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| Full name | Aston Villa Football Club | ||
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| Nickname(s) | The Villa, Villans, Lions, The Claret and Blue | ||
| Short name | Villa | ||
| Founded | March 1874[1] | ||
| Ground | Villa Park[2] (Capacity: 42,788[3]) |
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| Owner | Reform Acquisitions LLC | ||
| Chairman | Randy Lerner | ||
| Manager | Alex McLeish | ||
| League | Premier League | ||
| 2010–11 | Premier League, 9th | ||
| Website | Club home page | ||
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/ˈæstən ˈvɪllə/; also known as Villa, The Villa, The Villans and The Lions)[4] is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder members of the Premier League in 1992, and have remained there ever since.[5] The club was floated by the previous owner and chairman Doug Ellis, but in 2006 full control of the club was acquired by Randy Lerner.They are one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in England, having won the First Division Championship seven times and the FA Cup seven times.[6] Villa also won the 1981–82 European Cup, one of only four English clubs to win what is now the UEFA Champions League.[7] Aston Villa has the fourth highest total of major honours won by an English club.[6] They have a fierce local rivalry with Birmingham City. The Second City derby between Aston Villa and Birmingham City has been played since 1879.[8] The club's traditional kit colours are claret shirts with sky blue sleeves, white shorts and sky blue socks. Their traditional badge is of a rampant gold lion on a light blue background with the club's motto "Prepared" underneath; a modified version of this was adopted in 2007.[9]
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History
For more details on this topic, see History of Aston Villa F.C. (1874–1961) and History of Aston Villa F.C. (1961–present)
Aston Villa won their sixth FA Cup in 1920, soon after though the club began a slow decline that led to Villa, at the time one of the most famous and successful clubs in world football, being relegated in 1936 for the first time to the Second Division. This was largely the result of a dismal defensive record: they conceded 110 goals in 42 games, 7 of them coming from Arsenal's Ted Drake in an infamous 1–7 defeat at Villa Park.[16] Like all English clubs, Villa lost seven seasons to the Second World War, and that conflict brought several careers to a premature end.[17] The team was rebuilt under the guidance of former player Alex Massie for the remainder of the 1940s. Aston Villa's first trophy for 37 years came in the 1956–57 season when another former Villa player, Eric Houghton led the club to a then record seventh FA Cup Final win, defeating the 'Busby Babes' of Manchester United in the final.[18] The team struggled in the league though and were relegated two seasons later, due in large part to complacency. However, under the stewardship of manager Joe Mercer Villa returned to the top-flight in 1960 as Second Division Champions. The following season Aston Villa became the first team to win the Football League Cup.[19]
Mercer's forced retirement from the club in 1964 signalled a period of deep turmoil. The most successful club in England was struggling to keep pace with changes in the modern game, with Villa being relegated for the third time, under manager Dick Taylor in 1967. The following season the fans called for the board to resign as Villa finished 16th in the Second Division. With mounting debts and Villa lying at the bottom of Division Two, the board sacked Cummings (the manager brought in to replace Taylor), and within weeks the entire board resigned under overwhelming pressure from fans.[20] After much speculation, control of the club was bought by London financier Pat Matthews, who also brought in Doug Ellis as chairman.[20] However, new ownership could not prevent Villa being relegated to the Third Division for the first time at the end of the 1969–70 season. However, Villa gradually began to recover under the management of former club captain Vic Crowe. In the 1971–72 season they returned to the Second Division as Champions with a record 70 points.[21] In 1974 Ron Saunders was appointed manager. His brand of no-nonsense man-management proved effective, with the club winning the League Cup the following season and, at the end of season 1974–75, he had taken them back into the First Division and into Europe.[22]
Villa were one of the founding members of the Premier League in 1992, and finished runners-up to Manchester United in the inaugural season. For the rest of the Nineties however Villa went through three different managers and their league positions were inconsistent, although they did win two League Cups and regularly achieved UEFA Cup qualification. Villa reached the FA Cup final in 2000 but lost 1–0 to Chelsea in the last game to be played at the old Wembley Stadium.[25][26] Again Villa's league position continued to fluctuate under several different managers and things came to a head in the summer of 2006 when David O'Leary left in acrimony.[27] After 23 years as chairman and single biggest shareholder (approximately 38%), Ellis finally decided to sell his stake in Aston Villa due to ill-health. After much speculation it was announced the club was to be bought by American businessman Randy Lerner, owner of NFL franchise the Cleveland Browns.[28] The arrival of a new owner and of manager Martin O'Neill marked the start of a new period of optimism at Villa Park and sweeping changes occurred throughout the club including a new badge, a new kit sponsor and team changes in the summer of 2007.[9][29] The first Cup final of the Lerner era came in 2010 when Villa were beaten 2–1 in the League Cup Final.[30] Villa made a second trip to Wembley in that season losing 3–0 to Chelsea in the FA Cup semifinal. Just five days before the opening day of the 2010–11 season, O'Neill resigned as manager with immediate effect.[31] Reserve team manager Kevin MacDonald took over as caretaker manager,[32] before the club appointed Gérard Houllier as permanent manager in September 2010.[33] Houllier stepped down on 1 June 2011,[34] and was replaced by Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish, despite numerous protests from fans against his appointment. This was the first time that a manager had moved directly from Birmingham to Villa.[35]
On 28 February 2012, the club announced a financial loss of £53.9 million.[36]
Colours and badge
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| “ | (i) Proposed and seconded that the colours be chocolate and sky blue shirts and that we order two dozen. (ii) Proposed and seconded that Mr McGregor be requested to supply them at the lowest quotation. | ” |
A new badge was revealed in May 2007, for the 2007–08 season and beyond. The new badge includes a star to represent the European Cup win in 1982, and has a light blue background behind Villa's 'lion rampant'. The traditional motto "Prepared" remains in the badge, and the name Aston Villa has been shortened to AVFC, FC having been omitted from the previous badge. The lion is now unified as opposed to fragmented lions of the past. Randy Lerner petitioned fans to help with the design of the new badge.[9] On 2 June 2008 it was announced that Aston Villa would forgo commercial kit sponsorship for the 2008–09 season; instead they would advertise the charity Acorns Children's Hospice, the first deal of its kind in Premiership history.[38] The partnership continued until 2010 when a commercial sponsor replaced Acorns, with the hospice becoming the club's Official Charity Partner.[39]
Kit
| Year | Kit Manufacturer | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|
| 1972–81 | Umbro | none |
| 1981–82 | le Coq Sportif | |
| 1982–83 | Davenports | |
| 1983–87 | Henson | Mita |
| 1987–90 | Hummel | Mita Copiers |
| 1990–93 | Umbro | |
| 1993–95 | Asics | Müller |
| 1995–98 | Reebok | AST Computer |
| 1998–2000 | LDV | |
| 2000–02 | Diadora | NTL |
| 2002–04 | Rover | |
| 2004–06 | Hummel | DWS Investments |
| 2006–07 | 32Red.com | |
| 2007–08 | Nike | |
| 2008–10 | Acorns | |
| 2010–11 | FxPro | |
| 2011–12 | Genting Casinos | |
| From June 2012 | Macron[40] |
Stadium
Main article: Villa Park
Aston Villa's current home venue is Villa Park, which is a UEFA 5-star rated stadium,
having previously played at Aston Park (1874–1876) and Perry Barr
(1876–1897). Villa Park is the largest football stadium in the English
Midlands, and the eighth largest stadium in England. It has hosted 16
England internationals at senior level, the first in 1899, and the most
recent in 2005. Thus, it was the first English ground to stage
international football in three different centuries.[41]
Villa Park is the most used stadium in FA Cup semi-final history,
having hosted 55 semi-finals. The Club have planning permission to
extend the North Stand; This will involve the 'filling in' of the
corners to either side of the North Stand. If completed, the capacity of
Villa Park will be increased to approximately 51,000.The current training ground is located at Bodymoor Heath in north Warwickshire, the site for which was purchased by former chairman Doug Ellis in the early 1970s from a local farmer. Although Bodymoor Heath was state-of-the-art in the 1970s, by the late 1990s the facilities had started to look dated. In November 2005, Ellis and Aston Villa plc announced a state of the art GB£13 million redevelopment of Bodymoor in two phases. However, work on Bodymoor was suspended by Ellis due to financial problems, and was left in an unfinished state until new owner Randy Lerner made it one of his priorities to make the site one of the best in world football. The new training ground was officially unveiled on 6 May 2007, by then manager Martin O'Neill, then team captain Gareth Barry and 1982 European Cup winning team captain Dennis Mortimer, with the Aston Villa squad moving in for the 2007–08 season.[42]
Ownership
On 14 August 2006, it was confirmed that Randy Lerner, owner of the National Football League's Cleveland Browns, had reached an agreement of £62.6 million with Aston Villa for a takeover of the club. A statement released on 25 August to the LSE announced that Lerner had secured 59.69% of Villa shares, making him the majority shareholder. He also appointed himself Chairman of the club.[45] In Ellis's last year in charge Villa lost £8.2m before tax, compared with a £3m profit the previous year, and income had fallen from £51.6m to £49m.[44] Lerner took full control on 18 September, as he had 89.69% of the shares. On 19 September 2006, Ellis and his board resigned to be replaced with a new board headed by Lerner.[44] Lerner installed Charles Krulak as a non-executive director and Ellis was awarded the honorary position of Chairman Emeritus.
Social responsibility
Aston Villa has a unique relationship with the Acorns Children's Hospice charity that is groundbreaking in English football.[46] In a first for the Premier League, Aston Villa donated the front of the shirt on their kit, usually reserved for high-paying sponsorships, to Acorns Hospice so that the charity would gain significant additional visibility and greater fund raising capabilities.[47] Outside of the shirt sponsorship the club have paid for almost 300 national days of hospice care for the charity as well as regularly providing player visits to hospice locations.[48][citation needed]In September 2010, Aston Villa launched an initiative at Villa Park called Villa Midlands Food (VMF) where the club will spend two years training students with Aston Villa Hospitality and Events in association with Birmingham City Council. The club will open a restaurant in the Trinity Road Stand staffed with 12 students recruited from within a ten-mile (16 km) radius of Villa Park with the majority of the food served in the restaurant sourced locally.[49]
Supporters and rivalries
See also: Second City derby
Aston Villa have a large fanbase and draw support from all over the Midlands
and beyond, with supporters clubs all across the world. Former Villa
chief executive Richard Fitzgerald has stated that the ethnicity of the
supporters is currently 98% white. When Randy Lerner's regime took over
at Villa Park, they aimed to improve their support from ethnic
minorities. A number of organisations have been set up to support the
local community including Aston Pride.[50] A Villa in the Community programme has also been set up to encourage support among young people in the region.[51]
The new owners have also initiated several surveys aimed at gaining the
opinions of Villa fans and to involve them in the decision making
process. Meetings also occur every three months where supporters are
invited by ballot and are invited to ask questions to the Board.[52]
In March 2011, the club supported a supporter-based initiative for an
official anthem in order to boost the atmosphere at Villa Park. The song
"the Bell's Are Ringing" is to be played before and after games.[citation needed]Like many English football clubs Aston Villa has had several hooligan firms associated with it: Villa Youth, Steamers, Villa Hardcore and the C-Crew, the last mentioned being very active during the 1970s and 1980s. As can be seen across the whole of English football, the hooligan groups have now been marginalised.[53] In 2004 several Villa firms were involved in a fight with QPR fans outside Villa Park in which a steward died.[54] The main groupings of supporters can now be found in a number of domestic and international supporters' clubs. This includes the Official Aston Villa Supporters Club which also has many smaller regional and international sections.[55] There were several independent supporters clubs during the reign of Doug Ellis but most of these disbanded after his retirement.[45] The club's supporters also publish fanzines such as Heroes and Villains and The Holy Trinity.
Aston Villa's arch-rivals are Birmingham City, with games between the two clubs known as the Second City Derby.[8] Historically though, West Bromwich Albion have arguably been Villa's greatest rivals, a view highlighted in a fan survey, conducted in 2003.[56] The two teams contested three FA Cup finals in the late 19th century. Villa also enjoy less heated local rivalries with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Coventry City. Through the relegation of West Brom and Birmingham to The Championship in the 2005–06 season in the 2006–07 Premiership season Villa were the only Midlands club in that League. The nearest opposing team Villa faced during that season was Sheffield United, who played 62 miles (100 km) away in South Yorkshire.[57] For the 2010–11 season, West Bromwich Albion were promoted and joined Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Birmingham City in the Premier League. This marked the first time that the "West Midlands' Big Four" clubs have been in the Premier League at the same time, and the first time together in the top flight since the 1983–84 season. However, Birmingham were once again relegated at the end of the 2010–11 season, meaning they would be playing Championship football the next season.[58] Therefore Villa will only have West Midlands derbies against West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers during the 2011–12 season.
Statistics
Main article: List of Aston Villa F.C. records and statistics
Aston Villa currently hold the record number of league goals scored by any team in the English top flight; 128 goals were scored in the 1930–31 season.[60] Villa legend Archie Hunter became the first player to score in every round of the FA Cup in Villa's victorious 1887 campaign. Villa's longest unbeaten home run in the FA Cup spanned 13 years and 19 games, from 1888 to 1901.[61]
Aston Villa are one of four English teams to have won the European Cup. They did so on 26 May 1982 in Rotterdam, beating Bayern Munich 1–0 thanks to Peter Withe's goal.[62]
Club honours
- For more information, see Aston Villa club honours
European
Domestic
- League titles
- Cups
- FA Cup 7:
- League Cup 5:
- FA Charity Shield/FA Community Shield 1:
- Football League War Cup 1:
- 1944 (shared)
- Other sports
- English Baseball Championship
- 1890[64]
Players
Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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