Villa’s boys of 1982 are immortal in hearts of the fans
Saunders himself was direct to the point of being brutal and in no doubt as to his own genius
Thomas Tuchel added his weight to Pep Guardiola’s Liverpool conspiracy theories this weekend, agreeing that “there are huge sympathies for Liverpool. I feel that as well, in the whole country”. Hard to feel too sorry for either manager, given his club’s ownership and megabucks, although perhaps it is true that Liverpool get a disproportionate amount of attention and generous coverage.
But of the big and historically successful clubs, there is one side that could surely claim to be the antiliverpool in this regard.
I speak of the seven-time First Division winners, seven-time FA Cup winners, and former European Champions, Aston Villa.
For a club of their heft, Villa do seem to get thin treatment and a small amount of coverage – both current and retrospective. Perhaps it’s something to do with the city of Birmingham, which itself seems to fly under the national radar, relative to its size at least. In football, it seems that hardly a month goes by without a film or TV doc about Sir Matt Busby, the Anfield Boot Room, Fergie or Arsenal’s various league wins, but a programme about the Villa is a rare butterfly indeed.
And so I am pretty certain that anyone with claret and blue in their heart will be cheered by BT Sport this week, with a film that looks at their 1982 European Cup glory.
It is presented by Mark Williams, the comedian from The Fast Show who is himself a Villa fan, and it is a thorough and affectionate look at one of British football’s greatest triumphs.
I will confess that I did not know much about Ron Saunders, the manager who built 1970s Villa into a formidable, defensively mean, winning machine.
Former players Allan Evans and Kenny Swain describe him as “a disciplinarian” who had “full courage of his convictions”. Gordon Cowans says that Saunders made them run up hills until they were sick. Saunders himself was direct to the point of being brutal and, based on the archive interviews with the likes of Jim Rosenthal, in no doubt as to his own genius. He clearly did not suffer fools in general – specifically fools in the directors’ box. He fought running battles with the club ownership and was eventually relieved of his duties during Villa’s run to the European Cup.
“I have left Villa in a very good position,” Saunders said modestly. “It will take something like nine to 12 months to wreck it even if they put an idiot in charge because everything is in its place and so well-run.”
After a fat pope, a thin pope, as the Italians say, and Saunders’ replacement, who was promoted from within, could hardly have been more different.
Tony Barton was mild-mannered and self-effacing; indeed, he was so unobtrusive that the match-day programme for the final against Bayern Munich did not even mention his name, and they mistakenly used a picture of Saunders as the Villa manager.
Again, you’d have to think that Dennis Mortimer, Tony Morley et al would be household names even today had they played for, as Pep Guardiola might suggest, Liverpool or such.
Only Peter Withe, who pops up at the end of the film to insist that he definitely struck the winner against Bayern cleanly, and didn’t shin it as his team-mates continue to tease him that he did, is particularly well known.
Still, does fame really matter? Villa’s 1981 and 1982 sides will be immortal in the hearts of their devotees.
They seem like an excellent bunch as well, and there is a strong sense of camaraderie between them, a band of brothers. My only complaint is that the programme didn’t feature the former Fast Show man reprising one of his most loved sketches, and staring into the camera as the character Patrick Nice to say in self-satisfied style: “And then we won the European Cup. Which was nice.”
Super Villans (Wed, 10.30pm, on BT Sport 1)