MOMS attended the last Away Fan Consultation meeting of the season, last week, which reflected back what has been a valuable new initiative from the club in terms of supporter communication.
Since this meeting was more of a wrap to the season, there were no official minutes taken as they’ll be a another meeting in the coming weeks to address forthcoming issues like preseason games etc.
Still, here’s a brief overview of some issues that came up:
Away Fund Carry Over
Some news that is worth passing on is there is a pot between £4k-£4.5 left over from the £50k away fund set up last season, that will be carried over to the new season.
Last season, Aston Villa away supporters received ticket price reductions for the away trips to Norwich City, Newcastle, Burton and Fulham.
It’s an initiative that MOMS hopes the club will repeat again next season to reward the away support, since we’re still in the Championship. Rewarding those regular away fans is certainly a decent goodwill gesture by the club.
If you get the chance, please do congratulate on the club on the initiative via email or social media to help persuade them to do it again!
Germany Pre-season
The meeting confirmed that no firm arrangements seemed to have been finalised in terms of preseason fixtures in Germany. Villa CEO Keith Wyness had promised in the last general Fans Consultation Group meeting that the details would have been announced by now, to allow fans planning their summers as much notice as possible.
One can only assume there has been some complications finalising the fixtures. Hopefully, we’ll all hear news of who we’re playing sooner rather than later.
Disable Away Fans
It came to MOMS attention during the meeting that there seems to have been disable tickets left over for pretty much all of Villa’s away games last season. Maybe they are not being communicated to disable fans properly? If you are disable and keen to go to away games, it’s worth flagging this up.
Leeds Again
Since Villa will be visiting Leeds again, after last seasons farce – which we collected several supporter accounts of – MOMS asked the club if they had heard back from Leeds as to what measures will be different from our last visit, when we turn up next season.
Changes apparently have been made, but details were a bit stretchy.
As mentioned before, the best thing going forward maybe is to request details under the Freedom of Information Act from the meeting Leeds United had with officials and the Yorkshire police. I know a few fans contacted MOMS about this already, so we should perhaps go ahead with this in the close season.
Away Scheme
There’s been some complaints all season about this scheme in terms of some fans just using it to get Blues derby tickets etc. It is being reviewed by the club.
If you are a member of the Away Scheme and want to join in the Away Consultation Group meetings, drop us a line on contact@myoldmansaid.com and we’ll put you forward to the club. Villa are keen to have additional fans on board next season, so if you’re keen, get in touch.
Best Away Experience
Separate from the meeting, just to confirm, as we reported earlier, Brighton’s ground was voted by the EFL as offering the best experience for travelling fans. To see more details of this and read what MOMS thought.
UTV
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