David Evans

What is your name?
David Evans

How old are you?
Sadly, 51 and counting.

What is your gender?
A bloke, last time I looked.

What do you do for a living?
I work in business – I’ve had a number of roles in my time but am currently an organisational–change consultant working exclusively for a large, national institution.

What is your level of education?
I have an MSc in organisational psychology.

Do you hold any religious beliefs?
I think so, although it would be difficult to articulate them other than to say I was brought up in the C of E.

Do you wish for your entry to be anonymous or under a pseudonym?
No.

What Stand do you sit in?
Upper Holte.

How long have you been going to Villa Park?
Since 1967 – I was taken along during the traumatic period that preceded our drop into the 2nd Division.

Can you describe some of your favourite goals?
·    Dalian at Wimbledon is the immediate response to this question.
·    Brian Little is my all-time hero and has scored some memorable goals … the 3 at Highbury in 1977, for a start.
·    Dennis Mortimer’s against Liverpool at VP in the title-winning season of 1980-81 was a great team effort as well as being really important for the unfolding season.
·    Bruce Rioch scored a screamer against the Arsenal when we were still struggling in the 2nd Division in the early 1970’s – the mighty Gunners came to VP on a filthy Wednesday evening for an FA Cup replay (the “Sammy Morgan tie”) and we despatched them 2-0, with the aforementioned goal being key.

Can you tell us about your favourite players?
·    I’ve already mentioned Brian Little – what a man! Demure, understated, diminutive, tricky, feisty (but always honest), team-focussed, clinical, unfussy … I could go on. He should have had more England opportunities and was ultimately undone by the ravages of football as it was played in the 1970’s.
·    Despite some fans’ views about him, Andy Gray was the best No.9 I’ve watched. Small for a target man, he had the amazing ability to hang in the air and win stuff he had no right to. He used to give centre-halves a torrid time and made some of the hard men of the time look rather silly! – he played against Tommy Smith, Norman Hunter, and other man-eating centre-backs, and did not back down! And he scored so many goals for us in the golden age of 1977-78.
·    Sid Cowans was the complete midfielder – strong, fit, clever and possessed of the most amazing passing range. Although at the time people used to eulogise about Hoddle, Cowans was his equal – and when they both played for England, you could see the start of a beautiful relationship (forestalled sadly by the Mexican double). I remember when Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa made their debuts simultaneously for the popular Spurs in August 1978, following their successes as members of the Cup-winning World Cup team. In the same team as Glenn Hoddle, on a balmy August evening in Spurs’ first home game of the season, Villa tonked them 4-1 and Cowans overshadowed the more renowned midfield trio.
·    I’ve mentioned Dalian Atkinson, one of the most talented footballers Villa has had in my time; and the most wasteful in terms of potential. He lit up the B6 skies during the Ron Atkinson era of the early 1990’s and should have been a legend but was apparently unable to resist the trappings of stardom; either that, or nobody could unlock the mental log jam preventing him from releasing the talent.
·    Paul McGrath – pure and not-so-simple. He made the game look so easy. He’s a legend. He played football the way that defenders should always play, with élan, coolness and precise timing; only Bobby Moore eclipsed him for playing style.
·    Chico Hamilton; Willie Anderson; Dennis Mortimer; Gareth Barry; James Milner; Tony Daley; Ton y Morley; John Gidman; Stanley Victor Collymore; Gary Shaw … and many, many more.

What are your favourite Villa-related moments?
·    Rotterdam – 1982.
·    The 1978 game against Juventus when we drew 2-2 at VP.
·    Beating Liverpool 5-1 in December 1976.
·    The youth cup final second leg at VP against Liverpool in 1971 (was it 1971?) when I started my intense dislike of Liverpool’s Captain Phil Thompson but loved the Villa youngsters – Little, Gidman, MacDonald, Hunt, Stark; to name a few.
·    Seeing Villa beat Man Utd in the 1970 League Cup semi-final second leg at VP – being in the standing area of the Trinity Road in the 62,500 crowd and loving the Lochhead and McMahon goals.
·    Watching Brian Little make his one and only appearance as an England international player in the summer of 1975.
·    Being at Highbury to see Brian Little’s hat-trick against QPR in the League Cup semi-final replay in 1977.
·    Being at Wembley for the 1994 League Cup Final, winning 3-1 against stonewall favourites, Man Utd.
·    Being at Hillsborough for Big Fat Ron’s debut game as manager against his old team, with so many new signings (we went 2-0 down at half-time but recovered to win 3-2 with a new signing scoring each of the three Villa goals).

What would be your best-ever eleven players (plus 5 subs) and why?
Playing 3-5-2 and managed by Big Fat Ron: Rimmer, Gidman, Staunton, Southgate, McGrath, Laursen; Cowans, Rioch (B), Milner; Gray (A), Little. Bosnich, Yorke, Morley, Nielsen (K), Mortimer.

Why are you a Villa fan?
My best mate’s Dad took us to a game in Spring of 1967, Villa vs Everton. We lost 4-2 but I was hooked by the thrills, spills, atmosphere and excitement. We sat in the Witton Lane stand and I just loved it. The following season, we went  to see them play against QPR; we lost 3-2 but standing in the Witton End was equally as exciting and riveting.

Can you tell us about some important moments in your Villa supporting life and where they were?
As above and too many now to recount … maybe I’ll come back to this question!

What incidents have you been present at (on/off field)?
3 Cup finals, 6 Cup semi-finals, various crucial games (as they seemed at the time). I have not really been involved in many off-the-field occasions of note (surprisingly, given the ructions that have taken place over the last 40 or so years).

Can you tell us any interesting/little known fact about yourself in connection with Aston Villa?
I was Chairman of the Aston Villa Supporters Trust for a couple of years during the dark days of John Gregory’s managerial tenure and GT’s second coming.

What has been your worst ever Villa-related moment?
Almost getting seriously beaten up at a number of away games during the 1970’s – Liverpool, Leeds, Everton, Newcastle, Bolton and Tottenham spring to mind.

Why do you continue to support the club?
This cannot be a serious question, right?! It’s in the blood (even though my family had no recent history of following football).

What changes would you make to any aspect of Aston Villa in order to improve the experience?
Renovate the North Stand.

Is there a defining moment in your life as a Villa fan?
Villa Park, 1967.
Highbury, 1981.
Rotterdam, 1982.

What memorable moments can you tell us about?
Too many for now; maybe I’ll return and put some here.

Are there any family influences?
None. My brother and son (the latter born and bred in North Yorkshire) are both Villa, through and through.

Where did you grow up/do you live and has that influenced you?
Solihull – no great influence other than being generally in the Villa catchment. Actually, I was surrounded by enclaves of Blues and Man Utd fans during my formative years; I loved being a Villa fan behind enemy lines!

What have been the influence of clubs (if any) in those areas?
None.

How and why did you come to support Aston Villa?
My best mate’s Dad took us to a game. It only needed one experience to infect me!

What is your first memory of the club?
1967 – Villa vs Everton. Cigarette smoke, chanting, the buzz of the crowd, the naked passion of the home support. Oh, and an orange-haired no.7 (Alan Ball, playing for Everton) who played just wonderfully-well (but not well enough to persuade me to become an Evertonian).

What would you do to improve the overall Villa Park experience?
·    Make more of our heritage and our role in initiating and developing the Football League.
·    Assert ourselves to new fans / young football fans as a “thorough-bred” club with success and history; a story to tell.
·    Renovate the North Stand.

Do you have a Villa-related claim to fame?
I once appeared on Match of the Day as a spokesman for the AV Supporters Trust – it sparked off a volley of calls from people I know.

How do you see the club progressing?
Slow but sure improvement in performance, leading to greater recognition and success.

How long have you supported Aston Villa?
43 years.

Do you ‘follow’ any other clubs?
I go and watch Harrogate Town occasionally, and regularly watch my son playing football. But no, I cannot give my heart to any other club!

What teams in other sports do you support?
Warwickshire cricket; England Rugby team.

What hobbies and interests do you have outside of supporting Aston Villa?
Skiing, cycling, football coaching.

Do you go Home, Away, both or are you an armchair/pub supporter? Why?
Season ticket holder at VP and 6-8 away games per season.

Is there an established family history following the Villa and what does the future hold?
My son will, I’m sure, uphold the tradition (started by me!).

What Villa-related pictures have meaning for you?
There’s a great picture of Brian Little hooking a ball into the net (against Torquay, I think). Also, the newspaper cuttings (BEM) from the Rotterdam game.

Have you ever been ‘inside’ the ground and if so, what impressed you the most?
I’ve been into the press area in the new Trinity Road stand, and I’ve been to the board-room a couple of times in the North Stand. Nothing particularly impressed me.

Do you have any special emotional attachment to a part of the club?
The Holte End is my spiritual home.

What are the views of your friends and family to your supporting Aston Villa?
They’ve got used to it over time! Actually, living in North Yorkshire for the last 20 years has meant that people in these parts identify me as their Villa-supporting friend. Which is nice.

Has supporting Aston Villa affected your lifestyle? If so, how?
Driving 4½ hours to and from the home games means that Saturdays need to be planned and coordinated with the other things going on in the household.

Do you feel that away games are for the fan or the family?
Fan.

What changes have you seen that are for the better/worse (prices, atmosphere, obscenities, TV, fans etc)?
Better – less violence; better access to tickets; a more open club (i.e. they are more informative); the emergence of the football fanzine; Doug’s gone.
Worse – home-game atmosphere; the obscene money and player-arrogance; the lack of humility of people in football generally; the TV companies’ presentation of football (it’s utterly banal).

If you use a pseudonym on the internet, what is the meaning/reason behind the name choice?
My pseudonym is EffDee, which is FD, for “Fat Dave”. Although I’m not terminally fat (just slightly rotund), the team that I used to play football for (the mighty Dynamo Wormwood; yes, named after the scrubs where we used to play our home games) always referred to me as Fat Dave; hence it stuck.

Do you have anything else to add?
Not right now; I need to go for a recuperative drink after this marathon session!

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