AVFC History came about on 26 December 2018, our third season in the Championship and just days after Dean Smith’s first defeat in eight as optimism was rising once again.

The idea was to prepare ourselves for a return to the top flight and enable potential players and agents to understand and appreciate our great club. Presumptuous and preposterous in equal measure.

But there was a kernel of an idea there that was brought to life by the fact that I was enjoying life in the second tier far more than the Premier League and that as a consequence it was highly likely that other fans had games they loved that weren’t necessarily celebrated ones.

A case in point is I actually enjoyed the 0-3 defeat to Brentford, the optimism, the new players, losing but committed to the Villa, it felt like a new dawn… and heralded our worst run in the Championship … but you get the idea.. in the funniest places and all that.

So realising that football clubs and their histories generally focus on the high-points I wondered if it was possible to document every game, giving each equal treatment and allowing us all to reminisce in our favourite games, however random they may be.

And from there AVFC History was born.

At first it was a case of documenting the games on a perfunctory website.

Once established as having the framework, AVFC History moved to a more user friendly format and over the intervening 5 years of 12 hour days, 7 days a week we have the site it is today.

Every game, goal, player. Every yellow card, substitution and sending off. Every manager, referee and chairman.

It’s been a mammoth task and will continue to be long into the future and I’m proud to say that the vast majority of the information within has been brought to the internet for the first time by AVFC History.

As a result we are used by Wikipedia, media outlets, authors, other Villa sites and even current and former players as a source of reminisence and reference… the more the better… this is our club and we want to share it.

I’m always adding new elements, some practically un-noticeable but important to me to get the feel of the site right.

If you have any contributions you wish to make or comments or suggested amendments let me know.

If you feel you value AVFC History as an integral part of your Villa life then please consider donating to help with the running costs. I cannot tell you how much any contribution would be appreciated.

In the meantime click in, you'll never believe what you can find.

Cheers
UTV
James