Fleecing.

[LeeB]

To be honest, it's a pain in the arse going midweek most of the time, let alone being charged best part of £40 to watch a team we battered the other week.

[kippaxvilla2]

Zilinski is a Category A game.

[VillaTim]

The sentiment and strategy is pretty much cough up or feck off. Disgusted by the direction and I'm not sure I'm going to be part of it for  much longer .

Yeah but here’s the thing. That’s what we’ve been saying for years now. All of us, including me.

But we keep coming back, and they know this.

Now they have tens of thousands of people waiting to come and take our places if we really were to stop coming.

i actually feel different this time like i really wont go back. Only Emery made me renew this season in all honesty

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Just out of interest, did Heck follow a similar strategy in Phili? I appreciate it was different circumstances, he needed to get bums on seats but after he achieved it, did he start excluding the very fans he'd spent so much time and money attracting?

I think we should all welcome a COO as right now operations seem to be an afterthought. The poor fella has his work cut out.

[algy]

Football has evolved into something would be barely recognisable to our grandfathers. The notion of club loyalty is long gone. The type of fan that follows clubs has changed also. Whether  it is for the better is debatable.

Personally I love the game and will always watch it but my attachment to Villa as ' my club' is probably lessening as the years go by.

I'm the complete opposite, actually, and were it not for Villa, I'm not sure I'd ever watch another football match in my life.

I'd say I always feel like the Villa is 'my club' - it's the one really strong link I have to the rest of my family (particularly on my dad's side).

The cost - and time - of going to Villa now means that I can't go as much as I'd like.  Time-wise, I rely on public transport so really anything except a Saturday 3pm kickoff is a bit tricky, and there's literally one of those until the end of January, assuming that it isn't moved for TV purposes.

But also money, like just for me to go it's knocking on £60 to get to a 'cheap' game, but in reality it's never *just* me going cos I'd always take the kids to give them that link with the rest of the family ... but then you're looking at £150-£200 for us all to go.  I guess that's part of the thing with the Terrace View - if you're forking out £200-ish to go then what's an extra £30 to get a decent seat and a couple of pints throw in?  May as well, right ...*


* not that I'd go for it, but in reality that's got far more to do with me traditionally sitting in the North Stand or Trinity Road stand for games than anything ... I absolutely get what they're trying to appeal to, cos it's the same thing that I'd do if I went to the theatre with my little girl, which is that for something that happens once or twice a year and costs a bit anyway ... you may as well pay an extra 5% on top of the total cost to make sure it's a "good" experience.

[ASHTONVILLA]

For me it's a £200ish investment every time I go. Tickets for me and my two youngest boys, plus the whole day given to driving up and down the M6 and having to visit my parents as well.

I manage about 3 home games a year, and an extra tenner a ticket wouldn't stop me. Indeed I'd rather pay £300 a trip and we have a great team than wins most of the time, than spend £200 to watch us get beat by West Ham (the last match I took the kids to).

My next match is PNE vs Blues. I watch PNE and FC Fylde more often than Villa as the are close, but I don't have anywhere near the same affinity. It's good when they play Blues as I really want PNE to win then and it makes it more interesting.

As for Villa, I really don't think there is a level they can hit that would ever stop me being a fan. There is a level where they get less of my cash though for sure (both in terms of performance and expense). But for all the cost increases I honestly think the improvement on the pitch still makes them better value at current price than we were under Bruce or Lambert at a cheaper ticket.

[N'ZMAV]

Tim, at this rate, for us fanatical but not wealthy people, it’s only a question of when we decide enough is enough, not if, unfortunately.

I can't go anywhere near as much as I used to, which, is hard for me after 20+ years as a ST holder.

[nigel]

Unfortunately this is the price we have to pay if we want to compete and get the better players in.

[dave.woodhall]

Unfortunately this is the price we have to pay if we want to compete and get the better players in.

It really isn't.

[nigel]

Unfortunately this is the price we have to pay if we want to compete and get the better players in.

It really isn't.

How come?
Not being facetious, I happen to think it is.
You can certainly change my opinion, though 👍

[dave.woodhall]

Brighton haven't had to do it. Leicester didn't. We seem to be paying top prices for tickets while the commercial side is flatlining.

[Skerra]

Nigel, have a look at our nett spend over the last 3 seasons. Just short of £100 million for us and one of the least nett spends, over that period, than the rest of the other EPL clubs. When you add in that some clubs are spending over £100 million for fun on just 1 player, it puts things in perspective, considering how much our season tickets have increased over these last 3 seasons. Plus, add to the equation that, despite huge season ticket price increases, the level of cleanliness and service at Villa Park is less than adequate. We keep hearing how in the “next” transfer window we are going to compete with the top club, in terms of cost of transfers, but in reality, we are still waiting for those big guns coming to us. Maybe next transfer window?? Won’t hold my breath though.

[oldhill_avfc]

7.5% discount vs cat b pricing for my seat.

I doubt if it’s different to what any other premier league club would charge.

We all say that winning trophies should take priority, it’s cheaper than a premier league match , so why wouldn’t you want to go and watch it?

[Gareth]

Unfortunately this is the price we have to pay if we want to compete and get the better players in.

It isnt, that’s what they want us to believe, tge tv revenue, the hospitality revenue, the commercial deals and the use of the ground non matchdays blow ticket revenues out of the water.  Unfortunately raising money by upping tickets prices and squeezing everything out of the non PL games is easier than sourcing better commercial agreements.  It’s a vicious circle that they will keep testing the appetite and we will generally fill the ground - so we can expect continual price rises.

The atmospheres created by the fans are a huge factor in the PL as a product being so popular….rather than milking those supporters for more and more money the prices in reality should be capped like away tickets as a reward for what the fans contribute to the overall product.  Obviously will never ever happen because that would take fans of all clubs uniting to fight it but football is too tribal to be an option.

[oldhill_avfc]

Brighton haven't had to do it. Leicester didn't. We seem to be paying top prices for tickets while the commercial side is flatlining.

Brightons European ticket prices look to be much the same as ours.