Aston Villa’s £100m redevelopment of its facilities, including the North Stand at Villa Park, is vital for the club to compete with its rivals, according to Dan Bardell.
As reported by Birmingham Live (29 September), the club have been given the go-ahead for significant developments to facilities, including the Academy building site into a temporary fan zone and the stadium itself, with the new North Stand set to be complete for the 2026/27 season.
Aston Villa’s new-found status as a European side shows their significant growth since their spell in the Championship, and this new development represents the ambitions of the club.
Bardell has welcomed these improvements, claiming that the club must develop in this way to compete with Premier League rivals while the increase in capacity from 42,657 to 50,065 will help alleviate the growing season ticket waiting list.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, Bardell said: “The more fans they can get in the ground, the more revenue they can make. We’ve seen Villa make a lot of changes to ticket prices and whatnot and with their commercial activity. They need to do this to try and compete with rivals, so it will be helpful from that point of view
“It’s good for the fans as there’s a massive waiting list for season ticket holders. The North Stand is pretty tired as well, so having a fresh new stand is a good thing.
“Villa Park is a historic ground, so I wouldn’t want Villa to go the route of getting a new stadium.
“It ticks a lot of boxes. They’ve wanted to develop the ground for a while under a lot of different ownerships, but they’ve finally got the green light.”
In other Aston Villa news, a Sky Sports journalist has urged Emery to keep a ‘high profile’ Aston Villa player away from B6 this season.
