On Europa League nights, we will be looking through all the years of Aston Villa in European Football in our ‘European Throwbacks’. We take a look at all the highs, the glories and the occasional lows of this great Football Club. Tonight, we start in the seventies with Aston Villa fighting long way back to the top under a Manager who would make history. Enjoy!

Tough Start

In the 1950s and 60s, Uefa created competitions for European clubs to play each other in prestige matches to find the best in Europe. This began with European Cup that started in 1955 with the champions of European club leagues competing. There would also be the European Cup Winners Cup, that eventually was branded under Uefa in 1963 and the Uefa Cup, which started in 1971, replacing the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

In those days Aston Villa were going through difficult times. They won their last FA Cup in 1957 and first ever League Cup in 1960-61 season but neither got them a place in Europe. They’re had been no league title since 1910 and many star players had come and gone as had some big Managers.

Aston Villa suffered their second relegation from the top division since the start of the European Cup in 1967, and this time there was no immediate return to top flight. Tommy Cummings was unable to bring the team back and he was replaced by Tommy Doherty, who came in with new Chairman Doug Ellis in 1968.

No immediate fix was found and Doherty departed with Aston Villa heading towards the 3rd division. His replacement was former player Vic Crowe, who was part of the coaching team. He was unable to steer the team to safety in 1970 but he was trusted to start the long journey back.

Promising Times

Aston Villa began in the 3rd division for time in the club history but things were looking promising with an exciting team with the reliable Charlie Atiken, the creative play  of Chico Hamilton, a skilful midfielder Bruce Rioch and a tough Scottish striker called Andy Lochhead.

There was also be a cup run that started in the August of the year against Notts County and ended at Wembley the following February after a two legged Semi Final win against 1st division giants Manchester United that featured many stars players such as George Best, Bobby Charlton and Dennis Law, the team that became England’s first ever winners of European Cup in 1968.

In that Final, they met another star studded team from England’s top division in Tottenham Hotspur, who had been England’s first ever winners of any European competition when they won European Cup Winners Cup in 1963.

Aston Villa competed well but fell short with Martin Chivers scoring twice. This disappointment affected league form and Aston Villa just missed out on promotion. The following season was different with Aston Villa setting a record points haul of 70 to win 3rd division winning 32 out of 46 games.

So Close, So Far

Confidence was high with Aston Villa back in the 2nd division and looking forward to a return to the top division. This would be the last season where the top two would get promoted and it would be long days before play-offs were introduced. Aston Villa did well to finish 3rd but was unable to top the two teams would make great strides in the 1st division, in Burnley and QPR.

The 1973/74 season would go down as the most disappointing for Crowe with a 14th place finish. Crowe was dismissed at the end of the season but he had certainly played a big part in the club finding its feet again.

The Replacement

Several names had been linked with Aston Villa job including Alf Ramsey, who won World Cup for England in 1966 but left in 1973 after failing to qualify for 1974 World Cup and Brian Clough who won the 1st division with Derby County in 1972 but left under a cloud the following year and was at Brighton & Hove Albion.

Ramsey was overlooked as was Clough who went to 1st division champions Leeds United instead. Vic Crowe’s successor had been announced, the organised and authoritarian Ron Saunders. His objective was simply, get Aston Villa back where they belong.

It was a tough start with 1 win out of 5 but Villa quickly found their form in a tough division which included Manchester United now managed by Doherty and a useful Norwich City side led by John Bond.

Like Crowe’s first full season in charge, there was another memorable League Cup run that started with a 2 legged win over 1st division title contenders Everton and led to a Semi-Final against 4th division Chester City.

Chester put up a brave fight with a 2-2 draw at home and a tough second leg with a late Brian Little winner seeing Villa make Wembley with a 3-2 win at Villa Park, 5-4 on aggregate.

Their opponents would be Norwich City, who saw off Manchester United in Semi-Finals and this was first major domestic cup competition where all four sides would be outside the top division. The Final was a tough game but then Aston Villa won a penalty.

Top goalscorer Ray Graydon took it, it was saved but he scored on the rebound and Villa held on for a 1-0 win. A first trophy for 14 years and first ever campaign in European competition in the Uefa Cup.

It was also third time lucky for Saunders, who lost in the Final with Norwich in 1973 against Tottenham Hotspur and with Manchester City a year later to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

This success spurred Aston Villa on, they won 10 games out of 12 including the last 8 to clinch promotion as runners up to Manchester United and back in the top flight after 8 years absence.

Tricky Beginnings

1975/76 would see Aston Villa compete in 1st division, and the Uefa Cup for the first time ever. Their first ever European opponents would be Belgian side Royal Antwerp, a tough opponent, and especially with star player Brian Little missing as well as Saunders’s first ever signing for Villa from his old club Manchester City, Frank Carrodus.

The contest was over before it started with the Belgian side racing into a 4-0 lead before Graydon scored a consolation for Villa. There was a lot to do in the second leg – too much obviously as Royal Antwerp finished a job with a 1-0 win to end up  5-1 on aggregate.

Many Lessons were learned and changes were made. Goalkeeper Jim Cumbes would rejoin old boss Crowe in the US at Portland Timbers and was replaced by John Burridge who joined from Blackpool. Striker Keith Leonard who crucially picked up a career ending injury before the Antwerp game had prompted Saunders to sign a Scottish striker from Dundee United Andy Gray, to be joined by Coventry City Midfielder Dennis Mortimer.

Aston Villa battled hard in the league but were never in danger of relegation, finishing 16th with Charlie Atiken ending his 15 year association with the club at end of season.

Better Days Ahead

Saunders was slowly building a confident team with Little and Gray forming a lethal partnership up front scoring 55 goals between them during 1976/77 season. John Deehan also made a useful contribution in the goals, Chris Nicholl led the team, but we were rich with skilful players in this side such as Leighton Phillips and John Gidman. This was also be Gordon Cowans’ breakthrough in the team.

Form in the league was much improved and once again there would be another trip to Wembley in the League Cup and the toughest one yet. It took 3 games and a Brian Little hat-trick to see off QPR 3-0 at Arsenal’s Highbury Stadium before a tussle with Everton.

The first game at Wembley finished goalless and then came a 1-1 draw at Hillsborough before the final showdown at Old Trafford.

Everton took the lead through Bob Latchford before Nicholl hit a long range strike to equalise. Brian Little shortly afterwards gave Villa the lead before Mick Lyons got Everton level and again took the match into extra time. It  seemed nothing could separate the sides until Little scored again to finally give Villa victory, 3rd League Cup triumph.

That season was certainly a memorable one, reaching the FA Cup Quarter-Finals and finishing 4th in the league.

Changes

Saunders was certainly not scared to make changes with Goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer (Arsenal) coming in for Burridge and Scottish Defenders Allan Evans (Dunfermline Athletic) and Ken McNaught (Everton) coming in for Nicholl.

Aston Villa 2nd Uefa Cup campaign would begin against Turkish side Fenerbache and this time Aston Villa that were lethal. Two goals from John Deehan and goals from Gray and Little saw Villa win 4-0 before the 2nd leg at Turkey. 

Deehan and Little scored again in second to finish off with a comprehensive 6-0 win on aggregate. The second round saw Villa up against Polish side Goring Zabrze with 1st leg again being at Villa Park.

McNaught scored his first goals for the club, a brace of headers to get a 2-0 first leg victory. Andy Gray scored in the second leg to get a 1-1 draw and 3-1 win on aggregate.

The assignments were getting harder and next up was a useful Athletic Bilbao side from Spain. Aston Villa again did the business in the 1st leg with an own goal from Iribar and Deehan getting a 2-0 advantage before 2nd leg. Dennis Mortimer the new skipper got the Villa goal in a 1-1 draw, to win 3-1 on aggregate and book a place in the Quarter-Finals the following March.

Norwich To Barcelona

In 1967/68 season, Aston Villa had lost 1-0 at Norwich City, now they were up against Spanish Giants Barcelona a decade later.

The domestic form had been patchy with inconsistent form in the league and early cup exits too. Now though the big one, Barcelona with once again the first leg being at Villa Park.

In the previous rounds Villa had kept clean sheets. Barcelona took just 20 minutes to break the deadlock with star player Johan Cruyff scoring. Zuvira doubled Barcelona lead with 10 minutes to go and Villa seemingly heading for a demoralising defeat. The side had other ideas with McNaught and Deehan scored in the last 5 minutes of the game to finish it 2-2 before a trip to Nou Camp.

The second leg saw Villa facing another challenge with John Gidman getting sent off after just 22 minutes. It looked like an impossible task but the team played on and when Little gave the side a lead in 57th minute it looked like an upset could be on the cards.

It was not to be. Migueli and Asensi put Barcelona through and Aston Villa’s useful run in the Uefa Cup had come to an end.

Planning Ahead

The Seventies would be the decade that Aston Villa would find its rightful place as part of the domestic elite again. However the rest of the decade would be about rebuilding with no more trophies or European adventures before the first full season of the 1980s

Coming in would be Kenny Swain, Des Bremner, David Geddis and Tony Morley with Youth Team players  coming through such as Colin Gibson and Gary Shaw.

Leaving would be big names who had contributed so much to European adventure such as Andy Gray, John Deehan and John Gidman with the popular and superbly talented Brian Little announcing his retirement due to injury at the age of just 26.

Ron Saunders had certainly put Aston Villa back on the map and he only was just starting.

Next Edition- One Night In Rotterdam