Graham Taylor's Villa win for the first time in five in all competitions as they hammer second division Ipswich in the League Cup 4th Round as Alan McInally hits his fifteenth of the season and David Platt scores four.

Graham Taylor's Villa fail to score for the fourth successive game and have now lost seven of their last nine League games. As a result they sit 16th in the table, one point off the drop zone in a tight Division One table.

Graham Taylor’s Villa draw for the second consecutive game at the start of the campaign as defender Andy Comyn made his debut aged 21 after moving from Alvechurch for £34,000 earlier this month.

Graham Taylor’s Villa lose in Division One for the first time in six games as they fall back to 5th place in the table but all eyes were on the local rag again with their barely concealed contempt for the club they reported on. It made no sense. 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 stake. But after calling 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 self worth of just about every opposition team - a defeat in the League Cup 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 by the hacks of the rag 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 condemn 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. 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 their own goal descriptions of “dreadfully unlucky” and “going into the net off the centre-half’s backside” simply did not chime with all that preceded. 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 help drive them to a top two berth once again. Doubtless they received recognition by virtue of the relationship with the club. 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 their support and encouragement. Shameful.

Graham Taylor’s Villa get back to winning ways in the League to make it six wins in the last seven and 3rd place in the table.

Graham Taylor’s Villa suffer a first League defeat in six as they lose to 17th place Millwall, as a result Villa fall to joint third alongside Norwich and are now three points behind Liverpool and five points behind leaders Arsenal.

• Villa hammer Manchester United at Villa Park with a superlative performance as David Platt scores his 15th of the season before a 41,247 capacity crowd.

• Villa make it 9 first division victories in 12 games under Graham Taylor as they crush Manchester United in a Boxing Day spectacular. Villa are now two points behind second place Arsenal and four behind new leaders Liverpool.

• Paul McGrath secures his 10th win in a Villa shirt on his 21st appearance to make it W10 D5 L6 and 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.

Graham Taylor’s Villa make it ten first division victories in thirteen games as they beat second placed Arsenal to leapfrog them in the table four points behind leaders Liverpool.

Graham Taylor’s Villa make it eleven first division victories in fourteen games as they hammer Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The result could have been even more convincing had the referee not blown his whistle for half time as the ball was mid flight from a David Platt overhead kick before it hit the back of the net. Regardless, Villa remained second and close the gap to leaders Liverpool to two points.

Graham Taylor’s Villa can only draw with Second Division Blackburn ahead of a replay at Villa Park.

• Villa win in the third round of the FA Cup at the second attempt as Tony Daley runs Second Division Blackburn ragged at Villa Park.

• Paul McGrath makes his 25th appearance in a Villa shirt and makes it W13 D6 L6 and 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.

Graham Taylor’s Villa win for the first time in three League games but make it sixteen first division victories in twenty one games as they remain second and four points behind leaders Liverpool.

Graham Taylor’s Villa make it twenty first division victories in twenty eight games as they remain second, five points behind leaders Liverpool with two to play. Villa need to win both their final two games, and Liverpool lose both of theirs to win their first League title in nine years.

Graham Taylor’s Villa end the season with a second successive three-all draw to finish second, nine points behind eventual title winners Liverpool. The match however will long be remembered for the huge celebrations at Goodison Park as Villa’s fans and players gathered to thank one another and to wish outgoing boss Graham Taylor well in what would prove his final game before his move to the role of England manager. Taylor had brought smiles and belief back to Villa and laid the foundations for the next two decades. To this day the song ‘Spinksy and Birchy, Alan McInallyyyy’ resonates wherever Villa play in testament to the players Graham Taylor brought to the club and nurtured to new heights in his all too short reign of three seasons and 150 games. Sadly for Taylor he would never again achieve such success, including his return to Villa in the 2000s, but he will always be fondly remembered for his time with Villa between 1987 and 1990.