Tony Barton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 extends Villa's unbeaten run to three League games and 🟩 two wins to climb to 12th in the table for the first time since October as Villa fly out for their quarter final European Cup tie in the Crimea.

Villa makes it 🟩 eight wins, 🟨 nine draws and 🟥 ten defeats after 🕒 27 games of their title defence. 

Right back Mark Jones 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 20 makes his debut appearance in a Villa shirt after graduating from the youth set up to become the 617th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Centre forward Peter Withe 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 75th appearance in a Villa shirt.

Villa and Arsenal fight out in a fabulous attacking game but despite taking a 2-0 first half lead at Highbury with Pat Heard 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 scoring one and creating one Villa come out second best on a thrilling day and make it consecutive - though very different - defeats under Tony Barton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.

After eight League games Barton 󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮has now 🟩 won three, 🟨 drawn three and 🟥 lost twice to make it 🟩 nine wins, 🟨 ten draws and 🟥 twelve defeats after 🕒 31 games of Villa's title defence. 

Midfielder Terry Bullivant 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 25 makes his 🕒 14th & final appearance in a Villa shirt (11 Starts) before moving on to Charlton Athletic in July for a fee of £90,000. Bullivant made 7 appearances in 1979-80 before not being selected for 21 months. Bullivant returned to the first team set up for a further 7 appearances in 1981-82 and left with a record of 🟩 W4 🟨 D2 🟥 L8.

Left back Pat Heard 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 scores his ⚽ first goal in a Villa shirt and creates an 🔥 assist for the second successive game on his 🕒 11th appearance.

Villa concede after 2' and look like another heavy defeat in on the cards but thereafter it is Tony Barton's side in the ascendancy as only Peter Shilton saves Southampton from a hammering. 

Villa though remain pointless and bottom of the table with three played losing 🟥 for the third successive game and failing to score for the second time this season as they sit rock bottom of the first division after three matches.

Right back Mark Jones 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 third appearance in a Villa shirt and his first for 6 months.

Centre forward David Geddis 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 50th 🕒 start in a Villa shirt.

Villa put four past Luton to end a run of 🟥 three defeats and record their 🟩 first win of the season. 

Tony Barton's 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villa, reigning European Champions climb off the bottom of the table to 19th.

Centre forward Peter Withe 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 secures his 🟩 50th win in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 96th appearance.

Midfielder Des Bremner 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 makes his 🕒 150th appearance in a Villa shirt.

Midfielder Dennis Mortimer 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ⚽ scores his 25th goal in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 302nd appearance.

Winger Tony Morley 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 125th appearance in a Villa shirt.

Villa win a fourth consecutive game to rise to 8th in the first division table as they secure an easy win over "championship laughing stock" Manchester City.

Tony Barton's Villa, reigning European Champions, continue their revival from their poor form at the start of the season to win their fourth consecutive game and make it three wins and three losses in six League games this season.

Villa make it 🟩 five successive victories to climb to 7th in the table as Dennis Mortimer 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 lays on a midfield masterclass.

Tony Barton's 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villa, reigning European Champions, make it 🟩 four wins and 🟥 three losses in seven League games this season.

Forward Gary Shaw 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 125th start in a Villa shirt (127 Appearances).

Centre forward Peter Withe 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 100th appearance in a Villa shirt.

Midfielder Des Bremner 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 secures his 🟩 75th win in a Villa shirt in 🕒 154 appearances.

Winger Tony Morley 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 125th start in a Villa shirt.

Villa are held to a 🟨 goalless draw in Turkey but the holders progress to the European Cup second round thanks to their first leg win.

Reigning European Champions Villa fail to score for the third time this season.

Midfielder Gordon Cowans 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 275th appearance in a Villa shirt (260 Starts) to make it 🟩 W127 🟨 D70 🟥 L78, ⚽ 41 Goals and 🔥 39 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 3.44 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Typical Albion boo their own player when Nicky Cross is announced as the injured Cyrille Regis' replacement only for the striker to score the only goal of the game and condemn Villa to a 🟥 first defeat in seven.

Tony Barton's Villa 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, reigning European Champions, fail to score for the second successive match and the fourth time this season make it 🟩 four wins and 🟥 four losses in 🕒 eight League games this season.

Right Back Gary Williams 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 100th start in a Villa shirt (104 Appearances).

Villa suffer a shock defeat in the first leg of the second round of the League Cup at home to Notts County. 

Tony Barton's Villa, reigning European Champions, fail to win for the third consecutive game as they lose to first division Notts County in the home leg of the League Cup.

Tony Barton's Villa 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, reigning European Champions, 🟥 lose to Notts County for the second successive game, and are this time hammered in the League to make it 🟩 four wins and 🟥 five losses in 🕒 nine League games this season. 

Villa fall back to 10th in the table with Peter Withe's 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 penchant for dissent getting him in trouble yet again.

Centre forward Peter Withe 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 is 🟥 sent off for the first time in 🕒 104 appearances in a Villa shirt and now has 🟥 one red card and 🟨 18 bookings to his name.

Left back Pat Heard 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 25th appearance in a Villa shirt.

Reserve team midfielder Robert Hopkins 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 gets a surprise call up to the first team for the first time in two and a half years and the first time in 127 games in what would proved to be his third & final appearance in a Villa shirt. Hopkins 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 would be shipped out by Tony Barton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 in exchange for midfielder Alan Curbishley 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 from Birmingham City and left with a record of 🟩 W1 🟨 D0 🟥 L2, ⚽ 1 Goal and 🔥 0 Assists. 

There were other records however - As a result of his scant consideration for first team selection, Hopkins 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 holds the record for the lowest appearance ratio of any player in the club's history having being played in just 2.34% of Villa's games played from his debut to his final appearance.

And Hopkins did have the memory of being the scorer of Villa's most unlikely goal until the appearance of Michael Boulding 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 in 2002 after he made a 92’ appearance as a substitute "sent on, more as a token gesture”, scoring within a minute and seconds before the final whistle.

Winger Tony Morley 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 having been dropped by both Villa and England, returns to the side and gives Graham Taylor's 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Watford a torrid time ⚽ scoring a brace to secure Villa's 🟩 first win in five.

Tony Barton's 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villa, reigning European Champions, make it 🟩 five wins and 🟥 five defeats in ten League games this season.

Winger Tony Morley 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 contributes his ⚽ 🔥 50th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 134th appearance at a rate of one every 2.63 games.

Villa face FC Dinamo București 🇷🇴 for the first time in competitive football, Dinamo become the 124th team that the Villa first team has played in League or Cup football, Villa’s 12th continental European opponents and their first from Romania 🇷🇴.

Tony Barton's 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villa, reigning European Champions, win at the Dinamo to take a strong position in the European Cup second round tie.

Gibson 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 breaks for Morley 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 to run clear, a clinical cross to Withe 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, a header into Shaw 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and an equally clinical finish... Forward Gary Shaw 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ⚽ scores his 50th goal in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 133rd appearance (131 Starts) at a rate of a goal every 2.66 games.

Villa follow up their outstanding European win in Bucharest with defeat to Norwich as old boy John Deehan 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 hits the crucial blow before Villa miss a penalty and have Colin Gibson 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 dismissed leaving Tony Barton’s 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 side 11th.

Tony Barton's Villa make it 🟩 five wins and 🟥 six losses in eleven League games this season.

Colin Gibson 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 is 🟥 sent off for the first time in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 115th appearance.

Notts County maintain their hoodoo with a 🟩 sixth win in seven against Villa to knock Tony Barton's side out of the League Cup.

Left back Eamonn Deacy 🇮🇪 makes his 🕒 twentieth appearance in a Villa shirt and his first in eleven months.

Tony Barton's 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villa, reigning European Champions, 🟩 win for a second successive game to make it 🟩 eight wins, 🟨 a draw and 🟥 six losses in fifteen League games this season.

Villa overcome a curious refereeing decision to beat Manchester United at Villa Park and climb to 4th in the first division table after 🟩 four wins in five unbeaten games in all competitions.

Forward Gary Shaw 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ⚽ scores the opener to record his ⚽ 🔥 75th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 140th appearance (138 Starts) at a rate of one goal involvement for every 1.87 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Centre forward Peter Withe 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ⚽ scores to contributes his ⚽ 🔥 70th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 111th appearance at a rate of one goal involvement for every 1.59 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Centre back Ken McNaught 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 makes his 🕒 225th appearance in a Villa shirt.

Villa win their 🟩 fifth game in six unbeaten matches to sit fourth in the table level on points with West Ham and Manchester United as match winner Gary Shaw 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿confidently predicts Villa's second title win in three seasons.

Tony Barton's 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villa, reigning European Champions, 🟩 win for a third successive game to make it 🟩 nine wins, 🟨 a draw and 🟥 six losses in 🕒 sixteen League games this season.

Midfielder Dennis Mortimer 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🟩 wins his 150th game in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 320th appearance.

Tony Barton's 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villa, reigning European Champions, win for a 🟩 fourth successive game to make it 🟩 ten wins, 🟨 a draw and 🟥 six losses in seventeen League games this season.

Gordon Cowans 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 hits a late winner from the spot as Villa go joint second with Manchester United, three points behind leaders Liverpool.

Forward Gary Shaw 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 records his 🟩 75th win in a Villa shirt on his 142nd appearance.

Tony Barton's 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villa, the reigning European Champions, contrive to 🟥 lose for the first time in eight against 10-man Arsenal who have an outfield player in goal for nearly 30 minutes. 

Villa miss the chance to go joint top of the first division as they make it 🟩 ten wins, 🟨 a draw and 🟥 seven losses in 🕒 eighteen League games this season. 

Left back Pat Heard 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 22 makes his 🕒 26th and final appearance in a Villa shirt two months after his last game before moving on to Sheffield Wednesday for £60,000 in January 1983. Heard left with a record of 🟩 W11 🟨 D3 🟥 L12, ⚽ 2 Goals and 🔥 3 Assists.

Villa, aiming to be the first British club to win the World Club Championship, travel to Tokyo to face Peñarol, who defeat Tony Barton’s men and lift the trophy for South America for the 13th time.

Villa face Peñarol for the first time in competitive football, Peñarol become the 125th team that the Villa first team has played in League or Cup football and their first opponents from South America.

In a game where the South American opposition are sponsored by the match sponsors and the referee is from South America, Tony Barton's Villa, reigning European Champions, are defeated by a beach ball style football and Uruguayan champions Peñarol in the 1982 Intercontinental Cup in Japan.

Villa are forced to play title rivals Liverpool after returning from their 12,000 mile round trip to Tokyo and the weariness is self evident as Villa concede three in the first thirty before their fightback is crushed in the final minutes.

Tony Barton's Villa, reigning European Champions, lose for the third successive game in all competitions having fallen three goals behind in terrible conditions against Liverpool, as a result Villa make it ten wins, a draw and eight losses in nineteen League games this season.

Villa suffer a scarcely believable defeat to their neighbours as a former Villa reserve scores for Birmingham. Villa slump to 6th in the table as their victorious opponents prop up the foot of the table.

Tony Barton's Villa, reigning European Champions, fail to score for the ninth time this season as they suffer this shock defeat to lowly neighbours Birmingham to make it 🟩 ten wins, 🟨 a draw and 🟥 nine losses in twenty League games this season. 

It's a good day for Villa reject Noel Blake however who scores bottom of the table Blues' first goal to reach the pinnacle of his career just three months after being jettisoned by the European Champions following four appearances for the club. 

Goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 34 makes his 287th & final appearance in a Villa shirt before moving on to Swansea City in August 1983. Rimmer won the League title and European Cup with Villa as he cemented his reputation as one of the most legendary goalkeepers in the club's history. Rimmer left with a record of 🟩 W129 🟨 D74 🟥 L84, 🥅 312 Goals Conceded (1.09 per game) and ⛔ 96 Clean Sheets (33%)..

Villa win for the first time in seven as Southampton are beaten at Villa Park with Tony Barton's men seventh in the table.

Tony Barton's Villa, reigning European Champions, open 1983 with a first win in seven to make it eleven wins, two draws and ten losses in twenty three League games this season.

A quality Mark Walters turn & strike beats fourth division Northampton in the third round of the FA Cup.

Tony Barton's Villa, reigning European Champions, win in the FA Cup third round at fourth division Northampton to make it successive wins for the first time since early December.

Villa suffer a 🟥 shock defeat to second from bottom side Sunderland at Roker Park to remain seventh, level on points with Manchester City, after 24 games.

Reigning European Champions Villa 🟥 lose for the first time in three but fail to score for the tenth time this season in all competitions to make it 🟩 eleven wins, 🟨 two draws and 🟥 eleven defeats this season under Tony Barton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.

Winger Tony Morley 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 150th appearance in a Villa shirt.

Tony Barton's Villa 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, reigning European Champions, lose the first leg of the UEFA Super Cup away to Barcelona 🇪🇸.

Villa lose the away leg of a European tie for the first time since 1978 but put in a magnificent performance as their injury hit side holds Barcelona 🇪🇸 to a single goal deficit ahead of the Villa Park second leg in a week's time.

Forward Gary Shaw 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 150th appearance in a Villa shirt (148 Starts).

Right back Gary Williams 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 125th appearance in a Villa shirt (120 Starts).

Right back Mark Jones 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 25th appearance in a Villa shirt.

Villa, reigning European Champions, end the season with a 🟩 victory to make it 🟩 twenty one wins, 🟨 five draws and 🟥 sixteen losses in 🕒 forty two League games this season under Tony Barton.

But Villa fall to sixth on the final day of the season despite 🟩 beating Arsenal as teams around them win their games in hand.

Villa also delivered a European Super Cup 🟩 win over Barcelona in what proved another positive season after the highs of 1980-81 and 1981-82. 

Centre Back Ken McNaught 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 28 makes his 260th and final appearance in a Villa shirt before moving on to West Bromwich Albion for a fee of £125,000. McNaught a League and European Cup winner with Villa was an integral part of Villa’s success over the previous five seasons and left with a record of 🟩 W118  🟨 D65 🟥 L77, ⚽ 13 Goals and 🔥 9 Assists.

Centre Forward David Geddis 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 25 makes his 🕒 57th & final appearance in a Villa shirt (52 Starts) before moving on to Barnsley in September 1983 for a fee of £50,000. Geddis left with a record of 🟩 W22 🟨 D15 🟥 L20, ⚽ 16 Goals and 🔥 5 Assists.

As a result, just 12 months after being crowned Champions of Europe, the boardroom regime under Chairman Doug Ellis - who had controversially wrestled back control of the club earlier in the season - had disposed of League Champions and European Cup winning players Kenny Swain 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, Jimmy Rimmer 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, David Geddis 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and Ken McNaught 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿. 

More departures were to follow as Tony Barton’s 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 task was about to be made a whole lot more difficult by the powers that be.

Midfielder Gordon Cowans 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 secures his 🟩 150th win in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 323rd appearance (308 Starts) to make it 🟩 W149 🟨 D74 🟥 L97, ⚽ 50 Goals and 🔥 50 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 3.23 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Midfielder Dennis Mortimer 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 350th appearance in a Villa shirt.

Right back Mark Jones 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his first appearance in 4 months.

48 years after Ted Drake scored seven, Tony Woodcock hits five at Villa Park to leave Villa with 🟩 five wins, 🟨 two draws and 🟥 four defeats in 🕒 eleven League games this season.

Right back Mark Jones 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his first appearance in 5 months.

Three poor performances had seen Villa struggle in the League Cup, humiliated in the League and knocked out of the UEFA Cup as a previously buoyant Tony Barton side looked suddenly thoroughly out of sorts. 

Despite taking a 2’ lead Villa are given a torrid time by Spartak with Nigel Spink repeatedly saving them but he could do nothing about a last minute deflection to knock Villa out.

Tony Barton's Villa come off the back of the heavy Arsenal defeat to lose to Spartak at home and exit the UEFA Cup at the second round on an aggregate defeat but that hardly told the story.

Spartak had scored an injury time equaliser in the away leg that punctured an outstanding Villa performance to leave the tie equal at 'half time'; Villa scored after just two minutes of the home leg only for Spartak to hit an equaliser on the night in Birmingham with just seconds of the second half played; 

Spartak then hit an injury time winner through a Dennis Mortimer own goal credited to their 'two' goal hero Cherenkov. Cruel.

Villa bounce back as Peter Withe scores his 10th and 11 of the season, one a half hit, snaking effort that wriggled past Bailey in the United goal and a second from a poor backpass by Kevin Moran. Villa climb back to a more respectable 11th in the table.

Tony Barton's Villa bounce back from their European exit and heavy defeat to Arsenal as a Peter Withe brace sees them beat Manchester United at Old Trafford to make it six wins, two draws and four defeats in twelve League games this season.

Tony Barton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 switches Colin Gibson 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 to midfield and it immediately pays dividends as he  🔥creates one and ⚽ scores one of Villa’s three goals that beat Manchester City in the League Cup.

Tony Barton's 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villa batter second division Manchester City to progress in the League Cup.

Colin Gibson 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 scores his ⚽ 6th goal in 🕒 19 matches, having scored ⚽ three in his first 🕒 144 appearances in a Villa shirt.

Tony Barton's 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villa can only draw with lowly Stoke to make it 🟩 six wins, 🟨 three draws and 🟥 four defeats in 🕒 thirteen League games this season as they climb to eighth in the table.

Mervyn Day 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 28 makes his debut appearance in a Villa shirt after moving from Orient in August 1983 for £15,000 to become the 624th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.