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 are beaten by second tier West Ham for the second successive season at Upton Park.

Graham Taylor’s Villa are beaten by Second Division side West Ham in the League Cup third round.

Villa lose in Division One for the first time in six games as they fall back to 5th place in the table under Graham Taylor 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.

Villa lose to a vibrant Norwich side at Carrow Road as the Birmingham Evening Mail plays the age old card of building them up to knock 'em down.

The Evening Mail, champions of every negative thought about Villa and eager to drain any semblance of optimism surrounding the club were at it again. Like wild animals to fresh meat, a defeat away to a top 6 rival was too juicy to ignore. How could they? This was their bread and butter with a slice of sizzling steal. 

After having called Villa’s relegation as early as the fourth game of the season, then damning Taylor’s side with the faintest of praise - whilst inflating the credentials of just about every opposition team - a defeat in the League Cup in the previous game was just too salivating. 

The defeat to West Ham was not “unlucky” but “embarrassing”. If that was an over-reaction and mis-reading of a cold night in East London, just days needed to be waited for them to fire up another damning indictment on B6’s pretensions. 

No longer tipping Villa for relegation they were certainly “still not fooled” by Villa’s achievements in 1989-90 and now could proudly confine a title challenge to the waste bin besides their cigarette smoke infested desks. 

One defeat, a first in six League games that had seen Villa climb to fourth, was enough to set the poison pen letters to B6 ablaze once again. 

We were told Villa’s “strengths were exaggerated” and “weaknesses” ignored. 

If that wasn’t enough we were reliably informed Villa didn’t score enough. Despite having failed to score in the League for the first time in seven games and only the second time this season and no matter that in the last six League games Villa had scored twelve goals. No matter that Villa had won five of those six games. 

Worse was to come.. the goals conceded “were a joke”. Was that irony? Did they mean they were literally laughably unfortunate? or were they serious when they claimed Villa’s internationals were more bothered about playing Malta and Romania than winning the League? 

Yet the contradictions abounded with their own goal descriptions of “dreadfully unlucky” and “going into the net off the centre-half’s backside” simply did not chime with all the vitriol that followed. 

Was it wilful contradiction or just an inability to ever say anything positive about the club they were paid to follow? Just what were these self appointed ‘Judges’ watching? What were they thinking? Why report on a club when any potential objectivity, or even support, or - whisper it quietly - partisan tribalism, as displayed by the Liverpool Echo or Manchester Evening News, was total anathema to them? 

Doubtless in time they came to love the club in their strange way. Doubtless they soon told us how they believed in Villa all along and had played an instrumental ‘tough love’ role in driving them to a top two berth once again. 

But supporters? Never. The sad fact is it didn’t start in November 1989 and neither did it end. They had form through good times and bad. Always unhelpful, always prompting a new ‘crisis’. 

This, not the worst example or the most vicious, was certainly the most detached from reality given what supporters had witnessed over the last three months under Graham Taylor. 

Promoted the previous season to successfully fight for survival, just 12 months later the same team were troubling the top 6 of the League but even then we couldn’t count on the Evening Mail’s support and encouragement. Shameful.

Midfielder David Platt 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 75th appearance in a Villa shirt to make it 🟩 W26 🟨 D20 🟥 L29, ⚽ 29 Goals and 🔥 7 Assists at a rate of one goal involvement for evey 2.08 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Centre forward Ian Ormondroyd 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 extends his goalless streak to 🕒 18 games to make it 🕒 21 Appearances and ⚽ 1 Goal so far in his Villa career.

Centre back Derek Mountfield 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 50th appearance in a Villa shirt (48 Starts) to make it 🟩 W18 🟨 D11 🟥 L21, ⚽ 6 Goals and 🔥 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.

Winger Nigel Callaghan 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 25th appearance in a Villa shirt (22 Starts) to make it 🟩 W5 🟨 D7 🟥 L13, ⚽ 1 Goals and 🔥 4 Assist so far in his underwhelming Villa career.

Villa win for the first time in four as Chris Price proves the Highbury hero but Villa are knocked off top spot following Liverpool's victory in one of their games in hand. 

Villa sit second, three points behind Liverpool who retain a game in hand with five left to play.

Villa make it eighteen first division victories in twenty six games this season to open up an eight point gap to third placed Arsenal.

Chris Price scores his first goal in a Villa shirt on his 86th appearance (84 Starts) to make it W39 D19 L28, 1 Goal and 2 Assists so far in his Villa career.

Villa make it nineteen first division victories in twenty seven games as they remain second and close the gap to leaders Liverpool to five points whilst opening up a ten point gap ahead of third placed Arsenal.

Villa win consecutive games as Liverpool lose but the leaders still have a game in hand with four to play. 

Villa's achievements however are once again pilloried by the spiteful coverage in the Birmingham Evening Mail as they offer grudging support solely "for reasons of local patriotism."

Gordon Cowans makes his 425th start in a Villa shirt (442 Starts) to make it W203 D102 L137, 57 Goals and 77 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 3.30 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Villa beat second tier side Barnsley in the League Cup to leave them with just one defeat in nine games and seven wins under Jozef Vengloš.

Villa win for the sixth time in eight as they progress in the League Cup.

Tony Daley contributes his 50th goal involvement start in a Villa shirt on his 180th appearance (151 Starts) to make it W66 D43 L71, 27 Goals and 23 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 3.60 games he has played so far in his Villa career. 

Villa are held to a goalless draw by the anti football and soon to be homeless Wimbledon but extend their run to one defeat in ten games and seven wins under Jozef Vengloš.

Jozef Vengloš' Villa fail to score for the first time but have now lost just once in ten games.

Villa win in what is described as "arguably the best performance an English club side has ever produced in Europe." as the appointment of Jozef Vengloš continues to pay dividends. 

Villa face Inter Milan for the first time in competitive football, Inter become the 131st team that the Villa first team has played in League or Cup football, Villa’s 17th continental European opponents and their second from Italy following their meeting with Juventus in their 1982-83 European Cup campaign.

Villa put on one of the great Villa Park European nights - a setting for which these games were seemingly made. A stunning victory over Italian giants Inter Milan in the 1st leg left Villa’s prospects for progression looking very promising. 

Villa were now unbeaten in the last five and had now lost just once in eleven games under Jozef Vengloš winning eight.

Kent Nielsen scores his third goal for the club and in so doing contributes his 10th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 61st appearance (58 Starts) to make it W32 D12 L17, 3 Goals and 7 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 6.10 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Gordon Cowans contributes his 85th assist in a Villa shirt on his 460th appearance (443 Starts) to make it W212 D107 L141, 58 Goals and 85 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 3.22 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Jozef Vengloš shocks football with his innovative prescription of vitamin pills and glucose minerals to restore lost energy following the Inter game but the comedown still proves too much as Villa are held to a goalless draw by Leeds. 

Vengloš' superb run continues however with one defeat in twelve games and eight wins including the famous victory over Inter Milan last time out.

Jozef Vengloš' Villa fail to score and draw 0-0 for the second consecutive League game but have now lost just once in twelve games and sit eighth in the table.

Villa see off Second Division Millwall in the League Cup as David Platt 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 hits his tenth of the season. 

Villa secure their 🟩 ninth win in 🕒 thirteen games under Jozef Vengloš 🇨🇿.

Villa progress in the League Cup to their 8th place League placing and UEFA Cup achievements under the new boss.

Meanwhile former Villa great Bruce Rioch returns to Villa Park with his Millwall side, an incongruous match-up of ‘pragmatic’ management given his sublime on field skills.

Midfielder David Platt 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 125th appearance in a Villa shirt to make it 🟩 W56 🟨 D28 🟥 L41, ⚽ 54 Goals and 🔥 12 Assists at a rate of one goal involvement every 1.89 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Chris Price 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 secures his 🟩 50th win in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 107th appearance (105 Starts) to make it 🟩 W50 🟨 D25 🟥 L32, ⚽ 1 Goal and 🔥 3 Assists so far in his Villa career.

Tony Cascarino scores his ⚽ 5th goal in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 22nd appearance to make it ⚽ 5 Goals and 🔥 5 Assists so far in his Villa career.

Villa make it successive wins in all competitions and record a first League win in eight under Jozef Vengloš as David Platt scores his twelfth of the season.

Villa now have eleven wins and five defeats in twenty games under Jozef Vengloš to sit 12th in the first division table.

Chris Price scores his second goal and in so doing contributes his 5th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 114th appearance (112 Starts) to make it W52 D26 L36, 2 Goals and 3 Assists so far in his Villa career.

Villa score their first away goal in nearly 8 hours of football to secure only their second away point of the season but Jozef Vengloš now has eleven wins and just five defeats in twenty one games.

Jozef Vengloš' Villa go three games unbeaten as David Platt scores his thirteenth of the season.

Villa earn a creditable draw against an Arsenal side shorn of their jailed captain Tony Adams but who are on a club record eighteen game unbeaten run as Jozef Vengloš now has eleven wins and just five defeats in twenty two games.

Jozef Vengloš' Villa go four games unbeaten but fail to score for the seventh time in thirteen games.

Villa extend their run to one defeat in 8 under Jozef Vengloš 🇨🇿 but can only draw at home with Wimbledon in the FA Cup third round.

Villa score their first ever Villa Park goal against Wimbledon but Jozef Vengloš 🇨🇿 sees enough and hooks a brace of players in despair at an uncharacteristically poor performance.

Gordon Cowans 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 475th appearance in a Villa shirt (458 Starts) to make it 🟩 W216 🟨 D113 🟥 L146, ⚽ 58 Goals and 🔥 85 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 3.32 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Midfielder Stuart Gray 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 125th appearance in a Villa shirt (118 Starts) and makes it 🟩 W50 🟨 D35 🟥 L40, ⚽ 15 Goals and 🔥 2 Assists so far in his Villa career.

Dwight Yorke 🇹🇹 makes his 🕒 10th appearance in a Villa shirt (7 Starts) to make it 🟩 W2 🟨 D4 🟥 L4 ⚽ 0 Goals and 🔥 1 assist so far in his Villa career.

Ian Ormondroyd 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 50th start in a Villa shirt (65 Appearances) to make it 🟩 W29 🟨 D14 🟥 L22, ⚽ 9 Goals and 🔥 6 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 4.33 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Nigel Callaghan 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his first appearance since March 1990.

Villa and Jozef Vengloš lose a game they dominated in the final minute of extra time to a deflected Wimbledon strike to dump them out of the Cup and consign them to just their seventh defeat in twenty seven games.

Jozef Vengloš' Villa lose to Wimbledon in the FA Cup to make it two defeats and one win in their last five matches.

Villa record their sixth consecutive home draw against Liverpool as Jozef Vengloš' team "share a match of outstanding quality" to leave them with twelve wins and just seven defeats in twenty eight games..

Jozef Vengloš' Villa bounce back from their FA Cup loss to hold 2nd place Liverpool to a draw at Villa Park however have now failed to score for the tenth time in nineteen games.

Villa are undone by a late goal once again as they are beaten at Highfield Road to make it successive defeats in all competitions and their 🟥 ninth defeat in thirty games under Jozef Vengloš 🇨🇿.

Jozef Vengloš' 🇨🇿 Villa lose at Highfield Road despite David Platt's 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 opener. Villa had now not won in five and had won just three in their last seventeen as Jozef Vengloš 🇨🇿 debut season began to unravel. 

Meanwhile, midfielder and Villa cult hero Paul Birch 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 made his 223rd & final appearance in a Villa shirt (192 Starts) aged 28 before moving on to Wolverhampton Wanderers in February for a fee of £400,000. Birchy had played for Villa between 1983-84 and 1990-91 and left with a record of 🟩 W80 🟨 D59 🟥 L84, ⚽ 25 Goals and 🔥 28 Assists across his Villa career. Birch, who tragically passed away aged just 46 from cancer in 2009, is still the subject of one of the most popular terrace chants that rings out from Villa home and away. A wonderful player who will never be forgotten.

Midfielder David Platt 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 scores his ⚽ 60th goal in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 142nd appearance to make it 🟩 W59 🟨 D34 🟥 L49, ⚽ 60 Goals and 🔥13 Assists at a rate of a goal evey 2.37 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Villa miss out on a second consecutive victory as they are undone by a late goal once again - this time from the hated Steve Hodge who scores an 88' equaliser for Forest.

Villa, who remain 13th, now have 13 wins and 9 defeats in 32 games under Jozef Vengloš.

Paul McGrath contributes his 5th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 78th appearance to make it W35 D18 L25, 1 Goal, 4 Assists and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Derek Mountfield scores his 15th goal in a Villa shirt on his 105th appearances (103 Starts) to make it W48 D22 L35, 15 Goals and 2 Assists so far in his Villa career.

Villa are swept aside by champions elect Arsenal at Highbury conceding three in six second half minutes before Nigel Spink is forced to leave the field injured and midfielder David Platt takes over goalkeeping duties for the final 15 minutes, conceding once.

Jozef Vengloš' Villa end a run of three unbeaten with a heavy defeat at Highbury. Already 0-3 behind, 

Villa lose 'keeper Nigel Spink to injury forcing Mark Blake to take on the gloves with no substitute goalkeeper available. Blake concedes a further two goals in the final 10 as Villa drop back to 16th in the table.

Villa lose for the fourteenth time in forty two games under Jozef Vengloš 🇨🇿 (fifteen wins).

Villa put in a poor performance as they are beaten at home by Wimbledon to leave them 17th in the table, two points clear of the relegation place. 

Jozef Vengloš' 🇨🇿 Villa  lose for the third time in five and are without a win in six as they remain 17th in the table, six points clear of the drop zone.

Meanwhile, in the background Vengloš 🇨🇿 receives the dreaded vote of confidence from Chairman Ellis.

Tony Cascarino 🇮🇪 makes his 🕒 50th appearance in a Villa shirt on his (47 Starts) to make it 🟩 W16 🟨 D16 🟥 L18, ⚽ 11 Goals and 🔥 7 Assists so far in his Villa career.

Villa concede five goals for the second time in six games. 

The Birmingham Evening Mail sink to a new low as their ongoing attempts to destabilise the reign of Jozef Vengloš 🇨🇿 sees them plaster their back page with “FOR GOD'S SAKE GO DR JO!”. Perhaps emboldened by their similar successful campaign earlier in the season against the manager of neighbours Birmingham, the paper was anything but constructive or helpful after an admittedly chastening defeat. 

The irony however that they admitted “It was true that in a vividly entertaining first half Villa should have scored four times” was not lost on readers who witnessed the game without an agenda. 

Villa had suffered from bad luck and naiveté throughout Vengloš’ 🇨🇿 reign but the number of bad performances could be counted on one hand, results however was another thing. 

Villa had now 🟥 lost for fifteenth time in forty three games under Jozef Vengloš having also secured 🟩 fifteen wins to sit 17th in the table - exactly where they had been two years previously under the feted Graham Taylor - four points clear of relegation with a game in hand over the bottom three. 

Centre back Andy Comyn 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 22, makes his 🕒 21st & final appearance in a Villa shirt (17 Starts) before moving on to Derby County in August 1991 for a fee of £200,000. Comyn had cost Villa £34,000 two years earlier and left with a record of 🟩 W6 🟨 D8 🟥 L7, ⚽ 0 Goals and 🔥 0 Assists across his short Villa career.

Gordon Cowans makes his 🕒 475th start in a Villa shirt (492 Appearances) to make it 🟩 W219 🟨 D118 🟥 L154, ⚽ 59 Goals and 🔥 92 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 3.25 games he has played so far in his Villa career.