40 years ago when Villa weren't quite as good

"Randy Lerner wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for me."

Nope. It wasn't Doug Ellis saying those words, although he was connected in some way to the gentleman I met in the hour leading up to the Fulham game.

And nope it wasn't David O'Leary.

It was 70 year-old John Russell whom I had the pleasure of shaking hands with outside the North Stand.

You'd probably never look twice at John if you saw him. Brown baseball cap besides, he has no distinguishing features as such.

But Villa owe him a debt alright. And not just the £50 he set aside in November 1968- yes, that's just over 40 years ago to be precise- a sum that would have been equal to a life savings in those days- to set in motion change at the club that would eventually see Villa rise off the floor.

Just to take you back to that era. Villa were struggling in the old Second Division. Tommy Cummings' side had won just two of their opening 19 league games. They'd drawn a further seven and lost 10. November '68 saw them beaten by Huddersfield, Preston and Portsmouth. Only 13,374 bothered to show for that Preston game.

But in those days football clubs were rarely the centre for protest meetings. Villa though did not bargain for the passion and vision of Russell.

Despite only meeting Russell fleetingly, he is clearly an interesting chap in more ways than one.

He tells me that he is the only living British member of the Baseball Hall of Fame in the USA, on account of him visiting all the stadia.

As a Villa supporter- apparently there has rarely been a Villa game from the year dot where at least one member of the Russell family has not been in attendance- he was apparently the only fan to attend an away game at Plymouth in 1960 and went to every game (all 12) of the victorious 1960/61 League Cup campaign.

"Football wasn't like it is now", he said. "You didn't used to watch the team away."

Anyway, his worth to Villa isn't just in the fact that he rarely, if ever, misses a game to this day.

It was more in him being one of two gentleman to organise a protest meeting of supporters at the Digbeth Civic Hall. This meeting is etched in Villa folklore.

It was supposed to be at the Birmingam Town Hall, says John, but they were charging £200 for the night.

So Digbeth it was...and there were real fears that it would become a damp squib.

But fear not. The Hall was packed to the rafters. The call for change had united everyone and passions ran high.

Villa fans voted unanimously for change and a certain Herbert Douglas Ellis stepped in.

Forget the fact that there was an almost immediate relagtion the following season, gates trebled, Tommy Docherty arrived as manager and the club never looked back.

Fast forward 38 years and Ellis sells to a certain American.

So perhaps Mr Lerner does owe Shropshire-based John Russell a polite "thankyou".

Anyway, it was a pleasure to meet John. We spoke for ten minutes when perhaps a few hours wouldn't have got close to telling some of his stories.

But at the Mail we aim to speak to him again soon, just to get a flavour of one of the most charismatic of supporters ever to wear the claret and blue.