Me growing up as a Villa fan
Since I was a child I supported Aston Villa. My first ever game I went to at Villa Park, was when I was nine, and I will never forget the feeling I had that day, to watch my team play for the first time.
In honesty, I will never remember why I chose to support or when I started officially supporting Aston Villa, but since whenever that day was, I have and always will be a Villa fan. Hung up in my cupboard, I still have the old home and away shirts I used to buy each season as I was growing up. They will always remind me of the glorious days when we was battling in the UEFA Cup, against the likes of Slavia Prague and Rapid Wien.
Although I would have dreamt of it, I would never have been able to get tickets for any of those special European games, as I only was going occasionally at that age. The likes of Ashley Young, John Carew, Gareth Barry and James Milner will never be forgotten in my mind, in that Martin O’Neil era, when he managed to finish sixth and qualify for the UEFA Cup, three times in a row. Still now I remember watching the Villans play in the UEFA Cup games on TV, and Ashley Young producing some delightful crosses for the likes of John Carew and Martin Laursen, who both scored in one of those games I watched, as I can just faintly remember it.
My first game was at home to Sunderland in 2008 for my birthday present, typically, it ruined the day when Villa were unfortunately defeated to the Black Cats, 1-0, late on in the match. I will always have horrifying flashbacks when Michael Chopra lobbed Scott Carson when he was embarrassingly out of position.
Although we lost that day, I knew from that point I was to be a Villian. From going the odd time with my father for a Christmas or birthday present, I started to go regularly to the home games around three seasons ago. I wasn’t a season ticket holder, but I knew I was going to get one sometime in the future because I just couldn’t stop booking tickets for the game, win draw or lose. Although my father isn’t a Villa fan, he couldn’t get to his club’s games each week because they were too far away, so luckily for me he decided to start taking me and my friend to most of the Villa home games.
That’s why I still don’t understand why I become a Villian because no one in my family even supports the Villa.
I still reflect on some of those unbelievable games I will never forget going to, with my Dad, like the 6-1 win against Sunderland. Although times have changed with me purchasing a season ticket and going to away games with my mates now, when I can get to.
Although Villa still are hanging above the relegation zone, my passion seems to be increasing as I get older when I support the Villians. Now the real buzz I get about supporting Villa, is the away days, and the thought of having something to look forward to at the end of the week too (WHEN we are winning).
There is nothing better on away days with the atmosphere when the away fans are all singing, and also the moment of sheer celebration when your side scores will always be a tough moment to beat, in my footballing life.
Whether we are losing 6-1 to Southampton, or beating Sunderland 4-0 away, there always seems to be a brilliant atmosphere in the crowd when Villa go away. As a whole away days are immense, especially coming back from somewhere that is four hours away, and winning. In honesty I feel so lucky to have gone to Wembley twice in my first season of being a season ticket holder, especially as I have never been before, never mind the fact it was the FA Cup semi-final and FA Cup final.
Best forward I have seen put on a Villa shirt
The best Villa player I have seen at Villa Park, really is a tough one to answer, as I have seen some real quality when some players are on form. So I thought I would narrow it down to the best forward I have seen, and I have chosen that position because for me, personally playing as a forward for a team when I was growing up, a goal-scorer in the Villa side was always one of the most important positions we needed. Although I had other options up front to choose from, like Gabriel Agbonlahor, I have narrowed it down to two beasts in attack John Carew and Christian Benteke.
Most recent goalscorer Christian Benteke, will always be up there because of his sheer quality, with strength, physical threat, power and accuracy to bang the goals in for his club. Benteke also was crucial while he was at Villa, as he had a huge say in us staying in the Premier League since his move here. I can remember seeing the big Belgian net his first goal in the Premier League for Villa too when we managed to beat Swansea 2-0 at Villa Park. In my eyes, he is the best Villa forward I have seen play for Aston Villa, and we are now starting to see the real effects of selling him to Liverpool in the summer. It was a tough decision because John Carew always seemed to score for the Villa, when he used the supply off Ashley Young’s wand of a cross, to get most of his goals, and I love the way he still looks out for the Villans and supports us now he has retired from playing football.
I sadly can’t remember how exactly good Milan Baros and Juan Pablo Angel was in their times at Villa, so I’m not going to compare them to Benteke or Carew, but I knew Angel was a favourite of mine, as I had his name on the back of my one shirt, and that was a rare occasion as on all of my others, I had my initials instead printed on as the name.
