Some years ago, a fellow musician friend of mine called Fred, sent me an audio recording made by a family member, to which I’ve finally managed to add some 'visuals'. Fred’s great-auntie Nancy was born in 1901 in Rowley Village in the heart of the Black Country. She became a Villa fan as a young girl and first visited Villa Park in the early 1920s, remaining an ardent supporter all of her life. I took a personal interest in Nancy’s story when I realised that she was watching The Villa at the time my grandfather, Joe Beresford, was playing for the club, along with other Villa greats like Pongo Waring, Billy Walker and Eric Houghton.
On the night of 26th May 1982, inspired by the performance of a certain substitute goalkeeper, Nancy wrote and recorded herself reciting a poem. She called it “The Substitute”.
I'm sure we can forgive Nancy for getting Nigel's name slightly wrong (I imagine she wasn’t the first or last to do so), but I do think it’s a wonderful piece of social/cultural history that she has documented - and on the actual night of the event! And with the accent and dialect of a proper old-school Black Country lass! I hope I’ve done her wonderful poem justice with the visuals that I’ve added.
As you can probably guess from my own family ties with the club, I’m a born and bred Villa fan, and the footage of our success that night never fails to move me. Obviously, Peter Withe’s goal (and the build-up to it: “Williams, prepared to adventure down the left…”) is an emotional moment for any Villa fan, but I’ve always wondered what was going through Nigel's head when he famously took over from Jimmy Rimmer and trotted towards the goal…??
Anyway, thank you Nancy. And thank you Nigel - one of the club’s greatest servants who not only put in one of the greatest ever performances by a Villa player, but did it on the greatest night in our old club’s history.
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