Villa Park is a football stadium in the district of Aston, in Birmingham, England. A UEFA 4-star rated stadium, it is the home of Aston Villa Football Club.
History
About Villa Park itself hung an aura that seems almost to be visible. Most certainly it is there to be felt and I know of no other ground that has the same effect on one. Almost it seems to be peopled by ghosts - amiable ghosts whose job it is to breathe the great Villa spirit into generation after generation of ambitious youngsters who pass through the great gates to achieve a life's ambition; to wear the famous claret and blue of the great club.
Opened in 1897, the year Aston Villa won the League and FA Cup 'Double', it was officially called the Aston Lower Grounds, on the site of a Victorian amusement park in the former grounds of a Jacobean stately home, Aston Hall. Once the site of a fishpond and kitchen garden belonging to Sir Thomas Holte, the owner of Aston Hall. This is where the name of the legendary Holte End came from.
The pitch was initially surrounded by a 24 foot wide concrete cycle track and a cinder running track. When first built the stadium could house 70,000 spectators. Ambitious Villa director, Frederick Rinder had plans drawn up to take the capacity of Villa Park up to 120,000 in 1911, but the First World War put an end to the redevelopment. The running track was removed in 1922 when work started on the Trinity Road Stand and the ground was squared off. When it was completed in 1924, The Trinity Road Stand was considered the grandest in the land, complete with stained glass windows, Italian mosaics and sweeping staircase, it was considered architect Archie Leitch's masterpiece. Club folklore has it that the sight of the Trinity Road frontage (“the St Pancras of football”, as a Sunday Times reporter called it in 1960), was enough to persuade a player to sign for the club.
Floodlights were first used at the ground in November 1958, the Holte End was not covered until 1962, and the old rounded roof of the Witton Lane Stand was not replaced until 1964. Villa Park was chosen by FIFA to host three matches for the 1966 World Cup. As a condition of which the Witton Lane Stand became all-seater, the players tunnel had to be covered by a cage and the pitch had to be widened by three yards.
Work began on the new North Stand with its distinctive 'AV' seating plan and executive boxes in February 1977. Its design and facilities were impressive for the time, but cost of completion caused a scandal. It was discovered that over £700,000 of the work was unaccounted for. As a result Villa were burdened with debt, which meant transfer money was restricted despite being League and European Champions at the time.
Chairman Doug Ellis caused...
