Fan Advisory Board August meeting

We are very much planning for these events to take place and have some tentative dates to confirm in the last week of September. We are very aware of the need to communicate in good time, but we hope the FAB will also understand that it's not always straightforward to fix a date many weeks out, particularly with very senior members of the management team on both the football and business side.

In short: we are committed to the event taking place before the end of September and will fix a date as soon as we can.

The first two Junior FAB meetings have been really positive and, importantly, have demonstrated that the group can provide valuable and practical feedback from a younger supporter perspective.

The first meeting focused primarily on matchday atmosphere and the wider supporter experience. Members discussed areas including pre-match music, flags and visual displays, how atmosphere can be generated across more areas of Villa Park, supporter culture and pre-match activities for younger fans.

The second meeting focused on matchday catering. Our Catering Team talked members through the current operation and plans for the season, before members took part in a foodtasting session and breakout discussions. We also used the second meeting to close the loop on the first session, showing members what had happened with their feedback and explaining how some of their ideas had been considered internally.

In terms of how the main FAB and Junior FAB will interact, we don't envisage simply combining the two groups or having unrestricted communication between members. Safeguarding has been built into the Junior FAB from the outset, with our safeguarding colleagues involved in establishing the group and helping ensure it remains a safe environment in which younger supporters can speak openly.

Instead, we see the Junior Chair providing a structured link between the two groups, supported by Club staff. The original scope of the role included representing the Junior FAB at the main FAB when appropriate and acting as a voice for the wider Junior group. This would allow key themes, recommendations and questions to move between the two Boards without creating safeguarding concerns through direct or informal communication channels.

Equally, there may be topics where it is useful for the main FAB to ask the Junior FAB for a younger supporter perspective, or where feedback from both groups can be considered together by the Club. We would facilitate that dialogue rather than expecting members of the two Boards to communicate independently.

As context, demand has significantly increased during the construction and upgrade phases in the Trinity Road stand over the years, which has put pressure on the services. The Club has invested significantly in new storage tanks in the stand and has upgraded the incoming supply from 63mm to a new 125mm main, which will now permanently resolve any capacity issues.

For season 2026/27 we are looking at three locations for children's activations (please note this will not be for Arsenal), namely at the store, in the new marquee at Trinity Reception, and using either the Holte Pub or basketball courts.

The activities will include things like inflatables, mini golf and Connect 4, and will rotate throughout the season.

We apologise for the issues that some supporters have raised and we're committed to resolving this as quickly as we can. If the FAB could please share the names of any supporters who have reached out to them, we will then dispatch the prize.

As per our meeting with the FEC, we would like to reiterate our thanks for the ideas and document shared, and please rest assured that this remains in our thinking as we plan game presentation this season.

Our suggestion is that once we have all experienced a number of home games in the three-stand version of Villa Park and gathered wider fan feedback and sentiment, we hold a brainstorming session with the FEC and members of the match presentation team to work through potential ideas.

As with previous seasons, we do recommend that if you choose to add your tickets to Apple and Google Wallets, this is done before you arrive at the stadium. However, the Club has taken steps to simplify access to the Wi-Fi networks around Villa Park on matchdays, to allow anyone who hasn't previously downloaded their tickets an easy way to do so. There will be QR codes around the stadium to grant easy access to the network. This will be tested ahead of the first game of the season.

As part of our ongoing technology improvements, we have recently implemented significant changes to our Wi-Fi infrastructure at Villa Park. These enhancements have been designed to simplify the wireless experience across all AVFC locations while improving overall connectivity, performance and reliability, and AVFC Tickets remains the service used to provide shortterm connectivity around turnstiles so fans can download tickets.

For the first games of the season, stewards will again be supported by 30 additional staff from Push Promotions to assist with anything from tickets to wayfinding, and to help with the new layout of the Trinity Road Stand.

All of our match streams run through the digital membership programme (essentially Villa TV), and there is now a charge for this. The standard price for an annual Video Membership is £30, but we've introduced a 50% discount for all season ticket holders, which many of them have taken advantage of.

We acknowledge the FAB’s points raised and are happy to reopen this point with the FAB as part of the 2026/27 Ticketing Consultation process.

As mentioned, this hasn't proved to be a problem on a widespread basis through the renewal process and is limited to a small number of supporters; the majority have now had their issues resolved to a satisfactory outcome. Where the Club hasn't been able to offer a return to original seats, a number of alternatives have been offered or provided, including holding the price from the original seats for the new location where prices have increased, as a gesture of goodwill. We will continue to monitor the situation with these supporters and work to find appropriate solutions.

We are currently operating at a standard standing capacity of 2,550. The works to the fire escapes onto Witton Lane are due to start in September, and we will be able to reassess our capacity once this is complete. The current capacity is working well, and we have lots of exciting events in the pipeline.

The Lower Grounds is a ticketed experience for GA+ and we have to make sure the room is ready to welcome fans back to the space from full time. While we close the bar at second half kick-off some fans from lower Holte stay in this space up to 15 minutes into the second half (which they are very welcome to do), but this does mean from an operational point of view opening all areas offers a challenge to get these areas turned around in time.

The largest area of The Lower Grounds is open to fans and currently we are not seeing use of this to its maximum capacity. This is continually reviewed, and should we see demand, we will look to see how we manage this operation to offer the best experience for all.

Please see attached Working Group Schedule, noting that this is subject to change depending on the playing schedule and availability.

We would be open to this and suggest a sensible working group would be a two-person sub-group from the FAB side, with Rich and Matt from the Club.

Guy Rippon will attend the meeting on Thursday, and we suggest a conversation to develop a sensible plan for collaboration moving forward.

The Club hopes an objective for the culture group will be to come to the table with ideas which help integrate fan engagement and EDI initiatives together. The Club is bound by set EDI activations each season by the Premier League, but will also continue to do its own additional activations. The trial with the 1897 Group was viewed as a success by all stakeholders. Due to the ongoing stadium development works, it hasn't been possible to accommodate them all together in one section for the 2026/27 season. The intention will be to offer them the opportunity to purchase season tickets together in the new North Stand when it opens. Matt will arrange a meeting with the 1897 Group in due course to establish the best way forward for the 2026/27 season, so that the group doesn't lose any momentum.

We are more than happy to pick this up with the Ticketing Working Group and feel it's exactly the right forum for this. Please note this is always at the forefront of our minds, and we look forward to receiving the report from the FAB and working with the TWG throughout the season.

The delay in receiving and distributing gifts was caused by on-going issues with the old third-party supplier, however, we’re now out of contract with them. All gifts had been delivered to an alternative distribution company and these are being sent out over the coming week.

We've sourced a commemorative gift from our normal retail sourcing partner and are waiting for final samples to be delivered. The gift will either be a commemorative pin badge or key ring. The postage price we've been quoted also includes collation and packaging.

As discussed at a couple of TWG meetings, this will be relaunched for the 2026/27 season and is due to launch ahead of the first game. There will be a number of additional benefits, including a new Villa Perks portal that will allow members to receive discounts on a range of products and at various stores. The Club will arrange a 'show and tell' session with the TWG early next week if they'd like to understand more details ahead of launch.

The women's team remains a very important part of the wider Club, and that commitment isn't changing. We have full ownership support, backed by ongoing funding that now includes investment from an external investor, which gives the team a strong financial foundation going forward.

We're also continuing to build out the women's team's own sporting and business operations, so they have the structures in place to keep growing on their own terms. This includes being based at BMH3, with their own dedicated space and new facilities to match the ambition of Aston Villa.

Alongside this, the team continues to benefit from support across the rest of the Club, including the men's team, central functions, and the Foundation, all of whom remain closely involved in helping the women's team succeed.