Credit: Imago

Harri Burton

Sat 2 May 2026 9:55, UK

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Aston Villa could miss out on as much as £10million due to the closure of one of the stands at Villa Park.

That is according to former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider the Villans must sacrifice short-term happiness for long-term gain over their stadium plans.

The North Stand is set to be closer for the entire 2026-27 campaign, with concerns already being raised about the atmosphere in B6, given how much impact the supporters have on Unai Emery’s players.

With plans to move forward, Villa must now take a financial hit. It will become positive for the Villans in the long run, but it could impact more than just the atmosphere next season.

Aston Villa must wait for success over North Stand redevelopment

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson said: “Long term, it’s going to improve it [transfer fee] because obviously it’s going to generate more revenue for SCR and for the UEFA football earnings test.

“But the big issue is a short-term issue, of course. They’ve got to meet the requirements of their
settlement agreement with UEFA. So that’s the first thing.

“They wouldn’t have known when the decision was taken to close the whole stadium. I suspect what happened was that they thought they might be able to get away with it and keep the stand open and redevelop on top in the way that lots of clubs have done, including [Man] City, who are doing it right now.

“Liverpool have done it in the past. At least you continue to have the revenue whilst the building project goes on, and then you have a period where you have to close parts of it, let’s say.”

The Villans could lose as much as £10million

Keith Wyness expects Villa to lose, not just a loss in atmosphere, but also anywhere between £5million and £10million due to the stadium’s partial closure, but it is one of the best ways to progress as a Premier League club.

“To close the whole thing for a whole season is obviously a very expensive exercise. You lose five million, seven million, maybe ten million pounds over a season for that closure,” Borson continued to say to Football Insider.

“So it’s going to make next season’s compliance that much harder. It will help, of course, if they’re in the
Champions League, but likewise, it will also mean that they’re going to lose more revenue because they’re not going to be able to sell those five, six, seven games in the Champions League at home.

“That it’s going to be quite an expensive hit for them. But to progress, you’ve got to build more seats. If you can fill those seats, that’s what they’ve got to do. So, longer term it will help, shorter term it will be an issue.”