Villa Park will have been the home of Aston Villa for 125 years this weekend. It has been a ground that Villa fans have over all those years, left in both sadness and in joy (dependent on Villa's results) since it staged it's first home game on 17th April 1897 against Blackburn (a 3-0 win during our League & FA Cup double winning season).
The record attendance at Villa Park is 77.558 on 2nd March 1946 for an FA Cup 6th Round tie against Derby. Villa Park has staged more FA Cup semi-finals (55) than any other football stadium, has hosted 11 full England internationals and is the only ground that England have played at in three different centuries. It hosted 3 World Cup group games in 1966, the 2nd leg of the first League Cup Final in 1961 and the 2nd leg of the European Cup Semi Final in 1982 (we won them both!).
Great players such as Best, Charlton, Moore, Matthews, Finney, Edwards, Beckenbauer, Platini, Pele, Cruyff, Billy Walker, Pongo Waring, Eric Houghton, Peter McParland, Paul McGrath and Brian Little have graced the Villa Park turf over the years. Here are a few photographs, that show how the ground has changed over the years: