Aston Villa news from BirminghamLive as Ron Atkinson sits down with Claret & Blue to discuss the win over Manchester United in the 1994 League Cup final
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Ron Atkinson sat down with Mat Kendrick on Claret & Blue
Ron Atkinson sat down with Mat Kendrick on Claret & Blue(Image: Photo by Bob Thomas Sports Photography via Getty Images)
"You think, where's all that time gone by?" Ron Atkinson reflects, beginning to recall his finest day as Aston Villa manager: the 3-1 victory over Manchester United in the 1994 League Cup final.
It's now 31 years to the day since Villa claimed their fourth League Cup trophy at the original Wembley Stadium. Dalian Atkinson and Dean Saunders' goals secured Big Ron the piece of silverware that defines his memorable reign at the club.
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"I talk about that game a lot because I play a lot of golf with Steve Staunton, who tells a few stories about it," Atkinson says. "He only just made the match because he’d been injured for about four or five weeks before. He keeps telling everyone how I more or less forced him to play in the final!"
Staunton’s absence would have been a major blow for Villa at the time. He had undergone a second hernia operation in the weeks leading up to the final and was also nursing a thigh strain, which was kept a secret right up until match day. Despite the late call on the left-back, Atkinson ensured Villa's preparations were meticulous.
"When I was a young kid at Villa, they reached the final against United and trained all week at Cadbury because they had a terrific hockey pitch with great grass," Atkinson reveals. "Wembley at the time was the epitome of all football pitches.
"So, we trained all week at Cadbury just to give the lads a different feel, as they had been playing on muddy pitches. It was a chance to get them up to speed on that kind of surface."
He continues: "I think, in hindsight, after the semi-final, we went off the boil a little bit. One or two of us had taken our eye off the league, knowing we weren’t going to win it that year. There was a bit of relaxation going on, and we went into that match definitely as underdogs—big underdogs.
"People didn’t give us much of a chance. Doug [Ellis] used to get a bit upset about me watching football matches. ‘Would you rather me be playing golf or something?’
"On the Tuesday before the final, I saw Arsenal play United. Arsenal played a system with three up front, which caused United problems. I thought there was a lot of mileage in that.
"I went away and decided we’d play in a similar way. We needed more power in midfield. Unfortunately, very good players like Garry Parker and Ray Houghton had gone off the boil slightly, and I thought we’d get outmuscled in midfield. So, I took a chance and played a young centre-forward in midfield, Graham Fenton.
"He had been on loan a couple of times, did well at Leicester and Albion, and was strong physically. We needed a physical presence—Fenton, Kevin Richardson, and Andy Townsend. I played the three up front, with Dalian Atkinson operating more as a right winger.
"I said to Dean Saunders before the match, ‘You can run about—run, run, run. When you’re finished running, run again. When you’ve finished that, I’ll replace you—with who, I don’t know!’ I knew Deano would relish the task on his own. That was the build-up to the game."
It had been 12 long years since Villa’s European Cup triumph in 1982. Despite the weight of recent underachievement, Atkinson knew exactly how to ease the pressure on his players.
"I loved it," the Villa hero admits, breaking into a comical laugh. "It was great pressure, that. Even our build-up was different from how teams do it now.
"Three years earlier, when I was at Sheffield Wednesday, we beat United 1-0 in the same final. I took the boys into London a couple of nights before the match with their wives and partners. I took them to an Italian restaurant I knew and let them relax a little.
"On the Saturday, I took them into the countryside, where we trained. I also brought in Stan Boardman, just like I did at Wednesday. He joined us on the coach, entertained the lads, and got them in good spirits on the way there. It worked twice!"
After Atkinson put Villa ahead, Saunders bagged twice, either side of Mark Hughes reducing United's deficit in the 83rd minute.
"We worked a lot on set plays, and actually, two of them were mishit—but we still scored from both," Atkinson recalls. "Deano’s goal from the free-kick didn’t quite go as planned, but it still gave us a chance.
"United had been to Wembley a few times, so it was just another game to them. As Villa hadn’t been there for a while, I always thought that once teams got into the habit of playing in Wembley finals, they’d return a few times. Sheffield Wednesday did it, and so did Villa. I think players get the feel for being in a cup final. They are great occasions.
"A lot of the Villa fans now weren’t around back then, but the number of people I bump into who claim they were at the game—it’s a wonder there weren’t 200,000 in the stadium!"
In our exclusive Claret & Blue sit-down, Atkinson made no bones about the scale of the achievement he masterminded against his former club.
"It’s as high as any [achievement] because we were playing a United side who eventually went on to win the league and the FA Cup," Atkinson admits. "Fergie always said it was his most physical side ever. They had Brucey and Pallister, Keane and Ince, and Hughes too.
"In fact, Steve Stride said he enjoyed that occasion even more than when Villa won the European Cup. I thought that was great because he wasn’t just an employee of the club—he was a big fan too. That’s how highly he thought of it.
"Noel Cantwell, an old United captain from years ago, once told me, ‘Enjoy the big moments. You should.’ And we did."
Watch our big podcast with Big Ron below