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This preview was written by Brian Judson
Full Record of Spurs -v- Aston Villa.
Prem Pl W D L For-Ag Pts
Home 9 3 3 3 11 -12 12
Away 9 0 3 6 6 -15 3
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Total(Prem) 18 3 6 9 17 -27 15
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Football Lge
Home (Div 1) 47 25 5 16 99 -77 62
Away (Div 1) 47 17 11 19 72 -75 48
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Total(Div 1) 94 42 16 35 171 -152 110
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Football Lge
Home (Div 2) 2 1 1 0 4 - 3 3
Away (Div 2) 2 0 1 1 1 - 3 1
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Total(Div 2) 4 1 2 1 5 - 6 4
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Total(Prem) 18 3 6 9 17 -27 15
Total(Div 1) 94 42 16 35 171-152 110
Total(Div 2) 4 1 2 1 5 - 6 4
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Grand Total 116 46 24 45 193-185 129
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When I first started to support Tottenham in the later 1950s, Spurs always
regarded games against Aston Villa as a banker home win and a banker away
win. We had an amazing record at Villa Park where we had a long unbeaten
run for a long time. But then Spurs started to make stupid errors which
cost us games.
One such hilarious home match was in March 1966 when Spurs drew with Aston
Villa 5-5. I have recounted this story before but it bears repeating
again. Spurs were 5-1 ahead at half-time and threatening to create a new
Football League scoring record. In the second half, helped by some
atrocious defending, particularly by Laurie Brown, Spurs slumped to 5-5
and almost lost the match in the dying seconds. Rarely did I see Bill
Nicholson fidget as much as he did that afternoon. It was hardly
surprising that Laurie Brown was subsequently dropped : his confidence had
been shattered by some cruel barracking from the Spurs faithful. Spurs
experimented with various replacements (anyone remember Roger Hoy for
example?) but I then received the best birthday present I ever had when
Spurs signed Mike England for £95,000 on August 19th 1966.
Another horrible game came in October 1966 when Spurs crashed at home to
Aston Villa 1-0. Villa were struggling to avoid relegation (they were
ultimately relegated with Blackpool at the season's end). We were terrible
that afternoon and Chatterley scored a freak goal that bobbled in off the
post.
Happier memories were of going to Wembley in February 1971 to see two
goals by Martin Chivers secure our first win in the Football League Cup.
We had been outplayed by Aston Villa for much of the match. Peter Collins,
who had replaced Mike England (broken ankle) in December 1970 had his
hands full with the Villa strike force but Chivers scored two late goals
to secure a thoroughly undeserved victory.
Villa were a Third Division team at that time but they made a swift return
to the top flight. They were not yet quite the team who were soon to win
the European Cup but the signs were already there when Spurs returned to
top flight football with the first home game of the 1978-79 season against
Villa. Spurs fans looked forward to seeing Villa and Ardiles making their
home debut but it was Villa who won 4-1! Hoddle scored the only Spurs goal
(a penalty) and Spurs were clearly at sixes and sevens for most of the
match.
We had a further date with Aston Villa at Wembley when we played in the
Charity Shield at the start of the 1981-82 season. I remember Mark Falco
smashing home two great goals that afternoon to ensure Spurs and Villa
shared the trophy for 6 months. There were many detractors of the clumsy
and ungainly Falco but I always enjoyed watching him, particularly after
Crooks lost confidence because of a series of injuries.
Finally in 1991-92, Spurs had a curious home match against Villa, in which
we lost 5-2. We played well in short spells, as I recall, but we made
several silly mistakes that led to our conceding goals we should never
have conceded. One of our goals came from an own goal conceded by Shaun
Teale - the other, inevitably, was scored by the Nicest Man on Earth - our
very own Big Ears! Lineker defied injury that season as his big toe was
giving him gyp but he played through the pain (Darren Anderton : please
note!) and scored 28 goals from 35 appearances in his final season.
And on Saturday? Pre-season form is no guide to the serious stuff. We also
have a number of players missing through injury and new players to bed
down into the team. However, Villa also have their problems, not the least
being the continuing on-going argument between manager John Gregory and
David Ginola, which may end up in the courts.
The IMPORTANT thing for ALL Spurs fans is to get behind the team and give
your all. Forget Campbell until we play Arsenal : THAT is the time to
express your opinion of Campbell!
If we can get off to a good start, we may have a season to remember!
COME ON YOU SPURS!
Cheers, Brian
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