Aston Villa are currently preparing for their third Champions League match as they host Bologna on Tuesday night.
Unai Emery’s men have a flawless record in Europe’s elite competition, brushing aside Young Boys before edging past Bayern Munich 1-0.
Aston Villa will come up against Samuel Iling-Junior for the first time since he joined Bologna on loan tonight, with 21-year-old available to play against his parent club.
The build-up to tonight’s game at Villa Park has once again been overshadowed by the extortionate ticket pricing.
Last week, Villa fans urged the club to lower the ticket pricing for Champions League matches as they struggled to offload tickets, the lowest of which were priced at £83 for an adult.
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Aston Villa fans react to half price Bologna tickets
Aston Villa were slammed for ‘fleecing fans’ for ticket prices. Although they sold like hotcakes for the Bayern Munich clash, they’ve struggled to sell out the capacity for the match against Bologna.
That is hardly surprising given the cost of living crisis and the match having less appeal than the fixture against Bayern however, supporters were shocked to see that hours before the game, tickets were seemingly being sold for half price.
Ticketing websites such as Setpick are offloading them in some areas of the ground for £40. This has left many supporters outraged because some would have bought an adult ticket for over £80.
Reacting to journalist Dan Bardell’s tweet, who pointed out on X that sites were selling tickets for ‘basically half price’, one supporter said: “This guy is a disgrace.”
That comment was targeted at the president of business football operations Chris Heck, who is mostly responsible for Villa’s pricing.
“Disgrace. Just rip off ST holders and other supporters that have already paid,” another fan replied.
“Disgrace. Didn’t like the pricing but understood that if I wanted to watch, that’s what I pay. This is a slap in the face. Either we all get screwed or nobody does,” a third responded.
“Well I paid £200 for myself my mrs and our son seeing this hurts so so bad knowing we could’ve saved that money I’m not broke or anything just feels bad,” a fifth replied.
“@chrisheck76 What a mess own up to your mistakes,” a sixth said.
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What Aston Villa must now do after ticketing fiasco
It seems unreasonable that some supporters have paid £85 for a ticket while others are now able to buy one for £40 after refusing to pay the original price.
Most fans are left angered by the disparity being shown, knowing they’ve essentially been ripped off by the club they support.
Everyone knew that charging £85 for a ticket, especially for a match against Bologna, would eventually end in tears.
Some loyal supporters will point blank refuse to pay such a ridiculous amount of money, and that has left thousands of empty seats which would have otherwise been occupied by loyal fans.
To show a level of professionalism and class, the club has to come out and make a statement on the ticket pricing, either lowering the prices for future games or at least apologising for what has happened.
It is simply unacceptable that fans have been able to buy tickets for cheaper than others – and that isn’t their fault – it is Aston Villa’s for charging a fortune.
