Sometimes, something so monumentally stupid happens that you think that it simply must be a wind-up. Chris Heck (Villa’s El Presidente) is proving pretty adept at coming up with such ill-conceived ideas, it turns out. Today was the day that Villa pushed the nuclear button and revealed what everyone suspected with pricing for the upcoming Champions League fixtures. Someone saw dollar signs. Who in their right mind would consider £97 to watch a game of football a justifiable ticket price? Heck knows.
I of course refer to the greedy and tone-deaf actions of Aston Villa in setting eye-watering ticket prices for the upcoming home ties in the Champions League. Our club’s first foray into top-tier European football in 41 years. These are sadly just the latest miss-steps of a football club that increasingly resembles nothing off the pitch for which we should be associated.
Since when were nonsensically high ticket prices the measure of Champions League qualification and success? A ticket on Liverpool’s Kop can be secured for £39. In an era where TV money is king, and never so great, stadium ticket sales are the change down the back of the sofa. Any suggestion to the contrary is just delusional and inaccurate I’m afraid.
We are now seemingly led by a dark-comedy character in Heck, in what appears to be a script for a laughable satire than the business operations of a serious football club. The charge sheet for the blunders is growing at an impressive rate after all. This is a person who, without any sense of irony, conducted an interview before the season opener lamenting the improvements at Villa Park. Naturally, urine overflowed from the toilets, fans queued for 40+ minutes to enter, the digital ticket rollout was shambolic and some supporters even arrived to find their seats didn’t exist.
Who could possibly manage to implement a ‘new’ badge worse than the one it replaced with insufficient consultation? Who could unveil a pitchside tunnel that omits any colour palette you might associate with the club? Who would think it sensible to enter into a sponsorship with a controversial online betting firm? Who might think it morally acceptable to charge an adult wheelchair user £75+ to watch a Champions League game? There are no prizes for guessing.
Villa are no strangers to alienating a hardcore fanbase. It took years to repair the damage inflicted in the period leading up to and following relegation to the Championship. Unai Emery was an inspired appointment and one who is delivering attractive football and results that captivate a new generation to follow Aston Villa for life. Heck and the club’s careless, commercially driven decisions erode goodwill and the connection to the fans quicker than it can ever be rebuilt. How can it be that we can be performing so well on the pitch, but acting so unacceptably off it?
As I’ve written previously, Birmingham and the districts immediately around Villa Park are amongst some of the most impoverished and deprived nationally. Those who travel from further afield aren’t necessarily much different either. Foodbanks have gone from supporting those on the fringes of our communities to a norm that should shame our society. Those who are more fortunate are not immune either, squeezed by the effects of relentless inflation and a cost of living crisis that extends far more broadly into our society than many of us and least of all our politicians would care to admit.
Villa are supposed to be a community club, both locally and by extension to its most loyal members; fans and supporters. Most of us are tied to the club generationally, emotionally, and are invested in a multitude of ways, including financially each time Villa comes calling. We don’t expect the club to solve society’s ills, but we do expect our club to act in the best interests of both its supporters and the community around it. Exploiting and frankly ripping off supporters is simply not on and must be called out for what it is.
Our club does not need, nor can it in any way justify the ticket prices it has set for the upcoming fixtures. This was an opportunity to celebrate our return to European football in our 150th year of existence. Instead, it has been hijacked and tarnished by the foulest of capitalist money grabs. We could have been an outlier, or at best being restrained, yet it was decided that the club’s most loyal, ardent and committed group of followers should be exploited to the maximum at the very first opportunity.
The risk is that the actions that are taken now create permanent lasting damage to the club and its most important asset, its supporters. Without the golden thread of generational support, the heritage and critical mass of a football club (or any club for that matter) is irretrievably lost. Heck recently placed emphasis upon the importance of attracting the younger generation, which evidently slipped his mind whilst approving pricing Zone 1 at £94 for Under-18s. When the chips are down, or when the fixtures aren’t quite as sexy, a glance at the empty seats (and there were many of them not so long ago) should serve as a clear warning.
Our club has made a significant miss-step on this issue and hopefully there is a reflection over the significant outcry amongst the fanbase, on social media, from fan groups and reputable local/national press. Serious businesses, responsible football clubs and professionals with integrity own their mistakes and make them right. What Villa choose to now do, or not do, will be telling.
Finally, there is an uncomfortable element without our own fan discourse which also needs a light shining upon it. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and a view, but the vehement defence and baseless justification of rampant cost increases from some quarters has served only to embolden the club in reaching this decision. Whilst the decisions that led to the outrageous prices revealed today rest completely on Villa’s shoulders, some would do well to consider the true cost of their inane pursuit of followers and likes.
Screenshot of pricing structure for home matches at Villa Park in the league phase of The Champions League:
Pricing for Liverpool (Anfield) for comparison:
Comparison of Villa, Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool:
