Villa Park stadium tour

[gervilla]

I have always wanted to do a stadium tour. However, it's quite restrictive for fans like myself. If I fly over for a game I tend to just stay a night in Birmingham and generally tours can't take place either on the day of a game or on the day before. Staying for a tour would involve taking an extra day and it can be awkward to get the time off and to afford another night's stay.

I am hoping to get one in before the end of this season though.

I normally stay 2 nights but before this seasons trip the times never suited to do the tour.
This time around I landed in Birmingham very early on the Friday and made it out to Villa Park for 10a.m. to catch the start of the tour.

[john e]

Haven't been on one yet.  Is there some sort of incentive for ST holders?

Also, if you want to go to an amazing stadium tour, go to the Camp Nou.  Their trophy cabinet is mahoooosive!  One day, we will match them, one day.......

yes i went there when we played Athletico in the UAFA cup,
 it was free then, and they had a massive glass cabinet with 6 or 7 European cups in it, there will be even more in there now, but they were obviously only copies of the real thing so there is no reason we cant do the same.
loads of pictures of De Stafano and Puskas on the wall, you really got the feel you were walking through some sort of football history as they are the most decorated team of all times.

really cant believe we dont have a proper trophy cabinet/room

sorry, just realised my mistake, you were talking about the Nou Camp and i'm going on about Real Madrid.

my bad, as they say

[bertlambshank]

Not having at least a trophy room is bonkers.
I bet the shit down the road have one.
Well when I say room more like a box.

[Ad@m]

Or to put it another way, the club should pay for something not enough supporters can be arsed to visit.

Incidentally, how any other English clubs have got a museum?

Genuine question - Who paid for the McGregor statue - that's a monument to the club's heritage just like a museum would be.  That aside, as has been said, when we're paying Habib Beye £200k a month give or take, I'm sure the budget could be found to turn a corner of the stadium in to a small museum.

And as for questioning how many other clubs have museums - well, how many clubs have our history?  Chelsea have got a museum FFS and their history started in 2003 when Abramovich turned up.  Man City have got a museum and they've got even less history.  Arsenal have got a museum and no European Cup to house in it.  Man Utd and Liverpool have both got museums but you'd expect that. 

Looking at it another way, I'd say that pretty much makes us the "largest" club in England to NOT have a museum.

Like others have said, we're not talking about anything spectacular.  There would be set up costs of course but the ongoing running costs of dusting a load of display cabinets is hardly going to be prohibitive.

[dave.woodhall]

Or to put it another way, the club should pay for something not enough supporters can be arsed to visit.

Incidentally, how any other English clubs have got a museum?

Genuine question - Who paid for the McGregor statue - that's a monument to the club's heritage just like a museum would be.

The Supporters Trust raised the funds with Randy making a more than generous donation.

[The Left Side]

Go on the tour, it is a great 2 hour trip through all things Villa... you will love it!

[gervilla]

Great Stadium, great memories, you can see plenty photos of the trophies we have won....but not the trophies themselves.
I met Ken McNaught (shameless name dropping) after the tour I did and even he said ...."All it's missing is a museum".
When the present is as uninspiring as it is you'd think Randy would extenuate the positives we have as a club, namely the glorious past we have.
I don't get the whole " We have to make it pay for itself " argument either, a wooden structure with a glass front doesn't need too much upkeep.

[rob_bridge]

Realise no updates for a couple of years.

Anyone been on one recently? Me and Missus going for Anniversary Tour in a few weeks.

Did a trophy cabinet ever materialise.?

[SoccerHQ]

I thought it was strange at the time we didn't have a trophy room to show off during the tour and I last went on it in 2006!

[Godfrey Brian]

I've done the tour twice and thoroughly enjoyed them , particulary the last one ayear ago when John Carew was back at the ground filming for TV. Enjoyed seeing how it all works and visiting parts of the ground I don't normally get to see, but the real joy is chatting to the tour leaders-they really know their stuff and were great for swapping Villa tales from back in the day which definitely aren't in the official script . With Jack Watts' recent passing it's good to see his legacy continues through these guys.

[DB]

I asked the General about a Museum, he said it was coming...that was years ago. How can a club with our history not have one?

[aj2k77]

I asked the General about a Museum, he said it was coming...that was years ago. How can a club with our history not have one?

Krulak in telling fans what they want to hear shocker......

As said before I can understand the lack of a museum a bit but you have to show off proudly what you've achieved in the game.

[Salsa Party Animal]

Museum would help the club to generate more income and increase sales in restaurants, cafe, ticket office and club shop. I been to one in Amsterdam Arena, Nou Camp and Bernabéu stadium. It would also help to encourage visitors to fall in love with Aston Villa heritages. 

[Ron Manager]

A museum has to be cost effective. Wolves have one (and very good it is) but it is only open on Fridays ,Saturdays and Sundays for a few hours
only. I enquired as to any chance of a museum being set up at Villa Park. The answer was not very encouraging. This was two seasons ago.

A pity really. But costs are all important these days. Perhaps when we get taken over it may be considered again.

[Billy Walker]

The museum and trophy room are real no brainers for a club like Villa.  The thing is, I'm sure getting such things done would also inspire players to add their bit to the Club's history.  (The addition of the Clubs's achievements in the tunnel area is brilliant and I hope this motivates the players in the same way.)

What the club needs to do is have a look around Europe at how other clubs do this and then go and make Villa's the best of the lot: have a section on the "Birthplace of League Football", McGregor, Ramsay, Rinder and so on; have another area that focuses on the Billy Walker, Eric Houghton, Pongo Waring eras including a big part about the Nazi salute story and so on. There's plenty to cover before we get to the trophies.