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Game #4165

Aston Villa

Saturday, 11 May 1991

Drew

17th (-)

Last 5: 🟥 🟥 🟥 🟩 🟨

Division One

Attendance: 27,866

Chelsea

Villa Park

Villa end the season 17th, unbeaten in two, five points clear of the relegation places, three points better off than they had been under Graham Taylor two seasons earlier as the Birmingham Evening Mail has a late attack of conscience on the eve of the departure of a dignified manager and bold experiment.

Aston Villa

2-2

Chelsea

Assist(s) | Kevin Gage | 13' |

KEY MAN

The Birmingham Evening Mail, disloyal to the last, get what they always wanted, then play the innocence card. Sickening.

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MATCH TIMELINE

Saturday, 11 May 1991

🥅 | 2’ Goal, 0-1, (Chelsea), Jason Cundy
🥅 | 4’ Goal, 0-2, (Chelsea), Graham Stuart
⚽ | 13’ Goal, 1-2, Tony Cascarino, Assist by Kevin Gage
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 1-2 Chelsea
⚽ | 74’ Goal, 2-2, David Platt (pen)
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 2-2 Chelsea

🟨 | Booking, Chris Price, Late tackle

ON THIS DAY

Jozef Vengloš' Villa end the season with a draw and unbeaten in two after a troubling second half of the season.

One win in the final ten games and five defeats, three of which saw Villa concede five goals had followed a previous 10 game spell of three wins and five defeats.

November to January had also seen a ten game spell of three defeats and three wins and so you would have to go back to October to find any sign of consistent, positive form.

That though was the paradox as Jozef Vengloš first sixteen games had brought nine wins and just three defeats.

In the end then a season that had promised so much became unrecognisable after defeat in Milan in the UEFA Cup.

The consequences of that downturn in form resulted in the inevitable departure of Vengloš and also the loss of Villa captain David Platt.

Whilst not the most charismatic of heroes, midfielder Platt had played for Villa between 1987-88 and 1990-91 and had become an instant success in Villa’s midfield with his non stop energy, box to box movement and goalscoring prowess.

Platt made 155 appearances and scored 68 goals in his 3 seasons with Villa. Villa had paid Crewe Alexandra £200,000 for his services and he left aged 25 for a fee of £5,500,000.

A club figurehead and now England international was allowed to leave as Villa fans were once again calling into question Chairman Doug Ellis’ motives following his terrible strategy and management decisions in the mid 80’s and the loss of Villa boss Graham Taylor the previous season - seemingly without a fight.

As a result the close of the 1990-91 season threw up far more questions than answers. Those concerns would however be addressed just weeks later as a new era dawned for Villa in the 1990s.

Centre forward Tony Cascarino made his last appearance for Villa aged 28 before moving to Celtic in July for a fee of £1,100,000.

Cascarino had played for Villa in 1989-90 and 1990-91 making 54 appearances and scoring 12 goals.

Right back Kevin Gage made his final appearance for Villa aged 27 before moving on to Sheffield United in November 1991 for a fee of £150,000.

Gage had been used relatively sparingly in his final season with Villa but that could not hide the outstanding contribution he made to the club, a regular scorer (for a full back) and obvious commitment, Gage was another outstanding buy by Graham Taylor.

Gage played for Villa between 1987-88 and 1990-91 making 145 and scoring 12 goals.

Aston Villa

European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1981-82

Chelsea

European Cup / Champions League: ❌
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆
Last Trophy: 1970-71

FIXTURE HISTORY

Chelsea

Previous 5 vs. Chelsea: 🟨 🟥 🟩 🟩 🟥

FIXTURE DETAILS

Season | 1990-91 |
Matchday | #49 |
League Match | #38 |
Manager Game | #49 |
Saturday, 11 May 1991

MATCH SUMMARY

Manager: Jozef Vengloš | 🇨🇿 | Ružomberok, 1990-1991
Referee: Gary Aplin | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Kendal, 1984–1991
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟥 1-2
FT Result: 🟨 Drew
FT Score: 🟨 2-2
Last 5: 🟥 🟥 🟥 🟩 🟨

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Gary Aplin | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Kendal, 1984–1991
Previous 5: 🟥 🟨 🟩
Last Match: 🟩 14 November 1987, Villa 1-0 Oldham, Boundary Park.
Cards: 🟨

CARDS

Villa

🟨

Chelsea

None

Gary Aplin

TEAM NEWS

Dwight Yorke replaces Mark Blake.

TEAM STATS

Starting XI Average Age
| 28.48 |

Oldest Player |
GK Nigel Spink | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 32.78 |

Youngest Player |
CF Dwight Yorke | 🇹🇹 | 19.53 |

MANAGER

MANAGER

Jozef Vengloš | 🇨🇿 |

Bobby Campbell | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Aston Villa

GK Nigel Spink | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Chris Price | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
RB Kevin Gage | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔥 | 🔴 |
CB Derek Mountfield | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Kent Nielsen | 🇩🇰 |
CB Paul McGrath | 🇮🇪 |
M David Platt | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ | 🔴 |
M Gordon Cowans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Gary Penrice | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Tony Cascarino | 🇮🇪 | ⚽ | 🔴 |
CF Dwight Yorke | 🇹🇹 |

Chelsea

GK Dave Beasant | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB Tony Dorigo (ex) | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Jason Cundy | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |
CB Ken Monkou | 🇳🇱 |
RB Steve Clarke | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
M Alan Dickens | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Dennis Wise | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Graham Stuart | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |
M Andy Townsend | 🇮🇪 |
CF Gordon Durie | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
CF Kerry Dixon | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

SUBSTITUTES

No Substitutions Made

SUBSTITUTES

No Substitutions Made

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

LB Bryan Small | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Neil Cox | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

CB Ian Pearce | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB Andy Myers | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

SQUAD STATS

1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 7/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 9/13

MATCHDAY SQUAD

SQUAD STATS

1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 9/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 11/13

MATCHDAY SQUAD

UNAVAILABLE

Not recorded

UNAVAILABLE

Not Recorded

Player Abbreviations:

GK : Goalkeeper

LB, RB, FB : Left Back, Right Back, Full Back

CB, D : Centre Back, Defender

M, W : Midfielder. Winger

F, CF : Forward, Centre Forward

🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game

Symbols:

⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution

🟨 | Booking

🟥 | Sending off

🆘 | Poor refereeing performance

DEBUT APPEARANCES

FINAL APPEARANCES

M David Platt | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Kevin Gage | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Tony Cascarino | 🇮🇪 |

MATCH STATS

Not recorded

TABLE

2021-22 Matchweek 38.jpg

PROGRAMME

Quotation Marks.png

MATCHDAY QUOTES

“Gentleman Jo deserved better. But he remained loyal to his players to the end.”

Gobsmacking hypocrisy from the Birmingham Evening Mail.

*Birmingham Evening Mail*
Monday, 13 May 1991

VILLA'S players didn't put on much of a performances for what might have been Dr do Venglos' farewell Villa Park show.

It was a decidedly half-hearted display from a tired and jaded side anxiously waiting for the final end-of-season whistle.

Gentleman Jo deserved better.

But he remained loyal to his players to the end praising them for their comeback after falling two goals behind after just four disastrous minutes.

He excused their latest poor start as being down to "lack of concentration."

Venglos admitted afterwards that he was unsure of his future after one season In charge.

"There are many things to be weighed up, but in the end the decision is up to the chairman," he said as he prepared to take Villa off for a ten-day tour of Malaysia.

But it does seem that he would carry on if chairman Doug Ellis gave him the go-ahead vote. That, sadly, looks unlikely and the club's 17th finishing place in the table would appear to be his own personal death knell.

Chelsea's sprint start in the final game, with Dennis Wise inspiring goals for Jason Cundy and Graham Stuart. eventually stirred Villa into action.

Tony Cascarino reduced the arrears with a fine headed goal from Kevin Gage's left-wing cross. But it took a 74th minute penalty from David Platt, after Cancarino had been pushed in the back by substitute lan Pearce, to rescue Villa from another embarrassing home defeat.