Introduction

Villa Park was opened in 1897 to replace the club's former ground at Perry Barr. It was unrecognisable from the modem stadium, being of an oval design and with a cycling track running the perimeter of the pitch. The ground held around 40,000 spectators, most of whom would stand in the open. The only seats were to be found in the upper sections of the Trinity Road and Witton Lane stands, and the area we now call the Holte was at that Lime known as the Church End.

Gradually the ground began to take the shape it enjoys today. The cycle track was removed in 1914 and the current Trinity Road stand built eight years later. In February 1940 work was completed on building up the banking on what was now called the Holte End, which took its name from the Holte family who owned Aston Hall and the land on which the ground now stands. The end was completely open, and was only partially covered in 1962 at a cost of £40,000.

Villa Park, like all English grounds, was then predominantly terraced, and the first time seats were installed in a standing area was in 1966, when the Witton Lane stand became all-seated and temporary seats were put on the Witton bank in time for the World Cup matches which Villa Park hosted that year. If the board had a policy of making the ground all-seater, then it has taken many years to complete.

The next area of terrace lost at Villa Park was the Trinity Road enclosure, which was seated in 1971. In 1977 came the then-biggest redevelopment in the ground's history, when the old, uncovered, unlovely, but still memorable Witton End was replaced by the North Stand.

The Holte had survived these changes untouched, but safety was now becoming the key issue in football ground thinking. The Ibrox disaster led to the Safety of Sports Grounds act of 1975, which reduced the capacity of the Holte. As a result of the act new crush barriers were installed and the whole of the Holte re-terraced during the 1978-79 season, whilst perimeter fences had been installed the previous year. When this work was finished the Holte was capable of holding 22,600, the largest terrace capacity in England but much lower previously years.

A dividing fence was also installed, ostensibly to separate visiting supporters when the ground was used as a neutral venue. However, this measure more than any other ruined the atmosphere of the Holte.

April 6th 1989 was a highly significant day in Villa Park's history, hosting an FA Cup semi-final between Everton and Norwich. here were no problems here, but as Everton were making sure of a place at Wembley news came through that the other semi-final had been abandoned because of the Hillsborough disaster. The immediate effect of this was the welcome, overdue dismantling of the perimeter fencing and in the following season the Holte's capacity was reduced to 19,900 with the fence running the width of the end to be locked throughout the match. Many people felt this to be an unnecessarily Draconian measure - safety must always be paramount, but its significant that no other club in the country took such measures.

The Taylor Report meant that Villa Park would have to be all-seater by the 1994-95 season. Immediately the club began taking steps to comply. The Witton End terracing was converted to seats in the summer of 1990 and the Holte End roof extended to cover the whole of the terrace. Unfortunately this was not done in a manner befitting such a great end. Two further supporting pillars obscured the view for many people and the horrible brown and red cladding used to cover the new development gave the appearance of a giant DIY warehouse. That's one part of the Holte end that I won't miss.

When first planning this tribute we were going to do a complete history of the Holte, charting every aspect of its development and maybe throwing in a few stories about how people felt about it. Then we made the mistake of asking for contributions, and were inundated. It was clear that the true story of the Holte was more than its building and how many it could hold. The Holte End is a large part of the lives of many people, and they wanted to tell the world how they felt about it.

I certainly know how I feel. The Holte has been to me an adventure playground, a meeting place, the scene of celebrations and wakes. I've walked out of it hugging and dancing with perfect strangers and having blazing rows with close friends. I've felt like jumping off the roof and like screaming my sheer pleasure to the world. There are no drugs in existence that can cause such dramatic changes of mood as standing on the Holte for a couple of hours. But that's probably down to the fact that it plays host to the most unpredictable club in football. Want to see the European champions? No problem. Want to see a team relegated? Just hang around for a few years and we'll oblige. And all from the comfort of a terrace that can he a seedling, dancing, colourful mass of humanity one week and a ghost town the next.

I don't know much about what the Holte was like for the first thirty years of its existence (for the sake of argument I'll say that the Holte first saw the light of day with the building of the new terrace in 1940). 1 know that there must have been upwards of thirty thousand standing on its steps for the big games just after the war, and some sight that must have been. My story begins in the early seventies, when the Holte helped get the Villa back were we belonged. Everyone knows of the gates we got then, 48,1 10 against Boumemouth, 54,000 for a friendly against Santos, 62,500 against Manchester United (beating them in the league cup's nothing new)

When Villa got back to the first division the Holte stepped up a gear. Balloons, volume, the lot. It really was the business. Many's the time I've heard stories of people living miles from the ground hearing the crowd on the big nights. The Holte was the place to be.

Even hooliganism largely passed us by. Once or twice a season there n-fight be a scuffle, but it rarely lasted long and you always knew where it was going to break out. Only a couple of games in twenty years was there a need for anyone to feel afraid at Villa Park.

The Holte was always at its best on the big occasion, and there have been plenty of them. Boumemouth and Manchester United in the third division; Villa were on their way back and making up for lost time.

Liverpool in 1976, the best team in Europe outplayed by Saunders' Supermen. Barcelona in 1978, Cruyff and Neeskens silenced by the introduction of the young Allan Evans.

The whole of the 1980-81 season and European nights the following season, reward at last for our faith.

The next few years we can skip, particularly the appalling afternoon in 1986 when barely 8,000 thought watching Graham Turner's team an alternative to staying at home.

The second division game against Bradford, when again we realised it was up to us to get the team out of the mire that years of mismanagement had landed us in.

1990 and Inter, Euro-artistry routed by English tenacity and Plattesque perfection.

And the Holte's last great occasion, the semi -final against Tranmere. 30,000 voices could justifiably claim an assist in Dalian's equaliser.

Read on, and remember........

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