On This Day

• Villa finish bottom of the first division, relegated ten points off safety something that had appeared inevitable since the early days of the Graham Turner 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 regime three seasons earlier.

• Villa had won just three times in thirty two games, losing eighteen

• Villa's final defeat of the season is a heavy defeat at Old Trafford falling 0-3 behind in ten second half minutes.

• In an unpleasant irony the goalscoring burst is started by Colin Gibson 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 one of the many trophy winners jettisoned by the club under Herbert Douglas Ellis’ incompetent and damaging chairmanship. 

• Chairman Herbert Doug Ellis’ predictably disastrous policies led Villa directly to this position - relegation to the second tier just five seasons after being crowned Champions of Europe.

• Ellis was culpable in gutting the League and European Cup winning team and replacing it with lesser talents; selling players who performed well even in this fallow period; and his continued selection of poor managers that fitted his policy rather than the club's needs.

• If anything summed this up any better it is hard to think than a record of fourteen wins in the last sixty nine League games losing thirty three under Ellis’ men Graham Turner 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and Billy McNeill 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿.

• Left back Bernie Gallacher 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 20 makes his debut in a Villa shirt after graduating from the youth set up to become the 643rd player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

• Midfielder Stuart Ritchie 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 18 makes his sole appearance for Villa as a substitute after graduating from the youth set up to become the 644th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football. Ritchie 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 left for Crewe Alexandra in June 1987 without making a further squad appearance.

• Inevitably though Villa would face life in the second tier without a raft of players.

• Left back Tony Dorigo 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 21 makes his 135th and final appearance for Villa (130 Starts) before being sold to Chelsea for a fee of £475,000. Dorigo left with a record of 🟩 W38 🟨 D41 🟥 L56, ⚽ 1 Goal and 🔥 7 Assists.

• Centre forward Andy Gray 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 31 makes his 210th & final appearance in a Villa shirt before being sold to West Bromwich Albion for a fee of £8,000. Villa had bought Gray for his second spell with Villa two years earlier for a fee of £150,000 from Everton but it was not to prove a success with 9 goals in 69 games however Gray 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 will always be fondly remembered for his early spell with the club starting as a 19 year old revelation becoming one of the most feared strikers in a generation before off field turmoil soured his final season with Villa leading to his premature departure aged 23 in 1979.

• Gray 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 left with a record of 🟩 W79 🟨 D63 🟥 L68, ⚽ 78 Goals and 🔥 29 Assists.

• Midfielder Phil Robinson 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 made his final appearance for Villa aged 20 before moving on to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a fee of £5,000 in July 1987. Robinson had made his debut for Villa in the 1986-87 season and made 3 appearances, scoring once. 

• Centre back Dean Glover 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 23 makes his 39th and final appearance in a Villa shirt (36 Starts) before moving on to Middlesbrough for a fee of £50,000 in June 1987. Glover left with a record of 🟩 W9 🟨 D12 🟥 L18, ⚽ 1 Goal and 🔥 1 Assist.