top of page
MCMXIV (1964)
Philip Larkin
Those long uneven lines
Standing as patiently
As if they were stretched outside
The Oval or Villa Park,
The crowns of hats, the sun
On moustached archaic faces
Grinning as if it were all
An August Bank Holiday lark;
And the shut shops, the bleached
Established names on the sunblinds,
The farthings and sovereigns,
And dark-clothed children at play
Called after kings and queens,
The tin advertisements
For cocoa and twist, and the pubs
Wide open all day;
And the countryside not caring:
The place-names all hazed over
With flowering grasses, and fields
Shadowing Domesday lines
Under wheat's restless silence;
The differently-dressed servants
With tiny rooms in huge houses,
The dust behind limousines;
Never such innocence,
Never before or since,
As changed itself to past
Without a word - the men
Leaving the gardens tidy,
The thousands of marriages,
Lasting a little while longer:
Never such innocence again.
Poem © By kind permission of Faber & Faber
"Were not fickle, we just don't like you"
"Villa have amazing support. If you hung 11 Villa shirts on a washing line five thousand fans would turn up to watch them!"
Tommy Docherty
“I love being a part of this club, love being captain, love everything this club stands for both on and off the pitch.”
Tyrone Mings
“Every Saturday, whether they are home or away, great crowds assemble to see the Villa play.”
February 14, 1910
"We won it for Aston Villa, for Birmingham, for England and for Great Britain." Tony Barton, Wednesday, 26 May 1982.
"Do you want to bet against us?"
Ron Saunders, 14th April 1981
“Comics used to feature snotty-nosed kids from back-to-backs taking on and, against all odds, beating posh Henrys who pronounced their 'aitches' and came from homes with inside lavatories. When Birmingham City win at Villa Park, it's a bit like that. The underprivileged in the blue corner, only now the support comes from tower blocks, against the privileged in the claret pyjama tops, followed by Royal Sutton Coldfield and Four Oaks."
Birmingham Evening Mail
Monday, 24 August 1987
“Wearing the Aston Villa badge is an honor, a symbol of passion, commitment, and history.”
“Villa have been a great club, are still a great club, and always will be a great club.”
Frederick Rinder, 1936.
"If there is a club in the country which deserves to be dubbed the greatest (and the matter is one of some delicacy) few will deny the right of Aston Villa to share the highest niche of fame with even the most historic of other aspirants. For brilliancy and, at the same time, for consistency of achievement, for activity in philanthropic enterprise, for astuteness of management and for general alertness, the superiors of Aston Villa cannot be found."
William McGregor
“Aston Villa isn’t just a club; it’s a family, passing down the love for the game from generation to generation.”
"Aston Villa - a name to conjure with, a name to inspire world wide affection, a name to admire and revere."
Peter Morris - The First 100 Years
"Me and mates used to hang around Villa Park on match days.
"We'd look after cars for a few bob, make sure no one nicked or scratched them.
"I remember standing on the Holte End a few times. It was always fucking great fun.
"I had some favourite players - Peter McParland, Jimmy MacEwan, Alan Deakin. I had their posters on me wall as a kid.”
Ozzy Osbourne
"There's an aura about this club, a sense of history and tradition. Even the name is beautifully symmetrical, with five letters in each word."
John Gregory
"Aston Villa, 100% Oligarch and Human Rights Abuse free"
AVFC History
"Mortimer, Shaw, Williams... prepared to adventure down the left. There's a good ball played in for Tony Morley. Oh, it must be... and it is! Peter Withe! Villa in the lead!"
“Supporting Aston Villa is much more stressful than being Governor of the Bank of England.”
Sir Mervyn King.
"Aston Villa doesn't realise just how big it is."
Dean Saunders
"Finance is important, but we should never forget that we are not talking about a mere business. This is the Aston Villa football club, and it deserves nothing short of the best."
Frederick Rinder
"All I do know is that I'll never be able to achieve what Tommy Docherty did, and that is take Aston Villa into the third division and Manchester United into the second division."
Ron Atkinson
“I don’t like Birmingham City at all.”
Olof Mellberg
"+3. Inch by inch. Thank you Villa Park!! Nassef, Wes, Players, Management, Staff, fans, media and LEGENDS… we are one!! Inspiring moment with Mr. Gordon Cowans. Let’s pursue his level of greatness!!! UTV."
Unai Emery
"We are Aston Villa, and we are stronger together. A family.”
Unai Emery
"There are fundamental problems at Aston Villa, a club run by Doug Ellis, for Doug Ellis and for the benefit of Doug Ellis."
Graham Taylor
"There's only one club I want to play for."
Gary Shaw
"You heard that booing at the end? I started it."
Ron Atkinson.
"I'd like to play for an Italian club like Barcelona."
Mark Draper.
"If I had had a gun I'd have shot him."
John Gregory
"You can play that kind of football at Birmingham, but not at a Club like Aston Villa"
John Barnes
"He should take credit for an excellent stadium - no doubt about that at all. Should he be blamed for it not being filled?"
Graham Taylor on Herbert Douglas Ellis
"Come on you Villa boys"
"At least we were consistent - useless in defence, useless in midfied and crap up front."
Ron Atkinson
"My love of playing for Aston Villa still burns as brightly as the day I signed for the club.
“My career and the club have gone up together.
“It's been an unbelievable journey.”
Tyrone Mings.
"The owners had a vision, had to spend for what they wanted to do and going from the Championship to the Champions League in five years is an incredible achievement."
Dean Smith
“Well, it’s a love-hate relationship and he loves me.”
Graham Taylor on Herbert Douglas Ellis
“As regards the specific comments made by Mr Sullivan, we have tried but can’t seem to come up with a response that reflects terribly well on us.”
Aston Villa Press Office.
"I don't pay much attention to fickle sugarbags who don't respect the Charltons and Boltons of the world".
David "Sugarbags" O'Leary
"I hope you die soon."
Holte End shout to referee Paul Danson
“Aye, they’re a great club…the greatest.”
Pongo Waring
"Financial control rules came to football to avoid bankruptcies and payment defaults with a good purpose.
"But as professionals we should review it, for this good tool will become a limitation for clubs that are doing good management, who'll never be allowed to dream & get higher goals because the revenue, key for these financial rules, needs time to come to reality."
Unai Emery, 16 August 2025
“Premier League, corrupt as fuck, Premier League, corrupt as fuck”
Villa Park Crowd, 16 August 2025
"Aston Villa can confirm the club has written to the PGMOL to raise concerns over the selection process of match officials following today’s game with Manchester United at Old Trafford.
"With such high stakes surrounding today’s fixture, the club believe a more experienced referee should have been appointed. Of the 10 referees to officiate across the Premier League today, Mr. Bramall was the 2nd least experienced.
"The decision to disallow Morgan Rogers’ goal, which would have given the club a 1-0 lead with 17 minutes remaining in the match, was a major contributing factor to the club not qualifying for the Champions League.
"As per the standards that have been established over the course of the season, a decision to whistle early is clearly inconsistent with current refereeing guidelines. VAR exists to ensure that these types of situations receive the scrutiny they deserve. Unfortunately, the technology was not allowed to serve its purpose.
"Ultimately, we acknowledge that the outcome for us will not change, but we believe that it is important to address the selection methodology to ensure that high stakes matches are treated as such with regards to officiating and to ensure that the implemented VAR technology is allowed to be effective."
Club Statement
25 May 2025
"In light of the club's repeated breaches [six] and frequent reminders from the League [undetermined] it is the League's view that the breach was intentional (i.e. the ball boys were acting deliberately and under instruction) with no other reason than to attempt to affect passages of play for the benefit of the club."
Premier League statement of August 2025 fining Aston Villa £125,000 and refusing to allow the use of the 'multi-ball' system advocated by the Premier League as an essential tool to speed up the game. The Premier League fail to provide any evidence for their conclusions or context that could justify their unilateral action against Villa. Neither do they identify the beneficial impact gained by the alleged actions of what are volunteer ball boys and girls.
“I made it clear that Aston Villa was to remain a democracy and never be under the control of one man.“
Resigning chairman Herbert Douglas Ellis keeps a straight face, 1975
bottom of page