The second post in our Aston Villa Vintage series brings you another collection of retro player and team images, this time from the early 1970s. These seasons were probably among the worst in Villa’s history with the club suffering a punishing relegation to Division 3 in 1970.
It would take two seasons of toil before Division 2 status was restored under manager Vic Crowe, that in itself still an underwhelming achievement for a club of Villa’s stature of course.
Lochhead and Rioch, Aston Villa 1971
Brian Tiler, Aston Villa 1971
League Cup Final, Aston Villa 1971
Geoff Vowden, Aston Villa 1972
Bruce Rioch, Aston Villa 1972
John Gidman, Aston Villa 1972
Morgan and Aitken, Aston Villa 1973
Ian Ross, Aston Villa 1973
Geoff Vowden, Aston Villa 1973
Alun Evans, Aston Villa 1973
Jimmy Brown, Aston Villa 1973
Bruce Rioch, Aston Villa 1973
Alun Evans, Aston Villa 1973-2
Brian Little, Aston Villa 1973
Robson and Ross, Aston Villa 1973
Graydon and Vowden, Aston Villa 1973
Jim Cumbes, Aston Villa 1973
Beyond The Last Man 
More Scots at Villa than I remember from that era; perhaps because of the lack of international call-ups. I seem to recall Andy Lochhead being pretty decent.
However ‘Anglos’, as they were disparagingly known, had to be special to make it through the selection committee process, which – if I recall correctly – still picked the squad in those days.
Yes, I was surprised by that too. Similar when they won the League in 1981 with several Scots who were not high profile at all in their homeland.