Aston Villa's 1974-75 season

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Season 86 | 1974-75

1975-76->

The Story of 1974-75

17 August 1974, Villa 1-1 York, Bootham Crescent.

Villa have a late Chris Nicholl goal disallowed much to the chagrin of new boss Ron Saunders as they open their second division campaign with a draw at Bootham Crescent.

20 August 1974, Villa 1-1 Hull, Boothferry Park.

Villa recover from a poor first half showing to earn a second successive away point in Yorkshire.

24 August 1974, Villa 1-1 Norwich, Villa Park.

Villa draw for the third successive game as Ron Saunders’ leads the team for the first time at Villa Park but despite being winless Villa sit joint seventh in the early second division table.

28 August 1974, Villa 6-0 Hull, Villa Park.

Villa survive another below par first half and the loss from the field of play of John Gidman for five minutes as Sammy Morgan hands them the lead before the interval. The second half starts with a poor refereeing decision as Morgan has a second disallowed and that seems to motivate a previously shot shy Villa to destroy Hull and record their first win of the season and first win under Ron Saunders in fine style - hitting five second half goals to beat Hull 6-0.

31 August 1974, Villa 0-1 Bolton, Burnden Park.

Villa lose for the first time under Ron Saunders as they are beaten at Burnden but remain fourth in the early second division table.

7 September 1974, Villa 3-1 Orient, Villa Park.

Villa recover from their first defeat of the season to steamroller Orient at Villa Park but although they miss out on another goal-fest they climb to 3rd in the second division table under new boss Ron Saunders.

11 September 1974, League Cup, Villa 1-1 Everton, Villa Park.

Villa earn a creditable draw against first expensively assembled first division Everton in the League Cup second round at Villa Park ahead of a Goodison Park replay.

14 September 1974, Villa 0-2 Bristol Rovers, Eastville Stadium.

Villa lose for the second time under Ron Saunders as they are beaten at Eastville to fall back to 6th in the table ahead of their League Cup replay at Goodison.

18 September 1974, League Cup, Villa 3-0 Everton, Goodison Park.

Villa dispatch first division Everton with surprising ease in the League Cup second round replay at Goodison as Frank Carrodus scored his first for the club.

21 September 1974, Villa 3-0 Millwall, Villa Park.

Villa record successive 3-0 victories and climb back to 5th in the second division table as Millwall become the fourth side in seven matches to concede three or more against Ron Saunders' team.

28 September 1974, Villa 0-0 Southampton, The Dell.

Villa drop back to seventh in the table as they are held to a goalless draw at the Dell.

2 October 1974, Villa 3-0 Forest, Villa Park.

Forest become the latest Villa goal victims as they are the fifth side in eight matches to concede three of more goals against Ron Saunders' side who now need to take their home form on the road to mount a strong title challenge and promotion bid.

5 October 1974, Villa 2-1 Oldham, Boundary Park.

Villa record their first away League win of the campaign thanks to Ray Graydon’s 11th goal of the season despite having John Gidman sent off and a furore erupting between Ron Saunders and Oldham’s Alan Groves. Despite the distractions Villa climb back to fourth in the second division table four points off leaders Manchester United after 11 games.

9 October 1974, League Cup, Villa 2-2 Crewe, Gresty Road.

Villa are held at Gresty Road in the third round of the League Cup by fourth division side Crewe ahead of a Villa Park replay.

12 October 1974, Villa 1-0 Blackpool, Villa Park.

Villa record a fifth successive home win to climb to joint third in the table with a narrow win over Blackpool thanks to Ray Graydon’s strike just 24 seconds into the second half.

16 October 1974, League Cup, Villa 1-0 Crewe, Villa Park.

Villa need a Chico Hamilton strike with 90 seconds of the game left to beat fourth division side Crewe in the League Cup third round replay.

19 October 1974, Villa 0-0 Sunderland, Roker Park.

Villa earn a point at promotion rivals Sunderland but fall back to fourth in place the table six points behind leaders Manchester United but with a game in hand.

26 October 1974, Villa 3-1 Wednesday, Villa Park.

Villa score three or more goals for the fifth time in seven home League games to move to 3rd in the second division table.

2 November 1974, Villa 1-3 Fulham, Craven Cottage.

Villa lose for the first time in eleven games as they are well beaten at mid-table Fulham to leave them in third and now eight points behind leaders Manchester United with one game in hand. Villa had now won just twice in nineteen games at Craven Cottage since their first meeting in 1937.

9 November 1974, Villa 0-1 Notts County, Villa Park.

Villa lose for the second successive game, for the first time at home this season, and in an even more subdued fashion than their Craven Cottage defeat to leave them fifth in the table and still eight behind the leaders.

12 November 1974, League Cup, Villa 1-1 Hartlepool, Victoria Park.

Villa’s poor run continues as, without a win in three, they draw with fourth tier Hartlepool in the fourth round of the League Cup.

16 November 1974, Villa 1-2 Manchester United, Old Trafford.

Villa lose a third successive League game as they are beaten by leaders Manchester United who open up a seemingly unsurmountable ten point lead at the top of the table over fifth placed Villa after eighteen games. This latest defeat though couldn’t have been more different that the precious two as Villa had out-played the home side throughout, took a deserved lead before … you guessed it … a dodgy Old Trafford penalty changes the course of the game.

23 November 1974, Villa 2-0 Portsmouth, Villa Park.

Villa win for the first time in four League games to climb back to joint fourth in the table and close the gap on leaders Manchester United to eight points but the welcome victory comes against bottom club Portsmouth with little sign of the dynamic panache of earlier in the season.

25 November 1974, League Cup, Villa 6-1 Hartlepool, Villa Park.

Villa put six past fourth division Hartlepool in the League Cup fourth round replay to set up a quarter final clash with third tier Colchester.

29 November 1974, Villa 0-0 Oxford, Villa Park.

Villa can't break down Oxford's defensive wall and are held to a goalless draw as they drop to sixth, nine points off leaders Manchester United.

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Image Credit

Season Summary

Division	Final League Position	FA Cup Progress	EFL Cup Progress	Biggest Win
Division Two	2nd	5th Round	Winners	6-0 vs. Hull City (h), Division Two

Top Scorer	Most Appearances	Most Starts
28 \| Ray Graydon	55 \| Charlie Aitken	55 \| Charlie Aitken

Manager Summary

P: Games Played; W: Games Won; D: Games Drawn; L: Games Lost; PPG: Points per Game (3 Points for a win, 1 Point for a draw); CS%: Clean Sheet percentage; W%: Win Rate; L%: Loss Rate; U: Games Unbeaten; U% Unbeaten Rate.

From	To	Manager	P	W	D	L	U	W%	L%	U%	CS%	PPG
17 Aug 1974	Ongoing	Ron Saunders	55	33	12	10	45	60%	18%	82%	42%	2.02

Manager	Chairman	Chief Executive
Ron Saunders	Herbert Douglas Ellis	Alan Bennett

Season Statistics

Pos: Final League Position; P: Games Played; W: Games Won; D: Games Drawn; L: Games Lost; F: Goals Scored; A: Goals Conceded; Pts: Final League Points; GD: Goal Difference (A-F); PPG: Points per Game (3 Points for a win, 1 Point for a draw); GR: Goal Ratio (F/A); GPG: Goals Scored per Game; CPG: Goals Conceded per Game; CS: Clean Sheets; CS%: Clean Sheet percentage; W%: Win Rate; L%: Loss Rate; U: Games Unbeaten; U% Unbeaten Rate.

Results - All Competitions

P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	GR	GPG	CPG	CS	CS%	W%	L%	U	U%	PPG
55	33	12	10	110	46	64	2.38	2	0.84	23	42%	60%	18%	45	82%	2.02

Results - League

Pos	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD	GPG	CPG	GR	CS	CS%	W%	L%	U%	PPG
2nd	42	25	8	9	79	32	58	47	1.88	0.76	2.47	19	42%	60%	21%	79%	1.98

Sequences

Wins in a Row	League Wins in a Row	Games Unbeaten	Games without a Win	Losing Run
8	8	10	4	2

League Table

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Manchester United	42	26	9	7	66	30	36	61
2	Aston Villa	42	25	8	9	79	32	47	58
3	Norwich City	42	20	13	9	58	37	21	53
4	Sunderland	42	19	13	10	65	35	30	51
5	Bristol City	42	21	8	13	47	33	14	50
6	West Bromwich Albion	42	18	9	15	54	42	12	45
7	Blackpool	42	14	17	11	38	33	5	45
8	Hull City	42	15	14	13	40	53	-13	44
9	Fulham	42	13	16	13	44	39	5	42
10	Bolton Wanderers	42	15	12	15	45	41	4	42
11	Oxford United	42	15	12	15	41	51	-10	42
12	Orient	42	11	20	11	28	39	-11	42
13	Southampton	42	15	11	16	53	54	-1	41
14	Notts County	42	12	16	14	49	59	-10	40
15	York City	42	14	10	18	51	55	-4	38
16	Nottingham Forest	42	12	14	16	43	55	-12	38
17	Portsmouth	42	12	13	17	44	54	-10	37
18	Oldham Athletic	42	10	15	17	40	48	-8	35
19	Bristol Rovers	42	12	11	19	42	64	-22	35
20	Millwall	42	10	12	20	44	56	-12	32
21	Cardiff City	42	9	14	19	36	62	-26	32
22	Sheffield Wednesday	42	5	11	26	29	64	-35	21

Matches

Select a row for detailed match reports

Competition	Date	Home		Away	W	D	L	Game
Division Two	17 Aug 1974	York City	1-1	Aston Villa		D		3325
Division Two	20 Aug 1974	Hull City	1-1	Aston Villa		D		3326
Division Two	24 Aug 1974	Aston Villa	1-1	Norwich City		D		3327
Division Two	28 Aug 1974	Aston Villa	6-0	Hull City	W			3328
Division Two	31 Aug 1974	Bolton Wanderers	1-0	Aston Villa			L	3329
Division Two	7 Sep 1974	Aston Villa	3-1	Leyton Orient	W			3330
League Cup 2nd Round	11 Sep 1974	Aston Villa	1-1	Everton		D		3331
Division Two	14 Sep 1974	Bristol Rovers	2-0	Aston Villa			L	3332
League Cup 2nd Round Replay	18 Sep 1974	Everton	0-3	Aston Villa	W			3333
Division Two	21 Sep 1974	Aston Villa	3-0	Millwall	W			3334
Division Two	28 Sep 1974

Season #2 | 1880-81 | Games #3 - #6

AVFC History

134 Seasons, 33 Managers, 983 Players, 5,671 Matches, Only One Aston Villa

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Season 86 | 1974-75