• Villa end a difficult season in the doldrums with three consecutive defeats to finish 19th.

• Joe Mercer however remained a popular figure, not least for the work done in the early years of his reign.

• Sadly by May, Mercer would be ordered to take a months complete rest by his doctor.

• By July Mercer would be relieved of his duties by Villa. Packaged up as 'mutual consent' it was anything but.

• To make matters worse, Villa would make a highly questionable decision in handing Mercer's job to unknown managerial novice Dick Taylor.

• Joe Mercer's Villa end the season with three successive losses to make it eleven wins, twelve draws and nineteen defeats in forty two League games. The season - comfortably the worst one under Joe Mercer - saw Villa finish 19th although they were six points clear of relegation by that time. In truth, 

• Mercer’s otherwise positive reign had been on the wane since a terrible run in 1962-63 saw no win in twelve and nine successive defeats. As a result that season finished 15th, a far cry from the 7th and 9th places of the previous two seasons and the inaugural League Cup win. Mercer had also transformed the club off the field, slashing the age of the squad and introducing his much heralded ‘Mercer’s minors’ to the first team, who even in the difficult months of his final season were relied upon to turn Villa’s form around. 

• Mercer would be controversially relieved of his duties in the summer with 1963-64 not only proving to be his, but also a number of his protégés departing. 

• Midfielder Stan Horne made his sixth and final appearance for Villa aged 19 before moving on to Manchester City in September 1965. 

• Forward George Graham made his final appearance for Villa, aged 19, before moving on to Chelsea in June 1964. George played for Villa in 1962-63 and 1963-64 making 10 appearances and scoring 2 goals. 

• Goalkeeper Bob Wilson made his ninth and final appearance for Villa aged 20 before moving on to Cardiff in August 1964. 

• Meanwhile, 17 year old midfielder Graham Parker made his Villa debut after joining from school football in July 1961.

• Villa are cheated against Liverpool, some things were always thus. An offside winner awarded and Villa remain 20th, four points behind the gaggle above them - including neighbours Birmingham who are their next League opponents.

• Dick Taylor's Villa return to League action after successive Cup matches and lose for the second time in three to make it eight wins, two draws and sixteen losses in twenty six division one matches this season.

• The performances were definitely improving but the results weren't following as Villa's kids are knocked out of the League Cup Semis by old boy George Graham. The first leg, which should never have taken place in the conditions was where the damage was really done however. Not least in the injury count through Chelsea's foul play.

• Dick Taylor's Villa can only draw at Stamford Bridge in the second leg of the League Cup semi final to lose on aggregate and miss out on a third final in five seasons.

• Villa lose for the fourth consecutive game and waste one of their games in hand to remain 21st and now sit seven points off 19th.

• Dick Taylor's Villa record successive losses to make it 20 points after nine wins, two draws and nineteen defeats in thirty division one matches this season. At the same point in 1963-64, under former manager Joe Mercer, Villa had lost fourteen and won eight, drawing eight, with 24 points before going on to finish 19th, two places above relegation. In consequence, with twelve games left to play, Dick Taylor needed a huge reversal in form if Villa were not going to fall to relegation at the end of his first season.

• Villa end the season on 37 points, level with Sunderland and in 16th place courtesy of an inferior goal difference. An eight game unbeaten run had transformed a position that had seemed so hopeless even in March as Dick Taylor struggled so badly in his first season in management.

• Huge question marks remained over the Villa boss but for now there were wild celebrations throughout B6 as 'lowly' Villa finished above the mighty, trophyless, Leicester. How could that be?

• Dick Taylor's Villa end the season unbeaten in eight League games, winning five - easily their best run of an otherwise poor season - and make it sixteen wins, five draws and twenty one defeats in forty two division one matches this season. Villa’s best run of the season stood in stark contrast to their form prior to April but better late than never the end of season run secured their top flight status in an otherwise disappointing season under Dick Taylor save for a Cup run highlighted by the sound beating of lower division opposition.

• Villa put three past Tottenham before conceding twice to set up another high intensity rear guard action to earn their fifth win in six first division games. Villa climb to ninth in the table alongside Arsenal as Willie Hamilton impresses once again.

• Dick Taylor's Villa make it three consecutive wins and a sixth victory in seven as their improved form continues and Taylor's win some, lose some record carried over from 1964-65 looks to be over. As a result Villa make it five wins, a draw and four defeats in ten League games this season.

• Villa are well beaten in a one sided game at Anfield to fall back to 11th in the first division table.

• Dick Taylor's Villa lose for the first time in four to make it five wins, a draw and five defeats in eleven League games this season.

• Villa beat Fulham in the League Cup fourth round replay as Phil Woosnam hits a brace.

• Dick Taylor's Villa are victorious in the League Cup replay to set up a quarter final tie with Albion.

• Villa lose Alan Deakin early before a second half concession leaves them with a second home defeat of the season and remaining in 12th place.

• Dick Taylor's Villa lose for the second time in three to make it seven wins, two draws and eight defeats in seventeen League fixtures this season. Meanwhile, former Villa stalwart Harry Burrows hits the killer blow for Stoke.

• Villa, reduced to 10 men in both the first and second halves, can't withstand the Albion pressure as Villa's neighbours muscle into the League Cup Quarter Final's at Dick Taylor's men's expense.

• Dick Taylor's Villa lose for the third time in four as they are beaten by Albion to prevent a third League Cup semi final in five seasons.

Dick Taylor's Villa score three goals for the first time since September but can only draw as they are now without a win in six to make it seven wins, two draws and eleven defeats in twenty League matches.

Villa stop the rot after four consecutive defeats but it could have been so much more as they led 3-1 at Highbury with just six minutes left to play.

• Villa win for the first time in six and astonishingly the first time in five years against Everton to prematurely end 1965 on a relative high in 12th place.

• Dick Taylor's wildly inconsistent Villa score three goals for the second successive game but hold on this time to win for the first time in seven and make it eight wins, two draws and eleven defeats in twenty one League matches.

• Villa play at home on New Years day for only the fourth time in their history.

• Villa had played their first New Years Day fixture in January 1891 and have now played just four home games on 1st January in 75 years.

• Villa make it successive wins after allowing a two goal lead to slip, despite the points Villa drop to 14th having played two, and in some cases, three, fewer games then the rest of the League.

• Dick Taylor's Villa - after an extended break - open 1966 with a second successive victory and have now scored ten goals in three games to make it nine wins, two draws and eleven defeats in twenty two League matches.

• Villa have Colin Withers to thank again in defeat as the local boy saves Dick Taylor's men from a hammering in a game that once again sees Villa reduced to 10-men for a period due to injury.

• Dick Taylor's Villa lose for the first time in four make it nine wins, two draws and twelve defeats in twenty three League matches.

• Villa bounce back from their Goodison difficulties and hammer Forest at Villa Park to climb back to 14th but with plenty of games still in hand on those around them.

• Dick Taylor's wildly inconsistent Villa follow defeat with another victory to make it ten wins, two draws and twelve defeats in twenty four League matches.

• Villa lose out to former striker Derek Dougan in the FA Cup 3rd Round.

• Dick Taylor's Villa lose for the second time in three as they are knocked out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle by Leicester despite playing on home turf.

• Villa are never in the game against a workmanlike Sheffield United side as the guile and intelligence of Phil Woosnam is sorely missed. Villa remain 14th.

• Dick Taylor's Villa lose for the third time in four to make it ten wins, two draws and thirteen defeats in twenty five League matches.

• A week into the 1966-67 season under Dick Taylor and Villa are already in crisis; three games, one goal, two defeats, one point and 19th on goal average just ahead of a trio of pointless clubs propping up the foot of the table.

• Dick Taylor's Villa fail to score for the second successive game to make it a draw and two defeats so far this season. Despite winning three of the final five matches of 1965-66, Taylor had now presided over nine defeats in fifteen. 

• Meanwhile, 18 year old Midfielder Dave Rudge made his Villa debut after signing professional forms with the club on 1 May 1965.

• Villa lose to Everton, Newcastle, having won their game in hand, lost to Leicester and Southampton beat title challengers Forest. As a result Villa are relegated three points from safety with one game left to play.

• Dick Taylor's Villa - with one win in twelve - lose for the sixth time in eight and the third successive game to make it eleven wins, six draws and twenty four defeats in forty one League games this season as they surrender to relegation.

• Brian Godfrey scores for the third successive game since his debut and Brian Greenhalgh for the second consecutive match as Villa win for the first time in six to record their third win in twelve second division games under Tommy Cummings. Villa sit joint eighteenth, one point clear of the relegation places. The game though is notable for the referee being attacked by Millwall fans and leaving the field unconscious on a stretcher.

• Tommy Cummings' Villa win for the first time in seven to make it three wins, a draw and eight defeats in twelve League games so far this season.

• Villa climb into a two goal lead only to concede three in the final sixteen minutes to lose successive games despite Brian Greenhalgh scoring his fifth goals in seven games under Tommy Cummings. Villa remain joint 17th in the table but are now just two points clear of the relegation places.

• Tommy Cummings' Villa lose for the eighteenth time in their last twenty six games to make it five wins, a draw and ten defeats in sixteen League games so far this season. 

• Meanwhile, Graham Parker made his final appearance for Villa aged 21 before moving on to Rotherham United for a fee of £6,000 in December 1967. Parker had made 20 appearances, scoring once since his debut in April 1964.