By Kate Jackson
March 11 2010

Aston Villa's Villa Park used to be the biggest club ground in the country, and still to this day has the biggest "behind the goal" stand of anyone in the world, the Holte End able to hold 15,000 people. It's a good ground that has changed a lot since my first visit there.

DATES VISITED GROUND
DATE	OPPONENT	SCORE
23/08/1993	Aston Villa vs Man United	AV 1 MU 2
28/2/2010	Aston Villa vs Man United	AV 1 MU 1

I have seen two very different versions of Villa Park, the near all-terraced version and the all seated version. Given that I was only 8 years old during the visit to the near all terraced version, this review will be based on the visit to the all seater version. Please also note that the pictures in this review were from a guided tour that I went on on February 3rd 2010 as they give a better all-around view of the ground.

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THE HOLTE END

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Getting to Villa Park is relatively simple, go to Witton train station (changing at New Street if heading from Lincoln) and the ground is no more than 3 minute walk away. The size of the stadium compared the buildings in the surrounding area also easily allows you to have a "north star" so you can always tell if you're heading in the right direction. The ground is easily visible from the nearby motorway, so if you get lost then you're doing something veyr, very wrong.

Although there is not a lot of stuff to do around Villa Park, there are plenty of take aways, ample places to park and a sizeable club shop. All of which makes up for the lack of real activities within a reasonable distance of the ground. However, Witton train station is about a 10 minute journey from Birmingham centre, so you could easily just stay in Birmingham for a while before going to the game.

Turnstiles open relatively late by Premier League standards, so you have plenty of time before kick off to partake in whatever you wish to do, although please note that due to the late(ish) opening of the stands, this means long queues at the turnstiles, especially towards kick off.

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THE NORTH STAND

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Away fans are housed in the Doug Ellis Stand and the view from this stand is pretty reasonable, however, due to the roof going up rather than curving, it's reasonably difficult for away fans to get an atmosphere going. To the right is the North Stand, a very odd looking structure. It looks quite out compared to the rest of the ground as it is easily the oldest stand, it's also quite unusual in appearance as it's a fairly thin stand but very tall.

Opposite the away fans is the Trinity Road Stand and it's huge, one of the biggest "side of the pitch stands" in the country, but it does offer an excellent view of the action as this was the main stand we were shown around during the tour mentioned earlier. After wandering all around the stand, there isn't really a bad seat to be found in this stand and you'd struggle to find a bad view from any of the seats, even the lower down ones.

Then comes the Holte End, the biggest "behind the goal" stand in the World. This is where the Villa Park atmosphere comes from and it can be a very noisy stand. According to the tour guide, this is the largest stand that isn't connected to another stand behind a goal for any club in the world, whether that's actually true or not is anyone's guess, unless someone has actually been to every ground in the world....which I highly doubt.

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THE TRINITY ROAD STAND

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The atmosphere has been excellent whenever I've been to Villa Park, with the Holte End producing one of the best atmospheres in the country. The one thing I would say about the atmosphere though is that the home fans seem to quickly turn on Villa whenever I've been. It did make it seem quite unpleasent.

Other than though, Villa fans seem to be amongst the friendliest in the country and they are more than willing to socialise with opposition fans....other than Birmingham City I am assuming. The knowledge is mixed as they know a lot about the Premier League but virtually nothing of anything below. When I told them that Lincoln had several of their players on loan at the time of the tour, half of them didn't even realise that their players had left, or even that Lincoln had a team.

The club shop is massive, with numerous items for sale in a vast array of styles. Due to the size, despite a lot of people ibeing in there is never seems overly crowded or uncomfortable.

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THE DOUG ELLIS STAND - AWAY END TO THE LEFT HAND SIDE

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Overall, I really like Villa Park, an excellent venue for football and when they get going with the atmosphere, they really get going. However, I would recommend that if you go, you don't sit in the North Stand as it is extremely cramped in there, although season tickets are only £300 in this section. 

 

SCORES
Ease of getting to the area	6	Friendliness of fans (outside ground)	9
Ease of getting to the ground once in area	8	Friendliness of fans (inside grounds)	8
Transport in local area	7	Feeling of safety	8
Ease of parking	6	Atmosphere (noise)	8
Stuff to do near the ground	7	Atmosphere (chant variety)	8
Club Shop	9	Facilities in away end	6
Away End Quality	8	Quality of food	6
View from Away End	8	Stewards	7
Rest of the Ground	9	Quality of games on visits	6
Programme	9	Chances of a non-Lincoln visit	4
Total (out of 200)			147