AV40 Celebrations Review
2022 is a very special year indeed for Aston Villa fans. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Villa’s iconic European Cup win in 1982. 40 years since Dennis Mortimer led the Villa team, which he captained, out to Rotterdam where they defeated Bayern Munich 1-0 after a now legendary goal by Peter Withe.
Of the many events being held to celebrate the 40th anniversary some of the greatest celebratory events are being held at the Britannia Sports Bar.
An informal BBQ was held at the Britannia Sports Bar with 10, yes 10! of the 1982 European Cup winning squad in attendance. Fans could mingle with their heroes whilst eating some absolutely fantastic food. The event felt like a huge family reunion. One can only imagine the amount of work that went into this event and huge credit and gratitude must be given to the man behind it all, Wayne Etheridge.
Wayne is THE man at Britannia Sports Bar and frequently organizes evenings at the bar where the fans can directly interact with their sporting heroes. It must be said that Wayne surpassed himself at this AV40 celebration barbecue. Where else could you mingle in such an informal setting with such an iconic group of footballing legends?! The atmosphere was like one huge party from start to finish and in many ways, it sort of felt like it was 1982 and it was a homecoming party for these Villa legends.
The fun didn’t stop there, a few weeks later, the legendary European cup-winning goal scorer, Peter Withe was at the Britannia for an evening in conversation. Peter delighted the audience with stories of his whole footballing career, particularly focussing on how he was signed to Villa and naturally the European cup win. Considering how drastically football has changed in the last 40 years, it was a privilege to hear these stories from a footballing icon of a time gone by.
Most of the stories were hilarious too and Villa legend, Andy Blair was a fantastic compere and interviewer for the evening. Blair was the perfect man to interview Withe on this evening given that both men were in that ’82 cup-winning squad.
The celebrations continue on Monday 26th September with an evening with the two iconic Villa goalkeepers from the ’82 squad, Jimmy Rimmer and Nigel Spink. I can promise you that you won’t want to miss out!
Article submitted by Adam Coxon.