History

Aston Villa Football Club was formed in 1874 by members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel in Aston, Birmingham. Members of the Aston Villa cricket team were looking for a way to stay fit during the winter months and decided to adopt the new sport of football. Little did they know that the team they formed would go on to become the most famous and admired football club in the world by the end of Queen Victoria's reign.

The club won its first FA Cup in 1887, by which time football had become professional. However, a Scottish draper and director of Aston Villa, William McGregor wanted his club to compete in a league much like American baseball teams did. So he wrote to the 12 leading clubs in England proposing the formation of a league. The reason the Football League was never called the English League is because McGregor intended Scottish and Welsh teams to join eventually. Naturally, Aston Villa were one of the dozen teams that competed in the inaugural Football League in 1888 finishing runners-up. By 1920 Villa had won the League Championship and FA Cup six times each. However the club did not win another major trophy until 1957, when it again won the FA Cup. In more recent times, Aston Villa have won the League Cup twice in the 1990s (1994 and 1996) and as well as runners-up in the old First Division/new Premier League (1989-1990 and 1992-1993 seasons).

The club colours are Claret top with Sky blue sleeves, White shorts with claret and blue trim, Sky blue socks with claret and white trim. They were the original wearers of these famous colours and due mainly to their success in the early years of the football league, other teams, most notably West Ham and Burnley, adopted the same club colours.

Aston Villa's current home venue is Villa Park having previously played at Aston Park (1873-1876) and Perry Barr (1876-1897). They have a training ground at Bodymoor Heath in north Warwickshire.

Aston Villa is one of four English football teams that have won the European Champions Cup. They did so in 1982 on 26th of May in Rotterdam, beating Bayern Munich 1-0 thanks to Peter Withe's 67th minute goal.

Villa Park, Birmingham, England

Honours

European Cup
1982
European Super Cup
1983
Inter-Toto Cup
2001
FA Cup
1887, 1895, 1897, 1905, 1913, 1920, 1957
League Cup
1961, 1975, 1977, 1994, 1996
First Division Champions
1893-1894, 1895-1896, 1896-1897, 1898-1899, 1899-1900, 1909-1910, 1980-1981
Second Division Champions
1937-1938, 1959-1960
Third Division Champions
1971-1972
FA Youth Cup 1972, 1980, 2002

Managers

Aug 1884 - May 1926: George Ramsay
August 1926 - May 1934: W J Smith
June 1934 - October 1935: Jimmy McMullan
November 1936 - September 1939: Jimmy Hogan
August 1945 - August 1950: Alex Massie
December 1950 - August 1953: George Martin
September 1953 - November 1958: Eric Houghton
December 1958 - July 1964: Joe Mercer
July 1964 - May 1967: Dick Taylor
July 1967 - November 1968: Tommy Cummings
December 1968 - January 1970: Tommy Docherty
January 1970 - May 1974: Vic Crowe
June 1974 - February 1982: Ron Saunders
February 1982 - June 1984: Tony Barton
July 1984 - September 1986: Graham Turner
September 1986 - May 1987: Billy McNeill
May 1987 - July 1990: Graham Taylor
July 1990 - May 1991: Jozef Venglos
July 1991 - November 1994: Ron Atkinson
November 1994 - February 1998: Brian Little
February 1998 - January 2002: John Gregory
January 2002 - February 2002: Stuart Gray
January 2002 - February 2002: John Deehan
February 2002 - May 2003: Graham Taylor
May 2003 - Present : David O'Leary

Notable Players

Charlie Aitken (Defender)
Charlie Athersmith (Winger)
Juan Pablo Angel (Forward)
Dalian Atkinson (Forward)
Gareth Barry (Midfielder)
Gordon Cowans (Midfielder)
James Cowan (Midfielder)
Tony Daley (Midfielder)
John Devey (Forward)
Johnny Dixon (Forward)
Dion Dublin (Forward)
Ugo Ehiogu (Defender)
Trevor Ford (Forward)
Andy Gray (Forward)
Harry Hampton (Forward)
Sam Hardy (Goalkeeper)
Gerry Hitchens (Forward)
Eric Houghton (Winger)
Archie Hunter (Forward)
David James (Goalkeeper)
Brian Little (Forward)
Paul McGrath (Defender)
Peter McParland (Forward)
Olof Mellberg (Defender)
Paul Merson (Midfielder)
Tony Morley (Midfielder)
Dennis Mortimer (Midfielder)
David Platt (Midfielder)
George Ramsay (Forward)
Gareth Southgate (Defender)
Howard Spencer (Defender)
Nigel Spink (Goalkeeper)
Steve Staunton (Defender)
Darius Vassell (Forward)
Billy Walker (Forward)
Tom 'Pongo' Waring (Forward)
Guy Whittingham (Forward)
Peter Withe (Forward)
Dwight Yorke (Forward)

External Links:

Official Aston Villa website
list of media articles concerning Aston Villa
4thegame.com's Aston Villa page

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