The 1981–82 English football season was Aston Villa's 82nd season in the Football League. In May 1982, just three months after being appointed manager, Tony Barton guided Villa to a 1–0 victory over Bayern Munich in the European Cup final in Rotterdam. As of December 2023, Villa remain one of only six English teams to have won the European Cup, along with Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Nottingham Forest. They were the underdogs in the final and were expected to lose.[1]

Aston Villa
1981–82 season
Aston Villa celebrating their historic European Cup victory
ChairmanEngland Ron Bendall
Manager(1) England Ron Saunders
(2) England Tony Barton
StadiumVilla Park
First Division11th
FA CupFifth round
League CupFifth round
European CupWinners
Top goalscorerLeague:
Peter Withe (10 goals)

All:
Peter Withe (13 goals)
Second City Derby
38--28--25

As defending First Division champions for the first time in 71 years, they qualified for the European Cup for the first time in their history. Their first game in the competition was against Valur of Iceland,[2] following by a second round clash with BFC Dynamo of East Germany, Dynamo Kiev of the Soviet Union in the quarter-finals and then Anderlecht of Belgium in the semi-finals before beating Bayern Munich of West Germany 1–0 in the Final in Rotterdam, with Peter Withe scoring the winning goal.

The season began with Ron Saunders, who had been the club's manager since 1974, still in charge, but he resigned on 9 February 1982 following a disagreement with the board over his contract. He had been in charge for nearly eight years, winning a league title and two League Cups in the process. His successor was his assistant manager Tony Barton, who had been in charge for three months by the time Villa won the European Cup.

First-team squad edit

Squad at end of season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK   ENG Jimmy Rimmer
16 GK   ENG Nigel Spink
2 DF   ENG Kenny Swain
DF   ENG Colin Gibson
DF   ENG Brendan Ormsby
DF   ENG Mark Jones
DF   ENG Pat Heard
3 DF   ENG Gary Williams
5 DF   SCO Ken McNaught
4 DF   SCO Allan Evans
DF   IRL Eamon Deacy
No. Pos. Nation Player
MF   ENG Ivor Linton
11 MF   ENG Tony Morley
MF   ENG Dennis Mortimer
MF   ENG Mark Walters
10 MF   ENG Gordon Cowans
MF   ENG Paul Birch
MF   ENG Andy Blair
7 MF   SCO Des Bremner
9 FW   ENG Peter Withe
8 FW   ENG Gary Shaw
FW   ENG David Geddis
FW   IRL Terry Donovan[3]

First Division edit

League table edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
9 West Ham United 42 14 16 12 66 57 +9 58
10 Manchester City 42 15 13 14 49 50 −1 58
11 Aston Villa 42 15 12 15 55 53 +2 57 Qualification for the European Cup first round[a]
12 Nottingham Forest 42 15 12 15 42 48 −6 57
13 Brighton & Hove Albion 42 13 13 16 43 52 −9 52
Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
Notes:
  1. ^ Aston Villa qualified for the European Cup first round as the 1981–82 European Cup winners.

European Cup edit

First round edit

First leg edit

Aston Villa  5–0  Valur
Morley   6'
Withe   37', 68'
Donovan   40', 69'
Attendance: 20,481
Referee:  

Second leg edit

Valur  0–2  Aston Villa
Shaw   25', 70'
Attendance: 3,500
Referee:  

Villa won 7–0 on aggregate.

Second round edit

First leg edit

BFC Dynamo  1–2  Aston Villa
Riediger   50' Morley   5', 85'
Attendance: 25,000
Referee:  

Second leg edit

Aston Villa  0–1  BFC Dynamo
Terletzki   15'
Attendance: 28,175
Referee:  

2–2 on aggregate. Villa won on away goals rule.

Quarter final edit

First leg edit

Dynamo Kiev  0–0  Aston Villa
Attendance: 20,000
Referee:  

Second leg edit

Aston Villa  2–0  Dynamo Kiev
Shaw   4'
McNaught   44'
Attendance: 38,579
Referee:  

Villa won 2–0 on aggregate.

Semi-final edit

First leg edit

Aston Villa  1–0  Anderlecht
Morley   27'

Second leg edit

Anderlecht  0–0  Aston Villa

Villa won 1–0 on aggregate.

Final edit

Aston Villa  1–0  Bayern Munich
Withe   67'
Attendance: 39,776

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Ward, Adam, p. 124
  2. ^ "40 years on: Villa begin European Cup campaign v Valur". Aston Villa Football Club. 16 September 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  3. ^ Donovan was born in Liverpool, England, but qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally and made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in 1979.
  4. ^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/3656
  5. ^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/3683