Kieran Maguire confused by ‘strange’ Aston Villa twist as £100m deal blocked
Aston Villa will fall further behind their Premier League rivals after their stadium redevelopment deal was cancelled.
That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who exclusively told Football Insider that the decision to pause the stadium refurbishment was strange.
Villa had planning permission approved to expand Villa Park to a capacity of over 50,000 but plans have since been put on hold by CEO Chris Heck.
Heck, the president of business operations at Villa, has paused all expansion plans as he believes reducing capacity for two years would be a “bad idea”.
With Villa enjoying success in the Premier League and in Europe this season, Heck doesn’t want to temporarily reduce capacity at Villa Park.
The Birmingham-based side would have to reduce capacity to around 36,000 for two years to complete the stadium expansion.
Football Insider revealed on Wednesday (20 December) that Villa could lose their hosting rights for Euro 2028 if stadium refurbishment is not completed in time.
Maguire believes Villa’s board are prioritising short-term success over long-term gain by pausing plans.
“The decision at Aston Villa to pause the redevelopment does seem strange,” Maguire told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.
“It looks like a short-term gain for longer-term pain, in the sense that Villa are substantially behind other clubs when it comes to matchday income.
“They are £100million behind the likes of Tottenham.
“If they are to be competitive and if they want to challenge the existing elite, then that gap has to be narrowed.
“We’ve seen at other clubs such as Liverpool that they’ve reduced the capacity at Anfield for a period of time and have now opened up with an even bigger stadium and they are reaping the benefits.
“Villa have decided not to go down that route simply because they’re having a spectacular season and want as many people in as possible.
“But Villa Park would have sold out anyway, given that there’s already a waiting list for season tickets.
“So it is a strange decision as the longer they wait, the wider the gap is between Villa and other big clubs.“
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