Chris Heck gives exciting Villa Park update and teases what Aston Villa rivals 'will take notice of'

Aston Villa fans will notice some changes in and around Villa Park on Saturday when Unai Emery's side host Arsenal for their first home game of the new Premier League campaign.

Work started at the stadium shortly after the club's final home game of last season back in May, a 3-3 draw with Liverpool, a day before Champions League qualification was secured. Villa's president of business operations Chris Heck has given an update to supporters on VillaTV ahead of their return to Villa Park this weekend.

"It’s been day and night labour for about three months," Heck said. "It is quite special, the opportunity we have to improve Villa Park, but also to protect what is so special about this place.

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"We are going to build on some of the things we did last year, like transportation with the shuttle buses coming from Birmingham New Street directly to Villa Park as well as returning, that’s been a magnificent success.

"We will have the new store. It is, I think, the best in the entire country. It’s a quite special place and in addition to that, we’re going to add, for the Everton game, a new kids-focused players entrance zone. Those are things on the exterior which will be a big change, but a welcome change.

"We see this all the time about the stories of generations and generations [of fans]. We don’t want to lose touch with that and we are seeing it first hand with the celebration that is coming, 150 years of Aston Villa football."

Villa will play at least four Champions League games at Villa Park this season and Heck is excited to see the introduction of LEDs around the stadium amplifying the atmosphere on those night games.

"The LED helps lift it all up and it puts more life into Villa Park before the games, during the games and even after," he explained. "It will certainly help celebrate night time games in the Champions League. We can’t wait for that to start. What a year we have in front of us and what better way for our players to walk through a brand new tunnel. I won’t give you too much on that, but you’ll see it on Saturday - it’s going to be something that the rest of the clubs in the Premier League will take notice of.

"This is the best home field advantage in the Premier League. Our record has shown that over the last couple of years. There’s nothing like the Holte End, it’s truly iconic. But we also have the Doug Ellis Stand, we have new areas and premium areas, a new restaurant on the Doug Ells side, which we had only seen before on the Trinity Road side. Now we’re spreading that around the stadium. In the North Stand we have three new areas for hospitality, so it is a special time.

"We have not walked away from the Lower Grounds, which we introduced last year and was wildly successful. Not to mention we used it last week when we played and beat West Ham. We had a viewing party there for around 800 of our fans. Even on away games we are going to utilise Villa Park. We are going to continue and improve, so the construction is not complete but this is a really good start.

"I’m very proud to be working alongside all these wonderful people who are Villans. True to form, not only as fans but as their day job. It’s been a magnificent effort from everybody."

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