Gary Newbon: Remembering the Aston Villa glory boys of '82

Dennis Mortimer was Aston Villa’s most successful captain in the club’s greatest team which became English champions in 1981 and then won Europe’s greatest club competition a year later – the European Champions Cup.

Today Mortimer and his proud players will be paraded on the pitch at Villa’s final home match of the season against Crystal Palace.

He is pleased the present Villa regime running the club are acknowledging the anniversary.

The 40,000-plus that pack Villa Park for every home match are constantly reminded with a banner across the North Stand with words describing the move that created the final’s only goal scored by striker Peter Withe.

The players became Villa club heroes and are still talked about and recognised today. Many attend the games. They were all from Britain – a rarity today – so it is no surprise that all of the squad, apart from the late Eamonn Deacy, will be attending the 40th anniversary celebratory dinner at the ground on Thursday, May 26.

No surprise, too, that the event sold out within 24 hours. It was organised by the players themselves with the help of businessman Jim Cadman.

Mortimer, now 70, has shown he is rightly proud of what his old team have achieved in recent months, including a special book about these fine triumphs.

I have known Mortimer since the early 70s when he was with his first club, Coventry City. I was presenting sport for ATV and Dennis was making some of his 200 league appearances for the Sky Blues.

I had been commissioned by the News of the World to write a feature with the co-operation of Dennis who had been picked for the England Under-23s and was catching the eye with his powerful runs in midfield.

We met with his future wife Jan in the ATV social club. Jan is the