Neutral section at VP?

[Legion]

How can it be a positive thing to encourage Brummie Reds? The only games that would attract any interest in the neutral end would be the games that are close to sell-out anyway.

I fail to see how allowing an extra two hundred Man U, sorry "neutral", fans in is going to help the club long-term.

You seem to think that the only people who would ever want to be in a neutral end would be away fans and tourists.

I've got a two month old daughter and she's going to be brought up at the very least to have Villa leanings. So if she wants to come with Daddy to a match then we're in the Holte as usual. Let's say that at school she makes a friend whose Dad has brought her up as an Everton fan, they want to go and watch Villa vs Everton and her dad comes along as well. If we all go in the Holte then they're breaking the T&Cs of their ticket and risk being thrown out. Or at the very least feel a bit out of place surrounded by Villa fans. So we all have a nice day out in the neutral section.

Or, let's say my parenting goes horribly awry and she decides she's going to forget all about her one-generation Villa roots and is going to be a huge Man City fan, just because the 2020 version of David Beckham plays for them. So the one game per season she now gets to go to is Villa - Man City. Again, we'll probably both be in the neutral section so that I can watch the Villa and she can see the new David Beckham, while not surrounded by 13,000 people calling him a c***.

Another example - what if, while we're regularly getting 10,000 empty seats per match we were to send blocks of a hundred tickets a time to schools in the region and try and entice some kids in who would never otherwise go to a football match? If they turn up on the day and decide to support Swansea because they look like they're a better team or because Jonjo Shelvey looks like somebody out of Harry Potter then so be it. It's not like the club has lost out on anything. And if they're lucky enough to get a game like Sunderland from the other season you might just have made 50 new Villa fans.

Final example, what about people who just fancy going to a football match with their family? When I was growing I was taken to Highfield Road far more than Villa Park, because it was closer and cheaper. And although I was really getting into the sport, my Dad and the rest of my family have never had any interest in it. Had it been an option then I'm pretty sure we'd have gone for a neutral seating option, because that's exactly what we were - neutrals.

There's four examples of why you might end up with people other than a few hundred extra ManYoo fans straight off the top of my head. I don't think any of them are particularly outlandish and I bet there are plenty more.

If there were a few hundred seats in an area catering for the above, I still don't see how it makes an impact on you and your day out at the match. Nobody is going to force you to sit there.

An excellent set of points very well made.

[danno]

Would away fans be ejected from a neutral section?

I can envisage people with no allegiance to either team attending games, some people just like to watch live sports.

But to my mind an away fan is far more likely to buy a ticket to a neutral section than a day tripper, precisely
because of their vested interest in the outcome.

So I don't think a fear of it being swamped with away fans is entirely unfounded.

My personal opinion is if somebody doesn't cause any trouble, then they should be allowed to sit where they please.

[saunders_heroes]

Neutral end at the Villa? No bloody chance. Small time or what.

[Legion]

Section, not end.

[saunders_heroes]

Section, not end.

Same thing. Anyway it'll be just an extension of the away end when the likes of Man Utd turn up and is bound to end ugly.

[dave.woodhall]

Neutral and family sections are two different things. The former wouldn't work for us but the latter is a good idea. Unfortunately, something seems to have happened in recent years whereby the sight of an opposition supporter makes people terrified.

[Tom_Mc9?]

I'm not a big fan of the idea, but the more I think about it, the harder it becomes to think of reasons why we shouldn't have one.

[Grande Pablo]

It never works anywhere.  Years ago we got home tickets in the Blackburn family enclosure, & even the kids were feral.

[PeterWithe]

Terrible idea, no thanks.

[Mortimer's Bear]

No, never, ever.

[Ad@m]

If you're a genuine neutral then you shouldn't have a problem anywhere you sit as long as you're respectful to both teams and those around you.

This discussion has come about because a glory hunter bought tickets in the wrong end and thought he could ignore the rules of entry.  We shouldn't be changing things for idiots like him.