A desperate single-goal victory against Derby County stayed the executioner’s hand and then, in that wonderful way that football changes our sense of reality, his side went on to lose only two of the next sixteen games, winning the vast majority of them. Now the pressures were coming from new directions. Could Taylor’s team maintain this form to put us in contention for our first league title since 1981? Would this outstanding run have captured the attention of the English FA, whose team manager, Bobby Robson, had finally had enough of the tabloid press and had announced his intended departure at the end of next summer’s World Cup finals?

None of these thoughts and options would have been on Graham’s mind a year earlier, as his squad set off for a refreshing break in Trinidad and Tobago. The team, looking good for a top-half spot at Christmas, had faded badly in the new year. At this time there was no European football on offer, following the Heysel tragedy and subsequent banning of English clubs from European competitions. Just as league hopes faded away, so did the chance of a cup run, after Bobby Gould’s ‘physical’ cup-holders* had nicked the game at Villa Park by a single goal and a good healthy wedge of what one of Anthony Burgess’s characters referred to as “the old ultra-violence”.

*Insert your own non-euphemism here.

Sad as all this was, it at least allowed the squad a space to take a break in sunnier climes. Trinidad it was, but rather than train on the beach and soak up some sunshine, Taylor thought it would be a good idea to gently increase the workload by playing one of the local sides, Signal Hill of Tobago. Villa, predictably enough, were too good for their opponents but one seventeen-year-old, name of Dwight Yorke, made a strong enough impression to keep Taylor’s interest.

Discussions were had, following which it was agreed that Yorke and his midfielder team-mate, Colvin Hutchinson, would come to Birmingham to train for a week when a decision on their futures would be made. To travel from the Caribbean to wintry Brum would have involved a culture change; hopefully it wasn’t as severe as the big switch in temperature. Yorke recalled how shocked he was at first experiencing that staple of the British winter, snowfall. At the end of the agreed period, Yorke was offered a contract which he was happy to sign, while his team-mate returned home.

Taylor’s reputation as one of the greatest managers the English club game has seen is well deserved. One of the key elements of his approach was his utter fearlessness. He would play anyone in any position at any age if he felt the time was right. So it was that, at the end of March 1990, Yorke was on the bench at Selhurst Park, facing Crystal Palace. Elsewhere in the city, anti-poll tax riots were taking place, the beginning of the end of Thatcher but not, alas, Thatcherism.

When Yorke was summoned from the bench the atmosphere was rather more sedate, though Dwight could do nothing to boost Villa’s fortunes as they went down to an early Garry Thompson goal. He was on the bench for the next game at home to Manchester City, where Villa relinquished an early lead to lose more vital points in the title race. Once again, he came on after an hour but was unable to change the course of events.

By the time he got his next chance it was a new season and he was seeking to impress a new manager. Graham Taylor had left for the England job; there was the usual speculation as to who the replacement would be but few were ready for the arrival of Dr Jo Venglos. It took until December before Yorke made his full debut, at Old Trafford. This was his first real run in the side, with a few starts and a few sub appearances building up his experience.

Villa’s season, after a promising start, faded badly so the home game against Derby County became a six-pointer. Yorke, on as a replacement for Nigel Callaghan, swept home a fine long pass from Kevin Gage past Peter Shilton before racing to the corner flag to perform his very own celebratory dance routine. Dwight soon returned to the bench but made another vital intervention in the May home game against Norwich City, scoring a vital winner to assure Villa’s safety.

Another season came round and with it yet another manager. Ron Atkinson finally made it to the boss’s chair at B6 at the third/fourth time of asking and after his first training session agreed with assistant Andy Gray that radical surgery was required. In a short period of time several players departed, hopefully avoiding a collision with the new men coming in the other direction. Yorkie was a ‘keeper’ however, even starting the season in the team. He soon reverted to the bench but Villa’s start was uneven to say the least, hardly surprising in the circumstances.

With Villa shipping a few defeats, Dwight came back in and gave Ron a real selection issue with a brilliant goal against Nottingham Forest. Picking the ball up in his own half, he beat a couple of players before chipping the keeper at the Holte End for the clinching goal. Goals like that, and the persistent fitness problems of new signing Dalian Atkinson, gave Dwight a run in the side and he responded. Suddenly Villa were on a run of five wins on the bounce, with Yorke regularly on target. From being a squad player to becoming the side’s chief source of goals made him more or less undroppable and he stayed in the side, reaching nine league goals by the new year.

Then Villa hit a large bump in the road. With fans enjoying that winning, scoring feeling, the goals completely dried up for six weeks. The only compensation came in the FA Cup. The third round saw us drawn at home against holders Spurs. The game was so poor that the most memorable feature of the match was the sight of lumps of grass being kicked up from the surface during the match. Was the pitch disintegrating before our eyes? Actually, it had seen better days and much remedial work was needed.

As a short-term measure, the pitch had been heavily sanded. Apparently, the TV bods weren’t too crazy about this, so suggested that spraying the sand green would make for a better televisual experience for the viewers. Football sold its soul for cash? Naaaah. In the replay Villa were so much better that they should have been well clear at half-time. The only goal was credited to Yorke, though it appeared to come off a home defender. Only Blue and White of North London would have called it unlucky.

Next up were second division Derby away. Goal-starved Villa fans exulted as their lads put four past Peter Shilton amidst an unforgettable atmosphere at the old Baseball Ground. The man of the hour was none other than Dwight Yorke. Despite having two penalties saved (one of which saw him score from the rebound), Dwight helped himself to a hat-trick as ten-man Villa squeezed home 4-3. Bert Millichip was still going great guns at the FA so we were drawn away again in the fifth round, this time at Swindon where an off-colour performance from the favourites saw them just nick the game, thanks partly to Yorke’s first-half finish.

Villa’s goal drought was still very much alive and well when they arrived at Anfield for the big quarter-final, from which it was thought the overall winners of the competition would emerge. That opinion was right, little good it did us. Villa played well and were well deserving of at least a replay but Bruce Grobbelaar was the man who turned the tie his side’s way with several important saves. It was noticeable that the withdrawal of Yorke, played in a wide position, after the hour mark allowed the ill-fated Stephen Froggatt to work the left-hand side to Villa’s benefit and made us look more of a threat as the game wore on.

The run over, Yorke spent the rest of the season divided between stints on the bench with a few starts thrown in. He grabbed himself a couple of goals to finish top scorer with sixteen overall, surely beyond any hopes he might have held the previous August. Dwight Yorke had arrived and must have been looking forward to the new season to push ahead. He did so as something else was hoping to make a strong impression, viz the new Premier League, a replacement for the old boring first division as football faced its Brave New Dawn. Dalian Atkinson was fit to play regularly and with veteran Cyrille Regis still more than useful up front, Yorke looked likely to be pushed out wide again or even sat on the bench.

Dalian got off to a good start with a goal in each of the first three games, all of which were draws. In fact, there was only one win in the first six, with not many goals to shout about. Frank McAvennie was drafted in on a trial basis to see if he could help, but made little impact. Rumours began to gain ground that Villa were interested in Liverpool striker Dean Saunders, though there were problems finalising the deal (viz. HD Ellis).

Big Ron put any budding rumour noises in the shade by announcing on the pitch before the game against Crystal Palace that the Saunders transfer WOULD be completed in the following week before Villa set about trying to win the game. Dwight Yorke, wearing the number nine shirt, would have enjoyed scoring Villa’s first goal in a 3-0 win but must have wondered whether it would be his last appearance in the position for some time.

Saunders duly arrived and it became unclear exactly where Dwight would fit in. Another arrival from Liverpool, Ray Houghton had settled in on the right side of midfield and Steve Froggatt was making a strong impression on the other flank, his accurate crosses in front of the hungry Saunders providing the new man with a series of chances to boost his early goal tally. Dwight was on the outside looking in, at least for a few weeks, until a thuggish tackle from a Wimbledon defender (there’s a bit of a theme developing here) caught Froggy on the ankle after the ball had gone and put the lad out for the rest of the season.

Off the bench came Yorke to put a marker down in that left-wing slot where he was to stay for a long time. The Froggatt conveyor belt was missed, but Villa continued to improve after the slow start and were well in the title-challenging positions as the new year approached, with Manchester United and Norwich City keen rivals.

Villa continued to play well and pick up wins. They took a big blow, however, when Dalian Atkinson, apparently running his personal Goal of the Month competition, followed up a couple of sensational strikes at Hillsborough with the news that he had picked up a minor injury and would need to miss a few games. In the end, the injury didn’t clear up and it was belatedly decided that a minor operation would be needed and that Atkinson would return in the Spring. With Dalian right at the top of his game, this was a big blow.

Ron responded by putting Yorke back up front with Saunders. Dwight scored his first goal for months in a 5-1 mauling of Middlesbrough, but then had Villa Park drooling with his next few strikes. At home to Ipswich, Villa put together a length-of-the-pitch move which ended with Steve Staunton’s cross leaving Dwight with a tap-in. This brought the house down but things were very much tenser when Wimbledon visited. The Party Poopers liked nothing more than springing shock results, as Villa fans well knew from hard experience.

Villa held firm and dominated until Big Cyrille slipped a ball through and Yorke produced a clever finish which proved the winner, to the relief of the home crowd. There was more to come, with Villa putting together one of the best team moves ever against Sheffield Wednesday, nine players involved before a Holte End tap-in for Dwight. Villa were now top and looking like a strong bet for the title.

The win was followed by a somewhat unlucky one-goal defeat at Norwich. At this point a crucial decision had to be made.; Dalian had recovered and was fit to play again. Should the manager stick with the Saunders-Yorke combo, or would he re-introduce the man who he had signed eighteen months earlier? Dalian got the nod for the last seven games of the season, without troubling the goal-nets once.

One can only imagine Yorke’s thoughts at this turn of events. Further bad news arrived that summer in the shape of prolific Portsmouth striker Guy Whittingham from Portsmouth, to give Ron even more options up front. Where was Dwight supposed to fit in? Sadly, the question didn’t require an answer as Yorke suffered an injury bad enough to keep him out for the season, including missing Villa’s League Cup win at Wembley.

When he returned, it was for a truly memorable occasion, the last game where standing would be allowed on the Holte. Liverpool were the visitors and tried to spoil the party with a Robbie Fowler goal. On came Dwight to turn things around with a couple of second-half finishes that no-one who was there will forget.

There were rumours of transfer interest from Manchester City (in the days before they became a petro-state plaything) but Ron didn’t appear to want to release Yorke. Just to confuse the picture even more, TV Gladiators star John Fashanu completed a move to Villa Park to give the boss more striker options than he had ever had in his time at Villa. At least Yorke was free from his injury troubles of the previous season and he settled back into the wide role to produce some decent performances with the odd goal thrown in, an early winner at Coventry amongst them.

If Dwight wasn’t happy, he soon had company – the bulk of the Villa fanbase. A promising start to the season, including a memorable victory against Internazionale, soon evaporated into a run of eight defeats, interrupted only by a disappointing home draw against a doomed Norwich side. Ellis, defending his manager, declared Big Ron one of the three top managers in football, then duly sacked him a few days later after a desperately unlucky defeat at Wimbledon.

The new manager was former terrace idol Brian Little, who had earned his chance with a strong managerial record at Darlington and Leicester, with serial promotions the order of the day. At least with Little in charge, Yorke and others would be given a new start, as some of Atkinson’s ageing squad began to be pushed out. The new boss’s first transfer move involved bringing in Ian Taylor from Sheffield Wednesday, with Guy Whittingham going the other way as part of the deal. This gave Dwight more scope, but he still kept his wide role in the side.

Little had no reason to change his approach as his side went on a run good enough to put them in serious contention for a European slot, something no-one would have predicted back in November. All illusions were then shattered by a terrible run of results where a single goal was scored in eight games and even that was a lucky last-minute own-goal at relegation-bound Ipswich. The final straw was a dismal 4-0 home defeat to Arsenal which threatened to drag Villa right back into the mire.