Aston Villa has been one of the most successful and popular names in football in the near 140 years since the club was founded under a gas lamp in 1874 by a group of cricketers who decided to create a football club as a means of playing sport through the winter. From those romantic but humble origins, Villa went on to become the most successful club in the first 50 years of the Football League and the Villa updated those successes for modern times when, in 1982, they again made history by becoming one of the elite band of five British clubs to have won the European Cup. This wonderfully illustrated book provides a vivid and evocative celebration of the captivating powers of Aston Villa. Drawing on the vast photographic archive of the Daily Mirror it features evocative, exciting and rare images that show why the Villa mean so much to so many people. Here are the famous players who proudly wore their club's colours with distinction, producing some of football's finest moments in a more innocent age, before commercialism took hold of the sport. The Villa greats are here, pictured in their prime and often in intriguingly unusual behind-the-scenes situations: including such wonderful names as Billy Walker, Paul McGrath, Peter McParland, Tony Morley, Charlie Aitken, Gordon Cowans, Dennis Mortimer, Brian Little, Andy Gray and many more. They light up these pages along with the great managers and the classic matches in which Villa have been involved. When Football Was Football: Aston Villa is not just about the showcase events and icons of yesteryear: it reveals the inner life of the club, capturing the vibrancy of the fans and the vitality of the players on and off the field, plus the colourful and still intriguing lesser-known stories that have made Villa so special. Revelling in the club's most glorious years, this is a must-have photographic tribute for any follower of Villa in particular and the British game as a whole.

Author Biography

Graham McColl is a freelance journalist and writer. He is the author of a number of both critically acclaimed and bestselling books, including The Hamlyn Illustrated History of Aston Villa. Others of his books include How To Win The World Cup and '78 - How A Nation Lost The World Cup. He also wrote and edited Visions Of Football; A Collection Of The World's Finest Football Photography. His first-ever First Division match featured Villa, Didier Six and all, taking on Queen's Park Rangers, in 1984, and even if a 2-0 defeat was not quite vintage Villa, and even if Villa were just descending from their greatest period of modern success, his life has never been the same since.