Chelsea Fan So Nearly A Villan

Merlin has done a lovely article on Villa on his Vital site, I thought, hey, why not link it. I'm like that, full of spiffing ideas.
Chelsea - Memories of Villa Park #1
If Chelsea never existed there`s a fair possibility that Aston Villa would have been the club I`d have chosen to follow.

Just like our own name, there`s something a little different about the team from Aston. Hey, they even have a lion as their club emblem! Perhaps that`s why, as a gangly teenager back in high school, some three to four decades ago, it was Villa I chose as my best mate and I chose to err away from following the big clubs everybody else did and choose to pick two struggling teams just to see who`d have the most success.

My best friend chose Crewe Alexandra whilst I plumped for Aston Villa. Both were struggling in the old Division Three and whilst all around us were attaching themselves to the teams associated with glory-hunters we were quite happy, on a part-time basis, observing the results of our chosen sides.

The dalliance with the lower league was only supposed to last for eighteen months or so, until we left school, but you know how these things are, once you start taking the slightest interest in something your instinctive nature is to pursue it.

Therefore, as the years passed by, it was noticeable that Crewe Alexandra`s fortunes never changed but those of Aston Villa did. Even though my domestic loyalty was to another club I have to admit that I was willing Villa on to beat Bayern Munich, over in Rotterdam, in that European Cup Final, even if it were to just prove that back in those high school years I had an eye for the unexpected, almost kidding myself that I was clairvoyant (lucky more like!).

Read more: Click Here

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.