History of Aston Villa F.C. (1874–1961)

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For an account of the club's history since 1961, see History of Aston Villa F.C. (1961–present).

The very successful Aston Villa team of the late 19th century, here pictured in 1899
Chart showing the progress of Aston Villa F.C. through the English football league system from the inaugural season in 1888–89 to the present

Aston Villa Football Club were formed in 1874, by fifteen members [Report by the Sports Argus on a talk by co-founder Jack Hughes, 1899] of the Wesleyan Chapel at Villa Cross (known as early as 1867 as Aston Villa Wesleyan Chapel)[1][2] in Lozells. Four of the founders were Jack Hughes, Frederick Matthews, Walter Price and William Scattergood. The club won its first FA Cup in 1887.[3] Aston Villa were one of the dozen teams that competed in the inaugural Football League in 1888 with the club's outgoing chairman William McGregor being the league's founder. Aston Villa emerged as the most successful English club of the Victorian era. By the end of Villa's "Golden Age" at the start of the First World War, the club had won the League Championship six times and the FA Cup five times.[3]

Aston Villa won their sixth

League Cup in 1960, the club were to enter into a very unsuccessful period. The 1960s saw much change at Villa Park. By the end of the 1960s, Villa were languishing in the Second Division and fan pressure led to the resignation of the Board and the introduction of Doug Ellis as Villa Chairman.[4][5]

Formation by Villa Cross Cricketers

Co-founder Jack Hughes insisted that Aston Villa Football Club was formed by fifteen players, mainly from the Aston Villa Wesleyan Chapel cricket team. The players were looking for something to keep them occupied during the winter. The club's official history states that soccer (association football) was chosen after witnessing an "impromptu game on a meadow off Heathfield Road".[6] Four of the founders of Aston Villa FC and those who were delegated to view the game were Jack Hughes, Frederick Matthews, Walter Price and William Scattergood. Villa moved to their first official home, Wellington Road in Perry Barr, in 1876 after their recently-appointed captain, George Ramsay, noted that in order to progress, Villa would need to move into an enclosed ground to be able to collect gate money.[7] The site was taken on a three-year lease at a rent of £7,10 shillings for the first year, rising to £15 and £20 in subsequent years. By the late 1870s, Villa were improving greatly and by 1880, Villa won their first senior honour when they won the Birmingham Senior Cup under the captaincy of Scotsman Ramsay.[8]

Rise to prominence

Main article: Aston Villa F.C. in the 1880s
Aston Villa players posing with the 1887 FA Cup trophy

The club won its first

Tom Green scored the club's first League goal. Villa finished runners-up to Preston North End in that inaugural season.[11]

Victorian and Edwardian eras

Sunderland
v. Aston Villa 1895", depicts a match between the two most successful English teams of the decade.

Despite Villa founding the league, by 1893 they had yet to win it. Villa Committee Member

in February 1893 that removed the committee running the club at the time. All fourteen committee members resigned and were replaced by a committee of five led by Rinder after he gave a speech criticising the board's tolerance of ill discipline and players' drinking. The following season saw Villa win their first League Championship, the season after that they won their second FA Cup in 1894-95. This was followed by back-to-back League titles in 1895-96 and 1896-97. [12]

The Aston Villa team of 1896–97 with the First Division Championship and the FA Cup

Villa were attracting large crowds; the club could regularly expect 25,000 people to attend home games at a time when the FA Cup Final would attract only about 20,000. With poor spectator facilities and an uneven pitch, the Wellington Road ground was increasingly unsuitable,[13] and in 1897, the year the club won the League and FA Cup Double, Villa's financial secretary Rinder negotiated the purchase of their current home ground, the Aston Lower Grounds.[14] Villa achieved back-to-back league titles again in 1898-99 and 1899-1900, in the latter season Billy Garraty became the top goalscorer in world football scoring a total 30 goals in 39 league and cup games. The name of Villa Park was not used until about 1900. It came about through fan usage and no official declaration was made that listed the name as Villa Park.[14] The ground was not purchased outright until 1911.[15]

Harry Hampton scores in the 1905 FA Cup final
.

Villa began the 20th century as champions but the gap that distinguished them from their competitors was diminishing. Football in England was becoming more competitive as more teams formed. Villa did remain a significant force in the game though. Despite a run of four victories at the start of the 1900–01 season, Villa finished fourth from bottom. In the 1902–03 season Villa won 12 of their last 15 games to finish only one point behind champions Sheffield Wednesday. In 1905, Villa won the FA Cup for the fourth time with a then record crowd of 101,117 watching the match at Crystal Palace, where Villa beat Newcastle United 2–0.[15] In the same season, Villa finished fourth and this helped to boost the coffers at the club. After the success of 1905, Villa went through a barren patch and it was not until the 1909–10 season that Villa threatened to regain the title. In that season, they beat the reigning champions Manchester United 7–1. Villa won the championship for the first time in 10 years to take a then record, sixth title.[15] The 1910–11 season was very close and the title was decided on the last day of the season when Villa lost to Liverpool and Manchester United beat Sunderland to take the title. The following season, Villa finished sixth. Yet in 1913, Villa won the FA Cup for a then record-equalling fifth time.[15] By the end of what was to be called Villa's golden era,[15] when the First World War began, the club had won the League Championship six times and the FA Cup five times.[3] This included the League and Cup Double in 1896–97, a feat which would not be repeated for more than 60 years.

Inter-war years

Football resumed after the war for the

Jimmy Gibson and Eric Houghton. In 1928, they bought in one of the most prolific goalscorers to have ever played in the English football league. When Villa signed Tranmere Rovers striker Tom Waring for £4,700, he was relatively unknown. Waring scored a record 49 league goals in the 1930–31 season as Villa finished runners-up to Arsenal. One of the other purchases, Eric Houghton, scored 30 goals.[15]

The team were playing well and scoring many goals. In the 1933–34 season, Villa had no fewer than fourteen full internationals and they continued to challenge for honours being second in the League in 1933. Yet this success did not last and the complacency at Villa Park led to a slump in form.[15] This slump culminated in their relegation from the first tier of English football for the first time in their history in the 1935–36 season. The relegation coincided with the decision to appoint their first manager. Before the 1935–36 season, the team had been appointed by a committee and the team was coached by a "secretary" to the committee.[8] The relegation though was largely due a dismal defensive record, they conceded 110 goals, 7 of them coming from Arsenal's Ted Drake in a 1–7 defeat at Villa Park. Villa came ninth in their first season in the Second tier of English football but they were crowned Second Division Champions in 1937–38 under the guidance of Jimmy Hogan. By the outbreak of the Second World War, Aston Villa were back in the top-flight of English football.[17]

Their Aston Villa reserves (or seconds) team enlisted in the army and were captured at the Dunkirk evacuation in June 1940. In December in an Eastern German camp, a German Guard regiment challenged British prisoners of war to a game of football; the guards were being defeated 27–0 when they stopped the game, only then learning these prisoners were Aston Villa's second team.[18]

Post-war rebuilding

For Villa, as with all English clubs, the

Sunderland for a then British record of £30,000 (£1,100,000 today).[20][21]

For the remainder of the 1940s and early 1950s, Massie continued to bring in new players whilst the team regularly had mid-table finishes. One of the more influential signings was

1957 FA Cup Final against Manchester United's celebrated Busby Babes. Peter McParland scored both goals in a 2–1 victory, in a record-equalling ninth FA Cup final.[19] It was Aston Villa's first trophy for 37 years.[3]

Fluctuating fortunes

The success of the previous season proved to be something of a false dawn though, with the team finishing 14th, seven points above relegation. After refusing to resign,

League Cup.[19] This was helped by the emergence of an exciting group of youth players, who became known as "Mercer's Minors".[22]

References

Specific
  1. ^ The Times Marriages 4 January 1867
  2. ^ "Birmingham Mail - Wednesday 24 October 1883". Retrieved 17 March 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Club Honours". AVFC.co.uk. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  4. ^ "Ellis awarded New Year accolade". BBC Sport. 31 December 2004. Retrieved 2 October 2007.
  5. ^ "Doug Ellis reveals". BBC Sport. 30 November 2006. Retrieved 2 October 2007.
  6. ^ a b "Villa History 1874 – 1887". AVFC.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 April 2006. Retrieved 26 June 2007.
  7. ^ "Growth of Football Supporters in 19th Century Birmingham". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  8. ^ a b Hayes p. 135.
  9. ^ "FA Cup results – 1887". English Football Archives. Archived from the original on 11 May 2006. Retrieved 24 September 2007.
  10. ^ "The Old Firm: give them a profitable dose of competition in England". IEA. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 24 September 2007.
  11. ^ "Club History 1888 – 1899". AVFC.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 August 2006. Retrieved 24 September 2007.
  12. ISBN 1-85828-455-4
    .
  13. ISBN 0954783042
  14. ^ a b "Villa Park History". Villa fans Almanac. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g "Aston Villa Club History 1900 – 1939". AVFC.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 August 2006. Retrieved 28 October 2007.
  16. ^ Cowan, Mark (6 May 2010). "The star Villa player shot dead by neighbour". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on 8 May 2010. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  17. ^ Hayes p. 144–145.
  18. ^ Associated Press, "The city's ordeal by fire" (page 5), The Times, 31 December 1940. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  19. ^ a b c d "Villa History 1946 – 1949". AVFC.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 August 2006. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  20. ^ Days, p 169.
  21. ^ Hayes p. 67.
  22. ^ "A Villa Fan's Memoirs". John Lerwill. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
General

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