Villa lose for the fourth time in five League games under David O'Leary and have just two wins in twelve Premier League games but the manager claims he knows "what's needed to put it right", just a shame he hadn't done it already.

Villa lose for the 9th time in 16 Premier League games under David O'Leary with just 2 wins as a player who rarely looked a scoring threat in a Villa shirt, Darius Vassell, scores a brace within half an hour of the start of his first match against his former club. 

Stuart Taylor makes an emergency debut to become the 788th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.after Thomas Sörensen is injured in the warm up, Taylor, 24, had joined Villa from Arsenal on a free transfer in July 2005.

Liam Ridgewell scores his 1st goal in a Villa shirt on his 43rd appearance (31 Starts) to make it W16 D8 L19, 1 Goal, 1 Assist, 5 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Patrik Berger contributes his 1st assist in a Villa shirt on his 9th appearance (4 Starts) to make it W3 D1 L5, 1 Assist and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Off the pitch Villa confirm a takeover approach however Herbert Douglas Ellis does his level best to diminish any possible chance of progress.

Villa win for the second time in four unbeaten games to make it six wins in twenty one Premier League games under David O'Leary this season.

Villa start 2006 with victory at the Hawthorns to make it 1 League defeat in 9 under David O’Leary, winning 4 to rise to 12th.

With just 6 wins in the last 26 under O’Leary, the recent improvement in form was not just welcome, but essential as Villa opened up an 8 point gap to the relegation places.

Luke Moore secures his 20th win in a Villa shirt on his 51st appearance (14 Starts) to make it W20 D12 L19, 4 Goals, 4 Assists and 4 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Goalkeeper Wayne Henderson, 22, makes his 7th and final squad appearance for Villa as an unused substitute before moving on to Brighton & Hove Albion for £45,000 in June 2006.

Villa are held at home by ten man Tottenham but extend their unbeaten run under Martin O'Neill to nine in all competitions.

Juan Pablo Ángel has a busy day as he misses a penalty and then scores an own goal but Villa recover to claim a point and go 9 games unbeaten under Martin O'Neill - the first such run since John Gregory in May 2001.

Stiliyan Petrov contributes his first assist in a Villa shirt on his 6th appearance to make it W2 D4 L0 and 1 Assist  so far in his Villa career.

Didier Agathe makes his Villa debut aged 31 after joining the club as an unattached player in July 2006. Agathe, who previously worked with Martin O’Neill at Celtic, becomes the 792nd player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Goalkeeper Bobby Olejnik, 19, makes his first squad appearance for Villa after coming through the youth ranks following his move from Austria Wien in 2003.

Villa extend their unbeaten run to 11 games under Martin O'Neill - the first such run since John Gregory in May 2001 - as Gabriel Agbonlahor wins it for Villa in the last minute of extra time.

Juan Pablo Ángel scores his 60th goal in a Villa shirt on his 147th start (189 Appearances) to make it W68 D52 L69, 60 Goals, 18 Assists and 12 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one for every 1.88 starts so far in his Villa career.

Aaron Hughes makes his 50th appearance in a Villa shirt to make it W18 D17 L15, 0 Goals, 7 Assists and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Villa survive one of the most laughably bad offside decisions ever seen to recover a draw against Middlesbrough and extend their run to a single defeat in fourteen Premier League games under Martin O'Neill.

Gareth Barry scores his fourth penalty of the season after a shocking offside decision gifts Gareth Southgate's struggling Middlesbrough side the opener.

Stuart Taylor keeps his first clean sheet in a Villa shirt on his 5th appearance (4 Starts) to make it W2 D2 L1, 7 Goals Conceded and 1 Clean Sheet so far in his Villa career.

Milan Baroš makes it 15 games without a goal in a Villa shirt and 29 games without an assist as he is yet to be involved in a goal in his 13 appearances under Martin O’Nell. His record of W13 D16 L13, 12 Goals, 6 Assists and 6 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one for every 2.33 games he has played so far in his Villa career looks very different from his first 20 starts - a run that had brought 15 goal involvements at a rate of 1.40 per game.

Villa are beaten for only the second time in fifteen Premier League games as the notoriously goal shy former Villain Darius Vassell scores his fifth goal against his old club.

Martin O'Neill suffers his 1st home defeat as Villa boss but only his 2nd Premier League loss in 15 games means Villa remain 5th in the table.

Stuart Taylor concedes his 10th goal in a Villa shirt on his 6th appearance (5 Starts) to make it W2 D2 L2, 10 Goals Conceded at a rate of 1.67 goals per game and 1 Clean Sheet so far in his Villa career.

Gavin McCann scores his 5th goal in a Villa shirt on his 110th appearance to make it W43 D34 L33, 5 Goals, 3 Assists, 24 Bookings and 2 Red Cards so far in his Villa career.

Villa bounce back from their second defeat in fifteen Premier League games under Martin O'Neill but can only draw with Portsmouth in a game the opposition should have been reduced to nine.

Gareth Barry scores his fifth penalty of the season but Villa are held to a draw in a game where former Villa 'keeper David James controversially survives a first half dismissible offence to save his new side.

Villa draw for the 9th time in 16 Premier League under Martin O’Neill.

Juan Pablo Ángel contributes his 80th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 197th appearance (154 Starts) to make it W70 D55 L72, 62 Goals, 18 Assists and 13 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one for every 2.46 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Villa draw for the second successive game to extend their run to two defeats in seventeen Premier League games under Martin O'Neill.

Villa record their 10th draw in 17 Premier League games under Martin O'Neill.

Stiliyan Petrov scores his first goal in a Villa shirt after just 76 seconds of his 16th appearance to make it W5 D8 L3, 1 Goal and 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.

Milan Baroš scores for the first time in 18 games in a Villa shirt to make it 45 appearances (36 Starts), W13 D18 L14, 13 Goals, 6 Assists and 7 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one for every 2.37 games he has played so far in his Villa career

Martin O’Neill’s ends his first season in charge of Villa on a high - unbeaten in 9 games, winning 4 to finish 11th in the table, a significant improvement on his predecessor.

For the first half of the season O’Neill was largely working with an inherited squad yet he delivered a 15 game unbeaten run at the start of the campaign suggesting his presence alone was having a catalytic effect on the team. 

A difficult mid season period, coinciding with a horrible injury list, including both senior goalkeepers, saw an almost mirror image run as Villa failed to win in 20. 

However by the end of that torrid run, O’Neill had started to remould his squad and the arrival of John Carew and Ashley Young turbocharged the improvement. 

The run to the end of the season was Villa’s strongest, and best football, since John Gregory left. The listless Ellis, O’Leary and Taylor years were well behind Villa as investment and an on pitch plan were finally evident, as was the steely personality that was happy to call time on Villa careers that wouldn’t fit his vision.

Although it wasn’t a perfect debut season, and the mid season troubles revived memories of David O’Leary’s well documented struggles, the future was undoubtedly as bright as had been promised. 

Goalkeeper Thomas Sörensen, 30, makes his 158th and final appearance in a Villa shirt but would remain with Villa, albeit out of first team reckoning, until July 2008 when he would move on to Stoke City on a free transfer having recorded W58 D48 L52, 194 Goals Conceded at a rate of 1.23 goals per game, 53 Clean Sheets (34%) and 3 Bookings across his Villa career.

Left back Aaron Hughes, 27, makes his 64th and final appearance in a Villa shirt (60 Starts) moving on to Fulham for a fee of £1,350,000 in July 2007 - the same fee Villa had paid Newcastle United to bring Hughes to the club and in 2005. Hughes left with a record of W22 D20 L22, 0 Goals, 7 Assists and 2 Bookings from his 2 seasons with the club.

Midfielder Steven Davis, 22, makes his 102nd and final appearance in a Villa shirt (80 Starts) before moving on to Fulham for a fee of £5,310,000 in July 2007. Like Peter Crouch and Thomas Hitzlsperger before him, Davis could and probably should have been given more time to develop at Villa having made his debut aged 19 and although the fee was high it is still difficult to understand why Villa let one of their genuinely talented and successful youth products to leave so early in their career, however it was clear from early in his reign that O’Neill didn’t have the same trust and confidence in the young midfielder as his predecessor. Regardless Davis delivered W33 D32 L37, 9 Goals, 5 Assists and 3 Bookings across his 3 seasons in and around the first team.

John Carew contributes his 5th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 11th appearance to make it W3 D5 L3, 3 Goals and 2 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one every 2.20 games he has played so far in his Villa career. 

Villa lose on the opening day as big spenders Liverpool win in the 87' at Villa Park.

Lucky, lucky Liverpool, just as Villa have an annual defeat to Manchester United in the FA Cup so they have a day dedicated to late Liverpool goals. And so it proved again. 

Midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker makes his Villa debut aged 23 after joining from West Ham United for a fee of £11,250,000 in July 2007 to become the 800th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Wilfred Bouma makes his 50th appearance in a Villa shirt (47 Starts) to make it W15 D16 L19, 1 Assist and 3 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Stiliyan Petrov collects his 5th booking in a Villa shirt on his 35th appearance to make it W9 D14 L12, 2 Goals, 1 Assist and 5 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Stuart Taylor makes his 10th appearance in a Villa shirt (8 Starts) to make it W2 D5 L3, 17 Goals Conceded at a rate of 1.70 goals per game and 1 Clean Sheet so far in his Villa career.

A much changed team makes short work of Wrexham.

Centre back Gary Cahill, 22, makes his 31st and final appearance in a Villa shirt (28 Starts) before being sold to Bolton Wanderers for a fee of £5,400,000 in January 2008 in a move that stunned and shocked the fan base in equal measure. Cahill, like Peter Crouch, Steven Davis and Thomas Hitzlsperger before him was clearly of the class to make a long term career with Villa but Martin O'Neill deemed Cahill surplus to requirements as he had with Steven Davis and as his predecessor had done with Crouch and Hitzlsperger. Perhaps it was with Martin Laursen and Olof Mellberg being his first choice centre back pairing he saw no room for Cahill. But, given the injuries Laursen carried and the expectation that Mellberg would leave the club at the end of his contract the decision worried many. Rumours of strong personalities and playing demands clashing also shone a light on issues not previously public. That O’Neill subsequently recruited lesser players as Cahill’s de facto replacements made the move even more perplexing. As for Cahill himself, although his initial destination was curious, to the surprise of nobody he went on to be a Premier League winning captain and the first chink in the mighty Martin O’Neill armour was opened. Cahill left with a record of W7 D9 L15, 1 Goal, 2 Assists and 7 Bookings.

Shaun Maloney celebrates his 10th appearance in a Villa shirt (6 Starts) with a brace against League Two side Wrexham (who would be relegated from the League at the end of the campaign) to make it W5 D4 L1, 4 Goals and 0 Assists so far in his Villa career.

Marlon Harewood scores his 1st goal and contributes his 1st assist in a Villa shirt on his 2nd appearance (1 Start) to make it W2 D0 L0, 1 Goals and 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.

Martin O'Neill's mass changes backfire as Villa are knocked out of the League Cup by Championship side Leicester. 

Villa have now lost three games this season, all of which have been by a single goal. 

Centre back Curtis Davies makes his debut appearance for Villa after joining on a season long loan from West Bromwich Albion in August 2007 ahead of a permanent move arranged for August 2008 to become the 804th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Stuart Taylor makes his 10th start in a Villa shirt (12 Appearances) to make it W3 D5 L4, 18 Goals Conceded at a rate of 1.50 goals per game and 2 Clean Sheets so far in his Villa career.

Nine man Villa lose to Manchester United with the customary help from the officials to leave them with a second Premier League defeat in eight games.

Villa lose for the third time in nine Premier League games and for a first time lose a match by more than the odd goal after having both Scott Carson and Nigel Reo-Coker sent off.

Villa fall back to 9th and the toxic combination of atrocious luck, form and poor refereeing performances against Manchester United continues.

Gabriel Agbonlahor scores his 15th goal in a Villa shirt on his 62nd appearance (55 Starts) to make it W20 D21 L21, 15 Goals, 6 Assists and 4 Bookings.

Scott Carson is sent off on his 8th appearance in a Villa shirt to make it W4 D2 L2, 2 Assists, 9 Goals Conceded at a rate of 1.12 goals per game, 4 Clean Sheets (50%), 1 Booking and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Nigel Reo-Coker is sent off on his 11th appearance in a Villa shirt to make it W5 D2 L4, 1 Goal, 1 Assist, 6 Bookings and 1 Red Card at a rate of a card every 1.57 games so far in his Villa career.

Villa draw at the Reebok having surrendered the early initiative to lowly Bolton to make it P10 W4 D3 L3 compared to Martin O'Neill's first season record of P10 W3 D6 L1, delivering 15 points each time.

Stuart Taylor concedes his 20th goal in a Villa shirt on his 14th appearance (11 Starts) to make it W3 D6 L5, 20 Goals Conceded at a rate of 1.43 goals per game and 2 Clean Sheets so far in his Villa career.

Patrik Berger makes his 25th appearance in a Villa shirt (9 Starts) to make it W7 D8 L10, 2 Goals, 3 Assists and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Villa extend their unbeaten Premier League run to seven games but are held by Liverpool at Anfield.

Fabio Aurelio's 72' own goal is Villa's 7,000th in league football. Only Wolverhampton Wanderers, Manchester United and Liverpool have also achieved this feat.

Villa are now unbeaten in 7 League games and sit 6th in the table under Martin O'Neill.

Martin Laursen contributes his 10th goal involvement on his 50th start in a Villa shirt (52 Appearances) to make it W20 D20 L12, 7 Goals, 3 Assists and 3 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Marlon Harewood makes his 10th appearance in a Villa shirt (2 Starts) to make it W5 D3 L2, 3 Goals, 1 Assist and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Villa open the season after a break of just two months as they travel to Denmark for the Intertoto Cup and concede a last minute equaliser to leave the tie in the balance.

Villa face Odense Boldklub for the first time in competitive football, Odense become the 151st team that the Villa first team has played in League or Cup football, Villa’s 34th continental European opponents and their first from Denmark.

Midfielder Steve Sidwell makes his Villa debut aged 25 after joining from Chelsea for a fee of £5,670,000 earlier this month to become the 807th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Ashley Young makes his 50th start in a Villa shirt (53 Appearances) to make it W20 D19 L14, 11 Goals, 19 Assists and 18 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one every 1.76 games played so far in his Villa career.

Villa finish the job over Odense as epic failure Djemba-Djemba returns to Villa Park with his new club.

Right back Wilfred Bouma, 30, suffers a Villa career ending injury that would keep him on the sidelines for 12 months only to be ignored for selection on his recovery. Bouma would return to PSV Eindhoven in August 2010, an outstanding right back whose injuries limited his appearances for Villa meant he left with a record of 90 Appearances (87 Starts), W32 D29 L29, 1 Goal, 3 Assists and 7 Bookings - far less than his talent should have allowed. 

Goalkeeper Stuart Taylor, 27, makes his 17th and final appearance for Villa aged 27 before moving on to Manchester City on a free transfer in July 2009. Taylor left with a record of W4 D8 L5, 24 Goals Conceded at 1.41 goals per game and 3 Clean Sheets.

Stiliyan Petrov secures his 25th win in a Villa shirt on his 67th appearance (60 Starts) to make it W25 D23 L19, 3 Goals, 1 Assist and 7 Bookings so far in his Villa career.