Aston Villa fans have been left seething after the club released the prices for Champions League tickets last week.
Aston Villa will return to the competition for the first time in over 40 years this month, starting with a trip to Young Boys, after Unai Emery guided the club to a fourth-place finish in the Premier League.
Villa supporters were gripped with excitement as they discovered their opponents for the Champions League, which included a repeat of the 1982 European Cup final against Bayern Munich in October.
However, this excitement soon turned into anger as Villa fans were left outraged by the ridiculous ticket pricing revealed by the club for the Champions League.
In some areas of the ground, supporters could end up paying £97 a ticket, which is an obscene amount of money for a game of football.
Villa’s President of Business Operations Chris Heck did apologise to the supporters in the aftermath of this outrage and blamed FFP for the ticket pricing, with one football finance expert shedding further light on the decision.
Kieran Maguire says one ‘problem’ led to ridiculous Champions League ticket prices at Aston Villa
Villa’s first Champions League home is against Bayern Munich on October 2nd and despite the uproar, the general admission tickets for the game have now sold out.
Given the demand to watch their side in the most prestigious European competition, it’s hardly surprising that tickets have sold like hotcakes.
Yet, that doesn’t take away from the fact that the pricing, particularly in the current financial climate, is absurd and some fans will have scraped money together just to afford it.
While that is the case, football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes the reason for the ticket pricing is that Villa are compensating for the Premier League TV deal showing no growth and for Financial Fair Play (FFP).
Speaking on the Price Of Football podcast, Maguire explains how clubs like Villa are looking for other income streams.
“But I think part of the problem that we have is that the Premier League TV deal is showing no growth,” Maguire said.
“So therefore clubs are looking for other income streams. FFP is the perfect get out of jail free card. If you do anything that the fans don’t like, I don’t want to do it, it’s down to FFP.
“Manchester United with car park charges, putting up the price of a pint. Everything will now be blamed on FFP. I’m not a fan of the cost control rules because, A, I think they distort competitive balance for ambitious clubs such as Aston Villa and Newcastle.”
Aston Villa must listen to fan outrage over Champions League ticket pricing
Financial Fair Play and PSR are two reasons why Villa had to sell the likes of Omari Kellyman, Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby to fund their summer business.
Now, Heck cites FFP as being the driving force behind the high ticket pricing. The club are desperate to bring in as much revenue as possible and don’t care about what the fans think in the process.
Of course, the Champions League is a prestigious competition and it’s been over four decades since Villa were last in it but to force fans into paying £97 for a ticket is a disgrace.
With tickets selling quickly for the game against Bayern, it’s virtually impossible that pricing will be brought down for their other three group matches, although it’s something the club should strongly consider.
