gray won the unique double as the first player to win the PFA Player of the Year award and the PFA Young Player of the Year award at the age of 20.

1977/78

Aston Villa competed in the UEFA cup and after beating Fenerbache 6-0 on aggregate they beat Górnik Zabrze 2-0 at home before a 1-1 draw away booked their place in round three.

Athletic Bilbao were similarly despatched 2-0 and 1-1 for a 3-1 aggregate to set up a Quarter Final with Barcelona.

The tie looked over when Barcelona scored in the 80th min at Villa Park to lead 2-0 but Ken McNaught and John Deehan levelled at 2-2 before the second leg in the Nou Camp.

Brian Little would put Villa into the lead shortly before the hour mark in Spain, but Barcelona came back to win 2-1 on the night and 4-3 overall.

Aston Villa finished the league in 8th place.

1978/79

Aston Villa missed out on Europe again finishing 8th.

1979/80

A 7th place finish was still not good enough for a European place, as Andy Gray was sold to Wolves

1980/81

Aston Villa had brought in striker Peter Withe to partner young Gary Shaw as the club embarked on an epic title tussle with Ipswich Town.

The clubs were drawn against each other in the Third Round of the FA Cup with Ipswich winning 1-0 at Portman Road.

It was perhaps this defeat which boosted Villa’s chances of winning the league as Ipswich went on to the FA Cup semi final and competed in Europe , in the end winning the UEFA Cup.

Aston Villa with only the league to consider would run out Champions.

1981/82

As League Champions , Aston Villa competed in the European Cup.

The First Round saw Villa drawn against Iceland’s Valur with a 5-0 win at Villa Park followed by two Gary Shaw goals to complete a 7-0 aggregate win.

Aston Villa travelled to Berlin and beat Dinamo Berlin 2-1 with two goals from Tony Morley and although the second leg was lost 1-0 at home , Villa progressed on the away goals rule in a very tricky tie.

In February 1982 Aston Villa manager Ron Saunders resigned and it was left to his assistant Tony Barton to complete what would become a memorable season.

Dynamo Kiev were the opponents in the Quarter Final and after a 0-0 draw in Kiev and early Gary Shaw goal settled the nerves of the Villa Park faithful in the return leg. Ken McNaught competed the 2-0 win before half time.

A Tony Morley goal at Villa Park in the semi final against Anderlecht was enough to send Aston Villa into the 1982 European Cup Final as they would see out the second leg 0-0 in Belgium.

The final against Bayern Munich in Rotterdam would have a strange beginning with goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer going off injured after only 9 minutes to be replaced by young Nigel Spink.

The heroics of Spink on the night were matched by the wing play of Tony Morley who crossed for Peter Withe to score the only goal of the game.

TEN YEARS AFTER WINNING THE THIRD DIVISION – ASTON VILLA WERE CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE