Club Name: Aston Villa Football Club
Nicknames: Villa, The Villains
Ground: Villa Park, Birmingham
Capacity: 42,553
1874
Manager: Martin O'Neill
Chairman: Randy Lerner
1893-94, 1895-96, 1896-97, 1898-99, 1899-1900, 1909-10,1980-81
1887, 1895, 1897, 1905, 1913, 1920, 1957
1961, 1975, 1977, 1994, 1996
1982
European Super Cup Winners: 1982-83
InterToto Cup Winners: 2001
Established in 1874 Aston Villa were one of the founding members of the Football League in 1888 and are recognised as one of the oldest and most distinguished football clubs in England. After English football became professional in 1885 Villa cemented their dominance early on lifting the FA Cup in 1887.
The club lifted its first league trophy in the 1893-1894 season and began to impose their dominance on the English game evidenced by the fact that by the onset of the First World War they had won the League six times and the FA Cup five times, including the double in the 1896-1697 season. Due to the enormous crowds of supporters Villa were attracting the club was forced to move grounds and in 1897 they negotiated the purchase of their current home ground.
During World War Two the Football League was suspended and when the war finally ended Aston Villa began the arduous task of rebuilding and restructuring their team to again mount a serious challenge at top flight football.
Average performances were the order of the day throughout the 1950’s with one notable exception when the club went on a run in the FA Cup climaxing in victory over Manchester United in the final. Complacency and poor results however led to relegation to the 2nd Division for the second time in 1959. Villa immediately bounced back to the 1st Division in 1960 but settled into a slow decline leading to relegation in 1967.
An era of reshaping and rebuilding began and in 1975 Aston Villa were once again in the 1st Division. Strong displays of football led to Villa making their European debut. In 1982 Aston Villa became one of only four English clubs to win the European Cup beating Bayern Munich 1-0 in the final. However a mere five years after being crowned Champions of Europe, Villa were once again relegated to the 2nd Division.
The early 1990's brought mixed success to the club when they were runner’s up in the League and their form signalled a return to the European stage. Ron Atkinson the new manager spent heavily bringing in fresh talent and his policy almost paid off when in 1993, Villa finished runners up to Manchester United.
In recent years Villa have struggled to reach the heights of the clubs proud history however new hope emerged amongst fans with the appointment of Martin O'Neill as manager in 2006. O’Neill an ex-Northern Ireland international has had great success at his previous club Celtic and wishes to recreate this form at Villa.