Doug Ellis

Sir Herbert Douglas "Doug" Ellis, OBE (born 3 January 1924), is an entrepreneur, best known as the former chairman of Aston Villa Football Club. Ellis was knighted in the 2012 New Year Honours for charitable services.

Early life

Ellis began life in a poor family with a widowed mother. Ellis had brief glimpses of a football career at Tranmere Rovers, he spent two years as a schoolboy with the club. Before he was 40, he had become a millionaire by pioneering package holidays to Spain.

Aston Villa

Ellis was a controversial chairman and major shareholder of Aston Villa for two separate spells; the first being from 1968 to 1975. Ellis was replaced as chairman and finally ousted from the board in 1979. During his absence Aston Villa enjoyed its greatest period of success in modern times, winning the Football League title in 1981 and the European Cup in 1982, also enjoying success in the 1990s with two League Cup triumphs as well as finishing runners-up in the league on two occasions.

Ellis returned as chairman in 1982 and remained there until selling to Randy Lerner in 2006. Some fans blame him for the decline of the club after the European Cup victory in 1981/2. Within five years the club was relegated from the top flight, with many of the European Cup-winning team being sold to other teams, although it can be argued that this was due to large debts built up during the previous regime.

Ellis

Ellis is a first name and surname of English origin. The surname was first recorded in 1202 in Lincolnshire, England.

The name Ellis may refer to:

A

B

Doug

Doug is a hypocorism (shorter form) of the given name Douglas.

It may refer to:

People:

Aston Villa F.C.

Aston Villa Football Club (/ˈæstən ˈvɪlə/; also known as Villa, The Villa, The Villans, The Lions) is a professional football club based in Witton, Birmingham, that plays in the Premier League, the highest level of English football. Founded in 1874, they have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were the originators and founder members of the Football League in 1888. They were also founding members of the Premier League in 1992, and have remained there ever since. The club were floated by the previous owner and chairman Doug Ellis, but in 2006 full control was acquired by American businessman Randy Lerner.

Aston Villa are one of the oldest and the most successful football clubs in the history of English football. Villa won the 1981–82 European Cup, and are thus one of five English clubs to win what is now the UEFA Champions League. They have the fifth highest total of major honours won by an English club, having won the First Division Championship seven times, the FA Cup seven times, the Football League Cup five times and the UEFA Super Cup in 1982. The club have also produced a record 73 England national team players, equalled only by Tottenham Hotspur.

Dwight Yorke

Dwight Eversley Yorke CM (born 3 November 1971) is a Tobagonian former football player. He played for Aston Villa, Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Birmingham City, Sydney FC and Sunderland. He was the assistant manager of the Trinidad and Tobago national team until the completion of the qualifying matches for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Along with Russell Latapy and Pat Jennings, Yorke holds the record number of participations in different World Cup competitions, including qualifying stages – six in total (1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010). Yorke was nicknamed The Smiling Assassin because of his goal scoring abilities and his constant smile.

Club career

Aston Villa

Yorke was first discovered by Graham Taylor, at the time the Aston Villa manager, on a tour of the West Indies in 1989. Yorke appeared in a team that played a friendly match against Aston Villa, Taylor was impressed and offered Yorke a trial at Villa. Yorke was subsequently given a permanent contract and he made his First Division debut for Aston Villa against Crystal Palace on 24 March 1990: Crystal Palace won the game 1–0. During his time with Aston Villa, from 1989 to 1998, Yorke played initially as a right winger until the 1995–96 season, he then switched to centre forward and quickly established himself as one of the Premier League's top strikers.