If the powers that be at Aston Villa were remotely concerned their decision to charge extortionately high prices for tickets to Champions League home games this season might lead to repercussions in the form of any sort of meaningful fan protest, they were sent a very clear message on Saturday night. The pointed refusal by the Villa Park crowd to get behind a very minor, but arguably important, act of dissent planned by one supporters’ group let them know in no uncertain terms that the denizens of Villa Park have reached peak meek subservience.
Their unwillingness even to rock the boat gently in the face of grotesque exploitation at the hands of their club let the hierarchy know they could almost certainly have gone full Oasis, sanctioned dynamic pricing and got away with charging them an awful lot more for tickets. It should be added that the relationship between Villa and their fanbase is far from unique in this regard, but as the club prepare to pull up a chair to Europe’s top table for the first time in 41 years when they take on Young Boys in Berne on Tuesday night, it happens to be the one making headlines.
