Ron Saunders

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Ron Saunders
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Personal information
Full name Ronald Saunders
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Place of birth Birkenhead, Cheshire, England
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Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1951–1955 Everton 3 (0)
1955–1957 Tonbridge Angels 53 (39)
1957–1958 Gillingham 49 (20)
1958–1964 Portsmouth 236 (145)
1964–1965 Watford 39 (18)
1965–1967 Charlton Athletic 65 (24)
Total 445 (246)
Managerial career
1967–1969 Yeovil Town
1969 Oxford United
1969–1973 Norwich City
1973–1974 Manchester City
1974–1982 Aston Villa
1982–1986 Birmingham City
1986–1987 West Bromwich Albion
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

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Ronald Saunders (6 November 1932 – 7 December 2019) was an English football player and manager. He played for Everton, Tonbridge Angels, Gillingham, Portsmouth, Watford and Charlton Athletic during a 16-year playing career, before moving into management. He managed seven clubs in 20 years, and he was the first manager to have taken charge of Aston Villa, Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion, the three rival clubs based in and around the city of Birmingham.

Saunders also managed Yeovil Town, Oxford United, Norwich City and Manchester City. He was involved in football for 36 consecutive years; he left his final managerial role, at West Bromwich Albion, at the age of 54.

Playing career

As a player, he was an old-fashioned, hard-shooting centre forward who scored 246 goals in 16 years for Everton, Tonbridge Angels, Gillingham, Portsmouth, Watford and Charlton Athletic.[1] Saunders was leading goalscorer for six consecutive seasons at Portsmouth[2] and his goals were a key factor in helping Pompey win the Third Division title in 1962.[3] He remains their third highest goalscorer.[4] He retired from full-time playing in 1967, when with Charlton.

Managerial career

Early career

Saunders became player-manager at non-league Yeovil Town.[3]

Norwich City

As a manager, Saunders first tasted success at Norwich City, guiding them to the Second Division title in 1972, which saw them promoted to the First Division for the first time in their history. Saunders steered Norwich City to survival in their first season in the top flight. They also reached the League Cup final, losing 1–0 to Tottenham Hotspur.[5] He resigned as Norwich manager on 17 November 1973 following a boardroom row after a 3–1 home defeat to Everton.[6]

Manchester City

Five days later, Saunders accepted an offer to take over at Manchester City.[7] For the second season running Saunders managed a team to the Football League Cup final, but once again he lost, this time to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Despite their cup success, City's league form was shaky, and Saunders was dismissed three weeks before the end of the season. He did not stay out of work for long however, and the following month joined Second Division side Aston Villa as manager.[8]

Aston Villa

Saunders guided Villa to promotion to the First Division (as runners-up in the Second Division) in his first season as manager, also winning two League Cup titles, in 1975 and 1977. He became the first manager to take three clubs to the League Cup final in three successive years. In 1980–81, he guided Villa to their first First Division title for 71 years.[9]

He resigned from Villa on 9 February 1982. At the time, Villa were mid-table in the First Division but had reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup. There had been increasing tension between the manager and Chairman Ron Bendall with Saunders complaining about stadium manager Terry Rutter's expenditure and seeking more say over non-footballing matters.[10] Rutter would later receive a suspended prison sentence having been prosecuted for conspiracy to defraud the Football Grounds Improvement Trust and obtaining money by deception from the club. The judge stated that Bendall would have faced these charges too had he not died.[11]

Saunders' assistant Tony Barton then took over, eventually led them to victory in the 1982 European Cup final four months later.[12]

Birmingham City

Saunders moved straight to Villa's local rivals, Birmingham City. They went down in 1984 but he got them back into the top flight at the first attempt. In January 1986, Saunders walked out on struggling Birmingham to take charge of local rivals and fellow strugglers West Bromwich Albion.[13]

West Bromwich Albion

Saunders was unable to stop Albion from sliding into the Second Division and was dismissed in September 1987, after failing to get them back into the First Division. This was his last managerial role.[14]

Retirement

In a friendly fixture staged as a testimonial for the recently deceased Tony Barton, Saunders appeared at Villa Park in 1994 as manager of a Villa side drawn mostly from players who had played in the European Cup final in 1982, against a West Midlands all-stars side. This was the first time he had returned to the club since his resignation some 13 years earlier.[15] In December 2006, the 74-year-old Saunders was the guest of honour at Villa Park for the match between Aston Villa and Manchester United, invited by new chairman Randy Lerner.[14] He returned to Villa Park shortly after, on 5 May 2007, for the 25th anniversary celebrations of the 1982 European Cup win.[16]

Managerial statistics

Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record Ref(s)
P W D L Win %
Yeovil Town 17 April 1967 1 March 1969

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[17]
Oxford United 1 March 1969 9 July 1969

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[18]
Norwich City 10 July 1969 18 November 1973

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[18]
Manchester City 22 November 1973 12 April 1974

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[18]
Aston Villa 4 June 1974 9 February 1982

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[18]
Birmingham City 22 February 1982 16 January 1986

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[18]
West Bromwich Albion 14 February 1986 2 September 1987

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[18]
Total

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Death

Saunders died on 7 December 2019, aged 87.[19][20]

Honours

Player

England U18

Portsmouth

Manager

Norwich City

Aston Villa

See also

References

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  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ron Saunders". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Pompey 1st Team Squad: 1958/59". PompeyRama. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2010., and subsequent season pages.
  3. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Jones, Trefor (1996). The Watford Football Club Illustrated Who's Who. T.G. Jones. p. 205. ISBN 0-9527458-0-1.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Pompey Database". Portsmouth F.C. Supporters Club of U.S.A. Archived from the original on 14 April 2009. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Club History – 1970 to 1985". Norwich City F.C. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Green, Geoffrey (19 November 1973). "No valid answers for collective decline". The Times. p. 8. Last year, Norwich only just escaped relegation by a whisker and again find themselves in the shadows, made even darker on Saturday night when their manager, Ron Saunders, resigned after an angry scene in the boardroom following the 3–1 home defeat by Everton.
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Derby players not to go on strike". The Times. 23 November 1973. p. 11.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. pp. 64–65. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ron Saunders: Former Aston Villa manager dies aged 87". BBC. 7 December 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2026.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Stride, Steve (22 December 2024). "The inside story of an Aston Villa legend's fall from grace at Villa Park". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  11. ^ The Aston Villa Miscellany David Woodhall, 2007. Template:ISBN
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Ward, Adam; Griffin, Jeremy (30 September 2002). The essential history of Aston Villa. Headline. p. 129. ISBN 0-7553-1140-X.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Matthews (3 March 1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Breedon. pp. 42–44. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
  14. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Jawad, Hyder (6 December 2006). "Saunders to return to Villa Park". Birmingham Post. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Jawad, Hyder (23 December 2006). "RETURN OF THE HERO; Villa salute to 'greatest boss' long overdue He was the catalyst of Aston Villa's greatest successes but Ron Saunders became the forgotten man". Birmingham Post. Retrieved 11 April 2014 – via The Free Library.
  16. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."O'Neill: Heroes should inspire". Express & Star. Wolverhampton. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Stats: Managers: Ron Saunders". Yeovil Town F.C. Digital Archive. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
  18. ^ a b c d e f Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Manager search: Saunders, R (Ron)". English National Football Archive (ENFA). Retrieved 2 April 2025.
  19. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Bonell, Jonny (7 December 2019). "Aston Villa legend Ron Saunders dies, aged 87". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  20. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ron Saunders: Former Aston Villa manager dies aged 87". BBC Sport. 7 December 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  21. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."England Youth results". England Football Online. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  22. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."PAST MASTERS - RON SAUNDERS". Gillingham Football Club. 3 July 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  23. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."1981/82 Charity Shield". footballsite.co.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2019.

Bibliography

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