Why legend Tony Morley believes Aston Villa have never had it so good

This is, after all, one of the men who helped deliver the club’s finest hour, setting up the most iconic goal in its history with the cross from which Peter Withe scored to beat Bayern Munich in the 1982 European Cup final.

Yet that colossal achievement, back in the national spotlight ahead of tonight’s rematch with the Bavarian giants, took place against a backdrop of boardroom upheaval Morley believes ultimately prevented the Villa’s greatest-ever team from pushing on to even greater heights.

It is only now, more than four decades later, Morley thinks Villa finally have the foundations in place to deliver the kind of sustained, long-term success which has eluded the club for over a century.

“Clubs are only successful if they are run correctly from the top over a long period of time. This seems to be what is happening at Villa now,” says Morley.

“I would say Villa are now in the best position I have ever known in more than 40 years and that’s because of the people running the club.

“When I was at the Villa, we had a great opportunity in the early 1980s to have sustained success.

“We had the best young players in the country, we had just won the league, won the European Cup, the Super Cup and played in the World Club Cup.

“We were in a great position to go on and do what Everton did in the 80s. But it was abused – let’s put it that way.

“In 40 years I have seen them go down, come up, I have seen them in the Championship. Now we are back competing against the big boys, the elite of football. It is testament to how much the club has come on under these owners.