40th anniversary tribute to Villa’s title-winning heroes
See full details of the book below. And here are a few updates:
1) Peter Withe ‘kicks off ’ the signing of the bookplates for the Collector’s Edition of the Aston Villa 40th Anniversary Tribute book at his home in Australia.
All of the signed bookplates have now been delivered to our office and will be signed by all of the surviving members of the Aston Villa 1980/81 Championship squad in the coming weeks.
This means that there will now be 13 signatures on the bookplate rather than 11.
2) The closing date for Match Day sponsorship pages and for names to be included on the Subscribers Tribute pages in the book has been extended to Friday 31 July 2020 –only 5 weeks away !
3) The official launch of the book – subject to Government Covid 19 restrictions – will be on Thursday 22 August 20 and further details will be available closer to the date.
It is the date which will remain forever etched in Aston Villa folklore.
On Saturday 2nd May 1981 captain Dennis Mortimer led the team to one of the greatest feats in the club’s history.
After 42 games, using a squad of only 14 players, Villa were Football League champions for the first time in 71 years.
To celebrate the remarkable 1980/81 season, Cornerstone will be working with players from the title-winning squad on the Aston Villa 40th Anniversary Tribute.
During the 2020/21 season a series of ‘Meet the Champions’ events will be held enabling fans to share happy memories with squad members.
The AV40 Tribute will be formally launched on 20th August 2020 with the publication of a book containing the programme covers and reports of every match played during the championship season, player profiles, rare and unpublished photographs, memorabilia plus personal recollections from the players.
A special Collector’s Edition of the book is available at £40 plus p&p. There will be 500 numbered copies of the book, which will be personally signed by 11 members of the championship winning squad. The subscriber’s name will appear on the special 40th Anniversary Tribute Page if orders are received before 31 July 2020.
A quality softback version of the book without the squad signatures and the tribute page option will cost £10 plus p&p.
Dennis Mortimer said: “It has been a pleasure working with Jim Cadman on this 40th Anniversary Tribute and reliving with my Villa team-mates the wonderful memories we shared during the 1980/81 League Championship season.”
“The backing we received from the claret and blue faithful during that historic campaign was incredible. We hope that those who remember it – as well as the supporters who follow Villa with such a passion today – will enjoy this fascinating book.”
Both editions of the book will be available to pre-order from 28 May 2020. For more details, visit www.av40tribute.com