Aston Villa F.C.

"Aston Villa" redirects here. For the French musical group, see Aston Villa (band).

Aston Villa (The Vile)

A crest with a claret border, light blue background and yellow lion rampant facing to the left with a small star slightly above an outstretched leg. AVFC is atop the lion in claret writing with "Prepared" written underneath.
Full name	Aston Villa Football Club
Nickname(s)	BIRMINGHAM CITY FOOTBALL CLUB WOOP WOOP
Founded	1874
Ground	Villa Park Aston Birmingham B6 6HE England
Capacity	42,788
Owner	Randy Lerner
Manager	Martin O'Neill
League	Premier League
2009–10	Premier League, 6th
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Aston Villa Football Club (Template:Pron-en) (also known as Villa, The Villa and The Villans) is an English professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, who play in the Premier League. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder members of the Premier League in 1992. The club was floated by the previous owner and chairman Doug Ellis, but in 2006 full control of the club was acquired by Randy Lerner.

They are one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in England, having won the First Division Championship seven times and the FA Cup seven times. Villa also won the 1981–82 European Cup, one of only four English clubs to win what is now the UEFA Champions League. Aston Villa has the fourth highest total of major honours won by an English club.

They have a fierce rivalry with local rivals Birmingham City. The Second City derby between Aston Villa and Birmingham City has been played since 1879. The club's traditional kit colours are claret shirts with sky blue sleeves, white shorts and sky blue socks. Their traditional crest is of a rampant gold lion on a light blue background with the club's motto "Prepared" underneath; a modified version of this was adopted in 2007.

History

For more details on this topic, see History of Aston Villa F.C. (1874–1961) and History of Aston Villa F.C. (1961–present).

Aston Villa Football Club were formed in March, 1874, by members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel in Handsworth which is now part of Birmingham. The four founders of Aston Villa were Jack Hughes, Frederick Matthews, Walter Price and William Scattergood. Aston Villa's first match was against the local Aston Brook St Mary's Rugby team. As a condition of the match, the Villa side had to agree to play the first half under rugby rules and the second half under football rules. Villa soon established themselves as one of the best teams in the Midlands, winning their first honour, the Birmingham Senior Cup in 1880, under the captaincy of Scotsman George Ramsay.

The Aston Villa team of the 1890s

The club won its first FA Cup in 1887 with captain Archie Hunter becoming one of the game's first household names. Aston Villa were one of the dozen teams that competed in the inaugural Football League in 1888 with one of the club's directors, William McGregor being the league's founder. Aston Villa emerged as the most successful English club of the Victorian era, winning no fewer than five League titles and three FA Cups by the end of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1897, the year Villa won The Double, they moved into their present home, the Aston Lower Grounds. Supporters coined the name "Villa Park"; no official declaration listed the ground as Villa Park.

Aston Villa won their sixth FA Cup in 1920, soon after though the club began a slow decline that led to Villa, at the time one of the most famous and successful clubs in world football, being relegated in 1936 for the first time to the Second Division. This was largely the result of a dismal defensive record: they conceded 110 goals in 42 games, 7 of them coming from Arsenal's Ted Drake in an infamous 1–7 defeat at Villa Park. Like all English clubs, Villa lost seven seasons to the Second World War, and that conflict brought several careers to a premature end. The team was rebuilt under the guidance of former player Alex Massie for the remainder of the 1940s. Aston Villa's first trophy for 37 years came in the 1956–57 season when another former Villa player, Eric Houghton led the club to a then record seventh FA Cup Final win, defeating the 'Busby Babes' of Manchester United in the final. The team struggled in the league though and were relegated two seasons later, due in large part to complacency. However, under the stewardship of manager Joe Mercer Villa returned to the top-flight in 1960 as Second Division Champions. The following season Aston Villa became the first team to win the Football League Cup.

Mercer's forced retirement from the club in 1964 signaled a period of deep turmoil. The most successful club in England was struggling to keep pace with changes in the modern game, with Villa being relegated for the third time, under manager Dick Taylor in 1967. The following season the fans called for the board to resign as Villa finished 16th in the Second Division. With mounting debts and Villa lying at the bottom of Division Two, the board sacked Cummings (the manager brought in to replace Taylor), and within weeks the entire board resigned under overwhelming pressure from fans. After much speculation, control of the club was bought by London financier Pat Matthews, who also brought in Doug Ellis as chairman. However, new ownership could not prevent Villa being relegated to the Third Division for the first time at the end of the 1969–70 season. However, Villa gradually began to recover under the management of former club captain Vic Crowe. In the 1971–72 season they returned to the Second Division as Champions with a record 70 points. In 1974 Ron Saunders was appointed manager. His brand of no-nonsense man-management proved effective, with the club winning the League Cup the following season. By 1977 he had taken them back into the First Division and Europe.

The 1982 European Cup winning squad celebrate the 25th anniversary of their win.

Villa were back amongst the elite as Saunders continued to mould a winning team. This culminated in a seventh top-flight league title in 1980–81. To the surprise of commentators and fans, Saunders quit halfway through the 1981–82 season, after falling out with the chairman, with Villa in the quarter final of the European Cup. He was replaced by his softly-spoken assistant manager Tony Barton who guided the club to a 1–0 victory over Bayern Munich in the European Cup final in Rotterdam courtesy of a Peter Withe goal. The following season Villa were crowned European Super Cup winners, beating Barcelona in the final. This marked a pinnacle though and Villa's fortunes declined sharply for most of the 1980s, culminating in relegation in 1987. This was followed by promotion the following year under Graham Taylor and a runners-up position in the First Division in the 1989–90 season.

Villa were one of the founding members of the Premier League in 1992, and finished runners-up to Manchester United in the inaugural season. For the rest of the Nineties however Villa went through three different managers and their league positions were inconsistent, although they did win two League Cups and regularly achieved Uefa Cup qualification. Villa reached the FA Cup final in 2000 but lost 1–0 to Chelsea in the last game to be played at the old Wembley Stadium. Again Villa's league position continued to fluctuate under several different managers and things came to a head in the summer of 2006 when David O'Leary left in acrimony. After 23 years as chairman and single biggest shareholder (approximately 38%), Ellis finally decided to sell his stake in Aston Villa due to ill-health. After much speculation it was announced the club was to be bought by American businessman Randy Lerner, owner of NFL franchise the Cleveland Browns. The arrival of a new owner and manager Martin O'Neill marked the start of a new period of optimism at Villa Park and sweeping changes occurred throughout the club including a new crest, a new kit sponsor and team changes in the summer of 2007. The first Cup final of the Lerner era came in 2010 when Villa were beaten 2–1 in the 2010 Football League Cup Final. Villa made a second trip to Wembley in that season losing 3–0 to Chelsea in the FA Cup Semi Final.

Club colours and crest

Villa's proposed kit of 1886

The club colours are claret shirt with sky blue sleeves, white shorts with claret and blue trim, and sky blue socks with claret and white trim. They were the original wearers of the claret and blue. Villa's colours at the outset generally comprised plain shirts (white, grey or a shade of blue), with either white or black shorts. For a few years after that (1877–79) the team wore several different kits from all white, blue and black, red and blue to plain green. By 1880, black jerseys with a red lion embroidered on the chest were introduced by William McGregor. This remained the first choice strip for six years. On Monday, 8 November 1886, an entry in the club's official minute book states:

(i) Proposed and seconded that the colours be chocolate and sky blue shirts and that we order two dozen. (ii) Proposed and seconded that Mr McGregor be requested to supply them at the lowest quotation.

A crest with a yellow border and a yellow lion rampant facing to the left. The background is vertical claret and blue alternating stripes. At the bottom is the motto prepared written in yellow.

Old crest (2000–2007)

The chocolate colour later became claret.

Nobody is quite sure why claret and blue became the club's adopted colours. The kit for the 2007–2008 season became manufactured by Nike.

A new crest was revealed on 2 May 2007, for the 2007–08 season and beyond. The new crest includes a star to represent the European Cup win in 1982, and has a light blue background behind Villa's 'lion rampant'. The traditional motto "Prepared" remains in the crest, and the name Aston Villa has been shortened to AVFC, FC having been omitted from the previous crest. Randy Lerner petitioned fans to help with the design of the new crest. The three kits that carry the new crest were unveiled on 17 July 2007, in The Mailbox, Birmingham. On 2 June 2008 it was announced that Aston Villa would forgo commercial kit sponsorship for the 2008–09 season; instead they would advertise the charity Acorns Children's Hospice, the first deal of its kind in Premiership history. Aston Villa also announced the partnership would continue for the 2009–2010 season when they would also have a new away kit, inspired by the traditional home kit of the England football team.

From 2010 to 2013, the club's Principal Commercial Partner is FxPro, a global retail broker in Forex and CFDs. The name FxPro will be displayed on the team kit starting in the 2010 - 2011 season. In turn, Acorns has now become the club's Official Charity Partner.

Stadium

Main article: Villa Park (stadium)

Aston Villa's current home venue is Villa Park, which is a UEFA 4-star rated stadium, having previously played at Aston Park (1874–1876) and Perry Barr (1876–1897). Villa Park is the largest football stadium in the English Midlands, and the eighth largest stadium in England. It has hosted 16 England internationals at senior level, the first in 1899, and the most recent in 2005. Thus it was the first English ground to stage international football in three different centuries.

Villa Park is the most used stadium in FA Cup semi-final history, having hosted 55 semi-finals. The Club have planning permission to extend the North Stand; This will involve the 'filling in' of the corners to either side of the North Stand. If completed, the capacity of Villa Park will be increased to approximately 51,000. The current training ground is located at Bodymoor Heath in north Warwickshire, the site for which was purchased by former Villa Chairman Doug Ellis in the early 1970s from a local farmer. Although Bodymoor Heath was state-of-the-art in the 1970s, by the late 1990s the facilities had started to look dated. In November 2005, Ellis and Aston Villa plc announced a state of the art GB£13 million redevelopment of Bodymoor in 2 phases. However, work on Bodymoor was suspended by Ellis due to financial problems, and was left in an unfinished state until new owner Randy Lerner made it one of his priorities to make the site one of the best in world football. The new training ground was officially unveiled on 6 May 2007, by current manager Martin O'Neill, then team captain Gareth Barry and 1982 European Cup winning team captain Dennis Mortimer, with the Aston Villa squad moving in for the 2007–08 season.

Panorama of Villa Park from the Trinity Road Stand, showing from left to right the North Stand, the Doug Ellis Stand and the Holte End.

Club ownership

The first shares in the club were issued towards the end of the 19th century as a result of legislation that was intended to codify the growing numbers of professional teams and players in the Association Football leagues. FA teams were required to distribute shares to investors as a way of facilitating trading amongst the teams without implicating the FA itself. This trading continued for much of the 20th century until Ellis started buying up many of the shares in the 1960s. He was chairman and substantial shareholder of "Aston Villa F.C." from 1968–1975 and the majority shareholder from 1982–2006. The club was floated on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in 1996, and the share price fluctuated in the ten years after the flotation. In 2006 it was announced that several consortia and individuals were considering bids for Aston Villa.

On 14 August 2006, it was confirmed that Randy Lerner, owner of the Cleveland Browns and native Ohioan had reached an agreement of GB£62.6 million with Aston Villa for a takeover of the club. A statement released on 25 August to the LSE announced that Lerner had secured 59.69% of Villa shares, making him the majority shareholder. He also appointed himself Chairman of the club. In Ellis's last year in charge Villa lost GB£8.2m before tax, compared with a GB£3m profit the previous year, and income had fallen from GB£51.6m to GB£49m. Randy Lerner took full control on 18 September as he had 89.69% of the shares. On 19 September 2006, Ellis and his board resigned to be replaced with a new board headed by Lerner. Lerner installed Charles Krulak as a Non-Executive Director and Ellis was awarded the honorary position of Chairman Emeritus.

Supporters and rivalries

See also: Birmingham derby

Aston Villa have a large fanbase and draw support from all over the Midlands and beyond, with supporters clubs all across the world. Former Villa chief executive Richard Fitzgerald has stated that the ethnicity of the supporters is currently 98% white. When Randy Lerner's regime took over at Villa Park, they aimed to improve the support from amongst ethnic minorities. A number of organisations have been set up to support the local community including Aston Pride. A Villa in the community programme has also been set up to encourage support amongst young people in the region. The new owners have also initiated several surveys aimed at gaining the opinions of Villa fans and to involve them in the decision making process. Meetings also occur every three months where supporters are invited by ballot and are invited to ask questions to the Board.

Like many English football clubs Aston Villa has had several hooligan firms associated with it: Villa Youth, Steamers, Villa Hardcore and the C-Crew, the latter being very active during the 1970s and 1980s. As can be seen across the whole of English football, the hooligan groups have now been marginalised. In 2004 several Villa firms were involved in a fight with QPR fans outside Villa Park in which a steward died. The main groupings of supporters can now be found in a number of domestic supporters' clubs. This includes the Official Aston Villa Supporters Club which also has many smaller regional and international sections. There were several independent supporters clubs during the reign of Doug Ellis but most of these disbanded after his retirement. The club's supporters also publish fanzines such as Heroes and Villains (football fanzine) and The Holy Trinity.

Aston Villa's arch-rivals are Birmingham City, with games between the two clubs known as the 'Second City Derby'. Historically though, West Bromwich Albion have arguably been Villa's greatest rivals, a view highlighted in a fan survey, conducted in 2003. The two teams contested three FA Cup finals in the late 19th century. Villa also enjoy less heated local rivalries with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Coventry City. Through the relegation of West Brom and Birmingham to The Championship in the 2005–06 season in the 2006–07 Premiership season Villa were the only Midlands club in that League. The nearest opposing team Villa faced during that season was Sheffield United, who played 62 miles (100 km) away in South Yorkshire. For the 2007–08 season Villa once again had two local derbies after Birmingham were promoted to the Premier League on 29 April 2007. Villa were victorious on the both occasions. Birmingham were relegated at the end of the 2007–08 season, as such, there was no Second City derby for the 2008–09 season. Both Birmingham and Wolverhampton gained promotion to the Premier League for the 2009–10 season and rivalries have been resumed.

Statistics

Main article: Aston Villa F.C. statistics and records

Chart showing the progress of Aston Villa F.C. through the English football league system from the inaugural season in 1888–89 to 2007–08 when Aston Villa came sixth in the Premier League

To date Aston Villa have spent 98 seasons in the top-flight, the only club to have spent longer in the top-flight is Everton with 105 seasons. As a result, Aston Villa versus Everton is the most played fixture in English top-flight football. Aston Villa are one of an elite group of seven clubs that has played in every Premiership season, with the other six being: Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. Aston Villa is fifth in the All-time FA Premier League table. Aston Villa has the fourth highest total of major honours won by an English club with 20 wins.

Aston Villa currently hold the record number of league goals scored by any team in the English top-flight; 128 goals were scored in the 1930–31 season. Villa legend Archie Hunter became the first player to score in every round of the FA Cup in Villa's victorious 1887 campaign, a feat which was matched by Michael Evans in 1977. Villa's longest unbeaten home run in the FA Cup spanned 13 years and 19 games, from 1888 to 1901.

Aston Villa are one of four English teams that have won the European Cup. They did so on 26 May 1982 in Rotterdam, beating Bayern Munich 1–0 thanks to Peter Withe's goal.

Club honours

For more information, see Aston Villa club honours

The Aston Villa team of 1896–97 with the First Division Championship and the FA Cup.

A black and white photograph showing two rows of people in front of a building; the front row are seated with a trophy in the middle on a box covered in a striped cloth; the rear row are standing.

The Aston Villa team of 1894–95 with the FA Cup.

Aston Villa have won European and domestic league honours. The club's last major honour was in 1996 when they won the League Cup.

European

• European Cup Winners 1:
  • 1982
• European Super Cup Winners 1:
  • 1982–83
• InterToto Cup Winners 1:
  • 2001

Domestic

League titles

• First Division Champions 7:^[A]
  • 1893–94, 1895–96, 1896–97, 1898–99, 1899–1900, 1909–10, 1980–81
• Second Division Champions 2:^[A]
  • 1937–38, 1959–60
• Third Division Champions 1:^[A]
  • 1971–72

Cups

• FA Cup Winners 7:
  • 1887, 1895, 1897, 1905, 1913, 1920, 1957
• League Cup Winners 5:
  • 1961, 1975, 1977, 1994, 1996
• Charity Shield Winners 1:
  • 1981 (shared)

Players

The Aston Villa starting line-up prior to a UEFA Europa League match away at Rapid Vienna in August 2009.

As of 26 January 2010.

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	USA	Brad Friedel
2	DF	ENG	Luke Young
4	MF	ENG	Steve Sidwell
5	DF	EIR	Richard Dunne
6	MF	ENG	Stewart Downing
7	MF	ENG	Ashley Young
8	MF	ENG	James Milner
10	FW	NOR	John Carew
11	FW	ENG	Gabriel Agbonlahor
12	MF	ENG	Marc Albrighton
14	FW	ENG	Nathan Delfouneso
15	DF	ENG	Curtis Davies
16	MF	ENG	Fabian Delph
17	MF	TOG	Moustapha Salifou
18	FW	ENG	Emile Heskey
19	MF	BUL	Stiliyan Petrov (captain)
20	MF	ENG	Nigel Reo-Coker (vice-captain)

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
21	DF	ENG	Nicky Shorey
22	GK	USA	Brad Guzan
23	DF	SEN	Habib Beye
24	DF	ESP	Carlos Cuéllar
25	DF	ENG	Stephen Warnock
27	MF	ENG	Isaiah Osbourne
29	DF	WAL	James Collins
42	FW	AUT	Andreas Weimann
43	GK	ENG	Elliot Parish
44	DF	USA	Eric Lichaj
45	DF	AUS	Shane Lowry
46	MF	SCO	Barry Bannan
47	DF	ENG	Ciaran Clark
48	DF	ENG	Nathan Baker
49	MF	AUS	Chris Herd
50	MF	ENG	Jonathan Hogg

Notable players

Main article: List of Aston Villa F.C. players

There have been many players who can be called notable throughout Aston Villa's history. These can be classified and recorded in several forms. The Halls of Fame and PFA Players of the Year are noted below. For all players with over 100 appearances for Aston Villa, see List of Aston Villa F.C. players and for those players that only played for Aston Villa see One-club man. Aston Villa have provided more England internationals than any other club, 69 to date, with the most recent being James Milner. In 1998, to celebrate the 100th season of League football, The Football League released a list entitled the Football League 100 Legends that consisted of "100 legendary football players." There were seven players included on the list who had played for Villa at some point: Danny Blanchflower, Trevor Ford, Archie Hunter, Sam Hardy, Paul McGrath, Peter Schmeichel and Clem Stephenson.

Three Aston Villa players have won the PFA Players' Player of the Year award. At the end of every English football season, the members of the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) vote on which of its members has played the best football in the previous year. In 1977 Andy Gray won the award. In 1990 it was awarded to David Platt, whilst Paul McGrath won it in 1993. The PFA Young Player of the Year, which is awarded to players under the age of 23, has been awarded to four players from Aston Villa: Andy Gray in 1977; Gary Shaw in 1981; Ashley Young in 2009 and James Milner in 2010. The National Football Museum in Preston, England administers the English Football Hall of Fame which currently contains two Villa teams, two Villa players and one manager. The 1890s team and 1982 team were inducted into the Hall of Fame in July 2009. Joe Mercer was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the same time for his career as a manager including his time at Aston Villa. The only two Villa players in the Hall of Fame are Danny Blanchflower and Peter Schmeichel.

In 2006 Aston Villa announced the creation of an "Aston Villa Hall of Fame." This was voted for by fans and to this date there has been one induction of 12 players in 2006.

• William McGregor
• George Ramsay
• Trevor Ford
• Eric Houghton

• Peter McParland
• Charlie Aitken
• Brian Little
• Ron Saunders^[B]

• Peter Withe
• Dennis Mortimer
• Gordon Cowans
• Paul McGrath

Management

Current management and coaching staff

As of 20 May 2010.

Aston Villa's manager Martin O'Neill, appointed in 2006.

Name	Nationality	Role
Martin O'Neill	Northern Ireland	Manager
John Robertson	Scotland	Assistant Manager
Steve Walford	England	First Team Coach
Kevin MacDonald	Scotland	Reserve Team Coach
Seamus McDonagh	Ireland	Goalkeeping Coach
Jim Henry	Scotland	Strength & Conditioning Coach
Roddy McDonald	England	Club Doctor
Alan Smith	England	Physiotherapist

Notable managers

Further information: List of Aston Villa F.C. managers

The following managers have all won at least one trophy when in charge or have been notable for Villa in the context of the League, for example Jozef Vengloš who holds a League record.

Name	Nationality	Period		Played	Win	Draw	Lose	Win%[C]	Honours
		From	To
George Ramsay	Scotland	August 1884	May 1926	1,327	658	414	255	049.59	6 FA Cups, 6 Division One championships. Also in 2006 was inducted into the Aston Villa Hall of Fame.
Jimmy Hogan	England	November 1936	September 1939	124	57	26	41	045.97	Division Two Champions
Eric Houghton	England	September 1953	November 1958	250	88	65	97	035.20	FA Cup winner. Also in 2006 was inducted into the Aston Villa Hall of Fame.
Joe Mercer	England	December 1958	July 1964	282	120	63	99	042.55	Division Two Champions, League Cup winner Inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame
Ron Saunders	England	June 1974	February 1982	353	157	98	98	044.48	2 League Cups, Division One champions. Also in 2006 was inducted into the Aston Villa Hall of Fame.
Tony Barton	England	February 1982	June 1984	130	58	24	48	044.62	European Cup, European Super Cup
Jozef Vengloš	Czechoslovakia	July 1990	May 1991	49	16	15	18	032.65	First manager not from Britain or Ireland to take charge of a top-flight club in England.
Ron Atkinson	England	July 1991	November 1994	178	77	45	56	043.26	League Cup winner
Brian Little	England	November 1994	February 1998	164	68	45	51	041.46	League Cup winner. Also in 2006 was inducted into the Aston Villa Hall of Fame.
John Gregory	England	February 1998	January 2002	190	82	52	56	043.16	Intertoto Cup winner

In popular culture

A number of television programmes have included references to Aston Villa over the past few decades. In the sitcom Porridge, the character Lennie Godber is a Villa supporter. In the first episode of Yes Minister Jim Hacker MP says he needs to get off early to watch Aston Villa play. However, in a later episode, he launches a campaign to save his local team, the fictional "Aston Wanderers". When filming began on Dad's Army, Villa fan, Ian Lavender was allowed to choose Frank Pike's scarf from an array in the BBC wardrobe, he chose a claret and blue one—Aston Villa's colours. The character, Nessa in the BBC sitcom Gavin and Stacey was revealed as an Aston Villa fan in the episode screened on 10 December 2009.

Aston Villa has also featured on several occasions in prose. Joseph Gallivan's book "Oi, Ref" is about a referee who is a Villa fan who conspires to turn an FA Cup Semi-Final in his team's favour. Stanley Woolley, a character in Derek Robinson's Booker shortlisted novel Goshawk Squadron is an Aston Villa fan and names a pre-war starting eleven Villa side. Together with The Oval, Villa Park is referenced by the poet Philip Larkin in his poem about the First World War, MCMXIV.

Footnotes

A. ^ Up until 1992, the top division of English football was the Football League First Division. The Premier League took over from the First Division as the top tier of the English football league system upon its formation in 1992. The First Division then became the second tier of English football, the Second Division became the third tier, and so on. The First Division is now known as the Football League Championship, while the Second Division is now known as Football League One.

B ^ Saunders was never a player for Aston Villa; he was the manager from 1974 to 1982.

C ^ Win% is rounded to two decimal places

References

Specific

General

• Brown, Danny (2006). Villains: The Inside Story of Aston Villa's Hooligan Gangs. Milo Books. ISBN 978-1903854594. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Goodyear, David (1988). Aston Villa—A Complete Record 1874–1988. Breedon Books. ISBN 0907969372. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Hayes, Dean. The Villa Park Encyclopedia: A-Z of Aston Villa. Mainstream Publishing (2 October 1997). ISBN 978-1851589593.
• Ward, Adam. The essential history of Aston Villa. Headline book publishing (2002). ISBN 075531140X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

External links

• Official Aston Villa website
• Aston Villa: From the Fans' Perspective
• Heroes and Villains Fanzine
• H&V Back-Up Site
• Aston Villa News – Sky Sports
• Aston Villa F.C. on BBC Sport: Club news – Recent results and fixtures
• Comprehensive Aston Villa Player database
• Aston Villa Match Results and Team Line-ups. 1879–present
• Aston Villa Statistics