Aston Villa Fans
On November 10, 1968, *Sunday Mercury* reported on a protest by Aston Villa fans that police described as the “most violent” at Villa Park. The context of the unrest was Villa’s recent 1-0 home defeat to Preston, which left the team at the bottom of the old Second Division. This result acted as a tipping point for fans who expressed their anger towards the board, with protests taking place both at the stadium and later outside the *Sunday Mercury* offices in Birmingham City Centre. The poor performance of the season, characterized by nine defeats, seven draws, and two wins, led to the sacking of Manager Tommy Cummings, who was replaced by Tommy Docherty.
During the final minutes of the match, fans jeered at the directors in the main stand and chanted “The board must go.” According to eyewitnesses, police on horseback advanced on the crowd as they initiated a sit-down protest. The demonstration began with a group of young fans behind the Holte End goal and quickly spread to the main stand. Reports indicated that just before the end of the match, a significant portion of spectators in the stand turned towards the directors’ box, booing and joining in the chants started by the younger fans.
Chief Superintendent Brannigan described the situation, saying, “I went into the directors’ box because of the strong feeling and the things that were happening. About five minutes before the match ended, between 800 and 1,000 assembled in the paddock and started shouting and demonstrating violently towards the board. This would have been dangerous to many people who wanted to leave the ground and was stopped. I don’t know whether the policemen on horseback rode into the crowd. But if a mass of people were making their way towards the staircase I would expect my men to do so to prevent them sitting down and blocking the exit. I saw police officers doing their job in the normal manner, ushering people out of the paddock and stopping them sitting down as a lot wanted to do.”
Later that evening, over 200 youths gathered on the steps outside the *Sunday Mercury* offices, chanting and jeering. The protest eventually dispersed when police on foot and motorcycles advanced towards the group.
A Villa supporter who witnessed these incidents commented, “People had to fling themselves out of the way of the horses. I had to dodge one myself.” Another supporter, Mr. Michael Starr, from Streetly, stated, “There were children in the way who were very nearly bowled over. The crowd surged back to avoid the horses. They were shouting about something they all feel very strongly about.”
One youth expressed his frustration saying, “I have been a Villa supporter for four years and am fed up with the way they have been playing. We don’t want to hurt anybody and we haven’t broken anything.”
Villa’s chairman, Mr. Norman Smith, did not witness the demonstration against his board as he had left the match at halftime to travel to London for a dinner at Highbury.
