Aston Villa fans, probably the best fans in the country
Written by Chris   
Friday, 11 April 2008

In Aston Villa's 'twelfth man' we have one of the top sets of supporters in England, we are consistently behind the team when needed and can always be heard drowning out the opposition's fans.

Unfortunately I don't get to every home game because it's not always easy to get time off work and travel down to the West Midlands for the day, but when I do the atmosphere is always electric, even when we are not winning, and on the occasions I'm not there I can still hear the 40,000+ voices over the commentators during the live games on TV.

Luckily I do get to most of the ten away games in the North West and over in the North East where, with the exception of Liverpool and Newcastle, the Villa faithful are always louder than the home fans and would be a match for the other two in similar numbers.

This same Villa faithful are also getting bigger and are on course to give Aston Villa their best average attendance in almost 60 years.

The average crowd so far this season is just over the 40,000 mark for only the 4th time since the clubs move from Perry Barr in 1897. This is a big change from the days before Martin O'Neill when the average attendance was just creeping over the 34,000 mark under David O'Leary.

With 42,640 already sold out for the Villa-Blues derby, Villa just need another sell out for the Wigan match, sorry 'Olof Mellberg Day', to push the average for this season up to 40,375.

With season ticket holders being able to pick up additional tickets at a tenner each it doesn't seem too unlikely that the highest attendance since the 1948/49 season and the third highest average attendance that Villa Park has ever seen will be hit this season.

If we keep improving like this we should have no problem filling 50,000 seats in the coming seasons, but in the meantime, I'll see you all at Villa Park on May 3rd when we break some records in our Viking hats and Sweden tops.

Comments (27)add comment

James Vickers said:

what is this guy on? where were the fans when villa were struggling? the fans started going again this year as they started winning a few games. Worlds best? your having a laugh!! most fickle fans in the country.
April 11, 2008

theprimeminister said:

I'm saying he fans have always been great and now there's even more of them which can only be a good thing, more support, more revenue etc
I for one support go to games no matter how we play but enjoy it more when the stadium is full.
April 11, 2008

ShelfLife said:

The PM, that comment makes absolutely no sense. "Best fans in the world and now there are more of them??" Bit of a contradiction no?.. Where have these 'new' fans suddenly popped up from? The fact that a lot of them have only now decided to to start turning up to matches when things are starting to look up again surely makes a nonsense of the notion that they "are the best in the world". Where were these great fans last season when Villa Park offered some of the cheapest PL admission prices in the country??
April 11, 2008 | url

nan was a fan said:

Vickers. Most Villa fans are not fickle. We moan whatever happens.
April 11, 2008

theprimeminister said:

nan was a fan said:
Vickers. Most Villa fans are not fickle. We moan whatever happens

Lmao
April 11, 2008

anotherjames said:

I have to disagree. we might be some of the most loyal and - if you count moaning - passionate supporters, but there have been games ive been to over the last couple of years where its been surprisingly quiet, even in the Holte.
Yes I'd love to think were the best fans in the world, with the best team in the world, but I actually think that were not. We can be overly negative (maybe I am being overly negative though?). The hardcore Villa fans are fantastic, true, which is seen at away games. But at home games, attendances and noise levels drop all too easily when were not doing so well.
April 11, 2008

Villa_Rules said:

One of the best sets of fans

Heres what we are first at

Most paitent fans
Most let down fans
Most unlucky set of fans i you take away leeds united

I cant wait til the end of the five year plan because then we will learn if we have got to be paitent again or will it be all rosey by then only time will tell
April 11, 2008

Dan---Villa said:

Best away fans in the country!!! Most Definately!!! UTV!
April 11, 2008

I HATE BLUES said:

Best fans in the world my arse. Every other day ppl on here are moaning about no right back, constantly criticsizing MON's lack of knowlage in the transfer market, we even had a post moaning how some guy is always standing up and interupts his view.The reason more people are buying tickets is the fact we are buying a better product with our money than we have done in recent years .End of smilies/angry.gif
April 11, 2008

Arrlui said:

Season ticket holders get tix for a tenner each? I'm buying a season ticket as we speak...
April 11, 2008

theprimeminister said:

Arrlui said:
Season ticket holders get tix for a tenner each? I'm buying a season ticket as we speak...
I think they can only buy an extra two but not 100%
April 11, 2008

Leroy said:

Some of the most frustrated fans id say. So much promise about twelve years ago, then ebs and flows since........Could be worse could have that boring royal blue coloured jersey. UTV!
April 11, 2008

K4AVFC said:

Chris, thanks for this article .... Us lads who stand at the back of The Holte and travel away every week appreciate it when our efforts are recognised!

Off to Pride Park tomorrow and im sure we will bring the house down again.
April 11, 2008

theprimeminister said:

K4AVFC said:
Chris, thanks for this article .... Us lads who stand at the back of The Holte and travel away every week appreciate it when our efforts are recognised!
Off to Pride Park tomorrow and im sure we will bring the house down again.


Cheers K4AVFC, It's what I genuiney beieve, I went to the home match against the Geordes with half a dozen mates as part of my stag weekend and at 1-0 down they couldn't believe how loud the Holte was and that was a Man U fan, 2 Boro fans and 3 liverpool fans.
Same again when I took the Missus to the Reebok "Why are you lot louder when there's loads more of them"
April 11, 2008

K4AVFC said:

3,000 going tomorrow ... cant wait :-)
April 11, 2008

taglor said:

I agree and now I don't agree, thus I am Villa fan.
April 11, 2008

The Real JAMES VICKERS (Villa Fan) said:

To all people who have commented. The 1st comments by my name sake were that of a delusional dirty bitter blue nose. They come on here to impersonate as a supposed Villa fan which proves how pathetic their fans actually are. They can't even fill their PIG STY of a ground with a capacity of ~29K LULUS. Bunch of fags.
April 12, 2008

SuperSeanUK said:

I think.... that we moan a lot and we complain... PROBABLY... more than a lot of fans out there but that's because we're such a unique club. As someone said, so much promise 12 years ago and ebbs and flows since. We've been like that (young as I am I'm pretty good on our history) for years really, never consistently the top dog, at least not post WW1, so hopes have been built and then slowly faded repeatedly. That's why I think we get frustrated or wound up easily, and sometimes that affects our average attendances. However, I think that our CORE fans are the best in the league. The Holte almost always gets a lot of noise going and our away fans, I really do think, are the best in the league. I'm sure Damian opened his article about our 2-1 loss at Fulham with something about a Fulham mate of his texting him saying how our fans were the loudest of the season, and that was on one of our worst performances of the season.

Blah, long, tipsy-ish message, but basically - I think we moan a LOT outside of games, but that's out of love for the club and really, we are truly great fans.
April 12, 2008

villadaz said:

My take on this is our away support is amazing. I took a friend from Barcelona to the Wigan match and he could not believe the support, he said that he was not sure if he was in Wigan or Birmingham!!! Mind you he is not the sharpest tool in the box.

I would suggest that nearly all home fans with high expectations tend to go silent when things are not going well...And that includes L'pool who are in my opinion very over rated as fans.
April 12, 2008

Leroy said:

I reckon Taglor is our greatest fan hands down
April 12, 2008

Lozz said:

TOOK MY SON 2 SUNDERLAND MATCH (THEIR FANS SANG 100%) WE WERE VERY QUIET! SO GOIN 2 WIGAN MATCH, HOPE ITS BETA.
April 12, 2008

andikan said:

chris you are clueless!!! i am a season ticket holder om the holte end and ok occassioanlly there is a bit of atmosphere but on the whole it is very quiet for a premier league stadium!! Ask any other supporters which is the quietest ground to come and play at and a lot will have villa high up there. it has got a bit better this year but over the last 6/7 years there has been very little atmosphere.
Our away support on the other hand is unbelieveable and i would say the best in the league. if we could get the holte end like the 3000 we take away each week villa park would be bouncing!!!
April 12, 2008

nhuggy said:

Loud home fans? Dont think they exist anywhere these days. You obviously didn't make it to Newcastle this season either because we outsang them all match!
April 12, 2008

theprimeminister said:

ADIKAN you are a season ticket holder so I can't say much apart from everytime i've been in Holte it has been an incredible atmosphere maybe I've been lucky.

NHUGGY this seasons Newcastle away was first I'd missed for a while and usually they are one of the few home crowds who can compete with our Away support

April 12, 2008

theprimeminister said:

How loud areVilla today!!!!!! smilies/grin.gif
April 12, 2008

GonzoAvfc said:

we do have some great fans but, not the best. the amount of times people leave the ground before the whistle is blown, people booing petrov and the team during the middlesborough game. no mtatter what is happenin u dont boo your own team its disgusting.
April 12, 2008

brett said:

personally you judge fans by the away support and not the home (to the guy who said bout sunderland fans - its a long way to drive not to sing!) and our away fans are brilliant, i dont go but feel proud by the stories

but fair play to the club, i can get a season ticket for something like the 3rd cheapest in the league (as a student) we arent always the best fans (harry redknapp and eduardo chants) but value for money at villa is sky high at the moment

hope every game will one day be like shef utd at home last season
April 12, 2008

Write comment
quote
bold
italicize
underline
strike
url
image
quote
quote
smile
wink
laugh
grin
angry
sad
shocked
cool
tongue
kiss
cry
smaller | bigger

busy
 

Battle Royale: Villa score two to take a point from Everton

football bets AVFC Blog

Subscribe to our News Feed

RSS at the AVFC Blog

If you like the site and want to be one of the first to know when something is published, click here.

Share our News