New book looks at why Villa's 'nearly' team couldn't quite break the mould

Nobody Remembers Second. It's one of the oldest cliches in the sporting world, and on the whole it holds true.

There are exceptions. Most England fans remember only too well who took second place in the 1966 World Cup, not to mention, of course the Euros of 2020 and 2024. And, as Richard Sydenham points out in his latest book, Aston Villa fans of a certain generation spend a great deal of their time remembering who came second in the top flight of English football in 1990 and 1993.

"It's an interesting time in that, in terms of trophies won, it wasn't a particularly successful period. But when you talk to Villa fans they often look back on it as one of their favourite times in the club's history.," says Sydenham, who lives in Hagley, near Stourbridge.

Sydenham's previous book, Ticket to the Moon, looked back on the club's most successful period in modern times, when Ron Saunders built a team which won their first league title in 71 years - just nine years after tasting life in the third tier - and followed it up in 1982 by winning the European Cup.

By contrast, in the early 1990s, Villa were very much the 'nearly team'. They twice came close to winning the league, but faltered at the final strait, pipped to the post first by Liverpool in 1990, and then by Manchester United three years later. In the period between the two 'nearly' seasons, they also made history as the first top-flight club to employ a foreign coach. But despite 'nearly' knocking Inter Milan out of the Uefa Cup in a masterclass performance at Villa Park, Jozef Venglos's side threw away their advantage in a disastrous game at the San Siro. Sydenham's book explores the reasons why Villa in the early 90s were so good at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Writing a foreword for the Sydenham's book, striker Dwight Yorke picked from obscurity by Graham Taylor, says a self-deprecating lack of expectation played a major role.

Yorke, who controversially left Villa Park for Alex Ferguson's Manchester United, says he was in no doubt that the Villa side of the early 90s was good enough to win the league, but a lack of self-belief was the difference between the Villa and the eventual title winners.

"I can now look back and reflect that it was a typical Villa mentality, to think that getting so close to being champions is good enough," he says.

"Having played at Villa and then Manchester United, that was the difference that separated us. Coming second at Villa was acceptable, I think. It wasn't hurtful enough for us at the time. The attitude was kind of like, 'winning the league will be great, but if we don't we've still done well'."

There may be something in Yorke's thinking, but Sydenham believes the picture is somewhat more complicated, and the two 'nearly' seasons have to be treated separately.

"I think there were probably different reasons why the teams of Graham Taylor and that of Ron Atkinson failed at the final hurdle," he says.

"I think Graham Taylor's side were over-achieving," he says. Taylor had been brought in by chairman Doug Ellis in 1987, following disastrous spells under Graham Taylor and then Billy McNeill which saw Villa plunge into the Second Division. Taylor secured promotion at the first attempt, and after treading water during their first season back in top flight, Villa confounded the pundits with their title challenge during the 1989-90 season.

"A lot of those player had come up from the old Second Division," says Sydenham. "The addition of Paul McGrath was a massive injection of talent, but when it came to challenging at the top of the table, they didn't have the experience."

Taylor tried to give his team a late boost by smashing the club's transfer record to sign Tony Cascarino, but he struggled to settle in, and home-grown Ian Olney  who had scored many of the goals that got Villa to the top of the table - was dropped to make way for the big-money star, Sydenham adds. 

By contrast, the disappointment of Atkinson's 'nearly' season hinged on a very specific moment - or a very specific seven minutes to be precise. 

'Fergie time', the idea that referees would allow Alex Ferguson's sides extra minutes when they needed a late goal, has become the stuff of legends, but it was the game against Sheffield Wednesday on April 10, 1993 that Villa fans remember most vividly. Villa, having been held to a disappointing draw with Coventry City, nevertheless went back to the changing rooms top of the table, with Ferguson's Manchester United losing 1-0 to Wednesday, deep in injury time. According to Sydenham's book, Wednesday's Carlton Palmer asked the referee how much longer the game would go on for, and was told 'two minutes'. Six minutes later, the score was still 1-0 to Wednesday, but Steve Bruce then turned the game around with two late goals, propelling them above Villa. 

"That was the first moment when I thought 'I think this title race might just be slipping away'," Atkinson tells Sydenham in his book. "There's always a moment when these things turn, and that was it. If they had got beat, the bottom would have fell out of them."

Sydenham's book also looks at the reasons why Jozef Venglos struggled to adapt as the first overseas coach in the top-flight of English football, during the season between Taylor's departure to take on the England job, and Atkinson's controversial arrival from Sheffield Wednesday. Venglos's ideas, such as managing players' diets, sports psychology, and injury-prevention techniques, are now adopted by pretty much all clubs, but were considered too avant-garde to convince a sceptical dressing room. 

"I think he was new to the country, and saw that Villa had done well the previous season, and didn't want to change it too much to begin with," says Sydenham. "But the players he had overperformed the season before, and he really needed to bring more players in." Venglos's main signing was Czech international defender Ivo Stas, who never played a competitive game for the club, having injured himself during the pre-season.

After years in the doldrums, Villa, under Unai Emery, last season achieved something that neither Taylor nor Atkinson could secure - Champions' League Football. Of course, that is rather more to do with the broadening of the criteria for the elite competition, with Emery's side finishing fourth, two places behind the second place achieved by Taylor and Atkinson. Will Villa finally break the hoodoo which has restricted their silverware to just two League Cups over the past 40 years? Or will the 2020s be another 'nearly' period for Villa?

"The one thing they do have now is the backing of owners who have got the money to compete at the highest level," says Sydenham, a sports journalist of 30 years, who has written for the Telegraph and the Daily Star.

"I'm not saying they will win the title this season, but a lot of it will depend if they can keep hold of the manager. If Emery stays, and the owners back him, who knows?"

*Nobody Remembers Second: Aston Villa 1989-1993 by Richard Sydenham is on sale priced £18.99 through Pitch Publishing