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Paul Lambert – Aston Villa manager (Getty Images)
The Ugly
Football vs the fans.The desperately sad ‘clubs vs fans’ argument reared its head once again in the last couple of weeks. This time the issue, was of fans’ loyalty and devotion to the club (both emotionally and financially) down the years being completely overlooked as they were punished for the heinous crime of standing up at a football match by being ejected from the ground and having their ticketing account blocked. This from a club who ‘endorses’ safe standing.
Anyone who watched Crystal Palace’s 3-1 home win over Sunderland could see that, when managed correctly, standing enhances atmosphere and can be a huge positive in football grounds.
The heavy-handed approach taken by Villa’s stewards does no good whatsoever, only serving to alienate supporters and to prove that the difference between how the club defines a fan and what a fan actually is only seems to be growing larger.
Villa seem pretty keen on their supposed fan interaction this season, introducing features such as the “#AVFCSocialScene”, where they publish fans’ tweets (carefully selected, of course) ahead of each Villa game. They really wouldn’t have to dig much deeper during their forays into social media to realise the negative impact issues such as their misguided policy on standing are having amongst the fanbase that are the very core of all things Aston Villa.
The club need to be very, very careful over treatment of fans in the future. Still, this is an issue that the whole of football has to find a happy medium with. The recently published Independent Football Ombudsman’s Annual Report 2012-13 indicated it was time for football to fully acknowledge the issue of standing in football.
The IFO said: “Complaints relating to standing and the clear evidence in our stadiums and on our TV screens of large sections of standing supporters demonstrate that, in effect, the ground regulations relating to standing have become unenforceable.”
Of course, the fairest solution is to offer supporters the choice to stand – which the Football Supporters Federation Safe Standing proposal would do. A proposal, that Villa sadly remain the only Premiership club to publicly support.
The solution is out there and it’s time the sport took bolder steps towards it.
