H&V 64 – January 1999.
Some time around the end of the last century we came across a collection of early supporters journals which dealt with the affairs of the Aston Villa Football Club in the 1890s. Issue 4 came out in December 1897 and this article, entitled Ground Expansion, dealt with the ongoing development of the Aston Lower Grounds:
I see that the directors are planning to make the Villa Park ground larger in size than it already is. And not before time. There have already been several instances this season when a 35,000 capacity has proved woefully inadequate.
if the club is to thrive and achieve the status to which we all believe it capable then at least 50,000 hardy Brummagem souls should be able to be fitted into the ground. Indeed, I have been assured that Messrs Ramsey, Rinder and McGregor have already made plans for such an eventuality and it is about these that I wish to draw the attention of the reader.
For it appears they have run into grave problems. To whit: Application made to the city corporation for permission to extend the grandstand on Trinity Road has met with objection from the local residents.
And what, pray tell, has this to do with the corporation? Does Aston Villa have to go cap in hand every time we wish to purchase a new player? No sir, we do not. Are we beholding to the corporation for the finances to make our team the finest in the land? No sir, we are not. I was brought up in the firm belief that an Englishman’s home is his castle. Yet our own castle has to beg permission from the city before it so much as raises the portcullis. This I find a preposterous state of affairs.
I would remind the City of Birmingham Corporation that the success of the Aston Villa Football Club has spread the name of the city far and wide. Why, I was taking the air at Bridlington only the other week when I engaged in conversation with a fellow sportsman. When he enquired as to my birthplace I replied Birmingham, to which he answered, “Why, is that not the home of the Aston Villa Football Club? Such a fine institution. Your city must be mightily proud of them.” I heartily concurred with the fellow. And then soundly boxed his ears. A gentleman does not enquire of another gentleman’s antecedents. But enough of my ideas of etiquette. Suffice to say that no-one has ever favourably associated the city of Birmingham with the Small Heath club. And that is without pointing out how much the corporation make on matchdays in revenue from their scandalously overpriced and woefully inefficient trolleybus service from the city to Aston.
I am also led to understand that at the heart of the problem surrounding the new grandstand is the attitude of the local residents. Balderdash and poppycock. The place they are fortunate to reside next to has for decades been a public park. Many is the time that I have been upon my perambulations and found myself in the company of those who frequent the Lower Grounds. Painted doxies, Indian fakirs, purveyors of patent remedies and confidence tricksters. All of whom use the Lower Grounds for their own wicked end, with nary a complaint from those living in the vicinity. yet when a fine and noble institution wishes to utilise part of the grounds there is uproar.
I feel that at the heart of the problem is the cosmopolitan nature of the local population. In days of yore, when there was naught but fields around, the residents of Aston were local folk, their hovels handed down through the generations. The benefits of the Industrial revolution, however, have meant Birmingham has witnessed an influx of newcomers from far and wide, and these people have brought with them no great love for our game. After all, how could a man from as far away as, say, Worcestershire, ever hope to nurture a love for that which is a truly Brummagem pastime?
I say, if we are to thrive, then the Manor of Aston needs to change. let us maintain an area populate entirely with local folk, who have a great desire to see the Aston Villa club representing them in a fitting manner. Aston for Astonians, That must be the way forward.
Heroes and Villains 