Villa open the season with a draw at lively Forest as Graham Taylor 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 looks to improve on 1988-89's 17th place finish. 

But even without a victory it is a very special day in the history of Aston Villa Football Club as unarguably the best player to ever don the claret and blue makes his debut.

Paul McGrath 🇮🇪 29 makes his debut in a Villa shirt after joining from Manchester United 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 in July 1989 for a fee of £425,000 to become the 663rd player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Centre back Kent Nielsen 🇩🇰 27 makes his debut in a Villa shirt after joining from from Bröndby IF 🇩🇰 in July 1989 for a fee of £500,000 to become the 662nd player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Forward Adrian Heath 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 28 makes his Villa debut after moving from RCD Espanyol 🇪🇸 in July 1989 for a fee of £360,000 to become the 664th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Gordon Cowans 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 400th appearance in a Villa shirt (383 Starts) to make it 🟩 W178 🟨 D95 🟥 L127, ⚽ 54 Goals and 🔥 64 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 3.39 games he has played so far in his Villa career. 

Derek Mountfield makes his first appearance in 5 months and contributes his 5th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 34th appearance (32 Starts) to make it 🟩 W11 🟨 D7 🟥 L16, ⚽ 4 Goals and 🔥 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.

Meanwhile off the pitch Nottinghamshire Police lock 500 innocent Villa fans in a cage at the railway station for no apparent reason and not an apology in sight.

Graham Taylor’s 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villa draw for the second consecutive game at the start of the campaign having had to survive the usual Liverpool refereeing shenanigans.

Centre Back Andy Comyn 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his debut in a Villa shirt aged 21 after moving from Alvechurch for £34,000 earlier this month to become the 665th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Midfielder Paul Birch 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 175th start in a Villa shirt (190 Appearances).`

Villa make it a hat-trick of 1-1 draws to open the season as the local rag does its best to undermine any feel good factor at the start of the campaign.

Graham Taylor’s Villa draw for the third consecutive game at the start of the campaign.

Nigel Spink saves a Paul Rideout spot kick after just 5' before Southampton open a two goal lead in the second half to hand Villa their first defeat of the season.

Villa now have no win in their first four Division One games of the season under Graham Taylor.

Centre forward Ian Ormondroyd’s goalless streak extends to 10 games to make it 13 Appearances, 9 Starts, W1 D4 L8 and 1 Goal so far in his Villa career.

Ian Olney 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 hits a ⚽ brace to make it three goals in three games as Villa 🟩 win their first game of the season under Graham Taylor 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.

Paul McGrath 🇮🇪 secures his first win in a Villa shirt at the fifth attempt following 1 defeat and 3 draws so far in 1989-90.

Centre forward Ian Olney 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 scores his ⚽ 5th goal in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 23rd appearance (10 Starts) to make it 🟩 W6 🟨 D8 🟥 L9 and ⚽ 6 Goals at a Goal per Game rate of one for every 3.29 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Full back Kevin Gage 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 first appearance since March after 6 months out with injury.

Dalian Atkinson strikes for Wednesday and Villa lose for the second time in three games as Graham Taylor's side sit 13th in the first division table.

Graham Taylor’s Villa lose to two Villa legends - Dalian and Ron Atkinson - and now have two defeats in the opening six Division One matches and just a single win.

Villa beat Second Division Wolves in the first leg of the League Cup second round at Villa Park.

Midfielder Stuart Gray 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 scores his ⚽ 10th goal in a Villa shirt on his 67th appearance (65 Starts) to make it 🟩 W24 🟨 D20 🟥 L23, ⚽ 10 Goals and 🔥 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.

Ian Olney 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 25th appearance in a Villa shirt (12 Starts) to make it 🟩 W7 🟨 D8 🟥 L10, ⚽ 6 goals & 🔥 0 Assists  at a goal per game rate of one for every 4.17 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Chris Price 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 conttributes his 🔥 second assist in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 50th appearance to make it 🟩 W17 🟨 D15 🟥 L18, ⚽ 0 Goals & 🔥 2 Assists so far in his Villa career.

Villa continue their difficult start to the season as they lose for the third time in seven games having won once and fall into the relegation places in the early table.

Villa lose to a Trevor Francis inspired QPR in a poor performance. 

Nevertheless the condemnation from the local rag feels misplaced for a recently promoted team in their second season under one of the most talented managers around attempting to rebuild the club and with a raft of new players.

Ian Olney contributes his first assist in a Villa shirt on his 26th appearance (13 Starts) to make it W7 D8 L11 and 6 goals at a goal involvement per game rate of one for every 3.71 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Villa are held at Molineux but win the League Cup second round tie with second tier Wolves 3-2 on aggregate.

Paul McGrath makes his 10th appearance in a Villa shirt and makes it W3 D4 L3 and 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.

• Derek Mounfield scores his 5th goal in a Villa shirt on his 43rd appearance (41 Starts) to make it W14 D10 L19, 5 Goals and 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.

Villa make is successive first division wins as they overcome the terror of a 1980's plastic pitch to beat Luton and climb to 10th in the table under Graham Taylor.

Villa win for the third time in nine top flight games after a slow start to the campaign.  

Midfielder Mark Blake, 18, makes his debut in a Villa after coming through the youth ranks to become the 666th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

• Derek Mountfield scores for the second successive game to make it 6 Goals in a Villa shirt on his 44th appearance (42 Starts), W15 D10 L19, 6 Goals and 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.

Villa hammer Everton at Villa Park as they cruise to a 6-0 lead before conceding a couple of sloppy goals but nothing can detract from Villa's most thrilling performance for many a season as they rise to 4th place in the first division.

Villa make it four successive League wins and secure their biggest win of the season under Graham Taylor.

Ian Olney contributes his 10th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 33rd appearance (20 Starts) to make it W12 D10 L11, 9 Goals and 1 Assist at a goal invilvement per game rate of one for every 3.30 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Kent Nielsen scores his first goal in a Villa shirt on his 12th appearance (9 Starts) to make it W5 D4 L3 so far in his Villa career.

Having scored his first assist in a Villa shirt on his previous appearance, centre forward Ian Ormondroyd contributes his second assist in 19 appearances (10 Starts) but his goalless streak now extends to 16 games to make it W4 D5 L10, 1 Goal and 2 Assists so far in his Villa career.

Villa hammer Vale at Villa Park in the fourth round of the FA Cup as Ray Walker and Dean Glover return to their old stomping ground.

Meanwhile the deeply underwhelming forward Adrian Heath 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 29 makes his first appearance for 3 months and what proves to be his 12th and final appearance before moving on to Manchester City 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 in February for a fee of £300,000. Heath had only joined Villa 5 months earlier in August 1989 for a fee of £360,000 from RCD Espanyol 🇪🇸 and proved a terrible signing who was soon ostracised from first team football by Graham Taylor 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿. Heath left with a record of 12 Appearances (9 Starts), 🟩 W5 🟨 D4 🟥 L3, ⚽ 0 Goals and 🔥 2 Assists.

Centre forward Ian Olney 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 secures his 🟩 25th win in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 51st appearance (38 Starts) to make it 🟩 W25 🟨 D12 🟥 L14, ⚽ 14 Goals and 🔥 4 Assists at a goal involvement per game rate of one for every 2.68 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Midfielder Paul Birch 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ⚽ scores two and 🔥 creates one to make it 50 Goal Involvements in 200 appearances in a Villa shirt (179 Starts).