Since 1897, Villa Park has seen various redevelopments throughout its history to establish its presence as one of the most iconic stadiums in English football.
Not only for footballing purposes, but B6 has also hosted various events in the name of entertainment including music concerts, major boxing fights as well as American football fixtures.
Now celebrating its 125th anniversary, and moving into the 2020s Villa Park needs a vast makeover. Both Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens as Aston Villaβs owners have aspirations for establishing the club within footballβs elite once again. To build a foundation for success, B6 needs to house as many of the Villa faithful as possible to enhance the support of the 12th man. Starting with the creation of a brand new North Stand, Villa Park could see thousands more fans through the turnstiles with the capacity to increase to over 50,000.
Aston Villaβs Chief Executive Christian Purslow enlightened fans on Monday morning on the clubβs plans to expand Villa Park, emphasising the importance of the clubβs ββcommitment to the local communityββ as well as creating a ββworld-class sporting venueββ in his statement. From a fanβs perspective, like every football supporter in the world who is fuelled with energy from success and achievements, the announcement of these plans excites me due to the advantageous nature of them. They include plans for Villa Live, a space created to establish a venue at the heart of Aston Villaβs community for beyond the match day experience. With fans seeing a resemblance to BOXPARK Wembley, a fan park destination that Villa fans have enjoyed utilising on previous trips to Wembley Stadium, Villa Park can take the next step by offering a destination to fully immerse supporters into the world of Aston Villa.
With a lack of tenderness, love and care for Villa Park under previous ownerships, it is extremely satisfying to see the current hierarchy place importance on this project as well as encouraging fans to participate in the live public consultation process surrounding the expansion. Despite the past decade seeing relegations and major defeats, fans have continued to make their presence known at Villa Park in large numbers. By prioritising the opinions of the Villa faithful, Purslow as well as the owners are continuing to enhance the strong connection between both fans and the club which can only result in positive outcomes for the future of Aston Villa football club.
The club within their announcement most importantly highlighted their intention to eventually increase the stadiumβs capacity to close to 60,000, making it one of the largest stadiums in the Premier League. Nevertheless, Purslow emphasised to Villa TV that there is a phase to the redevelopment and that first on the agenda is ββhaving a much wider and deeper North Stand with those corners filled inββ resulting in over 50,000 capacity. Long are the days of Dr Tony Xiaβs extreme, unrealistic optimism in taking Aston Villa from the Championship to the top 6 in less than five years. Aston Villa has become a meticulous, well-oiled machine that is planning for the future one step at a time.
As a North Stand season ticket holder, the opportunity to have my match day experience enhanced excites me. Not touched since 1977, the North Stand has been longing for redevelopment for years with the interior desperate for a new structural and creative design. By widening the stand, the club will be utilising space whilst equally maintaining a unique design that will stand out in modern football today. With many football clubs complying with designs such as a bowl structure, stadiums can often lose atmosphere yet from the Aston Villaβs designs released today, as a supporter, I feel enthused by the opportunity to enlarge the stadium we all love whilst maintaining a bold, individual arena in the 21st Century.
AUTHOR | LIAM BRYAN
Authorβs UTV PODCAST archive Liam Bryan – UTV Podcast | An Aston Villa Blog
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