Editing Aston Villa F.C. (section)

===Relative decline and first relegation (1920–1939)===
[[File:Billy Walker Footballer.png|thumb|150px|left|A one-club man, [[Billy Walker (footballer, born 1897)|Billy Walker]] scored 244 goals in 531 appearances for Villa between 1920 and 1934. He is Aston Villa's all-time top goalscorer.]]
In January 1920, [[Billy Walker (footballer, born 1897)|Billy Walker]] scored twice on his Villa debut in a 2–1 FA Cup first-round win over [[Queens Park Rangers|QPR]]; the club won the FA Cup for the sixth time that season and Walker went on to establish himself as Villa's star player of the 1920s, scoring a record 244 goals in 531 appearances, captaining Villa and [[England national football team|England]]. [[George Ramsay (footballer, born 1855)|George Ramsay]] retired in 1926, at the age of 71, his replacement [[W. J. Smith|Billy Smith]] was unable to continue Ramsay's success, in reality several other football clubs had caught up with Aston Villa, most notably [[Arsenal FC|Arsenal]], who the club finished runners-up to in the league in [[1930–31 Football League|1930–31]] and [[1932–33 Football League|1932–33]]. Despite missing out on the league title, Villa Park crowds were entertained by attacking football, the 128 goals scored in 1930–31, remains the all-time top-flight record to the present day. A remarkable 49 of the league goals that season were scored by centre-forward [[Tom 'Pongo' Waring]], with another 30 goals from winger [[Eric Houghton]]. [[File:Tom 'Pongo' Waring.jpg|thumb|200px|right|[[Tom 'Pongo' Waring]] scored an incredible 50 goals for Villa in season 1930/31, a record-breaking season in which the team scored 128 top-flight goals.]] 

The club appointed [[Jimmy McMullan]] as manager in 1934, however, the move proved disastrous, resulting in Villa's first ever relegation in 1935–36 after 48 years in the top flight. Villa struggled largely due to a dismal defensive record: they conceded 110 goals in 42 games, 7 of them coming from [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]]'s [[Ted Drake]] in an [[Aston Villa 1–7 Arsenal (14 December 1935)|infamous 1–7 defeat]] at Villa Park.<ref>Ward, Adam; Griffin, Jeremy; p. 71.</ref> The club made seven signings and spent a staggering sum for the time of £35,500 trying to retain top-flight status at all costs, but were unable to buy their way out of trouble. Aston Villa, at the time one of the most famous and successful clubs in world football, was relegated in 1936 for the first time in its history.

Following relegation to the Second Division, the Villa board brought back the ageing former club chairman [[Frederick Rinder|Fred Rinder]], who said on his return "Villa have been a great club, are still a great club, and always will be a great club". He was vocal in his criticism of the board for its "almost total neglect of the reserve team, instead relying on paying big fees for ready made players". He believed that this change in policy from scouting and developing young homegrown talent led to a decline in the club's culture and style of play, which alongside a tolerance of ill-discipline in the players led to Villa's relegation. Rinder's first act was to travel to Austria to recruit the progressive coach [[Jimmy Hogan]] as manager. Within two seasons, Hogan had guided Villa back to the top flight as Second Division champions playing attractive free-flowing football. Hogan outlined his philosophy: "I am a teacher and lover of constructive football with every pass, every kick, every movement an object."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-jimmy-hogan-legend-12227795 |title='He'd get you doing stepovers' The intriguing story of an unappreciated Aston Villa legend |date=26 November 2018 |access-date=24 December 2021 |archive-date=24 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224165149/https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-jimmy-hogan-legend-12227795 |url-status=live }}</ref> He used to tell his players that "football was like a [[Viennese waltz]], a rhapsody. One-two-three, one-two-three, pass-move-pass, pass-move-pass."<ref name=":4">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/25055156 |title=Jimmy Hogan: The Englishman who inspired the Magical Magyars |work=BBC Sport |access-date=24 December 2021 |archive-date=24 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224165139/https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/25055156 |url-status=live }}</ref> Unfortunately, the [[Second World War]] ended Hogan's project to restore Aston Villa to the top of the English game.