Editing Aston Villa F.C. (section)

=== Back among the elite (1974–1992) ===
[[File:Dennis Mortimer (1982).jpg|thumb|right|Aston Villa captain Dennis Mortimer lifted the European Cup in 1982.]]
Following a 14th-place finish in the Second Division, Crowe was replaced in August 1974 by [[Ron Saunders]]. He was a fitness fanatic, whose brand of no-nonsense man-management proved effective, with the club winning the League Cup the following season and, by the end of season 1974–75, he had taken Aston Villa back into the First Division and into Europe.<ref>Ward, Adam; Griffin, Jeremy; p. 111.</ref> One player who had been a mainstay of the Villa team throughout the rollercoaster of relegations and subsequent revival was fan-favourite [[Charlie Aitken (footballer, born 1942)|Charlie Aitkin]], who made 659 appearances at [[left back]] for the club between 1959 and 1976, making him Villa's all-time record appearance holder.

Aston Villa were back among the elite as Saunders continued to mould a winning team, finishing 4th in the league and winning a further League Cup in [[1976–77 in English football|1976–77]], with the formidable strike partnership of [[Brian Little]] and [[Andy Gray (footballer, born 1955)|Andy Gray]], who became the first player to win both the [[PFA Young Player of the Year]] and [[PFA Players' Player of the Year]] in the same season.

The 1970s was an era of boardroom unrest at Villa Park. Ron Saunders had a strained relationship with [[Doug Ellis]], resenting Doug's perceived interference in football matters. Over time Ellis became an isolated figure on the board, as the other directors sided with Saunders. He was ousted as chairman in 1975 to make way for [[Sir William Dugdale, 2nd Baronet|Sir William Dugdale]]. He remained on the board until 1979, when he left the club after a protracted power struggle with majority shareholder [[Ron Bendall]]. With Ellis gone, Saunders became all-powerful as manager.

Villa achieved a seventh top-flight league title in [[1980–81 in English football|1980–81]], with players such as [[Gordon Cowans]], [[Tony Morley]] and captain [[Dennis Mortimer]] leading the club to its first top-flight title in 71 years. Remarkably, they did so using just 14 players, with seven players being ever-presents. Villa's Birmingham-born forward [[Gary Shaw (footballer, born 1961)|Gary Shaw]] was named 1980-1981 [[PFA Young Player of the Year]].

To the surprise of commentators and fans, Ron Saunders quit halfway through the [[1981–82 in English football|1981–82]] season, with Villa in the quarter final of the European Cup. Saunders had expressed his exasperation with the board at the lack of funds available to him to strengthen the team and fell out with the chairman Ron Bendall over the terms of his contract.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sydenham |first1=Richard |title=Ticket to the Moon |date=2018 |publisher=deCoubertin Books |isbn=978-1-909245-76-1 |page=155}}</ref> He was replaced by his softly-spoken assistant manager [[Tony Barton (footballer)|Tony Barton]] who guided the club to a 1–0 victory over [[FC Bayern Munich|Bayern Munich]] in the [[1982 European Cup Final|European Cup final]] in [[Rotterdam]] courtesy of a [[Peter Withe]] goal in the 67th minute. Ten minutes into the final, Villa's first choice goalkeeper, [[Jimmy Rimmer]], was injured and young substitute keeper [[Nigel Spink]] was called into action, having only made one previous appearance in the first team. Spink performed superbly, keeping a clean sheet, and helping Villa become only the fourth English club to lift the European Cup. 
[[File:82team.jpg|thumb|left|The 1982 European Cup winning squad celebrate the 25th anniversary of their win.|alt=In the foreground is two men holding a large cup, they have claret scarves and a medal around their necks. Around them are ten old players in suits with medals and scarves around their necks]]
The following season the defence of the European Cup ended in a quarter-final defeat to [[Juventus]], but Villa won the [[1982 European Super Cup|European Super Cup]], beating [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]] 3–1 on aggregate. This marked a pinnacle though and Villa's fortunes declined sharply for most of the 1980s. Doug Ellis returned as chairman and majority shareholder in November 1982. The club was saddled with significant debts and questions had been raised by the police regarding fraudulent financial activity surrounding the building of the North Stand at Villa Park from 1980 to 1982. The cost of the work was £1.3&nbsp;million. An internal investigation found that £700,000 of the £1.3&nbsp;million worth of bills were unaccounted for.<ref name=Hayes172>Hayes, Dean, p.172</ref> A later report by accountants [[Deloitte]] found that there were "serious breaches of recommended codes of practice and poor site supervision".<ref>Inglis, Simon (1997), p.188</ref> Ellis immediately set about trying to reduce the club's overheads. He informed the players that they needed to take pay cuts and told the manager Tony Barton that there was a need to reduce the playing staff.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sydenham |first1=Richard |title=Ticket to the Moon |date=2018 |publisher=deCoubertin Books |isbn=978-1-909245-76-1}}</ref> Saunders' team was broken up and not adequately replaced, culminating in the club being relegated in 1987, just five years after Villa had been crowned European champions.<ref>Ward, Adam; Griffin, Jeremy; p. 148.</ref>

However, Villa bounced back quickly, achieving promotion the following year under [[Graham Taylor (footballer)|Graham Taylor]] and a runners-up position in the top-flight in the 1989–90 season with a fine side that included [[Paul McGrath (footballer)|Paul McGrath]], [[Tony Daley]] and [[David Platt (footballer)|David Platt]].<ref>Ward, Adam; Griffin, Jeremy; p. 155.</ref> Following this success, Graham Taylor accepted the offer to take over as England manager in 1990.