See main article: History of Aston Villa F.C. (1874–1961).
| Club: | Aston Villa |
| Season: | 1930–31 |
| Manager: | Billy Smith |
| Stadium: | Villa Park |
| League: | First Division |
| League Result: | 2nd |
| Cup1: | FA Cup |
| Cup1 Result: | Third round |
| Prevseason: | 1929–30 |
| Nextseason: | 1931–32 |
| League Result: | 18—10—11 |
| Nextseason: | 1931–32 |
Aston Villa played the 1930–31 English football season in the Football League First Division. Villa scored 128 league goals in 42 matches, a First Division record.[1] Villa's Pongo Waring finished as the leagues top scorer with 49 goals,[2] overshadowing Eric Houghton who scored 30 goals.[3] As of 2023, this remains the Villa record season for goals scored.[4]
Villa started the season with four successive league wins, a record not matched until the 2020–21 season.[5] On 17 January 1931 Villa beat Bolton 3–1.[6] [7] They would go on to win their eight remaining home games and thus had nine consecutive home wins to end the season.[8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] Other notable statistics included inflicting a 7–0 victory over Manchester United, the joint-heaviest competitive defeat for that club[16] In the Second City derby, following a 1–1 home draw,[17] Villa beat Birmingham 4–0 at St Andrews with goals by Joe Beresford, Eric Houghton, Jack Mandley and Joe Tate.[18]
There were debuts for Tommy Wood (71), Reg Miles (16) and Percy Maggs (14).[19] After a trial with Villa in October 1930, goalkeeper, Harry Morton (192) was signed as an amateur and made his club debut for the reserves in a Central League game against Everton Reserves on 22 November 1930. He went on to sign as a professional in March 1931. Richard York (356) played just four times in the 1930–31 campaign.[20]