Aston Villa Football Club (nicknamed Villa, The Villa, The Villans and The Lions) is a professional football club in Aston, Birmingham, playing in the Championship, second tier of English football. Founded in 1874, they have played at their current home, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa was one of the founding members of the Football League in 1888 and the Premier League in 1992.
Aston Villa is one of only five English clubs to be crowned European champions, having won the 1981-82 European Cup. They also won the First Division Championships seven times, the FA Cup seven times, the Football League Cup five times, and the UEFA Super Cup once.
They have a fierce local rivalry with Birmingham City and the Second City derby between the two sides has been played since 1879. The club's traditional kit colors are a claset shirt with sky blue sleeves, white shorts and sky blue socks. Their traditional badge is a rampant lion.
The club is owned by Recon Group Limited, a company headed by Chinese businessman Tony Xia, and is managed by Steve Bruce.
Video Aston Villa F.C.
Histori
The Aston Villa Football Club was formed in March 1874, by members of the Cross Villa Wesleyan Chapel in Handsworth which is now part of Birmingham. The four founders of Aston Villa are Jack Hughes, Frederick Matthews, Walter Price and William Scattergood. Aston Villa's first match against local Aston Brook St Mary Rugby team. As a condition of the game, Villa's team must agree to play the first half under Rugby rules and the second round under Association rules. After moving to the land of Wellington Road in 1876, Villa soon established themselves as one of the best teams in the Midlands, winning their first honor, the Birmingham Senior Cup in 1880, under Scottish captain George Ramsay.
The club won their first FA Cup in 1887 with captain Archie Hunter becoming one of the game's first household names. Aston Villa was one of dozens of teams that competed in the inaugural Premier League in 1888 with one of the club directors, William McGregor being the league's founder. Aston Villa emerged as the most successful British club in the Victorian era, winning no fewer than five League titles and three FA Cups at the end of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1897, the year Villa won The Double, they moved into their current home, Aston Lower Grounds. Supporters created the name "Villa Park"; there is no official statement mentioning the land as Villa Park.
Aston Villa won their sixth FA Cup in 1920, as soon as the club started a slow decline that caused Villa, at one of the most famous and successful clubs in the world of football, which was relegated in 1936 for the first time to second place. Division. This was largely the result of a dismal defensive record: they conceded 110 goals in 42 games, 7 of them coming from Arsenal's Ted Drake in a famous 1-7 defeat at Villa Park. Like all English clubs, Villa lost seven seasons to the Second World War, and the conflict brought several careers to an early end. The team was rebuilt under the guidance of former Alex Massie player for the rest of the 1940s. Aston Villa's first 37-year-old trophy came in the 1956-57 season when another former Villa player, Eric Houghton led the club to then record the seventh FA Cup Final victory, beating 'Busby Babes' from Manchester United in the final. The team struggled in the league and were relegated two seasons later, largely due to complacency. However, under the leadership of manager Joe Mercer Villa returned to the top flight in 1960 as the Second Division champion. The following season, Aston Villa became the first team to win the Football League Cup.
Mercer was forced to retire from the club in 1964 hinting at a period of profound turmoil. The most successful club in England struggled to keep pace with changes in the modern game, with Villa relegated for the third time, under manager Dick Taylor in 1967. The next season the fans asked the council to resign as Villa finished 16th in the Second Division. With debts piling up and Villa lying in the lower half of Division Two, the council fired Tommy Cummings (the manager brought to replace Taylor), and within weeks the entire board resigned under tremendous pressure from the fans. After much speculation, club control was bought by London capitalist Pat Matthews, who also brought Doug Ellis as chairman. However, the new ownership could not prevent Villa relegated to the Third Division for the first time at the end of the 1969-70 season. However, Villa gradually began to recover under the management of former club captain Vic Crowe. In the 1971-72 season they returned to Division II as Champions with a record of 70 points. In 1974, Ron Saunders was appointed manager. Her unmanageable brand man-management proved to be effective, with the club winning the League Cup the following season and, at the end of the 1974-75 season, he took them back to the First Division and into Europe.
Villa is back among the elite as Saunders continues to form a winning team. It culminated in the seventh league flight title in 1980-81. To surprise commentators and fans, Saunders stopped in the middle of the 1981-82 season, after a fight with the chairman, with Villa in the European Cup quarter-finals. He was replaced by his soft assistant assistant, Tony Barton, who led the club to a 1-0 win over Bayern Munich in the European Cup final in Rotterdam thanks to Peter Withe's goal. The following season, Villa was crowned European Super Cup winner, beating Barcelona in the final. This marked the peak and Villa's wealth declined sharply for much of the 1980s, culminating in relegation in 1987. This was followed by the promotion of the next year under Graham Taylor and the runner-up position in the First Division in the 1989-90 season.
Villa was one of the founding members of the Premier League in 1992, and finished runner-up to Manchester United in its inaugural season. For the rest of the nineties, Villa went through three different managers and their league position was inconsistent, even though they won two League Cups and regularly qualified for the UEFA Cup. Villa reached the FA Cup final in 2000 but lost 1-0 to Chelsea in the final game to be played at the old Wembley Stadium. Again the Villa league position continued to fluctuate under several different managers and things culminated in the summer of 2006 when David O'Leary went in bitterness. After 23 years as chairman and the largest single shareholder (about 38%), Doug Ellis finally decided to sell his stake in Aston Villa because of illness. After much speculation, it was announced that the club would be bought by American businessman Randy Lerner, owner of the NFL franchise, Cleveland Browns.
The arrival of new owners in Lerner and manager Martin O'Neill signaled the start of a new period of optimism at Villa Park and major changes took place throughout the club including new badges, new kit sponsors and team changes in summer 2007. Lerner's first Cup final came in 2010 when Villa were beaten 2-1 in the League Cup Final. Villa made a second trip to Wembley in a 3-0 season from Chelsea in the FA Cup semifinals. Just five days before the opening day of the 2010-11 season, O'Neill resigned as manager, and after a year with GÃÆ' Â © rard Houllier in charge, Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish, despite much fan protests against his appointment; this is the first time a manager has moved directly between the two rivals. The McLeish contract was suspended at the end of the 2011-12 season after Villa finished in 16th place, and he was replaced by Paul Lambert. In February 2012, the club announced a financial loss of £ 53.9 million, and Lerner put the club for sale three months later, worth around Ã, Â £ 200 million. With Lerner still on board, in 2014-15 season Aston Villa scored only 12 goals in 25 league matches, the lowest in Premier League history, and Lambert fired in February 2015. The Sherwood side succeeded him, and steered the club away from relegation while also leading them into The 2015 FA Cup Final, but he was sacked in the 2015-16 season, just as his successor RÃÆ' Â © mi Garde, in a campaign that ended with Villa relegated for the first time since 1987.
In June 2016, Chinese businessman Tony Xia bought the club for £ 76 million. Roberto Di Matteo was appointed as the club's new manager before the new season, and was sacked after 12 matches, to be replaced by former Birmingham manager Steve Bruce.
Maps Aston Villa F.C.
Color and badge
The color of the club is a claret shirt with sky blue sleeves, white shorts with claret and blue trim, and blue sky socks with blood and white trim. They are the original claret and blue users. The colors of the villas initially consisted of plain shirts (white, gray or blue), with white or black shorts. For several years after that (1877-79) the team wore several different kits of all white, blue and black, red and blue to plain green. In 1880, a black shirt with a red lion embroider on the chest was introduced by William McGregor. It remains the first choice for six years. On Monday, November 8, 1886, an entry in the club's official book stated:
(i) It is proposed and seconded that the colors are brown and sky blue shirts and we order two dozen.
(ii) It is proposed and seconded that Mr. McGregor was asked to give it to the lowest quotation.
Brown then becomes blood. Nobody is quite sure why blood and blue are the colors the club adopts. Several other English football teams adopted their colors; clubs wearing blood and blue including West Ham United and Burnley.
A new badge was revealed in May 2007, for the 2007-08 season and beyond. The new badge includes a star to represent the European Cup victory in 1982, and has a light blue background behind Villa's 'giant lion'. The traditional "Prepared" motto remains in the badge, and the name Aston Villa has been shortened to AVFC, the FC has been removed from the previous badge. The lions are now united compared to the fragmented lions of the past. Randy Lerner begs fans to help design a new badge.
On April 6, 2016, the club confirmed that it would use a new badge from the 2016-17 season after consulting with fan groups for suggestions. The lion in the new badge has the claws added to it, and the word "Prepared" is removed to increase the size of the lion and the club's initials on the badge.
Sponsors kit
Aston Villa receives commercial sponsorship kits for 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons; instead of advertising the charity of Acorns Children's Hospice, the first transaction of its kind in the history of the Premier League. This partnership continued into 2010 when commercial sponsors replaced Acorns, with care homes becoming the club's Official Charity Partner. In 2014-15, the name Acorns returns to home and away home Aston Villa, but only for children's clothing that reaffirms club support for children's charities.
Since 2017 Villa's shirt sponsor is Unibet. The previous commercial sponsors were Davenports (1982-83), Mita (1983-93), MÃÆ'¼ller (1993-95), AST Computer (1995-98), LDV (1998-2000), NTL (2000-02), Rover (2002 -04), DWS Investments (2004-06), 32Red.com (2006-08), FxPro (2010-11), Genting Casinos (2011-13), Dafabet (2013-2015), and Intuit QuickBooks (2015-) 2017). Since 2016, the kit has been manufactured by Under Armor. Previous producers have been Umbro (1972-81, 1990-93), le Coq Sportif (1981-83), Henson (1983-87), Hummel (1987-90, 2004-07), Asics (1993-95), Reebok 1995-2000), Diadora (2000-04), Nike (2007-12) and Macron (2012-16).
Stadium
Aston Villa's current home range is Villa Park, which is a stadium with a 5 star rating of UEFA, having previously played at Aston Park (1874-1876) and Wellington Road (1876-1897). Villa Park is England's largest soccer stadium, and the eighth largest stadium in England. It has hosted 16 England internationals at senior level, the first in 1899, and the most recent in 2005. So, it was the first British land to stage international football in three different centuries. Villa Park is the most widely used stadium in the FA Cup semi-final history, having hosted 55 semi-finals. The club had planned permission to extend the North Stand; this will involve 'charging' from the corners to either side of the North Stand. If completed, the capacity of Villa Park will be increased to around 51,000.
The current training venue is located in Bodymoor Heath near Kingsbury north of Warwickshire, a site purchased by former chairman Doug Ellis in the early 1970s from a local farmer. Although Bodymoor Heath was state-of-the-art in the 1970s, in the late 1990s the facility began to look dated. In November 2005, Ellis and Aston Villa plc announced the development of GB $ 13 million from Bodymoor in two phases. However, Bodymoor's work was suspended by Ellis due to financial problems, and was left in an unfinished state until new owner Randy Lerner made it one of his priorities to make the site one of the best in the world of football. The new training ground was officially inaugurated on May 6, 2007, by manager Martin O'Neill, then team captain Gareth Barry and captain of 1982 European Cup winning team Dennis Mortimer, with Aston Villa's squad moving for the 2007-08 season.
It was announced on August 6, 2014, that Villa Park will appear in the FIFA video games starting from FIFA 15 onward, with all other Premier League stadiums also getting full licenses from this game and beyond.
Ownership
The club's first shares were issued towards the end of the 19th century as a result of legislation intended to codify the number of professional teams and players that thrive in the Football Association's league. The FA team was asked to distribute shares to investors as a means of facilitating trade among teams without involving the FA itself. This trade continued for much of the 20th century until Ellis began buying stocks in the 1960s. He is the chairman and important shareholder of "Aston Villa F.C." from 1968 to 1975 and majority shareholders from 1982 to 2006. The club was auctioned off on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in 1996, and stock prices fluctuated within ten years of flotation. In 2006 it was announced that some consortia and individuals are considering offers for Aston Villa.
On August 14, 2006, it was confirmed that Randy Lerner, the owner of the Cleveland Browns National Soccer League, had reached a £ 62.6 million deal with Aston Villa for a club takeover. A statement released on August 25 to the LSE announced that Lerner had secured 59.69% of the Villa share, making it a majority shareholder. He also appointed himself as chairman of the club. In the last year Ellis in charge of Villa lost Ã, Â £ 8.2m before tax, compared with a £ 3m profit a year earlier, and revenues fell from Ã, Â £ 51.6m to Ã, £ 49m. Lerner took full control on September 18, as he owns 89.69% of the shares. On September 19, 2006, Ellis and his board resigned to be replaced by a new board led by Lerner. Lerner installed Charles Krulak as non-executive director and Ellis was awarded a position of honor as Chairman Emeritus.
Lerner put the club for sale in May 2014, with the value estimated at around £ 200 million.
On May 18, 2016, Randy Lerner approved Aston Villa's sale to Recon Group, owned by Chinese businessman Xia Jiantong. The sale was completed on June 14, 2016 to report Ã, Â £ 76 million after being approved by the Football League, with the club becoming part of the Sport, Leisure and Tourism Recon Group division. Recon Group were selected to take over Aston Villa after the selection process by the club.
Social responsibility
Aston Villa has a unique relationship with the innovative HOSIs Children's Acorns in English football. In the first for the Premier League, Aston Villa donates the front of the t-shirts on their devices, usually reserved for high-paying sponsors, to Hospice Acorns so that the charity will gain significant additional visibility and greater fundraising capabilities. Outside sponsors club shirts have paid for hospital treatment for charity as well as regularly providing player visits to a hospice location.
In September 2010, Aston Villa launched an initiative at Villa Park called Villa Midlands Food (VMF) where the club will spend two years training students with Aston Villa Hospitality and Events in association with Birmingham City Council. The club will open a restaurant on Trinity Road Stand which is staffed with 12 students recruited from a 10 mile (16 km) radius of Villa Park with most of the food served in locally sourced restaurants.
Supporters and competition
Aston Villa has a huge fan base and attracts support from across the Midlands and beyond, with support clubs around the world. Former chief executive Villa Richard Fitzgerald has stated that supporting ethnicity is currently 98% white. When Randy Lerner's regime took over at Villa Park, they aimed to increase their support of ethnic minorities. A number of organizations have been established to support local communities, including Aston Pride. The Villa in the Community program has also been established to encourage support among young people in the region. The new owners have also started some surveys aimed at getting Villa fans' opinions and engaging them in the decision-making process. Meetings also occur every three months where supporters are invited by ballots and invited to ask questions to the Council. In 2011, the club supported a support-based initiative for the official anthem to improve the atmosphere at Villa Park. The song "The Bells Are Ringing" must be played before the game.
Like many English football clubs, Aston Villa has several hooligan companies associated with them: Villa Youth, Steamers, Villa Hardcore and C-Crew, the latter being very active during the 1970s and 1980s. As can be seen throughout English football, hooligan groups have now been marginalized. In 2004, some Villa companies were involved in a fight with QPR fans outside Villa Park where a steward died. Major support groups can now be found in a number of domestic and international support clubs. These include the Official Aston Villa Supporting Club which also has many smaller regional and international sections. There were several independent supporters during the reign of Doug Ellis but most of them disbanded after retirement. The supporters of My Old Man Said were formed to defend the rights of Villa supporters, as a direct result of the Villa supporters protest against the appointment of club Alex McLeish. Club supporters also publish fanzines like Heroes and Villains and The Holy Trinity .
Aston Villa's contender is Birmingham City, with a game between two clubs known as the Second City of Derby. Although historically, West Bromwich Albion is undoubtedly Villa's biggest rival, a highlighted view in a fan survey, conducted in 2003. Both teams competed in three FA Cup finals at the end of the 19th century. Villa also enjoys less hot local competition with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Coventry City. Through the relegation of West Brom and Birmingham City, to the Football League Championship, in the 2005-06 season, at the start of the 2006-07 Premiership season, Villa were the only Midlands club in the league. The closest match team facing Villa during the season is Sheffield United, who plays 62 miles (100 km) in South Yorkshire. For the 2010-11 season, West Bromwich Albion are promoted and join Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Birmingham City in the Premier League. It marked the first time that the club "West Midlands' Big Four" has been in the Premier League at the same time, and the first time together at the top since the 1983-84 season. Birmingham were relegated at the end of the 2010-11 season, ending this period.
Statistics
By the end of the 2015-16 season Aston Villa has spent 105 seasons at the top level of English football; the only club that spends longer on the top flight is Everton, with 114 seasons, making Aston Villa the most frequently played Everton in English football. Aston Villa are relegated from the top level of English football in 2016, having played in every Premier League season since its inception in 1992-1993. They are seventh in the FA Premier League table, and have the fifth highest honors won by the English club with 21 wins.
Aston Villa currently holds the record number of league goals scored by any team in the Premier League; 128 goals scored in the 1930-31 season, one more than Arsenal who won the league that season for the first time, with runner-up Villa. Villa Legend Archie Hunter became the first player to score in every FA Cup round in an 1887 win at Villa. Villa's unbeaten home run Villa in the FA Cup spans 13 years and 19 matches, 1888-1901.
Aston Villa are one of five England teams that have won the European Cup. They did it on 26 May 1982 in Rotterdam, beating Bayern Munich 1-0 thanks to a Peter Withe goal.
Club awards
Aston Villa has won European and domestic league awards. The club's last great honor was in 1996 when they won the League Cup.
Domestic
- League Title
- First Division (7) : 1893-94, 1895-96, 1896-97, 1898-99, 1899-1900, 1909-10, 1980-81
- Second Division (2) : 1937-38, 1959-60
- Division 3 (1) : 1971-72
- Cup
- FA Cup (7) : 1886-87, 1894-95, 1896-97, 1904-05, 1912-13, 1919-20, 1956-57
- League Cup (5) : 1960-61, 1974-75, 1976-77, 1993-94, 1995-96
- FA Charity Shield (1) : 1981
- Sheriff of London Charity Shield (2) : 1899, 1901
- Football League Cup (1) : 1944 (shared)
Europe
- European Cup (1) : 1981-82
- European Super Cup (1) : 1982
- Intertoto Cup (1) : 2001
Player
- Starts August 2nd, 2017.
First team squad
Note: Flags indicate the national team as determined under the FIFA eligibility rules. Players can have more than one non-FIFA citizenship.
Exit with loan status
Note: Flags indicate the national team as determined under the FIFA eligibility rules. Players can have more than one non-FIFA citizenship.
Under 23 and Academy
- Starts August 18, 2017.
Under 23 seconds
These players can also play with the senior squad.
Note: Flags indicate the national team as determined under the FIFA eligibility rules. Players can have more than one non-FIFA citizenship.
Under 18 years
These players can also play with Under 23 and the senior squad.
Note: Flags indicate the national team as determined under the FIFA eligibility rules. Players can have more than one non-FIFA citizenship.
Famous player
There are many players who can be called famous throughout the history of Aston Villa. These can be classified and recorded in several forms. The Halls of Fame and PFA Players of the Year are listed below. In 2014, Aston Villa, along with Tottenham Hotspur, holds the record for most international players in England with a score of 73. Aston Villa has several players who are club players, including Hall of Fame inaugural club Billy Walker. In 1998, to celebrate the 100th League football season, The Football League released a list titled Football League 100 Legends consisting of "100 legendary football players." There are seven players on the list who previously played for Villa: Danny Blanchflower, Trevor Ford, Archie Hunter, Sam Hardy, Paul McGrath, Peter Schmeichel, and Clem Stephenson.
Three Aston Villa players have won the PFA Player Player award. In 1977, Andy Gray won the award. In 1990 it was awarded to David Platt, while Paul McGrath won it in 1993. The PFA Young Player of the Year, given to players under the age of 23, was awarded to four players from Aston Villa: Andy Gray in 1977; Gary Shaw in 1981; Ashley Young in 2009 and James Milner in 2010. The National Football Museum in Preston, Lancashire manages the English Football Hall of Fame which currently contains two Villa teams, two Villa players and one manager. The 1890 team and 1982 team were inducted into the Hall of Fame in July 2009. Joe Mercer was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the same time for his career as a manager including time at Aston Villa. The only two Villa players in the Hall of Fame are Danny Blanchflower and Peter Schmeichel.
In 2006 the club announced the making of " Aston Villa Hall of Fame. " It was chosen by fans and the premier induction saw 12 former players, managers and directors named. Former club captain Stiliyan Petrov added to the list in May 2013.
Staff who are not playing
Hierarchy of companies
Reference:
Management hierarchy
Famous managers
The following managers all won at least one trophy when responsible or have been famous for Villa in a League context, for example Jozef Venglo? who holds the League record.
In popular culture
A number of television programs have incorporated references to Aston Villa over the last few decades. In the sitcom sitcom , Lennie Godber's character is Villa's supporters. When filming begins at Dad's Army, fans of Villa Ian Lavender are allowed to choose a Frank Pike scarf from the array in the BBC cabinet; he chose blue and blood - the colors of Aston Villa. Nessa's character in the sitcom BBC Gavin & amp; Stacey was revealed as a fan of Aston Villa in the episode that aired in December 2009.
In 1952 the film The Card, the main character Denry Machin became a member of the city council and bought the rights to Aston Villa players born in the local 'Callear', the "largest center of the attackers in England", to a failed local football club. The villa is also featured on several occasions in prose. Stanley Woolley, a character in Derek Robinson's winning novel Goshawk Squadron, was a fan of Aston Villa and named eleven Villa early before the war. Together with The Oval, Villa Park is referenced by poet Philip Larkin in his poetry of the First World War, MCMXIV. Aston Villa is also mentioned in the game Harold Pinter The Dumb Waiter .
Footnote
References
- Specific
- General
-
Brown, Danny; Milo Brittle (2006). Villain: The Story In The Aston Villa Hooligan Gang . Milo Books. ISBN 978-1-903854-59-4. - Goodyear, David; Matthews, Tony (1988). Aston Villa - Full Record of 1874-1988 . Book of Breedon. ISBNÃ, 0-907969-37-2. Ã,
- Hayes, Dean. The Villa Park Encyclopedia: A-Z from Aston Villa . Mainstream Publishing (October 2, 1997). ISBN: 978-1-85158-959-3.
- Ward, Adam; Griffin, Jeremy. Important history from Aston Villa . Main book publishing (2002). ISBNÃ, 0-7553-1140-X.
- When Saturday Comes: Half-Worthy Football Book . Penguin UK. 2006. ISBN: 978-0-14-192703-9.
External links
- Media related to Aston Villa F.C. on Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- Aston Villa News - Sky Sports
- Aston Villa F.C. on BBC Sport: Club news - Latest results and schedule
- Aston Villa F.C. companies are grouped in OpenCorporates
- Aston Villa results and notes at statto.com
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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