Aston Villa are one of the biggest sides in England but are currently in the Championship which is mainly down to poor ownership and management.

Villa won 7 Division One titles which is one of the highest amounts in England and have also won 7 FA Cups and 5 League Cups.

Villa are also one of the few English sides to win the European Cup defeating Bayern Munich 1-0 in the 1982 final.

But the Intertoto Cup is they only thing they've won this century.

Villa in the early noughties were a good Premier League side finishing top half comfortably but recently they have struggled under chairman Randy Lerner.

Last season under Remi Garde they were relegated from the Premier League for the first time ever but have splashed the cash this year in the hope they make an instant return.

Here are FOUR facts you probably didn't know about Aston Villa.....

 

Formation

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Aston Villa were formed in 1874 by 4 members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel Cricket Team meeting under a gas-light in Heathfield Road.

They were simply looking for something to keep them occupied during the winter and they played their first game against a rugby team and had to agree to play the first half under rugby rules!

Villa won their first game and never looked back, rising to prominence quickly winning the FA Cup in 1887, just 13 years after their formation.

Record breakers

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Until relegation last year, Aston Villa were in an elite group of teams that had never been relegated from the First Division.

But despite losing this they hold other records such as most goals scored in a league season when they netted 128 goals in the 1930/31 season.

Villa legend Archie Hunter is also the only player to score in every round of the FA Cup when Villa won it in 1887.

Villa have also spent 100 seasons in the top-flight and only Everton have spent more.

International pedigree

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Aston Villa have supplied the England national team with more players than any other team except Tottenham who overtook Villa in 2015.

Gareth Southgate is Villa's most capped player out of the 72 supplied, with 43 caps.

Some of the most recent notable players that have represented England are Fabian Delph, Emile Heskey and Gareth Barry.

With young talents like Jack Grealish who changing his allegiance to England, there may be more to come.

History makers

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The 1897 season was better times for Villa fans as they became only the second side to achieve the league and cup double, after Preston had achieved it before them.

Aston Villa won Division One, comfortably finishing ahead of Sheffield United and Derby.

Then in the FA Cup final in front of 66,000 people at Crystal Palace, Aston Villa defeated Everton 3-2 to complete the historic double.