Aston Villa to improve the experience for fans

Aston Villa FC is to improve the match day experience for supporters and the local community after receiving a grant from the Premier League Fans Fund.

The club has been awarded £18,900 to develop the Fan Zone area at Villa Park and to extend the activities to fans on match days.

The funding will also allow the club to deliver heritage workshops in local primary schools, which will educate pupils on the history of the club. As a result of these new initiatives, the Aston Villa Foundation hopes to increase fan engagement across all demographics and hopes that the combination of workshops and increased fan activity on match days will enable them to attract new supporters and retain existing ones.

The Premier League Fans Fund funds projects and organisations which improve the relationship between fans and their clubs, the way football supporters engage with each other, and fans’ experience of the game.

“We are excited about delivering an outreach project to local school children in Year 2, aged six or seven. Research shows that this is when children tend to choose the team they will support for the rest of their lives. We are looking to teach local children at this critical age about the history of the football club in the area in which they live and develop that connection with the club from an early age,” says Guy Rippon, head of foundation and community partnerships.