Editing Aston Villa F.C. (section)

=== Victorian and Edwardian golden age (1886–1914) ===
Following the professionalisation of football in 1885, the club decided that it needed a full-time paid manager. The following advert was placed in the [[Birmingham Gazette|Birmingham Daily Gazette]] newspaper in June 1886:
[[File:AstonVilla1896-97.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The Aston Villa [[Double (association football)|Double]] winning team of 1896&ndash;97 with the [[Football League First Division|First Division Championship]] and the [[1897 FA Cup final|FA Cup]]]]
{{cquote|'Wanted: manager for Aston Villa Football Club, who will be required to devote his whole time under direction of the committee. Salary £100 per annum. Applications with reference must be made not later than June 23rd to Chairman of the Committee, Aston Villa Club House, 6 Witton Road, Aston’}} Villa received 150 applicants for the role, but with his strong association with the club George Ramsay was the overwhelming choice of the membership. Thus on 26 June 1886, Aston Villa appointed what has been described as the world's first professional football manager.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lerwill|first=John |title= The Aston Villa Chronicles 1874-1924 |year=2009 |publisher=Aston Villa Ltd |page= 198|isbn=9780956286109}}</ref> 
[[File:mcgregor.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|[[William McGregor (football)|William McGregor]], founder of The Football League]]The following season Aston Villa rose to national prominence, as the first Midlands team to win the FA Cup in 1887. Villa's captain, the powerful Scottish centre-forward [[Archie Hunter]] became one of the game's first household names, being the first player to score in every round of the FA Cup. Aston Villa were one of the dozen teams that competed in the inaugural [[English Football League|Football League]] in 1888 with one of the club's directors, [[William McGregor (football)|William McGregor]] being the league's founder. Following the professionalisation of football in 1885, clubs needed regular income to pay their players' wages. Frequently [[Exhibition match|friendlies]] were cancelled due to opponents' FA Cup or [[county cup]] matches or clubs simply failed to honour a fixture in favour of a more lucrative match elsewhere.<ref name="PS1">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of British Football|first=Phil|last=Soar|author2=Martin Tyler |page=162}}</ref><ref name="HD">{{cite book|title=Boots, Balls and Haircuts: An Illustrated History of Football from Then to Now|first=Hunter|last=Davies|pages=39–41|publisher=Cassell Illustrated|year=2003|isbn=1-84403-261-2}}</ref> McGregor took action after seeing Villa matches cancelled, to the increasing frustration of the club's fans, on five consecutive Saturdays.<ref name="HD"/> In March 1888, he wrote to the committee of his own club, Aston Villa, as well as to those of [[Blackburn Rovers F.C.|Blackburn Rovers]], [[Bolton Wanderers F.C.|Bolton Wanderers]], [[Preston North End F.C.|Preston North End]] and [[West Bromwich Albion]],<ref>{{cite book|title=The Football League 1888–1988 The Official Illustrated History |first=Bryon |last=Butler|publisher=Macdonald Queen Anne Press |year=1987|isbn=0-356-15072-0 |page=11}}</ref> suggesting the creation of a league competition that would provide a number of guaranteed fixtures for its member clubs each season.<ref>{{cite web |title=Football League |url=https://www.11v11.com/football-league/ |website=11v11 |access-date=6 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701195748/https://www.11v11.com/football-league/ |archive-date=1 July 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Founding of the Football League |url=https://www.scottishfootballmuseum.org.uk/news/the-founding-of-the-football-league/ |publisher=[[Scottish Football Museum]] |access-date=6 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231206151855/https://www.scottishfootballmuseum.org.uk/news/the-founding-of-the-football-league/ |archive-date=6 December 2023 |language=en |url-status=live}}</ref> Following two meetings between representatives of the leading clubs, the world's first Football League season began in September 1888 with 12 member clubs from the Midlands and north of England: [[Accrington Stanley|Accrington]], Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, [[Burnley FC|Burnley]], [[Derby County]], [[Everton FC|Everton]], [[Notts County]], Preston North End, [[Stoke City|Stoke]], West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
[[File:FACupFinal1905NewcastleVilla.jpg|thumb|300px|right|[[Harry Hampton (footballer, born 1885)|Harry Hampton]] scores one of his two goals in the [[1905 FA Cup final]].]]
Despite Villa founding the league, by 1893 they had yet to win it. Villa Committee Member [[Frederick Rinder]] was the instigator of a club meeting at Barwick Street in February 1893 that removed the committee running the club at the time. All fourteen committee members resigned and were replaced by a committee of five led by Rinder after he gave a rousing speech criticising the board's tolerance of ill discipline and players' drinking. On the pitch, manager [[George Ramsay (footballer, born 1855)|George Ramsay]] was moulding a team that became renowned for its short, quick combination passing which saw Villa win its first league title in [[1893-94 Football League|1893–94]]; the season after that the club won its second FA Cup in [[1895 FA Cup Final|1894-95]]. This was followed by back-to-back League titles in [[1895-96 Football League|1895–96]] and [[1896-97 Football League|1896–97]].

Aston Villa emerged as the most successful English club of the [[Victorian era]], winning no fewer than five League titles and three FA Cups by the end of [[Queen Victoria]]'s reign in 1901.<ref name="Ward192">Ward, Adam; Griffin, Jeremy; p. 192.</ref> Villa's captain during this era was Birmingham-born forward [[John Devey]], who enjoyed a successful partnership with the lightning-fast winger [[Charlie Athersmith]] and marshalling Villa's defence was the tough-tackling Scotsman [[James Cowan (footballer)|James Cowan]], who had an unrivalled sense of timing and anticipation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Peter |title=Aston Villa The First 100 Years |date=1974}}</ref> [[1896–97 Aston Villa F.C. season|In 1897]], the year Villa won [[Double (association football)|The Double]], they moved into their present home, the Aston Lower Grounds.<ref>Ward, Adam; Griffin, Jeremy; pp. 33–36.</ref> Supporters coined the name "Villa Park"; no official declaration listed the ground as [[Villa Park]].<ref>Hayes, Dean; p. 170.</ref>

Success continued into the [[Edwardian era]], with Villa lifting the FA Cup for the fourth time in [[1905 FA Cup Final|1904–05]], and a sixth league title in [[1909–10 Football League|1909–10]]. A further FA Cup triumph was achieved on the eve of the [[First World War]] in 1913, with the club narrowly missing out on winning a second [[Double (association football)|Double]], finishing runners-up in the league. Star-players during this era included [[Howard Spencer]], the cultured defender who captained both Villa and England, and the prolific strike force of [[Joe Bache]] and [[Harry Hampton (footballer, born 1885)|Harry Hampton]] who between them scored 382 goals in claret and blue.