Ticket prices at Villa Park are going up for a fifth straight year.
Villa’s fan advisory board has revealed the club refused a request to consider freezing ticket prices for next season.
The club confirmed last week prices would be going up for the fifth straight year, with supporters being asked to pay up to £99 to attend Champions League matches.
In a statement, the fan advisory board (FAB) conceded many supporters would be “disappointed” with the five per cent increase on season and matchday tickets.
But it insisted its own consultation process with the club over pricing strategy still had merit, claiming "meaningful affordability measures” were secured as a result.
Villa supporters have seen the price of tickets increase as much as 90 per cent since 2021.
Unai Emery’s team will play in front of a reduced capacity next season while the North Stand is redeveloped.
The FAB statement read: “Within that context, and consistent with the Football Supporters’ Association’s wider calls for restraint on ticket pricing, the FAB specifically asked the club to consider a price freeze for the 2026/27 season.
“However, once it became clear during discussions that price increases were likely, our focus returned towards securing meaningful affordability measures, supporter protections, and improvements to accessibility within the final package.”
The FAB, which was completely reconstituted last summer with new members, said the removal of the top 1888 pricing category and the extension of concessionary pricing for the most expensive areas of the stadium represented valid “affordability protections” for supporters.
It also revealed the club had agreed to begin consultation over pricing for the 2027-28 season earlier than in previous years.
Villa have consistently argued price rises are necessary to boost revenues and help the club compete and stay on the right side of financial fair play regulations.
The FAB statement said: “We continue to believe that football must remain accessible to ordinary supporters and that supporter loyalty should never be taken for granted.
“At the same time, we also recognise the wider financial environment in which Premier League clubs now operate.
“Modern football is increasingly shaped by financial sustainability regulations, including Premier League and UEFA squad cost controls, which of course requires clubs to increase revenue if they are to compete consistently at the highest level.
“Therefore, our strategy as a FAB was to balance the commercial aspirations of the club with securing meaningful affordability measures, supporter protections, and improvements to accessibility within the final package.
“That is an important distinction. The role of a fan advisory board is not simply to issue demands from outside the process, but to engage directly with the club, represent supporter concerns honestly, and work constructively to influence outcomes.
“While not every supporter will agree with every aspect of the final announcement, we believe the consultation process did result in several important changes and mitigations that would not otherwise have been achieved.”
Continue Reading