Two former football writers have been reliving high points from their career at the Birmingham Mail, recalling the heady heights of Aston Villa’s glory days.

Villa won a then record seventh FA Cup 50 years ago, while 25 years ago, they lifted the European Cup in Rotterdam.

Alan Smith, now 73, shared champagne with the team 50 years ago when he was the Mail’s football reporter.

He said: “I’d only been a football reporter on the Birmingham Mail a mere two years and there I was drinking champagne out of the FA Cup in the dressing room with a bunch of lads who had become good pals.

“I grabbed both handles of the cup like a winning captain and took a swig before someone snatched it off me.

“It all happened so quickly but, 50 years on, the sounds and words are fresh in my memory.”

Leon Hickman was head of sport at the Mail on European Cup final day on May 26, 1982.

He said the overwhelming memory of the event was the well-behaved supporters, at a time when the backdrop was of terrible violence between fans.

Leon, (65), admitted he was nervous as the minutes to the final whistle counted down.

He said: “There was the winning goal which to this day Villa’s Peter Withe laughingly claims was a deliberate cannon off a post.

“I believe in the infinite expansion of time after counting down the final 10 minutes.

“Bayern were somehow kept at bay and, as the Mail’s head of sport who covered everything from the Olympic Games to the World Cup over a quarter of a century, I still think this was the West Midland triumph that left the others standing.”

The Mail published a 24-page pull-out to celebrate the double anniversary for Aston Villa.