Graham Turner's Villa draw with 17th placed Norwich to make it four wins in eleven League games, whilst losing five. Meanwhile, Villa's League and European Cup winning captain Dennis Mortimer made his final appearance aged 32 before moving on to Brighton & Hove Albion in August 1985 on a free transfer. Mortimer played for Villa between 1975-76 and 1984-85 making 405 appearances and scoring 35 goals and became the eighth member of the fourteen man League title winning squad that had now been sold under the Herbert Douglas Ellis regime. Mortimer's departure followed those of Kenny Swain, Ken McNaught, Jimmy Rimmer, David Geddis, Tony Morley, Eamonn Deacy and Des Bremner.

Meanwhile, Steve Foster made his final Villa appearance aged 27 before moving on to Luton Town in November for £70,000 just six months after Villa had paid Brighton & Hove Albion £150,000 for his services. Foster played in the 1983-84 and 1984-85 seasons making 17 appearances and scoring 3 goals but repeated rows with a manager who had been in post for just two months put paid to his Villa career.

Villa then had lost regulars from their midfield and defence with more discontent behind the scenes; the Turner / Ellis axis, had been in place for less than 10 weeks.