Neutral section at VP?

[dave.woodhall]

I'm probably small-minded, but I'd still struggle to get past the "Man United fan from Birmingham" bit, to be honest.

I'm sure there are nice UKIP voters and, maybe, even reasonable people who own a U2 album.

I've no wish to associate with them or see Villa give them an extra stand though.

Nobody's saying they should get an extra stand.

Section, then.

What... you expect me to actually read the thread title?

Nor even a section.

[bertlambshank]

How about if the tickets are only sold to the away teams family members? I would guess most teams have one?

[Witton Warrior]

The problem with the "should away fans be in our end" and this thread is that it goes against why I attend Villa Park. I go to be unreasonable for 90 minutes a fortnight. The rest of the time I am almost completely law-abiding, helpful, charitable and generous - but I need to excercise my visceral Shadow as Jung put it. At VP I am intolerant of the opposition, blinkered in my views and totally subjective in my arguments while allowing my base instincts full rein!

I really enjoyed the Leicester fans hating us the other week - loved it! Somebody gave a damn about us.

We have a neutral area in the Upper Trinity if my last visit up there was anything to go by.

[Ads]

A big no to a neutral section from me.

Why can't Man United fans that have been fed after midnight/got wet, go in the away end with their brood?

[Richard E]

I don't think you can watch a match without to at least some degree wanting one or other side to win.

[Dave]

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.

[Ads]

The trick is not to bring your daughters friend's Everton supporting dad, ply the child with sweets and you've just added a convert to the cause.

[RussellC]

Not for me. It worked at Fulham because there's huge market of tourists and day-trippers in London who will pay just to watch an 'EPL' game and, unlike the other Premiership Clubs, Fulham had enough unfulfilled capacity to create the neutral area. I just can't see it resulting in anything other than an overflow away-end at Villa, and therefore causing problems.

[tomd2103]

Not for me either.  To be honest, it is only really an issue against a couple of teams each season (and the Blues on the rare occasions we play them), so I don't see the need for it.   

[Dave]

...so I don't see the need for it.   

You don't think that any of the examples that I gave are possible?

[tomd2103]

...so I don't see the need for it.   

You don't think that any of the examples that I gave are possible?

Oh of course they are possible Dave and I quite like the idea of having certain sections of the ground for local schools, no matter who the children support.  I just don't think we would need to have a designated area like that as it isn't really an issue against the majority of teams we play.   

[RussellC]

...so I don't see the need for it.   

You don't think that any of the examples that I gave are possible?

Dave, I think you've put forward a decent case, but I still think the cons outweigh the pros. For one, I think for every potentially convertible school kid who'll make the most of it, you'll get a genuine away fan who just wasn't able to get a ticket in the away-end. It would just lead to many more of the incidents described in this thread, and probably a great deal more disgruntlement of actual Villa fans.

Also, where would we feasibly house this 'neutral'section?

[Lastfootstamper]

Dave, I think what you're after isn't so much a neutral stand, but more a dedicated, properly organized, not open to abuse, kids and families stand. I'd suggest utilizing some of the wide-open spaces in the UT, but you'd have some natives disgruntled with any disparity in ticket prices (unless you were born there, there's no concession).

[Holte L2]

Absolutely no chance.

[Dave Cooper please]

The problem with the "should away fans be in our end" and this thread is that it goes against why I attend Villa Park.

But this wouldn't be "away fans in our end" it would be a small section of seats allocated to families of both clubs who would know that they would be sitting with opposition fans who might cheer when they score but don't mind.
You could still vent and swear to your heart's content wherever you are sat because the only way this little section could possibly annoy you is if you deliberately buy tickets in it.