VTID – Exploitation of Villa Supporter Loyalty
By Jonathan Northall
In the 150th anniversary year, Aston Villa supporters should be celebrating and enjoying a season gifted with Champions League football. Instead, the club has constructed a shameful episode that is despicable and divisive. The announcement of the pricing structure for the four home Champions League matches has left most fans, and observers, irate. We won’t even get into some people at the club thinking that doubling disable car parking charges was a good idea.
Much has already been spoken about the prices from many of Villa’s stakeholders. Should Villa fans be surprised? At the Fan Advisory Board (FAB) in May, the question was asked of Villa about a ‘bundling’ offering for Champions League home tickets. Villa’s response was, “We have not discussed this yet, but it is unlikely.” Clearly, it had been discussed and pricing per game was the only thing on the table – they just had their fingers crossed that some juicy home draws came out to maximise the potential of extorting a captive market.
There has been talk among fans that it is profit and sustainability rules (PSR) that is the driver of the cost hike for fans. Is it though? Aston Villa’s FY23 revenue was £217.9m of which £18.8m came from gate receipts. That is just 8.6% of the total; I suspect that percentage will be further diluted in FY24 and FY24 due to broadcasting revenue increases due to European football. So, is PSR really the answer to the question? Earlier this week, the story of how close Villa came to a points deduction before the last-minute sale of Douglas Luiz saved the day, came out in the media. The timing of the release of that story was interesting (although the club insist it was the invited journalists that asked for an embargo after the Saturday meeting with Monchi and Vidagany).
Villa’s ability to read the room on the subject of pricing is breathtakingly bad or just plain ignorant. On Monday, UEFA announced that a cap was being placed on clubs as to how much visiting fans can be charged. The UEFA president, Aleksander Čeferin, said that the announcement was “another key step in reaffirming UEFA’s commitment to enhancing the matchday experience for all fans.” However, UEFA are silent on home fans’ prices, so Villa could charge what they like. Less than a week ago, The Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) published an article on their website about match pricing entitled, ‘Stop exploiting loyalty’. Yet Villa is doing exactly that.
Shattered Fields of Dreams
Villa supporters were bracing themselves to pay top dollar for tickets, knowing the club wouldn’t resist the opportunity, but the prices were way north of worse case expectations.
With such a backlash facing the club, will they backtrack? Will they consider a response to the furore? I fear that they won’t because that would be perceived as weak and leave the club open to future actions by fans to engender decision changes. The throwaway line about Carabao Cup and the ‘first home fixture of the FA Cup’ being priced at “£25 for adults and £10 for children in all areas of the Stadium” feels like a cynical attempt at appeasement. Also, it may not materialise if Villa aren’t drawn at home in either domestic cup competition.
How has Villa come to such a decision? Is it effective price gouging for a premium product? Is it to help meet PSR and UEFA’s Financial Sustainability Regulation (FSR)? I don’t know. What I do know is that these regulations and recent financial decisions made, are making Villa unsustainable for many fans.
I would like to think that it was an ephemeral voice in the air that made Chris Heck sign off on the prices. Sitting in his office, Heck may have heard, “If you charge it, they will come.” The idea affirmed in a Field of Dreams style speech – part James Earl Jones, part Doug Ellis:
“People will come, Chris. They’ll come to Villa Park for reasons they can’t even fathom. They’ll turn up on the Aston Expressway not knowing for sure why they’re doing it. They’ll arrive at the turnstiles as innocent as children, longing for the past. ‘Of course, we won’t mind if you look around’, you’ll say. ‘It’s only 97 quid per person’. They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it, for it is money they don’t have but Champions League football they lack. And they’ll walk out to their seats; eating overpriced junk food on a perfect evening. They’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere that may or may not exist, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. It was just a lot cheaper then. And they’ll watch the game and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters…but that could just be the urinals again.”
Maybe that is a fanciful notion. No more fanciful than charging loyal fans an exorbitant price for something that they have craved for since the mid-1980s.
Until next time…UTV
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Well said. My only feeling is that the fans do not have a voice- and yet Unai talks passionately about the importance of the fans both home and away.
Yes, revenue needs to be increased but not via the exploitation of the fan base that manager and players value so much and the money men simply see as no more and no less than a revenue stream to be pushed to the limit in a way that smacks of corporate greed. Chris Heck needs to understand that mutuality is at the heart of sustainable growth for the club and fans that support it through good times and tough times. Mutuality is a shared benefit and a shared benefit will endure. This current approach will only dilute loyalty and begin a slow erosion of the fan base connection that we have today. And where will Heck be? – back in the US…Aston who?