Ty Bracey: Cancelled stadium tours for MPs vs press game ‘really poor’ from Aston Villa
We’re delighted to welcome Villa View host Ty Bracey as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
Aston Villa fans having their Villa Park stadium tours cancelled at the last minute so that Conservative MPs could play a match is “really poor” according to Ty Bracey.
One Lions fan told Birmingham Live how a group of 30 supporters had arrived on Sunday (2 October) only to have their bookings cancelled so that MPs could play a match inside the ground against members of the press, with no prior warning and guides also baffled, leaving kids devastated as a result.
With some travelling as long as three hours Bracey was thoroughly disappointed with the disregard the club showed to their fans in ruining a family day out for no good reason.
“I think that’s poor. I really do think it’s poor,” he exclusively told Villa News.
“I think there was a family that’d travelled three hours and they gave them a refund, I just think that’s really, really poor.
“Just so some people can play on the pitch. We need the pitch in the best condition they can get it in, and we are essentially part of the revenue stream as fans, so I think it’s really poor for a family who’ve travelled three hours to go to a stadium tour and they can’t do it.“
In response to the suggestion that it may have been related to gaining political support for the North Stand expansion he responded: “I think is to do with the council. I don’t think that falls under MPs, I think that’s council-related.
“So I don’t think [that link] is entirely true, but whatever the reason, there must be an underlying reason behind it, there must be.
“But again, I think it was poor. They need to arrange that at a time when there’s nothing booked in, where it doesn’t clash with anyone else.
“If nobody’s day is being ruined by it then play on Villa Park whenever you want but you’re cancelling a family’s day out.
“It’s just not great from Villa at all.”
Villa’s chief operating officer Paul Tyrrell had said in response, via Birmingham Live: “Sorry that the 10am tour this morning was double booked with a game.
“As the changing rooms were being used we could not give everybody the full tour. There were eight people who had come from afar so they went on our 1pm tour.
“We will offer everybody adversely affected. A full refund with our sincere apologies. And if anybody wants to rebook the tour we will make sure they get a special one.”
That is too little too late, and shows a clear disregard for the actual supporters of this club, when Tory MPs have done nothing to deserve preferential treatment.
It will be difficult to find anyone among the fan base who thinks that was a good move so major lessons need to be learned.
In other Aston Villa news, Ezri Konsa has backed Ollie Watkins to silence his doubters.