# 1956–57 Aston Villa F.C. season

The 1956–57 English football season was Aston Villa's 57th season in the Football League, this season playing in the Football League First Division. In the Second City derby Villa won both matches. In October 1956 they beat Birmingham 3–1 at home with goals by Jackie Sewell, Ken Roberts and Stan Lynn. They beat Birmingham 2–1 away, both Villa goals by Roy Chapman.
There were debuts for Billy Myerscough (64), Stan Crowther (50), Dennis Jackson (8) and Arthur Sabin (2).

## Football League First Division.

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts |
| 8 | Leeds United | 42 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 72 | 63 | 1.143 | 44 |
| 9 | Bolton Wanderers | 42 | 16 | 12 | 14 | 65 | 65 | 1.000 | 44 |
| 10 | Aston Villa | 42 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 65 | 55 | 1.182 | 43 |
| 11 | West Bromwich Albion | 42 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 59 | 61 | 0.967 | 42 |
| 12 | Birmingham City | 42 | 15 | 9 | 18 | 69 | 69 | 1.000 | 39 |

## FA Cup

The 1957 FA Cup final was a football match played on 4 May 1957 at Wembley Stadium between Aston Villa and Manchester United. Villa won 2–1, with both of their goals scored by Peter McParland. Tommy Taylor scored United's goal. It was Villa's first major trophy for 37 years.
A collision after only six minutes between Villa forward Peter McParland and United goalkeeper Ray Wood, which left Wood unconscious with a broken cheekbone. Wood left the pitch and Jackie Blanchflower took over in goal for United. Wood eventually rejoined the game in an outfield position as a virtual passenger before returning to goal for the last seven minutes of the game.
Villa's victory gave them their seventh FA Cup title, a record at the time, but since passed by three clubs including Manchester United. Villa reached the final in 2000, when they lost to Chelsea, and in 2015, when they lost to Arsenal.
Six of the 11 United players who took to the field for United in this game died in the Munich air disaster nine months later. Two others were injured to such an extent that they never played again. The death of Nigel Sims in January 2018 left Peter McParland as the last surviving member of the winning team.
In December 2007, BBC Four's Timeshift series screened a documentary, A Game of Two Eras, which compared the 1957 final with its 2007 counterpart.

### Road to Wembley

| Round 3 | Luton Town | 2–2 | Aston Villa |
| Round 3 Replay | Aston Villa | 2–0 | Luton Town |
| Round 4 | Middlesbrough | 2–3 | Aston Villa |
| Round 5 | Aston Villa | 2–1 | Bristol City |
| Round 6 | Burnley | 1–1 | Aston Villa |
| Round 6 Replay | Aston Villa | 2–0 | Burnley |
| Semi-final | Aston Villa | 2–2 | West Bromwich Albion |
| (at Molineux) ||||
| Semi-final Replay | West Bromwich Albion | 0–1 | Aston Villa |
| (at St Andrew's) ||||

### Match details

| Aston Villa | Manchester United |
| GK | 1 | Nigel Sims |
| RB | 2 | Stan Lynn |
| LB | 3 | Peter Aldis |
| RH | 4 | Stan Crowther |
| CH | 5 | Jimmy Dugdale |
| LH | 6 | Pat Saward |
| OR | 7 | Les Smith |
| IR | 8 | Jackie Sewell |
| CF | 9 | Bill Myerscough |
| IL | 10 | Johnny Dixon (c) |
| OL | 11 | Peter McParland |
| Manager: ||
| Eric Houghton ||
Ray Wood :
| RB | 2 | Bill Foulkes |
| LB | 3 | Roger Byrne (c) |
| RH | 4 | Eddie Colman |
| CH | 5 | Jackie Blanchflower |
| LH | 6 | Duncan Edwards |
| OR | 7 | Johnny Berry |
| IR | 8 | Billy Whelan |
| CF | 9 | Tommy Taylor |
| IL | 10 | Bobby Charlton |
| OL | 11 | David Pegg |
| Manager: ||||
| Matt Busby ||||