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Ground Review
By James
April 29 2004
Villa Park is one of the biggest football grounds in the country and has been home to Aston Villa since 1897; on completion of the new Trinity Road Stand in the year 2000 it brought the capacity up to 42,582
The Holte End

This is one of the end stands and an impressive one in that. It is the biggest stand in the ground and is the place where most of the atmosphere and chanting is created during match days, Graham Taylor once called the Holte End ‘The heart beat of the club’. This is a fair reflection, as throughout the game the Villa faithful can be found singing their hearts out for the team. It has a capacity alone of about 13,500 which also makes it one of the biggest end stands in the Premiership. The stand also has a bar called Ramsay’s which is situated in-between the upper and lower Holte sections. The bar is in memory of our great player George Ramsay who negotiated the lease of Villa Park after previously ‘finding’ the old Perry Bar ground.

The Doug Ellis Stand (Witton Lane End)

The ‘Doug Ellis Stand’ is called Witton Lane to Ellis-haters as the stand is on a road called 'Witton Lane'. It has a capacity of around 9,500 which includes a small part of the away section to the bottom left of the stand (looking at it from the picture above). There are also many executive boxes in-between the upper and lower sections of the stand, which players have been known to buy for the season so their family can view the games – one being Paul Merson in a previous season.

The North Stand

An original name for this stand, this is where a lot of the corporate hospitality takes place. There is the family enclosure in the upper section of the ground, where adults can take their children if they are not partial to a bit of bad language in other parts of the ground. The away fans have the whole of the lower tier and for certain cup games the whole of the Stand is made available for them. There are also executive boxes between the upper and lower sections and the capacity is just under 7,000. This is clearly the worst part of the ground; however it still isn’t that bad – despite the outside requiring a bit of a clean! Behind the North Stand is Villa Village – the club shop, which is the largest club shop – owned by the football club itself - in the country. The ticket office and players car park is also around the back of this area of the ground.

The Trinity Road Stand

This is the newest stand in the whole ground, which was opened for the first time to a section of supporters on Boxing Day 2000. The capacity of the stand is around 12,000 making it the second biggest in the ground. The chairman takes up his seat in the middle part of the stand, as do journalists and famous fans. The dug-out is in front of this stand and at the rear it goes over the road outside of Villa Park, which is an impressive feature. There are over 70 spaces available for disabled supporters, which is an excellent addition to the ground. The best bit of the stand is the view that is gained from the upper section, I believe it is the best view in the ground as the tactics can be clearly seen and each player easily monitored. This is however the most expensive part of the ground (upper section), however it is well worth the extra expense if you are after a great view.

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