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Me? I think he supports Aston Villa for one very simple reason. Aston Villa won the European Cup in May 1982. Prince William was born in June 1982. Coincidence? Quite possibly. But, maybe, just maybe, our future King is a Villan because when he was born he thought he should support the best team in all of Europe – and, at that time, that was Aston Villa. Success however is fleeting.
For the last few seasons Aston Villa have flattered to deceive. Despite promising managers like Martin O’Neill and Paul Lambert; a youth set up that has produced players like Gabby Agbonlahor, Gareth Barry and Gary Cahill; and a chairman, Randy Lerner, who was born to teach ‘The Joy of Sex’, the team hasn’t delivered on its potential.
Yet it all seemed so different in 1982. Despite two goals disallowed, Aston Villa beat Bayern Munich 1-0 in Amsterdam. It should have been the start of a glorious run but only a couple of days later the team lost the cup while out drinking in The Fox Inn in Hopwas, near Tamworth, after an opportunistic thief nabbed it. A couple of hours later the trophy was anonymously handed into West Midlands police who did the right thing and… picked two teams and held an impromptu cup final in the middle of the night with the winning team claiming bragging rights and a photo with the trophy. And only then did they phone the club to tell them they had found it.
With success so fleeting, only a few days for the European Cup, or just one day (that 6-1 defeat of Sunderland) as the 2012/2013 season has shown, Aston Villa have adopted a unique approach to their walk on music. Before every home game every fan can vote for the song the team will come out to. An actual jukebox jury for Jukebox Durie.
Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’ and ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ by Guns N Roses have frequently tied for top spot. But other songs featuring prominently in the poll are ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen, Fatboy Slim’s ‘Right Here Right Now’, ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’ by Jeff Beck, ‘Thunderstruck’ by AC/DC, U2’s ‘Beautiful Day’ and ‘Song 2’ by Blur. All great songs, but not what you would call club classics. For that we need to go back to 2011 when the song “Bells Are Ringing” was tipped to be brought back by the club as a fan anthem. There was only one problem. Read the lyrics.
“The bells are ringing for the claret and blue,
The fans are singing for the claret and blue,
Everybody is knowing,
To the Villa we are going,
Cause the Villa are showing,
We’re the best in the land.
BEST IN THE LAND!!”
Which even a die-hard fan like Prince William knows is no longer true. But just as success is fleeting, so is failure. And the glory days may yet return to Villa Park. Or, if not Villa Park, then one day West Midland Police Station may yet again be Champions of Europe provided an enterprising fan brings back more than a bratwurst from their next German holiday in Munich or Dortmund.
The Bells Are Ringing:
History of the song:
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About the Author
After too many years as season ticket holder at Parkhead, Andy Todd renounced the SPL three years ago to support Queens Park. One team is a rank bunch of amateurs who play in a state of the art stadium and the other is…(I think we can all see where this is going).
Andy has been performing comedy for 18 months but is currently ‘between gigs’ while he writes a book on Scottish property law to be published in Summer 2012. Its potential audience will be less than 300 but his mum will be very proud.
Follow Andy on Twitter: @toddandy
Check out Andy’s website: www.toddandy.com
