1981–82 Aston Villa F.C. season

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Aston Villa

1981–82 season
Aston Villa celebrating their historic European Cup victory
Chairman
Manager	(1) Ron Saunders (2) Tony Barton
Stadium	Villa Park
First Division	11th
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Fifth round
European Cup	Champions
Top goalscorer	League: Peter Withe (10 goals) All: Peter Withe (13 goals)
← 1980–81 1982–83 →

The 1981–82 English football season was Aston Villa's 82nd season in the Football League.

As defending First Division champions for the first time in 71 years, they qualified for the European Cup for the first time in their history. Their first game in the competition was against Valur of Iceland, following by a second round clash with BFC Dynamo of East Germany, Dynamo Kiev of the Soviet Union in the quarter-finals and then Anderlecht of Belgium in the semi-finals before beating Bayern Munich of West Germany 1–0 in the Final in Rotterdam, with Peter Withe scoring the winning goal.

The season began with Ron Saunders, who had been the club's manager since 1974, still in charge, but he resigned on 9 February 1982 following a disagreement with the board over his contract. He had been in charge for nearly eight years, winning a league title and two League Cups in the process. His successor was his assistant manager Tony Barton, who had been in charge for three months by the time Villa won the European Cup.

First-team squad[]

Squad at end of season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Jimmy Rimmer — GK  ENG Nigel Spink — DF  ENG Kenny Swain — DF  ENG Colin Gibson — DF  ENG Brendan Ormsby — DF  ENG Mark Jones — DF  ENG Pat Heard — DF  ENG Gary Williams — DF  SCO Ken McNaught — DF  SCO Allan Evans — DF  IRL Eamon Deacy

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Ivor Linton — MF  ENG Tony Morley — MF  ENG Dennis Mortimer — MF  ENG Mark Walters — MF  ENG Gordon Cowans — MF  ENG Paul Birch — MF  ENG Andy Blair — MF  SCO Des Bremner — FW  ENG Peter Withe — FW  ENG Gary Shaw — FW  ENG David Geddis — FW  IRL Terry Donovan[1]

First Division[]

League table[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
9	West Ham United	42	14	16	12	66	57	+9	58
10	Manchester City	42	15	13	14	49	50	−1	58
11	Aston Villa	42	15	12	15	55	53	+2	57	European Cup 1982–83 First round[a]
12	Nottingham Forest	42	15	12	15	42	48	−6	57
13	Brighton & Hove Albion	42	13	13	16	43	52	−9	52

European Cup[]

First round[]

First leg[]

Second leg[]

Villa won 7–0 on aggregate.

Second round[]

First leg[]

Second leg[]

2–2 on aggregate. Villa won on away goals rule.

Quarter final[]

First leg[]

Second leg[]

Villa won 2–0 on aggregate.

Semi-final[]

First leg[]

Second leg[]

Villa won 1–0 on aggregate.

Final[]

References[]