Ron Saunders' 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villa 🟥 lose for the first time in 🕒 twelve Division One games to make it 🟩 five wins, 🟨 nine draws and 🟥 four defeats in 🕒 eighteen League matches this season. As a result Villa fall back to ninth in the table. 

Midfielder Terry Bullivant 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 20 makes his 🕒 debut appearance in a Villa shirt after moving from Fulham in November 1979 for a fee of £220,000 to become the 608th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Left back Mike Pejic 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 29 makes his 🕒 12th & final appearance in a Villa shirt having only joined earlier in the season before being forced to retire from football due to injury. Pejic left with a record of 🟩 W3 🟨 D6 🟥 L3.

Villa bounce back from their 🟥 first defeat in 🕒 twelve first division games to beat Tottenham at White Hart Lane and climb back to 7th in the table.

Ron Saunders' 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villa 🟩 win for the first time in four but have now 🟥 lost just once in 🕒 thirteen Division One games to make it 🟩 six wins, 🟨 nine draws and 🟥 four defeats in 🕒 nineteen League matches this season.

Villa fall climb back to seventh in the table. 

Centre forward David Geddis 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 scores his ⚽ first goal in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 15th appearance.

Eamonn Deacy 🇮🇪 21 makes his 🕒 debut appearance in a Villa shirt after joining from Galway Rovers in March 1979 to become the 609th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

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

Goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 125th appearance in a Villa shirt.

Villa record consecutive 🟩 wins and have now lost 🟥 just once in 🕒 fourteen Division One games.

Villa make it 🟩 seven wins, 🟨 nine draws and 🟥 four defeats in 🕒 twenty League matches this season under Ron Saunders 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.

Villa climb to fifth in the table.

Centre Forward Terry Donovan 🇮🇪 makes a goalscoring debut in a Villa shirt after joining from Grimsby Town in September 1979 for a fee of £90,000 to become the 610th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

Midfielder Gordon Cowans 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 contributes a 🔥 brace of assists to make it ⚽ 🔥 31 goal involvements in 🕒 131 appearances in a Villa shirt (116 Starts) and 🟩 W55 🟨 D38 🟥 L38, ⚽ 16 Goals and 🔥 15 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 4.23 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Villa’s goalscoring defender - Allan Evans 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 - scores his ninth of the season before being 🟥 sent off early in the second half for deliberate handball. 

Not for the first time this season Evans 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 uses his hands to save Villa from conceding but Ron Saunders’ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 side prove hugely fortunate after an even more curious refereeing performance robs Brighton of the winner. 

Villa make it 🟩 twelve wins, 🟨 eleven draws and 🟥 six defeats in 🕒 twenty nine League matches this season as they 🟨 draw at the Goldstone.

Midfielder Dennis Mortimer 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 200th appearance in a Villa shirt.

Ron Saunders' 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 300th game in charge of Villa sees them lose in the quarter finals of the FA Cup to second division West Ham.

An injury ravaged Villa side bolstered by youngsters play for the draw but 'concede' a disputed last gasp penalty and are knocked out of the FA Cup as they pay the price for an unusual, but understandably, negative approach to the game from Ron Saunders.

Centre back Ken McNaught 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 makes his 🕒 125th appearance in a Villa shirt.

Goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🥅 concedes his 150th goal in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 140th appearance (1.07 per Game).

Midfielder Ivor Linton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his first appearance in 6 months to make it 🕒 15 appearances (6 Starts) in a Villa shirt.

Forward Brian Little 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 300th appearance in a Villa shirt (293 Starts) to make it 🟩 W136 🟨 D83 🟥 L81, ⚽ 81 Goals and 🔥 63 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one every 2.08 games.

Villa’s difficult spell continues as the injury hit side loses for the fourth successive game in all competitions and have one win in seven. Such is the toll on the squad that Kenny Swain is forced to play the second half as striker after David Geddis becomes Villa’s latest injury victim.

Ron Saunders' Villa lose four successive matches for the first time this season to make it twelve wins, eleven draws and nine defeats in thirty two League matches this season.

Villa's injury crisis means they are forced to play centre back Allan Evans 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and right back Kenny Swain 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 up front but winger Tony Morley 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 hits a screamer of a volley to earn Villa a point after three successive League defeats.

Villa's achilles heel of missed chances presents them taking a deserved win against the "heavily manned defence" presented by Ipswich.

Villa make it 🟩 twelve wins, 🟨 twelve draws and 🟥 nine defeats in 🕒 thirty three League matches this season under 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ron Saunders.

Midfielder Gordon Cowans 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 150th appearance in a Villa shirt (135 Starts) to make it 🟩 W63 🟨 D43 🟥 L44, ⚽ 18 Goals and 🔥 17 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 4.29 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Winger Tony Morley 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 contributes his ⚽ 🔥 5th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 14th appearance at a rate of one every 2.80 games.

A third successive League defeat and Villa are a "faded force", "running around in circles" and "getting nowhere". 

Reigning Champions Villa make it 🟩 four wins, 🟨 seven draws and 🟥 seven defeats in their title defence. 

Centre back Noel Blake 🇯🇲 makes his first appearance in 19 months as the reserve team player is a surprise call up 74 games after his equally surprising three game spell in 1979-80 amidst Villa’s worst injury crisis in decades.  Blake’s fourth appearance in a Villa shirt would also be his last before moving on to Birmingham City for a fee of £55,000 in September 1982.

Left back Colin Gibson 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 100th start in a Villa shirt (104 Appearances).

Midfielder Terry Bullivant 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 first appearance in 21 months and first for 83 games.

Villa concede late to hand County - beaten 6-0 by Villa last time out - their first win in three months after a thuggish tackle on Dennis Mortimer 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 prompts a war of words. 

Reigning Champions Villa lose for the fourth time in five League games as they are defeated by a side they hit six past just eleven days earlier. As a result, Villa make it 🟩 five wins, 🟨 seven draws and 🟥 eight defeats in their title defence.

Forward Gary Shaw 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 100th appearance in a Villa shirt (98 Starts).

Villa record a narrow, and desperately needed, 🟩 win over second from bottom Sunderland to climb back to 14th in the table.

Villa 🟩 win for the first time in four League games to make it 🟩 six wins, 🟨 seven draws and 🟥 nine defeats after 🕒 22 matches of their title defence. 

Midfielder Gary Shelton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 first appearance for 29 months and his first 126 games as he makes his 🕒 26th and final appearance in a Villa shirt. Shelton would move on to Sheffield Wednesday in March for a fee of £50,000 and leave with a record of 🟩 W10 🟨 D10 🟥 L8, ⚽ 8 Goals and 🔥 3 Assists however all his ⚽ 🔥 goal involvements game in his first 🕒 17 games and all in the 1978-79 season, a start upon which he was unable to build.

Midfielder Gordon Cowans 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 225th start in a Villa shirt (240 Appearances) to make it 🟩 W110 🟨 D62 🟥 L68, ⚽ 33 Goals and 🔥 31 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 3.75 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Reigning Champions Villa 🟥 lose for the sixth time in 🕒 eight League games to make it 🟩 six wins, 🟨 seven draws and 🟥 ten defeats after 🕒 23 games of their title defence. 

As a result past the midway point of the season, Villa are nearly twenty points off the leaders, closer to the relegation places than a second successive League title. 

Since 🟥 losing to leaders Ipswich in October, Villa 🟩 had won seven in all competitions, 🟥 losing ten and 🟨 drawing two. 

Centre forward David Geddis 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 puts Villa ahead for the second successive match but despite the opposition creating nothing they go into the second half level before two goals in four minutes turns the game on its head.

Villa fall back to 15th as startling news surrounds the club and Ron Saunders' 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 future. 

With a successful title defence realistically if not mathematically impossible, and acrimony behind the scenes between board and manager, this 🟥 fourth defeat in 🕒 six proved to be Ron Saunders’ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 393rd and final game in charge of Villa. 

Saunders 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 had proved a phenomenal manager of Villa, not just in his trophy achievements, but also from where the club had had to come in order to deliver those triumphs. 

Although his predecessor Vic Crowe 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 is due huge credit for creating a platform upon which Saunders could build, few expected two Cup wins, let alone a League title but a win rate of 46% between 1974-75 and 1981-82 duly delivered everything and more that was promised.

Although a contractual disagreement - as unnecessary as it was overstated - was the driving force behind his departure, perhaps even Saunders 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 thought success in Europe was beyond him and his team’s current form. 

But with a quarter round tie already secured, Saunders 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 was to leave ahead of one of Villa’s greatest achievements, having set Villa on the way to European glory under his assistant and successor, Tony Barton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.

Midfielder Des Bremner 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 makes his 🕒 125th appearance in a Villa shirt.

Villa beat relegation threatened neighbours Birmingham as a new complexion is placed over Ron Saunders' 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 departure with his pending arrival as boss at St Andrew's following what increasingly seems to have been one row too far and a playing staff no longer fully on board with the great man.

Reigning Champions Villa 🟩 win for the first time under Tony Barton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 who remains unbeaten in the League after three games and as a result makes it 🟩 seven wins, 🟨 nine draws and 🟥 ten defeats after 🕒 26 games of their title defence.

Goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 keeps his ⛔ 75th clean sheet in 🕒 239 appearances in a Villa shirt (31%) whilst conceding 🥅 257 Goals (1.08 per Game).

A weakened Villa side - without centre forward Peter Withe 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, midfielders Dennis Mortimer 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and Des Bremner 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 - put in their first poor performance under Tony Barton 󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and are well beaten by title chasing Ipswich.

Reigning Champions Villa make it 🟩 nine wins, 🟨 ten draws and 🟥 eleven defeats after 🕒 30 games of their title defence.

Centre forward Terry Donovan 🇮🇪 24 makes his 🕒 25th & final appearance in a Villa shirt before moving on to Burnley for £25,000 in February 1983. Donovan had made 🕒 15 appearances in 1979-80 ⚽ scoring 5 before returning to the team in 1981-82 for a further 🕒 10 games and ⚽ 6 goals to leave with a record of 🟩 W12 🟨 D6 🟥 L7, ⚽ 11 Goals and 🔥 3 Assists.

Left back Pat Heard 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 10th appearance in a Villa shirt and his first in 22 months and first in 92 games as he contributes his 🔥 first assist for the club.

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.