Aston Villa's president of business operations, Francesco Calvo, has reiterated the club's stance that there are no plans to leave Villa Park. The planned redevelopment of the North Stand was already the clearest indication of the club's long-term commitment to its historic home, but Calvo's latest comments will reassure supporters that, under the current V Sports ownership, there are no intentions to relocate.
Calvo's Vision for Villa Park
“Villa Park is kind of a cathedral in football, it is not just any other stadium,” Calvo explained to BirminghamLive. "It would never cross my mind [to leave], clearly you do think of everything but it doesn’t cross our mind to build a new stadium or change location in the future.”
“We think that starting with the name, ‘Aston Villa’, this is where we are from and it would be too much of a bold move eventually to build a new stadium and go somewhere different. There are other ways to improve Villa Park and prior to my arrival the club was doing that. We need to build a vision. What are the next years like at Villa Park, and we need to understand how we can evolve and develop the stadium and its experience for fans. There is no question about Villa Park being our stadium for the future.”
Reaction from Club Commentator
On Claret & Blue, Mat Kendrick reacted to Calvo’s comments about Villa Park. “Yeah, I mean, it comes around every couple of years, doesn't it? Chris Heck said that he wasn’t planning to move on either,” Kendrick said.
“Yeah, you know, listen, that holds true while the current owners are there. You can never say never. To me, Villa Park is sacred, but you can never say that future custodians of the club won't want to maximise further opportunities by building a new Villa Park somewhere with a lot more land to expand.”
“But I don't know. There are people who've been going to Villa Park a lot longer than me, but it's such a core part of the club's tradition. It's not always the easiest place to get to - we know that - but it's tradition. You turn up at the same place every week.”
“I do like the word 'cathedral' to describe it. I think when Villa do develop the stand and other parts of the ground, it needs to be sympathetic to the character of Villa Park because there are so many identical new stadiums that have sprung up.”
“But yeah, it does fill me with joy that the Villa hierarchy have come to the same decision that most of us - I'm not saying all of us, but most traditionalists - have. We'd never really want to contemplate the thought of playing anywhere other than Villa Park.”
