After recently speaking to Nigel Spink on his incredible memories of 1982, I jumped at the chance to interview Tony Morley ahead of the release of BT Sport’s Super Villans.
BT Sport will premiere Super Villans, the latest documentary from the award-winning BT Sport Films series, on 18 May at 10.30pm on BT Sport 1.
The film is narrated by actor and well-known Villa fan, Mark Williams and tells the unlikely story of how Aston Villa rose to become European champions, paying tribute to the extraordinary achievements of Ron Saunders, Tony Barton and the Villa team that defied every expectation.
With contributions from members of Villaβs Championship-winning side including Dennis Mortimer, Gary Shaw, Allan Evans, Tony Morley and Nigel Spink, the documentary uncovers one of the most remarkable journeys ever witnessed in English football, forty years on from the greatest night in the clubβs illustrious history.
World Cup Final 1966 “They think it’s all over, it is now” was the most iconic piece of football commentary – until 1982, when Brian Moore said “there’s a good ball, played in for Tony Morley, oh it is, it must be, and it is Peter Withe!“
When you looked up and drilled that ball into Peter Withe, did you feel like, this is it, this is the goal, we’re going 1-0 up in the European Cup Final?
“No! I realised I put it onto his right foot, so I closed my eyes!”
“That was my job, to get the ball in the box for the strikers; that’s what we trained to do; beat the man and get it in the box for the strikers, and I saw Gary Shaw in the box and Peter out of the corner of my eye, so I knew if I could get the ball in the box, I’d done my job.”
“Now, I wasn’t in a position to chip it, so I decided to drill it. The full back gave Peter (Withe) a yard, I pinged it across, and it hits a divot just before it hits Peter’s ankle and goes in – the luckiest goal in Aston Villa history, but also the most important!”
“If i knew he was going to hit it with his right foot I’d of been crying, years ago he’d always put them over the stand – just shows you, if you’re in the right place, at the right time, you’ve got a chance to score goals.”
Tony Morley
To play in the European Cup you first must win the league, not sneaking in by finishing fourth like the present day. In 1980/81 we had a superb season and it all come down to getting a result at Highbury, in front of 22,000 travelling Villa fans.
The footage in the film was an emotional watch, Iβm a Season ticket holder of 20+ years, so Iβm picturing myself in that away end, what was that game like to play in?
“What was the game like to play in? Crap, we got beat!“
“I’ll tell you what it was, the preparation was all wrong. We went down there, got caught in traffic – we should of went the night before – so we didn’t get to the game till half-an-hour before kick-off, then Pele was on the pitch pre-match, it was just all rushed.”
“Take nothing away from Arsenal, they’d not lost at home all season, the first goal was fluky, nine times out of ten Kenny Swain and Colin Gibson would of dealt with that – then you’re starting to think it might not be our day.”
“Half-time, we just said just keep going, keep going. We didn’t play well, and got beat 2-0, but at the final whistle we had more points than anyone else regardless of the Ipswich result.”
“I keep hearing, Ipswich this, Ipswich that, Ipswich should of won, blah, blah, blah – what people don’t realise, we had seven local Midlands teams in the league that season, Ipswich had one local rival, and they couldn’t beat them (Norwich) over those two games, losing one and drawing one, and don’t forget Norwich got relegated that season, so it just shows you how difficult those games are, As for us we drew one, and won the rest!”
Tony Morley
It was phenomenal that you won the league with 14 players, the dressing room must have been incredible, I recently caught up with you at the Walmley Social Club with you doing a Q&A with a few of the other lads, and the friendships still look very strong to this day, there must of been a great bond between you all?
“Great bunch of lads; the thing about the dressing room – that is where your team is made!”
“If you had a good game on a Saturday it wouldn’t be mentioned on Monday, but if you had a bad game, you were in for it, we all accepted that, there was no bad apples, and you looked forward to going into training, go and have a laugh, and relax together after.“
“We’re still friends 40 years down the road and we’ll have a few beers, quite a few beers, to celebrate over the month!“
Tony Morley
Well deserved beers Tony!
“Then again, 40 years, where has it gone, it’s just incredible! It just goes, and you have to just appreciate it.”
“We could of carried on as a team, and won more trophies! The ownership changed, and it was a disaster what happened, i was out the door 27, 28 years of age, not even in my prime, I just feel sorry for the supporters – we had great youth team that just won the FA Youth Cup, we could of competed with Everton, who went on to dominate for 4-5 years. That will always stick in my mind – that we could of added more trophies to the cabinet!”
Tony Morley
Yep, it was such a shame, 40 years on, and what have we won, a couple of League Cups?
I do think the club is in the best position it’s been in for 40 years. The owners mean business, they’ve put their money into the club and it’s an expensive game to try and break into the top five!
I do wish i was playing now with these owners, they seem to be the real deal, and I’m really excited at what the future holds.
Tony Morley
AUTHOR | RYAN MCKEOWN
Author’s UTV PODCAST archive Ryan Mckeown
SUPER VILLANS | MARK WILLIAMS
SUPER VILLANS | Mark Williams (utvpodcast.co.uk)
NIGEL SPINK
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