As some of you may know, I take particular pride in us having one of the finest grounds in the game, anywhere in the country and maybe even the world.
I’ve also mentioned before that I’ve spoken to lots of fans of the “top” clubs and most agree that Villa park is a great stadium.
Ok, it might not be aesthetically the best and the North stand lets it down quite badly, but the Holte and the Trinity are pretty magnificent.
So the Birmingham mail has run an article with quotes from other club’s fans that back my view up;
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/in-word-beautiful-away-fans-13871816
There’s some criticism of things we already know about, but certainly the overall consensus in the article is that many away fans like coming to Villa park.
Which makes me very proud.
I may have mentioned that I did the VP tour as a birthday present, in the summer.
While I never really felt I needed to do it before, as I have very good knowledge about the club and it’s history, so although we weren’t allowed to go on the pitch because it was being treated, just walking around the edge brought the memories flooding back to when I was a 13 year old and we invaded the pitch after the last game of the season. 1975 it was, after we’d won the League cup.
The pitch was to be replaced, so I even dug a piece of turf up and planted it in the back garden
Happy days indeed.
Which goes back to the ground itself.
It’s about the character and the whiff of history, which is just so lacking in the majority of grounds.
A great ground, of course bettered by the Emirates and Man U etc, but definitely still up there, imo.
Blimey! The football is that bad we are looking for quality around the pitch.
And finding it of course, a rebuild does not have to be all concrete and steel, or such a jumble of crane jibs you expect a container ship to moor alongside the dugouts. The matching of the brickwork on the Holte to Aston Hall up the hill ties the two together – The Stately Home of Football – yeah we have it.
Is there anything wrong with it? Well a Feng Shui expect (and we do have a Chinese owner) would tell you the front entrance is on the wrong side, the hill should be behind the building.
Ah, sorry OLL, I just have such a soft spot for VP.
There are very few grounds that match it for me, although I am probably biased.
Highbury had it, as did Anfield and the Dell.
Goodison too, although that’s now really dated.
Ooh, the Baseball ground too.
And then I’m struggling.
The Emirates is bloody impressive, but in a different way.
Wembley had it too, but has been ruined, for me.
How they built our national stadium without the magical 100k capacity is beyond me.
Blimey, when I think of some of the sh*tholes I’ve been too, well, you have laugh.
i don’t know about the Feng Shui bit, but re-building the North stand would be a good move.
70’s construction just sucks.
Hmm, come to think of it, I doubt the planning permission for that has long to run, hence I can’t see it happening any time soon
Wembley, Etihad, Emirates – only better because they are state of the art. Get a new North Stand and then VP has it all, four modern stands, the greatest terrace in the world in the Holte End plus it is in its original place – not a faceless new build right next to Aston Hall and the Holte Pub. The walk up to VP seeing the church, then the pub, then the hall and then the Holte End gets me buzzing every match day.
Even in the Championship, watching the players walk out in claret and blue on to the Villa Park pitch is an absolute privilege. That whilst the players aren’t the best that just being in the stadium means you part of something great, in the presence of greatness, that something magical might happen that day.
I think we often lose sight of what a great club we are, what a stadium we have and even now since our fall from grace how relevant the club is to so many people across the midlands and beyond. I fell in love with Villa because I fell in love with Villa Park.