Hard Times
The mythology goes that Aston Villa supporters are a fickle bunch, well, if you listen to David O’Leary, that is. ‘Resilient’ is perhaps a better description.
When you have a team that has chalked up only as many wins as it has had managers over the past year or so, you’d expect the attendances to drop after the club also suffered some of the worst form in the club’s history in the past five years.
From new records in terms of most home defeats in a season (10) to embarrassing long goalless stretches and losing streaks. This generation of Aston Villa supporters have witnessed some dire times.
It’s been over a year since Villa supporters witnessed an away win, yet last weekend, Villa supporters provided the largest away attendance across all the English leagues. Thanks to a generous allocation by Preston, 5,657 of them travelled up to Preston to watch their team at Deepdale.
No other team got close to Villa’s away following, as the below table shows:
Home Contrast
While home attendances are starting to drop, with the physical attendance being alarmingly several thousand less than the official attendance figures, the away support has stood firm.
Rather than the football on display, it’s increasingly the social aspect of a good day/weekend trip away, that attracts fans. In fact, the football at times can be an inconvenience.
MOMS has been part of the new away fan consultation group this season which have taken the positive steps in addressing away fan issues and also improving communication on that front.
From the latest meeting as well as securing £5 off ticket prices for the midweek trip to Norwich City, the club agreed to give Villa supporters updates on away ticket sales via Twitter (@avfcsupport) to avoid the mix up that happened regarding Barnsley tickets (some fans thought it was sold out, due to a website issue).
In addition, Villa’s travelling support will also have a chance to choose their preferred guest beer at the trip to Brighton through a poll run on My Old Man Said.
What the group can’t sort out though is away wins. If only we could!
UTV
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