Tony Morley On Aston Villa, European Cup Success And England | OneFootball

You started your career at Preston North End. What are your memories of coming through the system there?

“Nothing but good memories, mate. It was fantastic. I was very, very fortunate to go to Preston. When I left school, I was only actually 4 foot 10, and for the first six months, I didn’t even play. I wasn’t physically strong enough. I couldn’t even take a corner—how daft is that? I couldn’t even get the ball in from a corner. I was that weak. But obviously, they sensed something in me.

“What they actually did was move me from home into their hostel so they could look after me with better nutrition and stuff like that. Not that I didn’t have good nutrition at home, but obviously, they had better facilities, put it that way.

“I’ve got nothing but admiration for them. They gave me a chance. And from those first six months, I just built myself up and got used to it. I was like any young kid who got into the B side. I was thinking, ‘Oh, this is going to be too hard for me. They’re too good, too strong.’ Then you get used to that. Then you step up into the A team, and you think exactly the same again: ‘This is going to be too hard.’ Then you step up into the reserves.

“It’s all a learning curve. But, you know, from not playing for six months when I got there, by the time I was 20, I’d actually played for England Youth and won the Mini World Cup for England. And I think I’m one of only three players from the Third Division to have played for England Under-23s. I don’t know the other two, but I think one might have been Terry Venables.

“So really, I was very, very fortunate to go to a club that gave me time to develop. I played with some great players and great lads. But when I look back, I think, ‘Well, you know, if a lad who couldn’t even take a corner…’ Because my birthday falls in August, when I left school in July, I was actually only 14 when I went to Preston.

“It was fantastic. It was like a homely club, really. I’d recommend anyone to go to clubs like that. They gave me time to develop. You probably wouldn’t get that in this day and age now. And I think it’s the right way to do it as well.

“Instead of going through maybe 10 different levels, like the academies now with Under-8s and Under-9s, back then, if you were good enough when you left school, you went into an apprenticeship, then into the B side, the A side, reserves, and first team.

“It was a ladder where you could see the end of it. But no, really, very, very fortunate. They looked after me. They moved me into the hostel and took good care of me. I’ll be forever grateful to Preston for giving me a chance, really.”

“It’s the first time I came across politics in football, to be honest with you, mate. I’d just turned Arsenal down. I didn’t want to go there. I went down to London and had a good talk. It’s a fantastic football club. But I really wanted to stay in the north.

“At the time, I was brought up by my grandparents, and I didn’t really want to leave them. They would’ve been struggling a bit without me, so I made the choice to stay in Lancashire. But Arsenal is a fantastic club. You don’t realise that until you go down and speak to the people who run the club and have a look around. Fantastic.

“But I didn’t want to go down. It’s not like it is now. Now you can live just outside the city and get in with no problem. Back then, I’d have been moving to North London into digs, and I didn’t fancy it.

“I came back, and a few clubs were sniffing around—Manchester City, Everton, and Burnley came in. But what happened, and I can never forgive Bob Lord for this… Bob Lord would do anything for Burnley Football Club, that’s the best thing I’ll say. He loved Burnley Football Club, but he didn’t give a toss about anybody else.

“I went there as a right-sided midfield player. When I played for England Under-23 and England Youth, I was a right-sided midfield player. With no disrespect, there weren’t many better than me at my age. You’re not going to play for England Under-23 from the Third Division unless you’ve got something.

“But what I realised was that Burnley had just sold Leighton James—probably the best left-sided player in the country at the time—to Leeds. The fans were giving Bob Lord a lot of stick, and looking back now, I see what happened.

“He went and bought me, probably thinking it would keep the fans quiet. Leighton James went for £200,000 or £300,000, and Burnley bought me for £100,000. Bob Lord probably thought, “That’ll keep the fans quiet. Sold James for £300,000, bought this lad for £100,000, made £200,000.”

“As a businessman, it was a fantastic bit of business. But for me, I was now playing in the First Division—or the Premier League, as it’s called now—from the Third Division. I’d always played on the right-hand side of midfield, but now I was playing as a left winger to replace Leighton James.

“To be fair, it didn’t go well at first. I struggled. But I think the Burnley fans knew what had happened. Bob Lord had just used me as a piece of meat, that’s the best way I can describe it.

“At 19 or 20, you don’t see that side of football. You don’t see the politics. I could never forgive Bob Lord for that. It really stifled my career for about three or four years during a vital time, ages 21 to 24.

“I’d already played for England Youth and England Under-23s, so the next step was the senior team. Instead, I was in a struggling side, playing in a position I’d never played before. It was a culture shock.

“I found it hard—not football itself but adjusting to the situation. Maybe I held a bit of a grudge against him. I shouldn’t have; I should’ve just gotten on with it. But I got to a stage where I thought, ‘This is the situation I’m in now. I can’t do anything about it.’

“I stayed behind in the afternoons and practiced with my left foot. I could already use two feet, but I practiced and practiced. I had to get out of this situation.

“In the end, it worked out well for me, but I could never really forgive Bob Lord for that. It stunted my career at a vital time.”

As you say, things turned around for you, and you earned the move to Aston Villa, where you worked under Ron Saunders, going on to win the league title under him. What are your memories of working with Ron, in particular, at Villa during that league title-winning campaign?

“Just what a great bunch of lads. A really, really good bunch of lads. It’s the best dressing room I’ve ever been in; you know. I think you probably know if you ever speak to any sportspeople playing team games, they’ll always say to you, “If you have a good dressing room, you’ve got a chance on the football pitch.”

“When I went to Villa, I was expecting it to be a bit arrogant, you know, like some places, but no, they were a great, great bunch of lads. I’d already played against Villa a few times. I remember playing for Preston in the Third Division when Villa were also in the Third Division. I think I was 18; it was my first home game of the season, and there were 28,000 at Villa Park. I thought, “Wow, what a massive club this is.” Then at the end of the season, they had 48,000 against Bournemouth.

“So, I always looked at them and thought, ‘What a big club.’ Even in the Third Division, they were massive. When I got the chance to join them, you don’t turn them down. It’s a fantastic football club; you don’t realise just how big it is.

“They were a great bunch of lads, and I just fitted in. The only problem I had in my first year was a bad injury. I had an injury at Burnley, and I wasn’t going to tell Villa about it because I wanted to get away from Burnley. After about five or six games, it started playing up again—roughness behind my kneecap, and I couldn’t really turn.

“Saunders said to me, ‘We’ll sort that out at the end of the season, but you need to learn how we play.’ I was in and out of the side and just had to learn the Saunders way—getting back behind the ball, which was the most important thing. But no, I had a fantastic time.

“It just shows you about perseverance, really. Four years before I went to Burnley, I was rejected because Bob Lord just didn’t fancy me. He played me on the left wing, and I wasn’t left-footed. But I had to learn, and I got back on track.

“Then at Villa, we won the European Cup, and I was actually voted the best left-sided player in the European Cup. So, it just shows you how hard work can pay off sometimes. I had a fantastic time—great players, a great bunch of lads, great supporters, and a great club.

“Unfortunately, though, as in much of my career, I came across a chairman who ended up being a problem. Bob Lord loved Burnley Football Club, and then there was Doug Ellis, who just loved Doug Ellis, if you know what I mean. He came in and destroyed what was a fantastic setup.

“At Villa, we had a chance to build a legacy—not just for the players at the time but for the young lads coming through, like Brian McClair, who couldn’t even get into the reserves and had to go back to Scotland. We had Tony Dorigo and Mark Walters, great young lads in the youth side. Man-for-man, we were as good as Everton, who won lots in the mid-80s. But we had a better youth setup, winning the FA Youth Cup.

“When Doug Ellis came back, I was 27, and I knew I wasn’t going to play regularly under him. He wanted his own people. But for the time I was there, I couldn’t have wished for anything better.”

In terms of winning the 1981 league title with Villa, it was an incredible achievement beating Bobby Robson’s Ipswich team to the title. Then, to go and win the European Cup in 1982 was extraordinary. Everyone talks about Peter Withe’s goal against Bayern, but you set it up for him. How did it feel to play such a big role in winning the European Cup?

“What people forget is that I was actually Villa’s leading goalscorer in the European Cup that season. People don’t talk about that, and I always joke with Peter Withe, “You take all the credit,” which is fair enough.

“At the end of the day, when someone scores the winning goal in a major competition, they’re always remembered. But the most important moment in that European Cup campaign, in my opinion, was when Jimmy Rimmer saved a penalty in Berlin. If he hadn’t saved that penalty, we wouldn’t have been in the position for me to score the goal that took us through to the next stage.

“People forget things like that. It’s strange how it works out. For me, playing in Europe was easier than playing in the First Division because, in Europe, teams used man-for-man marking. I loved that. It was a personal challenge for me—playing against some of the best in Germany, Belgium, or wherever.

“But in the First Division, teams would just cut off your service, so you could be stuck out on the wing, not getting the ball. In Europe, you had to create your own space, and I thrived on that. It was fantastic.

“I don’t think we realised how important winning the European Cup was until maybe a couple of years later.”

“Yeah, I think I scored in the quarters and the semis too. I only went to the Netherlands because George Knobel, who was a well-known Dutch coach who managed me while I was out in Hong Kong, convinced me. At first, I wasn’t keen, but he said, ‘Come on, it’ll suit you.’

“I went and had a great year. I got voted one of the best foreign players in the league. People say it wasn’t a strong league, but PSV were European champions that year, and Ajax were Cup Winners’ Cup winners. So it wasn’t bad at all.

“Getting to the Dutch Cup final was fantastic. I think we lost 2-1. I remember playing against Dennis Bergkamp in one game—he came straight from college to play. Ajax had some great players then.”

Finally, Tony, you represented England on six occasions. How do you reflect on your England career?

“It was a disaster. I should have gone to the 1982 World Cup. I was voted the best left-sided player in Europe, but I didn’t get selected. That World Cup was made for me—I’d played against the best defenders in Europe, and I knew I could have done well.

“It broke my heart, to be honest. After that, I lost some love for football. I decided I wanted to travel the world and enjoy what was left of my career, which I did.

“One manager told me, ‘Just kick it long, and let the big lads up front chase it.’ I said, ‘If I do that, I’m giving the ball away and can’t play to my strengths.’ He said, ‘If you don’t, you don’t play.’ That’s when I realised football was changing into something I didn’t enjoy.

“To me, football is about entertaining people—not just smashing it upfield.”