Mike Bourne

What is your name?
Mike Bourne

How old are you?
61

What is your gender?
M

What do you do for a living?
Retired

What is your level of education?
ONC

Do you hold any religious beliefs?
Christianity

Do you wish for your entry to be anonymous or under a pseudonym?
You can quote me if you like

What Stand do you sit in?
Trinity Road

How long have you been going to Villa Park?
50 odd years

Can you describe some of your favourite goals?
Stan Lynn scoring from his own half Bruce Rioch scoring with a direct free kick inside the penalty area through 11 defenders Brian Little breaking from defence and scoring with a diving header off Chico Hamilton’s cross

Can you tell us about your favourite players?
Peter MacParland, Brian Little, Andy Gray, Gary Shaw

What are your favourite Villa-related moments?
WBA derbies and Man.Utd. games were always thrillers

What would be your best-ever eleven players (plus 5 subs) and why?
Jimmy Rimmer – good goalie who put the team before his self in 82
John Gidman – best attacking full back the Villa ever had
Charlie Aitken – reliable, Villa stalwart
Paul McGrath – backbone of a good team
Alan Evans – center forward turned center half and never complained
Vic Crowe (Capt.)- terrier
Gordon Cowans – joy to watch
Brian Little – so skillful
Peter Withe – knew how to get the best out of Gary Shaw
Gary Shaw – the nearest I have seen to Jimmy Greaves or Kenny Dalglish
Peter MacParland – match winner

Subs:
Nigel Spink – best goalie we had for years
Colin Gibson – out of the same mould as Charlie Aitken
George Curtis – hard as nails
Ian Ross – good captain
Andy Gray – fearless

Why are you a Villa fan?
Family tradition, my father

Can you tell us about some important moments in your Villa supporting life and where they were?
All of my favourite Villa moments appeared in that golden era from 1969 (Tommy Docherty) to 1983 (Tony Barton):

1. Villa getting a draw (2-2) at Southampton in the F.A. Cup in 1969 when Tommy Docherty gave me a wink at half time and then winning the replay at Villa Park 2-1 with 59,000 watching. Although we were relegated to the third division it was the start of a great era.

2. Villa losing 2-0 to Spurs in the League Cup Final in 1971, Spurs were awesome.

3. Being stuck at work listening to the radio when Villa beat Norwich in the League Cup Final in 1975.

4. Villa beating Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 in April 1975 clinching promotion, 12,000 Villa fans travelled to Sheffield.

5. Villa beating QPR in the League Cup semi-final replay at Highbury in 1977, one of the best games I have ever been to for sheer atmosphere. NB. Southampton and QPR were good teams in those days.

6. Villa beating Middlesborough in the last home game of the season in a mud-bath, I have never seen a more one-sided game, how Middlesborough beat Ipswich the following week to give Villa the championship I will never know.

7. Much later I know, but when the Villa finally beat Birmingham 1-0 after 7 attempts in 2001, guess who scored – Kevin Phillips.

What incidents have you been present at (on/off field)?
The worst without doubt was when Alex Cropley broke his leg against the Baggies. Man. Utd. so called supporters – scum, in and out of the ground.

Can you tell us any interesting/little known fact about yourself in connection with Aston Villa?
When I went to the Euro. Cup Final in Rotterdam, I felt really down having just fell out with my business partner, the anxiety of watching that giant clock tick round after Peter Withe scored, only made me feel worse.

What has been your worst ever Villa-related moment?
When Ronnie Allen of WBA accidentally scored against us in the last game of the season to relegate us in 1960.

Why do you continue to support the club?
It’s in the blood

What changes would you make to any aspect of Aston Villa in order to improve the experience?
Build a bigger stadium with more emphasis on family supporters, eject all foul mouthed supporters.

Is there a defining moment in your life as a Villa fan?
After the golden era I lost a lot of enthusiasm for the Villa and didn’t want to be there every other Saturday afternoon and fitting holidays and things around the Villa. I suppose we have Graham Taylor to thank for re-juvenating Villa Park.

What memorable moments can you tell us about?
I think I have covered most of them.

Are there any family influences?
ditto

Where did you grow up/do you live and has that influenced you?
Born in Lozells in Aston Parish, lived in Handsworth by the Hawthorns until I was 7, already going to the Villa one week and the baggies the next with my dad.

What have been the influence of clubs/fans (if any) in those areas?
Never really sensed any hostility between Villa and WBA, their enemies were Birmingham and Wolves respectively. Nobody supports Birmingham north of the city centre.

How and why did you come to support Aston Villa?
Family, father particularly, he was fanatical in a quiet way, would go anywhere anytime to see them. Often talked about pre-war players – Pongo Waring (the kids adored him), Eric Houghton and Billy Walker.

What is your first memory of the club?
Running around the back of what is now the North Stand, whilst my dad watched the game on the terrace, it was just a bank in those days at the back. You used to get passed down to the front in those days as a kid, with your rattle in your hand.

What would you do to improve the overall Villa Park experience?
Better car parking, cheaper food and beverage prices.

Do you have a Villa-related claim to fame?
Only my useless cousin as a teenager who was on their books but drunk his chances away.

How do you see the club progressing?
Slowly but surely under Randy Lerner and Martin O’Neil, always optimistic.

How long have you supported Aston Villa?
For ever.

Do you ‘follow’ any other clubs?
No, but affinity to WBA and the Wolves.

What teams in other sports do you support?
Warwickshire CCC.

What hobbies and interests do you have outside of supporting Aston Villa?
The Church, Fishing, Golf, Snooker, Model Railways, Heritage Railways, Ancestry.

Do you go Home, Away, both or are you an armchair/pub supporter? Why?
The latter now, go occasionally, live too far away.

Is there an established family history following the Villa and what does the future hold?
All of my generation in the Bourne family support the Villa and so do our children and grand children. Indeed my son Ian and his lovely wife Kelly used the Villa as a theme for the wedding and married on the 25th anniversary of the Euro. Cup.

What Villa-related pictures have meaning for you?
Happy memories

Have you ever been ‘inside’ the ground and if so, what impressed you the most?
Yes but seen all of it, the hospitality.

What are your views on the past, present and future of Aston Villa?
Truly great history, promising and always optimistic.

Do you possess any memorabilia that is particularly special to you and could you explain its meaning?
No, given it all to my son, Ian.

Do you have any special emotional attachment to a part of the club?
Not now, it's changed so much.

What are the views of your friends and family to your supporting Aston Villa?
Still echoes of the ‘Hall of Memory’

Has supporting Aston Villa affected your lifestyle? If so how?
In the golden era the Villa was a very useful aid to business, they used to say more business was done on the golf course, in my case it was Villa Park.

Have you ever supported/followed another club? If so, what made you change your allegiance?
Never, people annoy me who do.

Do you feel that away games are for the fan or the family?
The fan but it should always be family.

What changes have you seen that are for the better/worse (prices, atmosphere, obscenities, TV, fans etc)?
Soccer violence thank goodness has waned, but the obscenities still upset me.

If you use a pseudonym on the internet, what is the meaning/reason behind the name choice?
N/A

Do you have anything else to add?
I would just like to mention one player who no doubt would have been in my eleven if not cut down cruelly by injury at a very early age: Keith Leonard

Also, Ray Graydon was in my original eleven, but prefer Brian Little on the right.

The other thing concerns managers, my favourites were Tommy Docherty and Ron Saunders, the teams they left behind went on to better and greater things.

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