Comment: Aston Villa's vulgar Champions League pricing is a punch in the face for those that love them the most

Villa Park
-Credit: (Image: Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)


Someone needs to tell Aston Villa Football Club that we are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.

The recent decision to price the Champions League tickets above that of teams like Man City and Liverpool was as vulgar as it was obscure, and the fans deserve better.

This comes on the back of controversy around people having to leave season ticket seats they have held for years to make way for corporate hospitality offerings. That's at a time when fans in the 'not so cheap seats' hit out at a raft of issues during the first game back at Villa Park, including having to trudge through pools of urine in the toilets.

Wee-gate is an issue the club have promised to get sorted before the next game, so that will hopefully no longer be an issue for fans to endure.

READ: Villa Champions League ticket prices compared to rivals

READ: 'Disgusting' - Villa fans react to staggering home ticket prices

Yesterday it was reported that disabled parking at the club has seen a 100% increase in price at a time when fans are clinging onto trying to be able to afford to keep seeing their heroes in action.

Again, credit to the club for their reaction to the story we published on this, announcing a u-turn on the decision, and a reimbursement for the games so far at the higher rate.

That shows that there is an awareness, and it should be the start of the club trying to repair bridges with supporters and showing them that the club isn't just about squeezing every last penny from supporters.

These ticket prices are a big deal and a huge statement of where the club is going and where they see themselves, but to be higher than established Champions League sides like Liverpool and Man City? That can't be justified by any clever PR spin.

Fans are calling for an explanation from the club on the pricing strategy, indeed we are receiving floods of angry emails and frustrated social media messages demanding an explanation.

There is of course a section of the fanbase who believe that this is the price of Villa going to the next level, there is an argument for that, but there is a bigger argument for the club making those steps in a gradual, responsible way.

Chris Heck
-Credit:Getty Images

They can afford to do that, and they have a duty to do that. The current approach has left a bitter taste with supporters and created a division between those who can afford the European prices, and those who cannot.

It's been well documented how well the club are performing on the pitch under Unai Emery, but as some fans have stated, it feels like that success is being used as a protective shield to deflect the abysmal decisions that are being made at the boardroom level.

What's happening at Villa Park at the moment is embarrassing, it's immoral, and fans are absolutely right to be screaming for apologies, explanations, and a reversal of some of the decisions that have been rubber-stamped.

Chris Heck said all the right things when taking over at the club and clearly injecting a new era of business and infrastructure has been a big part of his vision, but it shouldn't be at the expense of real fans not being able to go anymore.

The adidas deal was a huge statement of intent and one that signalled an entry into the elite ranks, it certainly won a lot of applause, and rightly so.

The new Aston Villa 2024/25 adidas home shirt
The new Aston Villa 2024/25 adidas home shirt -Credit:@DL1992_

However, what use is Champions League football, impressive strips and brilliant performances on the pitch, if you are hurting the people who have been there through thick and thin and the darkest days of the Tony Xia era?

Villa may be moving into the higher echelons of football, but their ticket prices are plumbing new depths and it puzzles me that Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris want this on their record after saving the club and receiving the adulation of tens of thousands of fervent claret and blue supporters. They have transformed the club from the bottom up and shown their clear ambitions for the future of the team, and Villa Park.

Do they really wish for the very fabric of the club they have invested so much in, to be ripped away? The people whose life revolves around their weekend worship at the chapel they call Villa Park, being priced out of the market?

These fans are the heartbeat of Villa and should be rewarded for their loyalty, at a time when football gives supporters an escapism from the worrying financial climate we are in. They don't deserve to be expunged from the future of the football club they love.

Villa have to do better by the supporters.

What do you make of the recent decisions at Villa Park? Let us know in the comments section