Aston Villa refuse to rule out further Champions League ticket increases

The club have been heavily criticised for charging between £85 and £97 for non season ticket holders to attend matches in the group stage.

But those prices could go up even further should the club reach the knockout stages of the competition.

A recent meeting of the club’s fan advisory board was told it was “hoped” prices would not be increased for knockout fixtures but no guarantees could be given.

Villa’s president of business operations, Chris Heck, was not present at the meeting, which took place during the September international break.

Heck has borne the brunt of criticism for the high prices, which Villa have claimed were necessary to help the club raise revenues and continue competing with the Premier League’s elite. The American is expected to attend the next FAB meeting, scheduled for November.

Tickets for last month’s 1-0 win over Bayern Munich, Villa’s first home match back in Europe’s elite club competition for 41 years, sold out in record time despite the pricing strategy.

Yet sales for Tuesday’s visit of Bologna have been much slower and tickets were still available to buy just hours before kick-off. Villa also host Juventus and Celtic later in the group stage and the club has no plans to change the pricing structure for those matches.

Villa’s Champions League ticket prices are considerably higher than those charged by Liverpool. When this was pointed out by the FAB, the club claimed such comparisons were not fair as Anfield is a larger stadium than Villa Park and there are more tickets to sell.

Villa, who last year shelved plans to rebuild the North Stand and increase capacity from 42,600 to more than 50,000, hope to add 800 seats for next season through the realignment of existing gangways.