Game #4162
Aston Villa
Tuesday, 23 April 1991
Lost
17th (-)
Last 5: 🟨 🟥 🟨 🟥 🟥
Division One
Attendance: 24,168
Manchester City
Villa Park
Aston Villa
1-5
Manchester City
Assist(s) | None
MATCH SUMMARY
The Birmingham Evening Mail sink to a new low as their ongoing attempts to destabilise the reign of Jozef Vengloš sees them plaster their back page with “FOR GOD'S SAKE GO DR JO!”. Perhaps emboldened by their similar successful campaign earlier in the season against the manager of neighbours Birmingham, the paper was anything but constructive or helpful after an admittedly chastening defeat. The irony however that they admitted “It was true that in a vividly entertaining first half Villa should have scored four times” was not lost on readers who witnessed the game without an agenda. Villa had suffered from bad luck and naiveté throughout Vengloš’ reign but the number of bad performances could be counted on one hand, results however was another thing. Villa had now lost for fifteenth time in forty three games under Jozef Vengloš having also secured fifteen wins to sit 17th in the table - exactly where they had been two years previously under the feted Graham Taylor - four points clear of relegation with a game in hand over the bottom three.
KEY MAN
The local rag's barely hidden xenophobia rears its head again in what must be the low point of Villa journalism - and one that still jars three decades later.
PREVIOUS MATCH
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MATCH TIMELINE
Tuesday, 23 April 1991
🥅 | 4’ Goal, 0-1, (Manchester City), David White
🥅 | 34’ Goal, 0-2, (Manchester City), David White
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 0-2 Manchester City
🔁 | 54’ Sub off, Andy Comyn, Sub on, Tony Cascarino
🥅 | 61’ Goal, 0-3, (Manchester City) Mark Brennan
🥅 | 69’ Goal, 1-3, David Platt (pen)
🥅 | 84’ Goal, 1-4, (Manchester City), David White
🥅 | 90’+ Goal, 1-5, (Manchester City), David White
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 1-5 Manchester City
🟨 | Booking, Kent Nielsen, Heavy tackle
ON THIS DAY
Jozef Vengloš' Villa concede five goals for the second time in six games. Meanwhile, defender Andy Comyn made his final appearance for Villa aged 22 before moving on to Derby County in August 1991 for a fee of £200,000. Comyn had cost Villa £34,000 two years earlier and had made 21 appearances across the 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons.
Aston Villa
European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1981-82
Manchester City
European Cup / Champions League: ❌
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1975-76
FIXTURE HISTORY
Manchester City
Previous 5 vs. Manchester City: 🟨 🟩 🟩 🟥 🟥
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 1990-91 |
Matchday | #46 |
League Match | #35 |
Manager Game | #46 |
Tuesday, 23 April 1991
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager: Jozef Vengloš | 🇨🇿 | Ružomberok, 1990-1991
Referee: Ron Groves | 🏴 | Isle of Wight, 1984–1994
HT Score: 🟥 0-2
FT Result: 🟥 Lost
FT Score: 🟥 1-5
Last 5: 🟨 🟥 🟨 🟥 🟥
MANAGERIAL RECORD
Jozef Vengloš | 🇨🇿 |
GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME
🕒 46 | 🟩 | 15 🟨 | 14 🟥 17 | 1.28
Villa Career Form:
Mid Table
Jozef Vengloš | 🇨🇿 |
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Ron Groves | 🏴 | Isle of Wight, 1984–1994
Previous 5: 🟨 🟥 🟥 🟨
Last Match: 🟨 23 August 1989, Villa 1-1 Liverpool, Villa Park 🆘
Cards: 🟨
Ron Groves
CARDS
Villa
🟨
Manchester City
None
TEAM NEWS
Paul McGrath and Tony Daley replace Tony Cascarino and Ian Ormondroyd.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 27.62 |
Oldest Player |
GK Nigel Spink | 🏴 | 32.73 |
Youngest Player |
CF Ian Olney | 🏴 | 21.36 |
MANAGER
Jozef Vengloš | 🇨🇿 |
Aston Villa
GK Nigel Spink | 🏴 |
RB Chris Price | 🏴 |
RB Kevin Gage | 🏴 |
CB Andy Comyn | 🏴 | 🔁 |
CB Kent Nielsen | 🇩🇰 | 🟨 |
CB Paul McGrath | 🇮🇪 |
M David Platt | 🏴 | ⚽ |
M Gordon Cowans | 🏴 |
W Tony Daley | 🏴 |
CF Ian Olney | 🏴 |
CF Gary Penrice | 🏴 |
MANAGER
Peter Reid | 🏴 |
Manchester City
GK Tony Coton | 🏴 |
LB Neil Pointon | 🏴 |
LB Mark Ward | 🏴 |
CB Alan Harper | 🏴 |
CB Steve Redmond | 🏴 |
CB Colin Hendry | 🏴 |
M Andreas Hill | 🇩🇪 |
M Mark Brennan | 🏴 | ⚽ |
M Adrian Heath (ex) | 🏴 |
W David White | 🏴 | ⚽ | ⚽ | ⚽ | ⚽ |
CF Niall Quinn | 🇮🇪 |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 CF Tony Cascarino | 🇮🇪 | for CB Andy Comyn | 🏴 | 54’ |
SUBSTITUTES
No Substitutions Made
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
CF Ian Ormondroyd | 🏴 |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
M Peter Reid | 🏴 |
CF Clive Allen | 🏴 |
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 9/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 10/13
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 9/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 11/13
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
Not recorded
UNAVAILABLE
Not Recorded
Player Positions:
GK : Goalkeeper
CB, D, B : Centre Back, Defender, Back
FB, LB, RB, WH : Full Back, Left Back, Right Back, Wing Back, Wing Half
M, CH, LH, RH : Midfielder, Centre Half, Left Half, Right Half
W, OL, OR : Winger, Outside Left, Outside Right
F, IF, IL, IR : Forward, Inside Forward, Inside Left, Inside Right, Second Striker, False 9
CF : Centre Forward
Match Symbols:
⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution
🟨 | Booking
🟥 | Sending off
🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game
DEBUT APPEARANCES
FINAL APPEARANCES
🔴 CB Andy Comyn | 🏴 |
MATCH STATS
Not recorded
LEAGUE TABLE
MATCHDAY PROGRAMME
MATCHDAY QUOTES
"I have to deal with this problem and I will.
"I have faith in the players and it Is experience that is important in times like these.
"The spirit here Is okay. It Is one of those things that happen in football you have your ups and downs.
"I have been a manager for 25 years and it is part of the job. I will not go away from it.
"I think some of the criticism is unfair but that is part of the press job.
"The people I have sympathy with are the fans."
"I am confident I can get it right.
"The players are good enough not to go down and things are still In our hands.
"We have lost confidence in the last three games but the players will go away, many of them to national team duties, and come back refreshed.
"We did not play badly against Manchester City, we defended badly.
“Any manager will tell you the first thing he wants is that his team should be able to create chances. We did that.
"We shall go away and talk about things and watch the videos to find out factors we must change, but I shall not blame anyone personally for mistakes. "
Last night we chased the game and they punished us. We had, I think, bad luck with the offside decision for their third goal.
"We have had a lot of bad luck, but I am not making excuses because I am the man responsible for our performances."
Jozef Vengloš
"He [Jozef Vengloš] is an excellent manager, and I have been immensely impressed with him as a footballing man since I came here.”
Peter Withe
*Birmingham Evening Mail*
Wednesday, 24 April 1991
FOR GOD'S SAKE GO DR JO!
DOCTOR Jozef Vengloš has failed at Aston Villa.
The team are bad and getting worse.
On-pitch morale has collapsed and relegation is uncomfortably close.
Villa, quite simply, have become the whipping boys of the First Division, and last night's horrific 5-1 defeat only underlines our demand that Vengloš must go.
What is more, he should go NOW.
It has become clear that he is incapable of meeting the first requirement of an English club manager to motivate his team.
Four months ago, we made a similar call for the dismissal of Dave Mackay at Birmingham City.
It gave us no pleasure for, like Vengloš, Mackay was a friendly father figure of football. But Mackay's eventual walkout proved the turning point at St Andrew's.
Since Dr Jo started giving his orders, Villa have slumped from runners-up last season to the relegation zone, and the decline is accelerating.
Within the last few days, Wimbledon and Manchester City have found them an easy touch at Villa Park. And Vengloš’ response has been apologetic and low-key.
Four goals from David White, three of them from unchallenged dashes through the centre of a slow-reacting defence, were more than a manager's reputation can usually bear when his team are supposed to be fighting for some degree of respectability.
Vengloš said after this second humiliation in four days that he risked playing an attacking game, and it was true that in a vividly entertaining first half Villa should have scored four times.
But set against a number of fluent moves were two naive errors by Andy Comyn, replacing the injured Derek Mountfield.
As for the second half, it stunned the Holte End to silent protest, half the fans there heading for an early pint.
Villa have not been in such a mess since the dog-days of Billy McNeill. It must be said in McNeill's defence that his team was not fielding eight international representatives and a further five who cost more than £1.5 million between them.
After five minutes, White was unleashed by Mark Brennan and beat Spink with a cross shot.
Then, 20 minutes later, Niall Quinn lobbed goalkeeper Tony Coton's kick for White to nudge in his second.
Villa responded bravely.
Three times lan Olney urged himself on to deftly-made chances only to fail with each.
David Platt, too, opened up space as he does so cleverly.
Villa, caught in an offside trap no fewer than 14 times, tried a little drill themselves, only to stand appealing as Mark Ward slipped the ball to White whose cross Brennan struck in.
If the referee's decision was dubious, it was no more so than that against Steve Redmond's chin which offended Mr Groves sufficiently to award a penalty when it blocked Platt's short-range shot in the 69th minute.
Platt scored his 23rd goal of the season but he will gain no satisfaction from that for Villa collapsed in as utterly forlorn a fashion as they had against Wimbledon.
Vengloš claimed they were chasing the game. It looked more as if they were chasing rainbows.
White scored twice more before the Villa manager trotted away down the tunnel, a distressed. mournful but dignified figure.
Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. With thanks to Trinity Mirror. Digitised by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited. All rights reserved. Source: British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)