1969–70 Aston Villa F.C. season

The 1969–70 English football season was Aston Villa's 70th season in the Football League, this season playing in the Football League Second Division. On 19 January 1970, with Villa bottom of the Second Division, manager Tommy Docherty was sacked.[1] Vic Crowe was subsequently appointed manager.[2]

Aston Villa
1969–70 season
ChairmanEngland Doug Ellis
Manager(1) Scotland Tommy Docherty
(2) Wales Vic Crowe
StadiumVilla Park
Second Division21st
FA CupThird round
League CupSecond round
Second City Derby
32--23--24

Bruce Rioch moved to Aston Villa in July 1969 for a fee of £100,000, then a record fee paid by a Second Division side.

Tommy Docherty, then Manager saw two Zambians, Emment Kapengwe and Freddie Mwila in action and signed them on. They arrived in Birmingham in August 1969 and signed for Villa for two years. There, they met Brian Tiler who would later coach the Zambian national team. Kapengwe made three football league appearances and Mwila featured only once,[3] becoming the second and third black players to play for Villa since Willie Clarke in 1901. Results were not very good and Villa were relegated to the third division. Docherty left the team and the duo decided to come back home after 9 months with Villa.

In the Second City derby Villa drew at home and won away.[4]

Second Division

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GAv Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Huddersfield Town (C, P) 42 24 12 6 68 37 1.838 60 Promotion to the First Division
2 Blackpool (P) 42 20 13 9 56 45 1.244 53
3 Leicester City 42 19 13 10 64 50 1.280 51
4 Middlesbrough 42 20 10 12 55 45 1.222 50
5 Swindon Town 42 17 16 9 57 47 1.213 50
6 Sheffield United 42 22 5 15 73 38 1.921 49 Qualification for the Watney Cup[lower-alpha 1]
7 Cardiff City 42 18 13 11 61 41 1.488 49 Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round[lower-alpha 2]
8 Blackburn Rovers 42 20 7 15 54 50 1.080 47
9 Queens Park Rangers 42 17 11 14 66 57 1.158 45
10 Millwall 42 15 14 13 56 56 1.000 44
11 Norwich City 42 16 11 15 49 46 1.065 43
12 Carlisle United 42 14 13 15 58 56 1.036 41
13 Hull City 42 15 11 16 72 70 1.029 41 Qualification for the Watney Cup[lower-alpha 1]
14 Bristol City 42 13 13 16 54 50 1.080 39
15 Oxford United 42 12 15 15 35 42 0.833 39
16 Bolton Wanderers 42 12 12 18 54 61 0.885 36
17 Portsmouth 42 13 9 20 66 80 0.825 35
18 Birmingham City 42 11 11 20 51 78 0.654 33
19 Watford 42 9 13 20 44 57 0.772 31
20 Charlton Athletic 42 7 17 18 35 76 0.461 31
21 Aston Villa (R) 42 8 13 21 36 62 0.581 29 Relegation to the Third Division
22 Preston North End (R) 42 8 12 22 43 63 0.683 28
Source:
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. Sheffield United and Hull City qualified for the Watney Cup as the two teams with the most goals that hadn't already qualified for promotion or a European competition.
  2. Cardiff City qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup as the 1969-70 Welsh Cup winners.

References
  1. Docherty dismissed by Aston Villa board, GEOFFREY GREEN, 20 January 1970, The Times, Issue: 57772
  2. Saunders chosen as Aston Villa's new manager, 5 June 1974, The Times, Issue: 59107
  3. Neil Brown's Aston Villa Player Registry
  4. "All Aston Villa's Matches". AVFC History. Retrieved 6 August 2023.


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