Aston Villa now have major stadium expansion ‘problem’ – Keith Wyness
Aston Villa’s former chief Keith Wyness has claimed transport links are the “sticking point and blockage” preventing a Villa Park expansion.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, the 66-year-old – who served as CEO at Villa Park between 2016 and 2018 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – claimed train capacity must be increased if an expansion is to get the green light.
Last summer (2023), Villa unveiled their masterplan to expand the stadium to 60,000 – with the North Stand set to be demolished to facilitate the increase.
But the Birmingham Mail reported in January that these plans were put on hold as the club didn’t want to play in front of a reduced capacity in the Champions League.
Aston Villa face ‘sticking point and blockage’ in stadium plans, says Wyness
Aston Villa have instead ripped out 900 season ticket seats over the summer to install new premium hospitality areas.
Wyness told Football Insider‘s Insider Track podcast: “The plans are there for Villa to do it.
“I think the major problem they’ve got are the transportation links.
“It’s about the size of the train stations around the stadium. If you expand the stadium, you’ve got to expand the capacity of the transport.
“That’s the sticking point and the blockage.
“There are great plans in place, and I had plans when I was at the club – but there is this transport bottleneck.
“With the sustainable policies in place now, it has to be train links. I don’t suddenly see 10,000 fans turning up on bikes – that’s for sure.
“Some of the planners would love that, but it’s not going to happen.”
In other news, Aston Villa offered Federico Chiesa before Liverpool deal agreed.
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