On This Day
Villa win the title despite a tired and emotional loss at Highbury - perhaps the first time in the 42 game season that the pressure of the title race had got to the team. It didnโt matter though as Villa had a four point lead over Ipswich going into the game and only maximum points from both their final fixtures would enable Bobby Robsonโs side to draw level on points with Villa.
For their part Ipswich also lose to leave them flailing in Villaโs wake and the side that had sat atop the first division for 25 of the 31 match days since October deservedly took the title as the outstanding team in the League.
Ron Saunders, working with a 14 man homegrown, dynamic and talented squad with a mixture of youth and experience had taken the honours from the expensively constructed Liverpool and the ageing imports of Ipswich.
Ron Saunders' Villa lose their final game of the season but so do championship rivals Ipswich and in so doing hand the title to Villa despite the Portman Road outfit having another game to play. Villa make it twenty six wins, eight draws and eight defeats in forty two League matches this season to accumulate 60 points and finish four points clear of Ipswich at the top of the Division One table. In so going, Villa lifted the Football League Division One Championship for the seventh time and for the first time since the 1909-10 season.
GK Jimmy Rimmer | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ |
RB Kenny Swain | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ |
CB Allan Evans | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ |
CB Ken McNaught | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ |
M Des Bremner | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ |
M Dennis Mortimer | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ |
M Colin Gibson | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ |
M Gordon Cowans | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ |
W Tony Morley | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ |
F Gary Shaw | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ |
CF Peter Withe | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ |
Ron Saunders | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | 1974-1982
Substitutes
No Substitutions Made
Unused Substitutes
LB Eamonn Deacy | ๐ฎ๐ช |
Yellow Cards (Warnings, Cautions, Bookings)
None
Red Cards (Ordered from Field of Play, Dismissals, Sendings Off)
None
Trophy Record
League Champions: ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐
FA Cup Winners: ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐
League Cup Winners: ๐๐๐
Last Trophy: 1976-77
Matchday Squad
Unavailable
Not recorded
Team News
Ron Saunders names the same line up for a third successive match.
Team Stats
Starting XI Average Age
| 26.42 |
Oldest Player |
GK Jimmy Rimmer | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | 33.25 |
Youngest Player |
F Gary Shaw | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | 19.46 |
Debut Appearances
None
Final Appearances
None
Starting XI
Scorer(s) | None
Assist(s) | None
Match Timeline
๐ฅ
| 11' Goal, 0-1, (Arsenal), Willie Young
๐ฅ
| 44' Goal, 0-2, (Arsenal), Brian McDermott
๐ | HT Arsenal 2-0 Aston Villa
๐ | FT Arsenal 2-0 Aston Villa
Season | 1980-81 |
Matchday | #46 |
League Match | #42 |
Manager Game | #359 |
Saturday, 2 May 1981
Match Record
Game Record
Manager: Ron Saunders | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | Birkenhead, 1974-1982
Referee: David Hutchinson | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | Cambridgeshire, 1981-1989
HT Score: ๐ฅ 0-2
FT Result: ๐ฅ Lost
FT Score: ๐ฅ 0-2
Last 5: ๐ฅ ๐ฉ ๐จ ๐ฉ ๐ฅ
Officials
Referee: David Hutchinson | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | Cambridgeshire, 1981-1989
Previous 5 vs. Arsenal: ๐จ ๐ฉ ๐จ ๐ฅ ๐จ
Head to Head
Total ๐ 117 | ๐ฉ W51 (44% ) | ๐จ D23 | ๐บ(63% ) | ๐ฅ L43 (37% ) | โฝ 196 | ๐ฅ 176 | GD 20
Match Stats
Not recorded
Ron Saunders | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | 1974-1982
๐ 359 | ๐ฉ | 165 ๐จ | 97 ๐ฅ 97 | 1.65
Villa Career Form:
Top 6
What they Said
โItโs been a long season and those players deserve an enormous amount of credit.
โWhen weโve played badly thieve buckled down and got on with it.
Ron Saunders.
โWE are the champions !
โAston Villa are kings of the First Division castle.
โAnd let's get one thing straightโwe thoroughly deserve the club's first championship for 71 years.
โVilla have won more points and more matches this season than anyone else in the First Division.
โThat is what makes champions in the toughest league in the world.
โAnd although public sympathy has all been on the side of Ipswich, who made a marvellous bid for the treble, they did not surrender the League Championship to us.
โWe won it on merit.
โWe knew we had won the title when a crescendo of noise greeted our 2-0 defeat.
โOur only regret was in not ending the season in style. We had a real Highbury rocky horror show yesterday.
โIt wasn't a very dainty dish to put before the king of soccer, the great Pele.
โThere were cheers at the news that Middlesbrough had just snuffed out Ipswich's chances of catching us. [Ipswich finished the season four points behind Villa with two points awarded for a win].
โOur gaffer, Ron Saunders, said he knew when a friendly policeman told him Ipswich had lost. And he said: "That might just have saved a few of my player's lives."
โYes, the tension really got to us, and against a side as good as Arsenal you have got to be at your very best to take anything.
โBut we haven't played badly very often this season. I know, because I haven't missed any of our 42 matches. But the secret of our success is quite simple.
โWe have a squad of fourteen honest players who have played for each other and for our gaffer all the way.
โAnd now we have won the title we know that every game next season will be like a Cup Final for us.
โBut that is something we are already looking forward to.
โWe are the champions - and we deserve to be.โ
Dennis Mortimer.
GK Pat Jennings | ๐ฌ๐ง |
CB David OโLeary | ๐ฎ๐ช |
CB Willie Young | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ | โฝ |
LB Kenny Sansom | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ |
M John Hollins | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ |
M Brian Talbot | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | ๐ |
M Paul Davis | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ |
M Brian McDermott | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | โฝ |
CF Alan Sunderland | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ |
CF Frank Stapleton | ๐ฎ๐ช |
CF Charlie Nicholas | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ |
Terry Neill | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ |
Substitutes
๐ | M Brian Talbot | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | (LB Sammy Nelson | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ |)
Unused Substitutes
None
Yellow Cards (Warnings, Cautions, Bookings)
๐จ
Red Cards (Ordered from Field of Play, Dismissals, Sendings Off)
None
Opposition Trophy Record
League Champions: ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐
FA Cup Winners: ๐๐๐๐๐
League Cup Winners: โ
Last Trophy: 1978โ79
Opposition Matchday Squad
Opposition Unavailable
Not Recorded
League Table
1980-81
Playing Squad
GK Jimmy Rimmer | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | #591 |
Goalkeeper
Where are they now?
CB Allan Evans | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ | #594 |
Centre Back
Where are they now?
CB Allan Evans (Coach) | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ |
Centre Back
Where are they now?
Plymouth Argyle u18 Manager ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ Retired
CB Brendan Ormsby | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | #599 |
Centre Back
Where are they now?
CB Ken McNaught | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ | #590 |
Centre Back
Where are they now?
LB Eamonn Deacy | ๐ฎ๐ช | #609 |
Full Back
Where are they now?
LB Gary Williams | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | #598 |
Full Back
Where are they now?
RB Kenny Swain | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | #602 |
Full Back
Where are they now?
LB Pat Heard | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | #612 |
Full Back
Where are they now?
M Colin Gibson | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | #601 |
Midfielder
Where are they now?
M Dennis Mortimer | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | #580 |
Midfielder
Where are they now?
M Des Bremner | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ | #606 |
Midfielder
Where are they now?
M Gary Shelton | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | #595 |
Midfielder
Where are they now?
M Gordon Cowans | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | #582 |
Midfielder
Where are they now?
Burnley ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ Retired
M Robert Hopkins | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | #613 |
Midfielder
Where are they now?
W Tony Morley | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | #604 |
Winger
Where are they now?
CF David Geddis | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | #607 |
Forward
Where are they now?
F Gary Shaw | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | #596 |
Forward
Where are they now?
CF Peter Withe | ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ | #615 |
Forward
Where are they now?
CF Terry Donovan | ๐ฎ๐ช | #610 |
Forward
Where are they now?
Match Media
