Can History Repeat Itself, But In A Good Way?

After now losing four games on the trot, it would not be a surprise to read the following:

It was a crushing blow to the hopes and aspirations of [the Villans], and it may lead to a revolution in the management of the club before many weeks are over The class of players lately engaged have not been high enough, and in many instances the old penny-wise-and-pound-foolish policy has been indulged in, to the very great detriment and lowing of tone of the organisation.

But, hey, this was written about the Villa in a journal way back … in January 1893 in fact!

The journal’s article went on:

There is very strong talk of a general meeting, and I hear that a requisition has been signed to re-arrange and alter matters.
It is urged by many that things will not take a better turn till a lot of fresh blood is infused into the affair, and some of the oldest and strongest of Aston Villa are very much of that opinion. You may expect to hear of a small revolution pretty soon in regard to their internal affairs, as the members are convinced that the management have not been at all of the high-class character

Another journal suggested that the Villa committee should look at itself for the faults that lay in the running of the club, and desist from throwing blame at everyone except themselves.

… the grievance is that the present committee have proved themselves utterly incompetent to control the affairs of the club, and the general body of members feel that a deal of money has been wasted and squandered away by the engagement of high-salaried players that were not worthy of their hire, and the fame and reputation of the club has been trifled with in a manner that has vexed the patrons and supporters of the Villa matches beyond measure

The remarkable thing is that the previous season Villa had been Cup Finalists (but were walloped 3-0 by the Albion in the last ever final at Kennington Oval) and also finished fourth in the League. But (of course) in those days people believed that Villa should be capable of much greater things, even though at that time they only had one major trophy (the FA Cup, in 1887) under their belt!

A “revolution” is, in fact, what occurred and it came as a result of the ‘Barwick Street meeting’. This meeting – though it was not realised at the time – proved to bring about the final clearing of the decks; the final weeding out of weak individuals and wrong practices in the club, to enable the club to make progress. The growing pains that the club had been suffering since professionalism was introduced in 1885 were about to be finally dealt with ñ there would be no more serious trouble within the club for another 30 years. This meeting also brought the footballing world to know about Mr. Fred Rinder, [who] arrived in Barwick Street more in the form of a stormy petrel rather than as a peace-descending dove.

It was reported (and the last couple of sentences have a modern ring to them!):

It must be said that [Mr. Rinder] handled his brief in a masterly manner, and never attempted to shirk any of the responsibility which he had taken on himself. Without being unnecessarily offensive or personal in his remarks, he stood up to his task and hit out straight from the shoulder. There were, he said, thirty-four paid players, enough to run three teams, but I would like to know how many of that number were of the slightest use to a first-class team? [He said] there were no fewer than eight paid [full-]backs, but they had not a single pair of good backs amongst them.

A complete change to the Villa committee was indeed the outcome, and from then (in 1893) to 1925 (and after!), Fred Rinder’s influence in the club was to be profoundly felt. More importantly, the next seven seasons produced seven trophies and Villa’s fame was enshrined.

In the first League match (against Accrington) after the Barwick Street meeting, however, Villa had to be woken up from a dozey state! It was a warm, oppressive day that seemed to have caused a “languid and lackadaisical air” amongst the Villa team, to the extent that at half-time they were 1-3 down. Soon after half-time, Accrington again scored to make the score 1 4! The report then stated: “Curiously enough the state of affairs rather invigorated than depressed the [Villa] team the players got to work with a will” – and scored five goals to overhaul Accrington and win 6-4!

It was written (about the affect of “the revolution”): “The result on the players was electrical. After a remarkable series of flabby games, they suddenly blossomed forth as a team of skill and illumination.”

Another sample from the days of yore. Perhaps history can repeat itself!