Sad losses

IT was a memorable week at Aston Villa alright, good and bad.

The death on Tuesday of Johnny Dixon was immensely sad. As I wrote in a tribute piece for the Mail on Thursday (the news of his passing did not come through until late Wednesday morning - from the quite brilliant Former Players Association) if you asked a section of Villa supporters over a certain age to name their favourite players of all-time then Dixon would make most, if not all, of those lists.

Skipper of the 1957 FA Cup winning side, Dixon was a true great - on and off the pitch. It was just a pity for him that his period at the club just happened to be one of struggle. All the more fortunate for Villa that he came along when he did.

Then on Thursday afternoon, again from Neil Rioch and Karl Cort's FPA offices, came news of the passing of Vic Crowe - a man who had given Villa such sterling service from the mid-1950s to the mid-70s. As a player he plugged the enormous hole left by the £30,000 departure of Danny Blanchflower to Tottenham and as a manager he helped rebuild a club
that had fallen on its knees, eventually putting in place the foundations from which Ron Saunders would build the side of all sides.

It was ironic that both would leave this mortal coil (with apologies to Hamlet) at a time when Martin O'Neill's side were preparing for a fourth round FA Cup tie at Doncaster.

Dixon's memory will always burn bright as the last Vilal skipper to lift the trophy. Crowe just happened to be the manager when Villa inflicted their one and only defeat on Doncaster in ten attempts, a Third Division game back in 1970.

Crowe also played the last three games of a remarkable five game fourth round contest against Rovers in 1955, which took in five grounds over 16 days.

If O'Neill's men needed any extra incentive to progress through to the last 16 today, it is for the memory of two fine men whose places are etched in claret and blue folklore.