Villa Celebration
Former Birmingham Post & Mail sports journalist Rob Bishop, who has been associated with Aston Villa FC for almost half a century, has marked the club’s milestone anniversary with an impressive new publication – Aston Villa 150 Years Squads & Souvenirs.
Compiled jointly with avid Villa collector Jon Farrelly, the 300-page hardback book is a limited edition of just 1874 copies (all of which have now been sold) – a number which marks the year of the club’s foundation. Published by Aldridge-based Curtis Sport, it features photos of Villa teams and squads, from the first one to Unai Emery’s current Premier League high-flyers, and also includes many previously never-before published images and a brief resume of every decade of the club’s history.
Fifty per cent of the profits are being donated to the Villa Former Players Club benevolent fund.
As a sports journalist covering the Midlands soccer scene since the late 1980s, Rob was no stranger to the Villa when he joined the Club’s media team in 2001, becoming editor of the “Villa News & Record,” the official match-day programme. He started covering the Villa just before the club’s relegation to the old Second Division in 1987 but subsequently enjoyed better times, such as promotion back to the top flight, numerous ventures into Europe and four Wembley finals.
Not that Squads & Souvenirs is Rob’s first foray into the world of publishing. Together with club statistician Frank Holt, a highly respected historian who is a member of the Association of Football Statisticians, Rob penned “The Complete Record” (published by Derby Books) in 2020. A 600-page encyclopedic guide containing full match stats, player and manager profiles and a year-on-year look at the Villa, it updated previous best-selling editions from 1988 and 1992.
Rob was also a member of the AV150 Honorary Board, which planned the dedicated anniversary match against West Ham on 10 January.
Curtis Sport, which also produces match-day programmes for more than 60 clubs, was founded in 2009 by Stuart Curtis, who for 21 years previously had been commercial manager at West Bromwich Albion.
