Aston Villa’s club history dates all the way back to November 1874 and has roots with a local Chapel and a cricket club. So, the Villans are now one of the oldest football clubs in England. They also boast trophies from multiple domestic and European tournaments over the years.
Club name
Jack Hughes, Frederick Matthews, Walter Price and William Scattergood founded Aston Villa Football Club in 1874. The four were all members of Aston Villa Cricket Club and formed the team to remain fit in the winter months. So, they elected to retain the moniker as the name.
Aston Villa Wesleyan Chapel had earlier founded the cricket club in 1872 and used its name for the team’s moniker. While the Chapel came into existence in 1850 close to the Georgian house named Aston Villa that was based on the corner of Lozells Road and Heathfield Road.
Aston Villa badge
The current Aston Villa badge came into being in November 2022 after a consultation period and vote among fans. But the Villans did not begin using the crest before launching their kits for the 2023/24 season. The club also retained their previous shield crest for certain uses.
Aston Villa fans voted to adopt a modernised circular badge that pays homage to the Villans’ 1982 European Cup-winning season. It is a simplistic crest with a lion on a field of blue inside a claret outer circle with the club’s name and founding year. A thin blue rim frames the crest.
More than 21,500 season ticket holders and official Aston Villa members voted in the design process for the Villans’ latest badge. A total of 77% of those who voted selected the circular badge over a gas lamp crest inspired by the founding story behind Aston Villa’s club history.
Aston Villa thus adopted the circular crest as the badge on their kits and training gear, while retaining the previous shield design around Villa Park and the club’s digital channels. The old badge features a golden lion, rather than claret, on a blue shield with only the club’s initials.
Both badge designs currently in use also have a star to denote Aston Villa’s 1982 European Cup win. While the Birmingham team’s design introduced for use from 2023/24 was also the club’s 14th different badge. The Villans’ made several variations to their crest over the years.
Aston Villa have often modified the club’s badge
Aston Villa first adopted a simple red lion as their badge in the early years of their history. It would only remain in place for a few years, though, before embracing a yellow, blue and red shield with a rectangular criss-cross design. The crest is still their only badge without a lion.
The lion returned when Aston Villa redesigned their badge in the 1950s and has remained in place since. But the design of their latest crest created in 2022 saw the lion flipped to face to the right. It had been left-facing since the ‘50s, carrying connotations of looking backwards.
Aston Villa’s badge from the 1950s also carried the motto ‘prepared’ for the first time in the club’s history. Their previous design had adopted the motto ‘forward’. But the Villans kept to ‘prepared’ when they re-adopted a motto with their badge in the 1990s through until 2016.
While the design of Aston Villa’s badge has either been a shield or a circular crest similar to the two in use now since the 1970s bar a spell in the 1980s. The Villans incorporated MITA into the badge in 1984 after sealing a sponsorship deal with the copy machine manufacturer.
Kit history
Aston Villa are synonymous with the colours claret and blue throughout much of the club’s history. But the Villans started out by playing in scarlet and royal blue hooped jerseys with white shorts and blue socks. They also adopted black shirts for a period in the 19th century.
The Birmingham outfit’s strips would also feature various colours including blue and white, two-tone green, red and coral and maroon. But Aston Villa embraced their first claret and blue shirt in 1888 following a vote among club members to adopt a new set of club colours.
Claret and blue has since remained the club’s official colours with only the design of Aston Villa’s kit changing throughout their history. Although the Villans also re-adopted red shirts during the early 20th century for certain games if the conditions required a changed jersey.
League history
Aston Villa were a founding member of the Football League in 1888 when organised league matches began in England. The Birmingham club have since competed in the top three tiers throughout their history. They have also lifted the top-flight title in a smattering of seasons.
Preston North End beat Aston Villa to seal the inaugural Football League title in 1888/89 as the Lilywhites went unbeaten. The Villans had to wait for 1893/94 to launch their next title push but took the trophy, now under the name of Division One after a rebrand in 1892/93.
Further top-flight honours flowed into Wellington Park and then Villa Park following Aston Villa’s move in 1897. The Villans were the dominant force in England across the turn of the century. They won the league title in five of the seven seasons from 1893/94 to 1899/1900.
Title-winning campaigns proved more scarce for Aston Villa at the start of the 20th century. But they remained a top-flight ever-present through until 1936 when the club endured the first relegation in Aston Villa’s history. It took the Villans two terms to gain promotion back.
Aston Villa were a founding member of the Football League and Premier League
Aston Villa would again enjoy a lengthy run in the top-flight but endured another relegation in 1959. This time, they won promotion straight away after sealing the Division Two title for a second time. But the Villans suffered another relegation at the end of the 1966/67 season.
Relegation in 1967 marked a bleak period in Aston Villa’s history as a club as they remained outside of the top-flight until 1975. The Villans even fell into Division Three for the first time in 1970. They have not competed in the third-tier of the English game since in 1971/72 yet.
Aston Villa worked their way back into the top-flight for the 1975/76 season and remained there to 1987. The Villans would also be a founding member of the Premier League in 1992 after sealing an immediate promotion from Division Two. They finished second in 1992/93.
The Premier League era has seldom seen Aston Villa challenge for the title since finishing in second in the inaugural season. They also suffered relegation in 2015/16 after finishing the season in 20th place. It took the Villans three campaigns to climb out of the Championship.
Dean Smith ultimately led Aston Villa back into the promised land by securing their place in the Premier League through the Championship play-offs. Goals by Anwar El Ghazi and John McGinn gave the Villa Park outfit a 2-1 win over Frank Lampard’s Derby County at Wembley.
Aston Villa trophies
An array of titles feature among Aston Villa’s trophy history having enjoyed success across league, domestic cup and European competitions. The Villans have amassed a haul of titles that most teams would relish. They also sealed their first top-flight honour back in 1893/94.
Aston Villa topped the First Division table to lift their first top-flight title with 44 points from 30 games. They edged Sunderland to the crown by six points after taking 19 wins and six draws. The Villans further scored 84 goals and conceded just 42 over the 1893/94 season.
League titles flowed regularly thereafter with Aston Villa topping the table again five times through the 1909/10 campaign. The club would win their seventh and most recent top-tier title in 1980/81, however. Aston Villa have also finished as the runners-up 10 times to date.
A further three league titles feature in Aston Villa’s trophy cabinet having won the second-tier twice and the third-tier once. The Villans also won the second-tier play-offs in 2018/19 to secure promotion out of the Championship and book their return to the Premier League.
While in the domestic cups, Aston Villa have lifted seven FA Cup titles, five English Football League Cup (EFL Cup) trophies and the Community Shield once. They have further secured continental titles with one European Cup, one UEFA Super Cup and one Intertoto Cup yet.
Players and managers
The Villans boasting such a storied history has also helped to create an array of Aston Villa legends. Charlie Aitken, for one, established his place among the Birmingham side’s greats between 1961 and 1975. His 14 years at Villa Park led to a club record of 660 appearances.
Billy Walker, too, enjoyed a record-setting stay at Villa Park from 1920 to 1933. He penned Aston Villa’s club record tally of goals at 244. But Pongo Waring set Aston Villa’s record for the most goals in a single season. He offered 50 goals during the 1930/31 campaign alone.
Gabby Agbonlahor, meanwhile, is the record-breaker over Aston Villa’s history as a Premier League club. The former Villans captain holds the club’s record for the most goals since the start of the breakaway division with 74. Gareth Barry has played the most fixtures with 385.
