1961–62 Aston Villa F.C. season
The 1961–62 [English football season] was Aston Villa's 63rd season in The Football League. Villa played in the First Division.
In the Second City derby both teams won their away fixtures.
Winning the 1961 [Football League Cup Final] was the pinnacle for Villa. They finished seventh in 1961–62, the following season saw the beginning of a decline in form.
There were debuts for Derek Dougan, Tommy Ewing, Ken Fencott, Wilson Briggs, Allan Jones, and Ralph Brown. Lew Chatterley who began his career as an apprentice at Aston Villa, turned professional this season, with his league debut coming the following season. He remained at Villa Park for over 9 years, making 153 league appearances and scoring 26 goals.
Derek Dougan joined Villa in July 1961 for a fee of £15,000. The 23-year-old was signed by manager Joe Mercer as a replacement for Gerry Hitchens, who had been sold on to Inter Milan earlier in the summer for £85,000. Teammate Peter McParland later commented that "when Derek came to us at Aston Villa I think it was at a time when he was not taking the game particularly seriously". After returning from watching his "Villans" teammates win the 1961 Football [League Cup Final|1961 League Cup Final] at Villa Park on 5 September, Dougan was a passenger in a car accident which killed fellow passenger Malcolm Williams and left Dougan with a broken arm and head injuries; driver and teammate Bobby Thomson was charged but found 'Not Guilty' of careless driving. In November 2010 – three years after Dougan's death, Thomson claimed that Dougan had drunkenly pulled a deerstalker hat over his eyes, causing him to crash the car. Dougan recovered after three months on the sidelines and ended the 1961–62 season with 12 goals in 27 matches.