Fans want to see stand renamed after ex-boss

ASTON Villa fans have called for the club to rename a stand at Villa Park in honour of legendary former manager Ron Saunders.

The club has been considering a redevelopment of the North Stand for several years.

“When the North Stand is redeveloped it should be the Ron Saunders Stand,” said fan Ade Bowley, 52, and from Erdington.

“I was a bit teary when I read about him. I was 14 when we won the League. As a teenage lad seven or eight of us used to go every week. We saw the glory days when we were kids and Ron was part of that. It feels like I’ve lost a part of the family, to be honest.

“It’s just insane that we won the League with 14 players. That will never be repeated.”

Tony Barton was in charge on that historic night in Rotterdam in the 1982 European Cup final, but Saunders is remembered by fans as the manager who assembled the team crowned champions of Europe.

“I wouldn’t mind if they renamed the North Stand the Ron Saunders Stand because he’s been great for the club,” said Nathan Burns, 50, from Solihull. “He was slightly before my time, but I remember us winning the European Cup and him building the team before that. That’s when I really started following the Villa. If we’d have kept him, God knows what would have happened.

“Tony Barton did a good job, but it was Ron Saunders who built the team.”

Steve Lilly, 52, from Great Barr, said: “He really is the first manager I remember as a kid coming to the Villa – he worked wonders for us. He got us the League Cup and basically got the team the European Cup as well.”

Villa fan Ricky Beard described Saunders’ passing as “really sad”.

“He’s massive here. What he did for this club is just phenomenal really,” said the 38-year-old from Smethwick. “That’s why he’s a legend in his own right.”