THRILLA IN
Three decades on from McGrath’s finest days
THE 30th anniversary falls on Monday, hard to believe because it still looks so fresh and familiar.
That’s because we’ve seen clips of Dalian Atkinson’s winner for Aston Villa in a 3-2 victory away to Wimbledon on October 3, 1992 so many times since then.
It ended up getting the Goal of the Season award — and few argued with the decision.
It was a particularly significant accolade for Dalian Atkinson as it was the very first Premier League season.
Villa were managed by Ron Atkinson then and he’d taken them to seventh in the previous campaign, steadying the ship after it listed under Jozef Venglos.
There was no transfer window back then, so the manager signed Dean Saunders from Liverpool in September, 1992, pairing him with Dalian Atkinson up front.
From there, Villa’s season caught fire.
The Saunders/ Atkinson partnership clicked immediately and the latter’s goal against Wimbledon made the whole of English football sit up and take notice.
There seemed little danger when Dalian Atkinson collected the ball in his own half and then burst forward.
Saunders moved wide to give him an outlet, but his partner didn’t need one.
After beating two Wimbledon players, he sent the most precise of chips over the desperate dive of Hans Segers.
A sensational goal that stands the test of time.
Coverage
It was the kind of ‘wow moment’ that the brave new dawn ushered in back in 1992 needed. Television coverage was jazzed up with hype, hoopla, bells and whistles. Players’ wages went through the roof and footballers crossed the line from being sportsmen to true celebrity status.
That season ended with Manchester United as champions but look at the final table and read the story of that campaign and it becomes clear we were in a different world.
Villa ended up second, with Norwich third. For much of the season, there was a hotly-contested three-way title race.
It’s unimaginable that United, Villa and Norwich would be involved in anything like that in the future.
Of today’s big guns, Liverpool finished highest — in sixth spot. Manchester City were ninth, Arsenal 10th and Chelsea 11th.
Ron Atkinson had history with United, as he was sacked in 1986 to make way for the appointment of Alex Ferguson.
Some fans felt maybe that fuelled his tone at the business end of that season.
Season
Maybe it was fuelled too by a 1-0 win over United, with Dalian Atkinson scoring. The Villa boss publicly questioned United’s bottle, pointing out how they’d let Leeds United pip them to the title the previous season.
But an injury to his namesake played a significant part in de