"Most people expected us to come down here and lose but I don't think they would have expected us to play so well," Billy McNeill. --- "I would ask the fans to contribute. They can be great assets if they get behind us. “The good fan will respond when he is needed and life seems difficult. "What upsets players is that the fans sometimes don't think that players suffer disappointment when They lose. They should have been in the dressing room on Saturday atter the game. "But we have got to do it on our own. It's no good expecting other clubs to help us with their results. “I think it’s vitally important for us to stay in the first division. “If we have got to face the other alternative I don’t think it need proved wholly disastrous. “The easiest thing to do in football is to sign players, but we have got to buy players for the proper reasons. “The only we reason we went in for [David Speedie] and were prepared to lose Tony Dorigo was because a player like Speedie would be a great character and influence on the team. “It annoys me that people have tried to involve Dorigo in all kinds of speculation which is wrong. He is not for sale. “There are only a few players I would even consider using Tony Dorigo in exchange for and those players would not be available to us anyway, “No other clubs were involved in bidding for Steve Hodge. “It [Tottenham’s £650,000 offer] was the only offer we had after three months [on the transfer list] during which we valued hime at £800,000. “You need two clubs competing to get the best price. “Confidence develops with results, “I am trying very hard to keep despondency away because that can be the recipe for very difficult times. “There is a good atmosphere in the dressing room and on the training ground. “The frustrating thing is that over the last few games I don’t think we have been that far away from turning the corner. “We need a result on which to hinge out recovery. “We have Paul Elliott, Simon Stainrod and Gary Williams on the transfer list [after Steve Hodge]. “In Paul’s case with is the most recent, he is looking at his career from a personal point of view as he came to the club with great ambition and he’s not now in the side. “But if you speak to Paul he will tell you it’s not an abrasive situation. “Injuries are things that clubs have to cope with but we do seem to be more unfortunate than others. “When a player such as Neale Cooper comes here to make an inmost in English football, it is tremendously disappointing to be without him for so long. “One of the first things on coming here was the great difficulty with the disciplinary record which, touch wood, we have begun to solve. “That disrupted us greatly and came at the worst possible time. “Players have to remember that too much indiscipline creates many problems. “I have to admit when I came here and looked at the reserve and youth teams, it was very disappointing for a club of this size. “We have got to improve the quality of our youngsters. “That is now happening but it takes time to develop. Because of injuries, we had to make demands on young players that they were not ready for. “I have always felt that chairman and manager must have a very close relationship. “[Ellis’] job as chairs is to run the club and I cannot expect to take in the begging bowl and for him to fill it all the time. “I have to accept that there are limitations. Speedie is the biggest move we have attempted so far and I got great support from the chairman. “I think that a good working relationship is essential. We cannot operate without that. “I felt it was a big step for me to come here as a manager. It gave me a platform to further my own ambitions as I saw this club as being capable of going as high as I wanted. “Life has proved difficult - but I still have confidence in my own ability. “Disappointment are hard to take but I have accepted that disappointments in football are part and parcel of the job. Billy McNeill. --- THE INFAMOUS DOUG ELLIS CAR CRASH INTERVIEW “I have no time for second. I’m only interested in winning.” Herbert Douglas Ellis, 1982, after a boardroom coup to wrestle control of the League and European Cup winners. “Well, we haven’t finished yet! [Five years on, bottom of the League] “It is fair to say I am bitterly disappointed with the present league position, bearing in mind the money available to the previous manager [Graham Turner - controversially appointed by Ellis for the popular European Cup winning boss Tony Barton] for new players. “Aston Villa had a very good reputation with the recruitment, management and facilities for youth which took us five years to develop when I was here first. [1970-75 in the third and second division] “What we saw was the emergence of a side that won the First Division. “That came from seeds sown five years earlier. [Gordon Cowans, Gary Shaw & Gary Williams] “In August we were full of hope believing we had at last got the players required for long term success. [Having sold all but two of the League and European Cup winning regulars.] “I’m not a quitter. It’s a fact of life that it seems these days when things of wrong it is the chairman’s fault. [SPOILER ALERT: It was] “When things go right, you never hear about the chairman; he’s just there for whisky and cigars. “It is very very frustrating that you spend that money [the club’s] to get new new players, the best managers [sacking Tony Barton and replacing him with lower league Graham Turner], coaches and facilities, and we are still second from bottom and a target for criticism [From European Cup Winner is May 1982 under the previous regime to bottom of the first division five years later under Ellis’ disastrous, self defeating tenure.] “As a realist, I have got to accept that relegation Is always possible, but with 16 more games to play I think that I, the manager and indeed everyone at the club are not even thinking about going down to Division 2. “We are going to stay in the First Division because to my mind it is all important. “Nearly £3 million has been brought into the club through commercial development in the last three years and I believe those figures speak for themselves. “I don’t thing I need to go into explanation as to why I have a salary. “I have no conscience pricking for the fact that I take a salary. “The years when I was chairman previously gave a £100,000 interest free loan which which I don’t know what would have happened. [Ellis’ only ‘investment’ in the club being a fully repaid load subsequent to which Ellis has taken multiple thousands in salary as he presided over significant decline]. “In the first seven years of my Chairmanship [1970-75 and 1982 to date], my son, who is an accountant, asked me then how much I thought the club had cost me personally. “I said “perhaps £350,000” [entirely made up as per Ellis’ own admission]. “He laughed and said: “You must be joking”. “And no doubt I will continue to do so. [ “Hindsight is an exact science [inheriting the European champions to struggling to stay in the first division after a successful team was broken up too early.] “I know from experience that when players have had success their demands are that much higher. “Your problems don’t arrive until you have success. “At least five players were 30 or approaching that age. [Some significantly younger with older players continuing to be successful at their new clubs well into their thirties.] “At least two that I can remember told the manager that it was their last chance to cash in on a transfer. [Disputed] “They themselves wanted away. [Disputed] Billy McNeill: “I would disagree slightly because I believe the backbone and basis of the team was broken up much too quickly.” “The board and myself offered a steadying hand on a young manager’s shoulders [Graham Turner, controversially appointed by Ellis following his sacking of popular European Cup winning manager Tony Barton.] “We certainly didn’t go in and buy any of these players on the basis of the asking price. “I think in the case of every one, but particularly Blair, Stainrod and Thompson, the period of time was weeks between the manager saying who he wanted and the date of the purchase. [The relevance and context of this is disputed] “And they were all, save one, purchased below asking price. [Two of three.] “As a devoted chairman I am in charge but cannot accept not do I want responsibility for team signings of performances. [Team selection and interference is another matter] “That is entirely down to the manager. “The Andy Gray deal [bringing a player “30 or approaching that age” to the club past their best] was agreed between Howard Kendall and Graham Turner but was dependent on Gary Lineker signing for Everton. “During the close season the Lineker deal went through but the manager was on holiday in Spain. “He had asked me before he went to do the deal with Gray if it occurred. “On hearing from Howard Kendall I immediately sent a telegram to Graham Turner and then talked to him by phone and asked him to fly to Portugal to track Andy down and sign him. “As he was on holiday with his family he asked me, as it was a formality, if I would fly out and make the signing, which I did. [Disputed] “A day after I signed him the Chairman and Manager of PSV Eindhoven hired an executive jet, flew out and offered Andy Gray double what we had offered him. “But because of our prompt action he had signed for us. [Contributing 9 goals in 68 appearances after his £270,000 move]. “We must have success on the pitch. “Unless we win things we are going to struggle because everything at the club is geared to winning things. [Ellis’ tenure between 1970-75 and 1982 to this interview had delivered one League Cup in his final season before being ousted. Without Ellis between 1975 and 1982 the club had won the European Cup, the League Championship, the League Cup and the European Super Cup.] “We operate as a big club and the majority of people in football recognise us as one of the top six clubs in the country. “Unless we have a winning side it is difficult to maintain that position. “[But] It is always silly in my view to talk about the kind of money we have available. “I will not talk about how much is available. “I told Billy McNeill there was no big money, but there is still some. “I can only tell you that the transfer account is £550,000 on the wrong side [Net spend, although few successful clubs operate or gauge success on this basis.] and that would have been £850,000 if the Speedie deal had gone through. “That is not Billy’s fault but at the same time I do not want to shove blame on Graham Turner [controversially appointed by Ellis following his sacking of popular European Cup winning manager Tony Barton.]” Herbert Douglas Ellis. ---