1978–79 Aston Villa F.C. season

Second City Derby
	35--28--24
	← 1977–78 1980–81 →

Aston Villa
1978–79 season
Chairman	Harry Kartz
Manager	Ron Saunders
Stadium	Villa Park
First Division	8th
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Fourth round
	← 1977–78 1979–80 →

The 1978–79 English football season was Aston Villa's 80th season in the Football League and their fourth consecutive season in the top division. Manager, Ron Saunders had signed a six-year contract in the pre-season.

There were debut appearances for Gary Williams (324), Colin J Gibson (185), Gary Shaw (165), Kenny Swain (148), Brendan Ormsby (117), Gary Shelton (24), Lee Jenkins (3), Joe Ward (3) and Willie Young.

Villa won both games in the Second City derby.

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
6	Ipswich Town	42	20	9	13	63	49	+14	49	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
7	Arsenal	42	17	14	11	61	48	+13	48	Qualification for the European Cup Winners' Cup first round
8	Aston Villa	42	15	16	11	59	49	+10	46
9	Manchester United	42	15	15	12	60	63	−3	45
10	Coventry City	42	14	16	12	58	68	−10	44

Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
Notes:

↑ Arsenal qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup first round as the 1978–79 FA Cup winners.

Matches

19 August 1978	Aston Villa	1–0	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Villa Park
	Andy Gray, 60	Report
Note: The First Division season begins with a 1–0 home victory over Wolves. Gary Shelton starts for Villa making his debut.

23 August 1978	Tottenham Hotspur	1–4	Aston Villa
		Report	Allan Evans, 35; John Gregory, 49; Brian Little, 80; Gary Shelton, 86

26 August 1978	Bristol City	1–0	Aston Villa
		Report

2 September 1978	Aston Villa	1–1	Southampton	Villa Park
	Andy Gray, 23	Report

9 September 1978	Ipswich Town	0–2	Aston Villa
		Report	John Gregory, 17; Andy Gray, 90 (pen)

16 September 1978	Aston Villa	1–1	Everton	Villa Park
	Tommy Craig, 42	Report
Note: The 18-year-old Gary Williams made his debut.

23 September 1978	Queens Park Rangers	1–0	Aston Villa
		Report

30 September 1978	Aston Villa	1–2	Nottingham Forest	Villa Park
	Tommy Craig, 20 (pen)	Report

7 October 1978	Arsenal	1–1	Aston Villa
		Report	John Gregory, 84

14 October 1978	Aston Villa	2–2	Manchester United	Villa Park
	John Gregory, 32, 45	Report

21 October 1978	Birmingham City	0–1	Aston Villa
		Report	Andy Gray, 8

27 October 1978	Aston Villa	0–2	Middlesbrough	Villa Park
		Report

4 November 1978	Aston Villa	1–1	Manchester City	Villa Park
	John Deehan, 62	Report

11 November 1978	Wolverhampton Wanderers	0–4	Aston Villa
		Report	Gary Shelton, 39; Ken McNaught, 43; John Deehan, 81; Dennis Mortimer, 85

18 November 1978	Aston Villa	2–0	Bristol City	Villa Park
	John Deehan, 59; Gordon Cowans, 70	Report

21 November 1978	Southampton	2–0	Aston Villa
		Report

25 November 1978	West Bromwich Albion	1–1	Aston Villa
		Report	Allan Evans, 64

9 December 1978	Chelsea	0–1	Aston Villa
		Report	Allan Evans, 15

16 December 1978	Aston Villa	1–1	Norwich City	Villa Park
	Own Goal, 79	Report

23 December 1978	Derby County	0–0	Aston Villa
		Report

26 December 1978	Aston Villa	2–2	Leeds United	Villa Park
	John Gregory, 21, 26	Report

31 January 1979	Everton	1–1	Aston Villa
		Report	Gary Shelton, 49

24 February 1979	Manchester United	1–1	Aston Villa
		Report	Kenny Swain, 58

3 March 1979	Aston Villa	1–0	Birmingham City	Villa Park
	Gordon Cowans, 80	Report

7 March 1979	Aston Villa	3–0	Bolton Wanderers	Villa Park
	Andy Gray, 17; Kenny Swain, 30; Own Goal, 45	Report

10 March 1979	Middlesbrough	2–0	Aston Villa
		Report

20 March 1979	Aston Villa	3–1	Queens Park Rangers	Villa Park
	Allan Evans, 34; John Gidman, 72 (pen); Dennis Mortimer, 89	Report

24 March 1979	Aston Villa	2–3	Tottenham Hotspur	Villa Park
	John Gidman, 39 (pen); Andy Gray, 44	Report

28 March 1979	Aston Villa	1–1	Coventry City	Villa Park
	Allan Evans, 49	Report

4 April 1979	Nottingham Forest	4–0	Aston Villa
		Report

7 April 1979	Coventry City	1–1	Aston Villa
		Report	John Deehan, 77

11 April 1979	Aston Villa	3–3	Derby County	Villa Park
	Gordon Cowans, 26, 55; John Gidman, 51 (pen)	Report

14 April 1979	Leeds United	1–0	Aston Villa
		Report

16 April 1979	Aston Villa	3–1	Liverpool	Villa Park
	Allan Evans, 33; Own Goal, 41; John Deehan, 84	Report

21 April 1979	Norwich City	1–2	Aston Villa
		Report	Gary Shelton, 13; Alex Cropley, 72

25 April 1979	Aston Villa	5–1	Arsenal	Villa Park
	Gary Shelton, 49, 51, 85 (pen); John Deehan, 69, 73	Report

28 April 1979	Aston Villa	2–1	Chelsea	Villa Park
	Own Goal, 68; Kenny Swain, 82	Report

2 May 1979	Aston Villa	2–2	Ipswich Town	Villa Park
	Kenny Swain, 8; John Deehan, 13	Report

5 May 1979	Bolton Wanderers	0–0	Aston Villa
		Report

8 May 1979	Liverpool	3–0	Aston Villa	Anfield
		Report
Note: Liverpool beat Aston Villa 3–0 at Anfield to clinch the First Division title.

11 May 1979	Aston Villa	0–1	West Bromwich Albion	Villa Park
		Report

15 May 1979	Manchester City	2–3	Aston Villa
		Report	Alex Cropley, 50; Dennis Mortimer, 72; John Deehan, 75
Note:

Source: avfchistory.co.uk

FA Cup

Teams from the Football League First and Second Division entered in the Third round. The third round of games in the FA Cup were intended to be played on 6 January 1979, but only four games were actually played on this date. Twenty more ties were played midweek over 8–10 January with a few more taking place on 15–16 and one on 18 January. Replays were intended for 9–10 January but again took place at various times. One tie, between Wrexham and Stockport County, suffered six postponements before finally being played on 1 February, by which time Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday had played five times, the tie needing a fourth replay before being settled. Maidstone United and Altrincham were the last non-league clubs left in the competition.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
6	Nottingham Forest	2–0	Aston Villa	10 January 1979

League Cup

Second round

Home team	Score	Away team	Date
Aston Villa (1)	1–0	Sheffield Wednesday (3)	30 August 1978

Third round

Home team	Score	Away team	Date
Aston Villa	1–1	Crystal Palace	4 October 1978

Replay

Home team	Score	Away team	Date
Crystal Palace	0–0	Aston Villa	10 October 1978

2nd Replay

Home team	Score	Away team	Date
Aston Villa	3–0	Crystal Palace	16 October 1978

Fourth round

Home team	Score	Away team	Date
Aston Villa	0–2	Luton Town	8 November 1978

Squad

All Aston Villa players: 1979 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


Pos.	Nation	Player
GK	ENG	Jimmy Rimmer
DF	ENG	John Gidman
DF	ENG	John Gregory
DF	SCO	Allan Evans
DF	SCO	Ken McNaught
MF	ENG	Dennis Mortimer
FW	SCO	Tommy Craig
FW	ENG	Brian Little
FW	ENG	John Deehan
MF	ENG	Gordon Cowans
MF	ENG	Kenny Swain
DF	ENG	Gary Williams
MF	ENG	Gary Shelton


Pos.	Nation	Player
MF	SCO	Alex Cropley
FW	SCO	Andy Gray
DF	ENG	Colin Gibson
MF	ENG	Frank Carrodus
DF	ENG	Ivor Linton
DF	SCO	Gordon Smith
DF	WAL	Leighton Phillips
FW	ENG	Gary Shaw
MF	SCO	Willie Young
DF	ENG	Dave Evans
DF	ENG	Brendan Ormsby
FW	SCO	Joe Ward
MF	ENG	Lee Jenkins

References

↑ Football, The Times, 11 August 1978
↑ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/brendan-ormsby
↑ "Aston Villa's Seasons". AVFC History.
↑ "All Aston Villa's Matches". AVFC History. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
↑ Football, The Times, 21 August 1978 Issue 60385
1 2 https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/aston-villa/matches/league/1978-79
↑ https://avdb.co.uk/aston-villa/first-team/player/gary-williams
↑ Smailes, Gordon (2000). The Breedon Book of Football Records. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 142. ISBN 1859832148.
↑ After Extra Time

External links

Aston Villa official website

This article about an English association football club season is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

[table_note_res_CWC1R0.77369440755513-5] Arsenal qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup first round as the 1978–79 FA Cup winners.

[1] Football, The Times, 11 August 1978

[2] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/brendan-ormsby

[3] "Aston Villa's Seasons". AVFC History.

[4] "All Aston Villa's Matches". AVFC History. Retrieved 6 August 2023.

[6] Football, The Times, 21 August 1978 Issue 60385

[avfc78-79-7] 1 2 https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/aston-villa/matches/league/1978-79

[AVFCHGW-8] ttps://avdb.co.uk/aston-villa/first-team/player/gary-williams

[smailesleague-9] Smailes, Gordon (2000). The Breedon Book of Football Records. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 142. ISBN 1859832148.

[aet-10] After Extra Time

v t e Aston Villa F.C. seasons
1870s	1874–75 1875–76 1876–77 1877–78 1878–79 1879–80
1880s	1880–81 1881–82 1882–83 1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90
1890s	1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900
1900s	1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10
1910s	1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20
1920s	1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930s	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940s	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950s	1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960s	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970s	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980s	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990s	1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000
2000s	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010s	2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020s	2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26 2026–27