Ron Saunders: An obituary
Last week Ron Saunders passed away at the age of 87 years. He was a striker in his playing career, notching up a very impressive 246 goals in 445 appearances. He was Portsmouth’s top goalscorer in six consecutive seasons and is their third highest goalscorer in Portsmouth’s history. He also played for Everton, Tonbridge Angels, Watford and Charlton Athletic.
Saunders’ first venture into management came at Yeovil where he became the Player/Manager in 1967 where he stayed for 2 years. Oxford United were next but he only stayed for a few months before joining Norwich City, then of the Second Division in 1969.
Saunders led Norwich City to the Second Division title in 1973 to win promotion to the top flight for the first time in the club’s history. City also reached the League Cup Final in the same season where they lost 1-0 to Tottenham at Wembley.
1973 League Cup Final
A boardroom row after Everton beat Norwich 3-1 on 17th November in their first season in the First Division and Ron resigned with immediate effect. He didn’t have to wait long before getting back in management as he joined Manchester City only five days later.
Ron guided City to the League Cup Final in 1974, his second in a row, but Wolves won 2-1. He was fired by the City board three weeks before the end of the season with City just above the relegation zone. A month later, he joined Second Division Aston Villa in what was to become his most successful reign at a club.
In his first season, Villa finished runners-up in the Second Division and were promoted to the First Division. It was third time lucky in the League Cup as Villa beat his former club Norwich City 1-0. Saunders became the first manager to reach three successive League Cup Finals with three different clubs.
Another League Cup was won two seasons later but more was to come in the early 80’s. In the 1980/81 season, Ron led Aston Villa to their first league title in 71 years after battling with Ipswich Town all the way to the final day of the season. At one stage in the final games, Ipswich were winning at Middlesbrough and Villa were losing at Arsenal, thereby handing the title to Ipswich. Two goals from Bozo Jankovic gave Middlesbrough the lead and even though Villa lost 2-0 to Arsenal, they won the league by 4 points. Saunders only used 14 players over the entire league campaign, 7 of them played every game.
The following season Villa reached the Quarter Finals of the European Cup but the club were languishing in 15th in the league. Saunders admitted that he saw himself seeing out the rest of his managerial career at Villa but it was not to last. Another falling out with a chairman resulted in Saunders walking out of Villa Park in a move that shocked football. Saunders’ assistant Tony Barron took over and won the European Cup.
Saunders joined Villa’s rivals Birmingham City next and it was there where he faced his first disappointment in management. City were relegated in 1983/84, his second season in charge. In January 1986 he walked out of St Andrews and took over at West Bromwich Albion. He became the first manager to be in charge of all three of the Midlands clubs.
West Brom dropped into the Second Division and they dismissed Saunders. This was to be the last managerial role of his career. He has always been held in the highest regard wherever hr has managed and at Norwich City and Aston Villa gained legendary status.
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