Friction and unrest expected as Aston Villa fans react to ticket price hikes

It was on the fictional island of Isla Nublar somewhere off the Pacific coast where Dr Ian Malcolm, over a spot of lunch in a space-like booth, delivered a lesson in ethics that has felt pertinent in the real world over the past week or so. Until Aston Villa released their eye-popping Champions League ticket prices, a comparison between the club and a cutting line from Jurassic Park would have felt far-fetched. “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should,” said Malcolm, played by Jeff Goldblum, as the park’s altruistic founder got giddy at the prospect of bringing dinosaurs back to life.

The 1993 film was directed by Steven Spielberg, Villa’s ticket prices seemingly by Chris Heck, the president of business operations, who doubled down on the price points in a statement on Tuesday, almost a week on from sparking the storm. He blamed profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) and the “need to generate” maximum revenue through sponsorships, merchandise and, er, ticket sales.

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Unai Emery said he sympathised with supporters and hopes they will consider the hike fair next May if it means they have retained their status among Europe’s elite. “I can understand they [are] not comfortable [with the] increase in the prices but hopefully it will be worth it at the end of the season because they are enjoying this level and we are keeping it,” Villa’s manager said on Friday. “I know and respect the effort our supporters make.”

First, the numbers: a family of four in premium zone one seats, where there are no concessions, will pay between £316 and £376 per match, the former if they are season-ticket holders, with home matches against Bayern Munich, Juventus, Celtic and Bologna in the calendar. Most fans are faced with paying between £70 and £97 per home game, some presented with a 55% increase, prompting the Football Supporters’ Association to accuse Villa of exploiting supporter loyalty. PSR has proved challenging but in this case convenient. “There was a bomb with the countdown and we were there to cut the cable,” said Villa’s director of football operations, Damian Vidagany, of meeting PSR rules in an interview released the night before Villa confirmed their ticket prices.

The figures have been well-documented, the original social media post sharing the pricesseen more than 6.4 million times. The prices rankle with many among the fanbase but now for the interesting bit: how will supporters react against Everton on Saturday, Villa’s first home game since the big reveal? When the pre-match pyrotechnics fire and the smoke plumes soar, how will they really feel? It is hard to know whether any fans will vote with their feet given the Bayern game, a rerun of Villa’s greatest day, the 1982 European Cup triumph in Rotterdam, sold out. It proved the fastest-selling cup game in their history. Therein perhaps lies the point.

There appears to be a split among those in attendance this weekend; some are reluctant to cause a stir with the team in such rude health, a clear rapport between fans, players and Emery, whereas others feel marginalised. Some of those who five years ago made trips to Reading and Rotherham believe the club are bothered only about catering for a certain type of supporter.

Heck’s insistence last year that he has a “fans-first mentality” feels rather hollow. The Villa Academy fans’ group set up a crowdfunder to pay for 16,000 red cards and have encouraged supporters to hold them up for the first 97 seconds of Saturday’s game in the direction of the directors’ box. Prices up, atmosphere down? “We have to accept if someone is protesting,” Emery said.

Heck, who did not attend a meeting with the fan advisory board regarding ticket prices, has suggested a need to fast-track growth if Villa are to keep up with the elite at home and abroad. He has cited a desire to push revenue to £400m by 2027 (from £218m in 2022-23) and told how record-breaking commercial deals starting this season have doubled growth. They signed a kit deal with Adidas, a front-of-shirt sponsor deal with Betano, a gambling firm, and extended their partnership with the sleeve sponsor Trade Nation, that specialises in “low-cost spread betting”.

There are revenue streams everywhere you look. There was the pre-season tour to the US, with the faces of Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins looking down from digital billboards in New York’s Times Square. In the summer the club informed hundreds of supporters they would have to shift seats to make way for hospitality areas. On Tuesday Villa are laying on a ticketed screening at Villa Park of the start of Villa’s Champions League adventure, which begins in Bern against Young Boys.

So, Villa find themselves in a peculiar position on their 150th anniversary and in surely the greatest place since 1982. The good probably outweighs the bad but there is friction and those fans who, for the opening home game against Arsenal, put up with overflowing urinals in the Holte End or arrived to find their regular seat no longer exists are asking questions of the Villa hierarchy. There were also teething problems that day with digital ticketing and the club performed a swift U-turn after it was revealed they doubled the cost of disabled parking for the season to £380.

Until recently there had been only positive headlines: qualifying for the most prestigious European competition for the first time since 1982-83; the sustained support of billionaire owners, Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris, who have transformed the club since buying a controlling stake when Villa were in the Championship in 2018; an elite manager in Emery, who signed a new contract in the summer; a team brimming with international stars; a new fan zone for kids that will be launched this Saturday. Then there is the new shiny club shop on the Villa Park footprint. “I think it is the best in the entire country,” Heck said. Now, though, Villa supporters have a chance to show the powers what really matters.