Aston Villa History

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Description

Name: Aston Villa Football Club
Nick names: The Villa, The Villans, The Lions and asto villa
League: Premier League
Stadium: Villa Park
Founded: 1874
Manager: Martin O'Neill
 

 
 
Aston Villa Profile
 
Created on: 5/22/2008
 
By: dank
 
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History

The Aston Villa Soccer Club, better known as the Villa and the Villans, is a professional soccer club based in Aston, Birmingham. The club which was founded in 1874 has played at the home ground since 1897. The club was also the founding members of the Football League in 1888 and the Premier League in 1992. The club happens to be one of the most successful clubs in England and have won the FA Cup seven times and the First Division Championship seven times. The club is one among the four English clubs to have won the European Cup in 1982.

Having being formed in March 1874, Aston Villa's debut match was with Aston Brook St Mary's, a local Rugby team. The most interesting feature about this match was that the first half of the game was played under football rules and the next half was played under rugby rules. Gradually, the squad got transformed into the best teams in the Midlands by winning the Birmingham Senior Cup that represented their first honor in 1880. In 1887, Aston Villa won their first FA Cup under the guidance of the captain Archie Hunter. The team also competed at the inaugural Football League in the year 1888 and with several League titles to their credit; they emerged out as the most successful English club of the Victorian soccer history.

In 1920, they won the FA Cup for the sixth time. But after 1920, the club performance deteriorated and their team rankings started to decline. In 1936, the club that was once known to be the most famous clubs was relegated to the second division. The demotion was due to their depressive performance record and the infamous 1-7 defeat against Arsenal's Ted Drake at Villa Park. Also, with the outbreak of the Second World War several careers came to an exit by the conflict caused. However, during 1940s under the leadership of Alex Massie, a former player the club went about rebuilding the team. After 37 years, Aston Villa won their first trophy, the FA Cup in the 1956–57 seasons, in the final match against Manchester United. Yet in 1958-59 the team was again relegated but this phase soon vanished as the team bounced back in the football circuit by winning the Second Division Championship and the inaugural League Cup.

The year 1960 was a period of complete hardship at the club which brought about few managerial changes and takeovers. The Villa was again demoted in 1967 for the third time and the subsequent season they finished 16th in the Second Division. Due to its continuous bad play, the board sacked the current manager and the club control was given to Pat Matthews and Doug Ellis. However by the end of 1969–70 seasons, Aston Villa was again relegated to the Third Division. During 1971-72, with a record of 70 points, they emerged out as Second Division Champions. By 1980s, Aston Villa was back among the top clubs and continued with their achievements under Saunders. Much to the surprise of millions of fans and supporters, Saunders quit his job during the quarter finals of the European Cup after having differences with the club chairman. But thanks to the efforts of Tony Barton, the assistant manager directed the team to a victory in the European Cup finals against Bayern Munich in 1982. 

 
 
Aston Villa vs Bayern Munich
 
Created on: 5/22/2008
 
By: dank
 
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1982,  
Final,  
 

To this day, Villa remains one of only four English teams including Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Liverpool who have won the European Cup. The team got promoted and achieved second place in the football League in 1989. Aston Villa was among the founding members of the Premier League and in the inaugural season in 1992 they finished runners-up to Manchester United. In the 1990s, though the club had three different managers who led to the victory of League Cups, they had quite inconsistent track record. In 2000, though the club reached the FA Cup finals, they were defeated against Chelsea by 1-0 at the Wembley Stadium.

The team’s position began to fluctuate under the guidance of several managers and things came to a halt in summer 2006. With the arrival of Martin O'Neill, the club made up its mind to sell Aston Villa to Randy Lerner who owned NFL franchise, the Cleveland Browns. The arrival of a new owner and manager began a new period of bright fortune at Villa Park and a lot of changes occurred including a new crest, a new kit sponsor and team changes in the summer of 2007.

 
 
Villa Kit
 
Created on: 5/22/2008
 
By: dank
 
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Recent Events

1992-93 – Premier League runner - up.
1993-94 – Win the League cup.
1994-95 - Brian Little replaces Ron Atkinson as manager.
1995-96- Win the league cup.
1997-98 – John Gregory replaces Brain Little.
1999-00 – Lose FA Cup Final.
2001-02 – Gregory quits in January and former manager Graham Taylor takes over.
2002-03 – David O’Leary replaces Taylor in May.
2005-06 – At the end of the season O’Larry leaves. Randy Learner buys a majority share in the Club. Martin O’Neill appointed new manager.
2006-07 – Sign Ashley Young from Watford for a club record of £ 9.65 million.
2007-08 – Sign Nigel Reo - Coker and Marlon Harewood from West ham united and Zat Knight from Fulam.



 

Statistics and Honours

European
1 UEFA Champions League Winners (1982)
1 European Super Cup Winners (1982–83)
1 InterToto Cup Winners 1 (2001)

Domestic
7 First Division Champions League titles ( 1893–94, 1895–96, 1896–97, 1898–99, 1899–1900, 1909–10, 1980–81)
2 Second Division Champions League titles (1937–38, 1959–60)
1 Third Division Champions (1971–72)

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


Squad
NamePositionGrade FansGroups
Gabriel Imuetinyan Agbonlahor
Offense
106
 0
Ashley Simon Young
Midfield
136
 0
Nigel Shola Andre Reo-Coker
Midfield
15
 0
Emile William Ivanhoe Heskey
Offense
27
 0
Bradley Howard Friedel
Goal
31
 0
James Michael Collins
Defense
5
 0
Stewart Downing
Midfield
18
 0
Richard Dunne
Defense
44
 0
Carlos Javier Cuéllar Jiménez
Defense
17
 0
Marc Albrighton
Midfield
3
 0
Nathan Delfouneso
Offense
5
 0
Ciaran Clark
Defense
1
 0
Last edited by:
On: August 17, 2009
Version: 13