Fenerbahçe S. K.

James
Jan 21
3 min read

Did you know? Fenerbahçe S. K. were founded in 1907, 33 years after Villa, as Phener-Bagtche Association Football Club with British origins after founder Ziya Songülen’s experiences of English football during his time studying in the country.

Did you know? Fenerbahçe were Villa’s second European 🇪🇺 opponents after Royal Antwerp in 1975 and their 112th opponents overall. Villa first faced Fener in the UEFA Cup in 1977-78 under Ron Saunders, winning the first leg at home 4-0

🟩 14 Sep 1977, Villa 4-0 Fenerbahçe, Villa Park

Villa destroy Fenerbahçe in the first round of the UEFA Cup, scoring four and hitting the woodwork on three occasions and leaving the opposition to resort to rugby tackles to stymie Villa's attacking prowess.

Scorer(s) | Andy Gray | 12’ | John Deehan | 34' | 66' | Brian Little | 80' |

Assist(s) | Alex Cropley | 12' | Dennis Mortimer | 34' | Brian Little | 66' | Andy Gray | 80' |

Line Up:

GK Jimmy Rimmer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

CB Ken McNaught | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |

RB John Gidman | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

FB John Robson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

M Leighton Phillips | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |

M Alex Cropley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | 🔥 |

M Dennis Mortimer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔥 |

W Frank Carrodus | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

F John Deehan | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ | ⚽ |

F Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔥 | ⚽ |

CF Andy Gray | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | ⚽ | 🔥 |

Full Match Report: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/3448

Before completing the job at Şükrü Saracoğlu a fortnight later with a 2-0 win:

🟩 28 Sep 1977, Villa 2-0 Fenerbahçe, Şükrü Saracoğlu

Villa beat Fenerbahçe 🇹🇷 in the mud of Istanbul to secure a 6-0 aggregate win in the UEFA Cup

Alex Cropley 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 makes his 🕒 50th appearance in a Villa shirt.

Brendan Ormsby 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, 17, makes his first appearance in a Villa squad.

Brian Little 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 contributes his 110th goal involvement in 196 appearances.

Line Up:

GK Jimmy Rimmer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

CB Ken McNaught | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |

RB John Gidman | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

FB Gordon Smith | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |

M Leighton Phillips | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |

M Gordon Cowans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔥 | 🔁 |

M Alex Cropley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |

M Dennis Mortimer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

W Frank Carrodus | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

F John Deehan | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ | 🔁 |

F Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |

Substitutes:

🔁 | M John Gregory | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔥 | for F John Deehan | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 50' |

🔁 | M Ivor Linton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | for M Gordon Cowans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 65' |

Full Match Report: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/3451

Did you know? Fenerbahçe were Villa’s first Turkish 🇹🇷 opponents and have since played both Beşiktaş and Trabzonspor in European competition since then.

Beating Beşiktaş 3-1 on aggregate in the European Cup securing an away draw in Turkey before losing on the road to Trabzonspor in one of Big Ron's last few games.

🟩 15 Sep 1982, Villa 3-1 Beşiktaş, Villa Park

Full Match Report: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/3708

Tony Barton's 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villa, reigning European Champions, begin their defence with a resounding victory over Beşiktaş 🇹🇷 at Villa Park however they are forced to play behind closed doors as punishment following crowd disturbances involving Aston Villa supporters at the previous season’s European Cup semi-final against Anderlecht in Brussels. The only spectators were the press and members of the club’s administrative staff totalling 167.