See main article: History of Aston Villa F.C. (1961–present).
| Club: | Aston Villa |
| Season: | 1979–80 |
| Chairman: | (1) Harry Kartz (2) Ron Bendall |
| Stadium: | Villa Park |
| League: | First Division |
| League Result: | 7th |
| Cup1: | FA Cup |
| Cup1 Result: | Sixth round |
| Cup2: | League Cup |
| Cup2 Result: | Third round |
| League Topscorer: | Gary Shaw (9) |
| Season Topscorer: | Gary Shaw (12) |
| Highest Attendance: | 41,660 vs Liverpool (8 December 1979) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 15,319 vs Middlesbrough (19 March 1980) |
| Prevseason: | 1978–79 |
| Nextseason: | 1980–81 |
The 1979–80 season was Aston Villa's 80th in the Football League and their fifth consecutive season in the top division.
There were debut appearances for Nigel Spink (361), Des Bremner (174), Tony Morley (137), David Geddis (47), Eamonn Deacy (33), Pat Heard (24), Terry Donovan (24), Terry Bullivant (12), Mike Pejic (10), Noel Blake (4) and Robert Hopkins (3).[1]
8 September 1979: The national transfer record fee is broken for the second time in four days when Wolverhampton Wanderers pay almost £1,500,000 for Aston Villa and Scotland striker Andy Gray.[2]
October 1979: John Gidman is sold to Everton for £650,000 (2013: £) in a deal which sees midfielder Pat Heard move the other way at a valuation of £150,000.[3] Heard would make nine appearances in his first season at Villa Park.[4]
8 March 1980: Second Division West Ham United beat Aston Villa 1–0 in the FA Cup sixth round.[5]
28 April 1980: Arsenal and Liverpool require another replay after drawing 1–1 again in their FA Cup semi-final second replay at Villa Park.[5]
3 May 1980: Liverpool clinch the league title in their penultimate league game of the season by beating Aston Villa 4–1 at Anfield.[6]
As of end of the season.[7] [8]
| scope=col width=103 | Player | Transferred From | scope=col width=55 | Fee | scope=col width=70 | Date | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LW | Tony Morley | Burnley | £220,000 | [9] | ||||
| CF | Terry Donovan | Grimsby Town | £90,000 | |||||
| CM | Des Bremner | Hibernian | £275,000 | |||||
| LB | Mike Pejic | Everton | £225,000 | |||||
| CF | David Geddis | Ipswich Town | £300,000 | |||||
| LB | Pat Heard | Everton | £150,000 | |||||
| CM | Terry Bullivant | Fulham | £220,000 |
| scope=col width=103 | Player | Transferred To | scope=col width=55 | Fee | scope=col width=70 | Date | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CM | John Gregory | Brighton & Hove Albion | £300,000 | |||||
| CM | Tommy Craig | Swansea City | £150,000 | |||||
| CB | Dave Evans | Halifax Town | £22,000 | |||||
| CF | John Deehan | West Bromwich Albion | £500,000 | |||||
| CF | Andy Gray | Wolverhampton Wanderers | £1,469,000 | |||||
| RB | John Gidman | Everton | £650,000 | |||||
| LW | Frank Carrodus | Wrexham | £70,000 |
See main article: 1979–80 Football League Cup.
See main article: 1979–80 FA Cup.
As of end of season[10] |}
As of end of season.[10]
| width=10 | width=10 | width=200 | Player | width=80 | First Division | width=80 | FA Cup | width=80 | League Cup | width=80 | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FW | Gary Shaw | 9 | 1 | 2 | 12 | |||||||
| 2 | DF | Allan Evans | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | |||||||
| 3 | MF | Gordon Cowans | 6 | 1 | 0 | 7 | |||||||
| 4 | FW | Brian Little | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6 | |||||||
| MF | Dennis Mortimer | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||||||
| 6 | FW | Terry Donovan | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 | |||||||
| 7 | MF | Des Bremner | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |||||||
| FW | David Geddis | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||||||||
| MF | Tony Morley | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||||||||
| 10 | DF | Colin Gibson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||||||
| 11 | FW | Robert Hopkins | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||||||
| DF | Ken McNaught | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
| DF | Kenny Swain | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Own Goals | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |||||||||
| TOTALS | 54 | 6 | 3 | 63 | |||||||||
As of end of season.[10]
| width=10 | width=10 | width=200 | Player | width=80 | First Division | width=80 | FA Cup | width=80 | League Cup | width=80 | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GK | Jimmy Rimmer | 12 | 2 | 2 | 16 | |||||||
| TOTALS | 12 | 2 | 2 | 16 | |||||||||
As of end of season.[10]
| Games played | 51 (42 First Division, 5 FA Cup, 4 Football League Cup) | |
| Games won | 19 (16 First Division, 2 FA Cup, 1 Football League Cup) | |
| Games drawn | 17 (14 First Division, 2 FA Cup, 1 Football League Cup) | |
| Games lost | 15 (12 First Division, 1 FA Cup, 2 Football League Cup) | |
| Goals scored | 62 (51 First Division, 8 FA Cup, 3 Football League Cup) | |
| Goals conceded | 61 (50 First Division, 5 FA Cup, 6 Football League Cup) | |
| Goal difference | +1 (+1 First Division, +3 FA Cup, −3 Football League Cup) | |
| Clean sheets | 16 (12 First Division, 2 FA Cup, 2 Football League Cup) | |
| Best result(s) | W 3–0 (H) v Southampton – First Division – 6 October 1979 | |
| W 3–0 (H) v Coventry City – First Division – 19 December 1979 | ||
| W 4–1 (H) v Cambridge United – FA Cup – 30 January 1980 | ||
| Worst result(s) | L 3–0 (H) v Manchester United – First Division – 8 September 1979 | |
| L 4–1 (A) v Everton – Football League Cup – 9 October 1979 | ||
| L 4–1 (A) v Liverpool – First Division – 3 May 1980 | ||
| Most appearances | Gordon Cowans with 52 appearances | |
| Top scorer(s) | Gary Shaw (12 goals) |