*STAND-IN SPINK A HERO ON GLORY NIGHT*

Withe’s K.O. crowns all the effort.

Aston Villa, champions of Europe.

Those five words say everything about five rounds of victories in this most prestigious of club competitions.

But they say little emotional intensity of 90 minutes that were decided by Peter Withe’s ricochet goal which was enough to defeat Bayern Munich on a glorious night in the Feyenoord Stadium, Rotterdam.

As the ball left the extrovert Liverpudlian’s foot after 67 minutes the celebrations began in this port at the mouth of the Rhine.

I swear I could hear them echoing across the North Sea, westwards to the West Midlands and from there back across Britain, Europe and those corners of the world where Aston Villa faithfuls were living in hope.

In the Falklands, too, the victory will bring many a warm glow to the hearts of those engaged in the cold and bloody tasks that lie ahead.

Aston Villa champions of Europe. Now truly a great club again. Still that GREAT.

If England or Scotland can gain a few yards by it in the World Cup, then toss back another glass of champagne, and savour the sixth successive British club conquest on the Continent.

British football breathes, lives and flourishes. It will mean far, far more than just an estimated £2 million extra to Villa’s bank balance. It means lasting fame.

Villa overcame the confidence-shaking that must have followed goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer’s great decision to leave the field in the tenth minute because of a ricked neck. Poor Jim.

Eight previous cup matches with but a single goal surrendered, and a thing like that should happen to such a professional.

And when Bayern for half-an-hour shredded the Villa defence with a thrilling symphony of attacking play, they overcame that, too.

Bayern, who for all their protestations felt that Villa were there for the taking, had themselves been taken. Twelve previous Cup Final victories of one sort or another and to come unstuck at the 13th. Who says there is nothing in superstition?

There were, of course, heroes but none more so than Nigel Spink, a raw and lofty novice of First Division football and one previous full game to his credit.

Twenty-three-year-old Spink replaced Rimmer to make three startlingly good saves and also to ridicule the fact that his experience this season totals only 36 reserve Central League games.

And then there is Tony Barton, full manager for not quite two months, who stood for a second alone in the middle of the stadium while the chanting Villa fans greeted his 12 heroes, put his hands to his eyes and wept.

Those fans, ten thousand of them, out-shouted the Germans just when the team needed them.

For during that 30 minutes of Bayern supremacy they let their men know there was still glory beckoning.

And at the end the 11 who finished the game plus the doleful Rimmer saluted the supporters, a gambolling, hugging, excited mass of a team surrounded by photographers who made way for their near-delirious party to their victory round.

Then Dennis Mortimer, a thoughtful skipper who did so much to keep the Villa boat on an even keel after former manager Ron Saunders walked out in those unhappy days earlier this year, took hold of the high-shouldered silver European Cup and thrust it challengingly at the sky.

What a moment! And the fans sang ‘we love you, Villa. We love you’.
In the most handsome gesture that I saw, Barton then walked to Bayern manager Uli Hoeness, shook his hand and offered him a comforting word.
It is typical of this generous and sympathetic man that he should do such a thing.

His triumph has been expected and yet it could not go to a better man, whatever the sometimes baffling future of football may hold for him.
His name is written in history now and, unassuming as he is, he will nevertheless relish that.

And just for a moment a thought for former manager Ron Saunders. Whatever the current feeling about him at Villa Park, it would be churlish to deny that he created this team.
No one can tell whether they would have won this trophy for him, but the habits and discipline that were tested and proved last night were his.

The embellishments were Barton’s and assistant manager Roy MacLaren’s.

If this has been an unbelievable few months for Barton it has been even more incredible for chairman Ron Bendall and his son, Don.

They gambled in giving the manager a contract and the gamble has been wondrously successful. For that Birmingham owes them a lot.
They and every member of the club left within 90 minutes of the end for a celebration in an Amsterdam hotel.

They called it a family occasion and if they can create and maintain that kind of atmosphere in Villa Park then a much-needed job will have been completed.

Barton’s Army gave the team a magnificent reception as they ran out on a sweltering evening in a three-quarter full stadium.

In contrast to Anderlecht, where there had been so much trouble, I saw only one cushion thrown from the Villa end.
The fans in the ground behaved themselves admirably and it was noticeable that Villa stewards took up positions which would have evoked admiration from Field Marshal Montgomery.

If ever evidence was needed that the police of Brussels made a mess of their tactics a month ago then it was here.

Villa still have to pay the serious penalty for that disgrace and next season the supporters will be banned from the first home match of the European campaign.

As the teams lined up, a red sky-rocket lit up the Bayern end, crossed overhead while occasional crackers were set off in the stands.

Seconds after the start Gordon Cowans broke out of defence with a long run which Withe wasted with a back-heel.

Seconds later Evans’s header flew across the face of goal and Bayern wilted under the early pressure.

The Germans’ slow build-up was typical but when they burst to aggressive action Rummenigge shot weakly.

Gary Shaw was over-elaborate when Withe and Cowans opened a way through but Villa had settled down and beaten off any tendency to freeze up through nerves.

Durnberger hacked down Bremner as the lively Scot headed for left-wing space.

But in the sixth minute Villa produced the first decisive action of the night when Withe outjumped the defence for a resounding header which flew close to the bar.

Evans was concentrating on Rummenigge and brought the superstar down with a blood-vessel-bursting tackle in the middle of the field.

Rimmer had spent a quiet ten minutes when he suddenly began signalling the bench he wanted to come off.

A forlorn figure, he abandoned his goal to Spink, shaking his head in dejection.

It was Spink’s second game for the first team. His other two-and-a-half years ago against Nottingham Forest, on Boxing Day, when Forest themselves held the European Cup.
Storybooks make fortunes out of such tales. Here it was coming true in front of us.

However, it was Muller in the Bayern goal who showed signs of fallibility. He was too intense to hold Morley’s cross at the near post.

There was no panic among Villa players at Rimmer’s sudden disappearance, indeed they were so unaffected that Morley, already mosquito-bite dangerous on the left, had Bayern’s defence anxiously wondering how they were to stop him.
Evans was taking few risks - or prisoners - and sent the stately Breitner crashing to the turf. Neither Shaw nor Withe touches had so far carried conviction but when Withe finally turned, leaving Weiner stumbling, a right-foot shot spurted yards away from goal.

When Swain tripped Horsmann in the 21st minute, referee Konrath had given eight free kicks to Bayern against two to Villa.

Evans was powering his way through the middle and then Cowans reached Shaw for the young striker to wheel on the byline and centre only a couple of yards away from the aggressive Withe.
Bremner’s long shot after 28 minutes was poor reward for an imaginative build-up between Withe and Mortimer.

But at this stage the West Germans seemed bankrupt of attacking ideas. Then like that rocket overhead they flashed Withe with Durnberger menacing when he ran around Swain, for Bayern’s first on-target shot.
Spink clutched this at full length and saved just as crucially from Rumenigge on the half-hour after Breitner had dashed away.

Evans then threw himself in the way of Mathy’s shot as Villa reeled, they were fortunate to escape. Rummenigge showed why he has twice been voted European Player of the Year with a 15-yard overhead kick, decisive and spectacular, which ran in on the byline beside Spink’s post.

The snake had uncoiled but Villa survived.

Villa failed for the second time to pick up Breitner and it was only a desperate lunge by McNaught that prevented a deflating first goal.
Withe, acting in frustration and losing control, chopped down Kraus and was booked for the offence.

Villa had become tense after Rummenigge’s show of glittering skills but, even so, it was 42 minutes before Bayern’s first corner, arriving as the magnificent multitude of Villa fans behind their goal became silent.
Rummenigge, superb in so much that he did, ended the half with two late shots.

Urgency was still missing from Villa’s game afterwards when the match started with Bayern’s sophisticated pace rather than at Villa’s more hectic version.

Morley, quiet after his determined opening 15 minutes, was evident in a couple of moves but when Mathy was replaced in midfield by Gutler, Bayern began a series of moves breathtaking in their quality.

Skipper Breitner’s ability to open out the Villa defence was underlined when he chased the rebound of his own free kick to leap acrobatically into a 20-yard volley.

Evans felt that Rummenigge was after the European actor of the year award as well when he made a dramatic fall to what looked like a good tackle.

Augenthaler, a one-man Light Brigade, dashed past Evans who fell as though shot in front of him. The centre back, however, badly misapplied his right-foot shot.
Augenthaler again pounded down the middle and Breitner swept the ball outside for the unchallenged Durnberger to drive low and bring a marvellous plunging save from Spink.

When Spink was eventually beaten by Augenthaler’s header, Swain headed coolly from the line. Villa were in a fearsome bother a moment later, too, and again Spink rescued them, this time at the near post from Hoeness.

Under strong pressure now, the central defence left Hoeness free, only for the Bayern top-scorer to miss completely from five yards out.

Twenty minutes into the second half Morley produced Villa’s first shot which went high over the bar. But the winger suddenly produced a moment of match-winning brilliance which had taken 66 minutes to arrive.

Shaw beat Dremmier on the right and Morley, taking the path with a disco-dancer’s hip wiggle, passed along Augenthaler, skidded the ball along the line to the six-yard area for Withe to prod in by way of goalkeeper Muller and the post to score.

Bayern were rarely to threaten again. They twice cut out through passes intended for Rummenigge before Cowans darted from the right to drive left-footed into Muller’s arms.

Hoeness’s ill-directed header was Bayern’s first response and then the German Cup winners were forced to raise the tempo. Spink was a little slow to move from his line and in the end just managed to grab the ball before racing to Rummenigge.

With 12 minutes to go Neidermayer replaced Kraus. There was, so far as Villa fans were concerned, every excuse for the time-wasting during the agonising last minutes.

But hearts stopped at the Villa end when Hoeness checked on to a through ball and shot with three minutes to go.

Linesman Joel Quinion earned the undying gratitude the people of Birmingham by raising for offside.
And then it was all over.

Bayern sat dejected in the centre circle after 43 seconds of injury time which for the Villa contingent must have seemed like 43 years.

Aston Villa, champions of Europe.
In the end, the Villa flock sang ‘Rule Britannia’ lustily as the players left the stadium. It was the most emotional sound of this marvellous occasion.