By Dr Dan Plumley

9th May, 2022 | 4:10pm

Finance guru issues '£13m' reveal after Aston Villa announcement that will 'hurt' fans

Aston Villa will likely scoop £13.2million in matchday income next season because of a ticket price hike.

That is the view of finance expert Doctor Dan Plumley, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the disproportionate impact that the new pricing structure could have on fans.

Villa announced last Wednesday (4 May) that season ticket prices for next season would rise by 10 per cent across all adult categories.

The club explained that it had conducted a review of its pricing policy and decided to raise rates to bring Villa in line with top-flight rivals.

Data from recent years unaffected by Covid shows that Villa typically earn around £12m through the turnstiles.

And a £1.2m increase is negligible given the impact it might have on everyday fans, claims Plumley.

“An increase of 10 per cent will add on about £1.2m, taking total matchday to around £13.2m,” the Sheffield Hallam University expert told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.

“Total revenue was £184m at the last count and TV money was the driving factor for Villa.

“You can up your ticket prices and squeeze a little bit more out of that. But in the grand scheme of things, it hurts fans and it doesn’t make a huge difference.

“They don’t need to up prices but neither does any Premier League club because the money is coming from TV cash.

“You do wonder sometimes why these decisions are taken. There is room for a bit of growth, but do they need to do this at the moment? Probably not.”

Villa plan to take capacity at their 43,000-seater stadium to beyond 50,000.

Blueprints are due to be submitted for approval this summer.

In other news, Joe Gomez tipped to reject Aston Villa this summer after Liverpool latest