1960–61 Aston Villa F.C. season

The 1960–61 English football season was Aston Villa's 62nd season in The Football League. Villa played in the First Division.
In the Second City derby Aston Villa beat Birmingham City 6–2 at Villa Park, Peter McParland, Gerry Hitchens, and Alan O’Neill scoring for Villa. The away fixture was drawn 1-1.
There were debuts for Charlie Aitken, John Sleeuwenhoek, Alan Baker, Geoff Sidebottom, Alan O'Neill, Fred Potter, Jimmy McMorran, Alfie Hale and Mike Kenning.

League

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GA	GD	Pts
1	Tottenham Hotspur	42	15	3	3	65	28	16	1	4	50	27	115	55	2.091	+ 60	66
2	Sheffield Wednesday	42	15	4	2	45	17	8	8	5	33	30	78	47	1.660	+ 31	58
3	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	17	2	2	61	32	8	5	8	42	43	103	75	1.373	+ 28	57
4	Burnley	42	11	4	6	58	40	11	3	7	44	37	102	77	1.325	+ 25	51
5	Everton	42	13	4	4	47	23	9	2	10	40	46	87	69	1.261	+ 18	50
6	Leicester City	42	12	4	5	54	31	6	5	10	33	39	87	70	1.243	+ 3	45
7	Manchester United	42	14	5	2	58	20	4	4	13	30	56	88	76	1.158	+ 12	45
8	Blackburn Rovers	42	12	3	6	48	34	3	10	8	29	42	77	76	1.013	+ 1	43
9	Aston Villa	42	13	3	5	48	28	4	6	11	30	49	78	77	1.013	+ 1	43
10	West Bromwich Albion	42	10	3	8	43	32	8	2	11	24	39	67	71	0.944	– 4	41
11	Arsenal	42	12	3	6	44	35	3	8	10	33	50	77	85	0.906	– 8	41
12	Chelsea	42	10	5	6	61	48	5	2	14	37	52	98	100	0.980	– 2	37
13	Manchester City	42	10	5	6	41	30	3	6	12	38	60	79	90	0.878	– 11	37
14	Nottingham Forest	42	8	7	6	34	33	6	2	13	28	45	62	78	0.795	– 16	37
15	Cardiff City	42	11	5	5	34	26	2	6	13	26	59	60	85	0.706	– 25	37
16	West Ham United	42	12	4	5	53	31	1	6	14	24	57	77	88	0.875	– 11	36
17	Fulham	42	8	8	5	39	39	6	0	15	33	56	72	95	0.758	– 23	36
18	Bolton Wanderers	42	9	5	7	38	29	3	6	12	20	44	58	73	0.795	– 15	35
19	Birmingham City	42	10	4	7	35	31	4	2	15	27	53	62	84	0.738	– 22	34
20	Blackpool	42	9	3	9	44	34	3	6	12	24	39	68	73	0.932	– 5	33
21	Newcastle United	42	7	7	7	51	49	4	3	14	35	60	86	109	0.789	– 23	32
22	Preston North End	42	7	6	8	28	25	3	4	14	15	46	43	71	0.606	– 28	30

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Key
	League Champions, qualified for European Cup
	FA Cup winners, qualified for Cup Winners' Cup
	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1960-61
	League Cup Winners
	Relegated

Matches

League Cup

The League Cup was a knockout competition for England's top 92 football clubs introduced to provide a new source of income. The 1960–61 Football League Cup was the inaugural season. Five League teams did not compete. Despite an initial lack of enthusiasm on the part of some other big clubs, the competition became firmly established in the footballing calendar.
Villa received a bye to the second round and, on 12 October, beat Huddersfield Town 4–1 at home before a crowd of 17,057. On 15 Nov 1960 7,677 watched Preston North End draw 3–3 with travelling Villa. The Villains won the home replay 3–1 in front of 15,000.
The competition ended with the two-legged final almost a year later on 22 August and 5 September 1961. Villa beat Rotherham United 3–2 on aggregate after extra time. Rotherham won the first leg 2–0 at Millmoor, their home ground thanks to goals from Alan Kirkman and Barry Webster. In the second leg at Villa Park, Harry Burrows and Peter McParland levelled the tie on aggregate and Alan O'Neill scored in extra-time to win the cup.

Fourth round

Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance	Date	Notes
Aston Villa	3–3	Plymouth Argyle	12,117	13 Dec 1960
Plymouth Argyle	0–0	Aston Villa	11,006	19 Dec 1960
Plymouth Argyle	3–5	Aston Villa	13,548	06 Feb 1961

Fifth round

Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance	Date
Aston Villa	3–0	Wrexham	19,500	22-02-1961

Semi-finals

The semi-final draw was made in February 1961 after the conclusion of the quarter-finals. Unlike the rounds up to that point, the semi-final ties were played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The matches were played in March, April and May 1961.

Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance	Date
Burnley	1–1	Aston Villa	15,908	10-04-1961
Aston Villa	2–2	Burnley	23,077	26-04-1961
Aston Villa	2–1	Burnley	7,953	02-05-1961

Final

The 1961 League Cup Final was played on 22 August and 5 September 1961 and was contested between First Division side Aston Villa and Second Division team Rotherham United. Aston Villa won the game 3–2 on aggregate.

1960–61 Aston Villa F.C. season

League

Matches

League Cup

Fourth round

Fifth round

Semi-finals

Final

First leg

Second leg

FA Cup

General

Specific