Aston Villa chief executive Christian Purslow has had an incredible rant towards the club’s fans.
The Villa figure was angered by recent reports of racism towards a Villa fan group in Ghana before going on to speak about the problem of violence and abuse during matchdays.
Purslow was speaking at the Aston Villa Supporters Trust’s AGM at Villa Park and as quoted on the Birmingham Mail, he said regarding the racism towards the Ghana fan group:
Speaking on behalf of our club, speaking on behalf of the board – myself, Nassef (Sawiris) and Wes (Edens) – and speaking personally, I am totally intolerant and will show zero tolerance to any Aston Villa person who behaves that way.
I will root out even speculative, where it’s unclear, and get to the bottom of it.
He then continued and spoke about issues with the fans.
Every single week I have to go through, ‘There were three ejections, two arrests, they were for violent and abusive behaviour, homophobic comments, physical aggression…’ Every single week I have to read that stuff.
Thank god it’s not 30, 40 or 50 and the odd week it might be one. It should be zero. It’s 2020 for god’s sake, we’re Aston Villa. We’ve had cases where people have punched fellow fans. It’s totally unacceptable and it makes me feel sick when I read it.
Please, tell your friends, tell your neighbours, and tell the stranger sitting next to you: ‘Stop it or I am going to report you and you will lose your ticket.’
READ ASTON VILLA VERDICT
Although Purslow’s comments could be a bitter pill to swallow for many fans – we feel that he is absolutely spot on.
Aggressive and abusive behaviour at a football match should never be tolerated because there are thousands of families and children in attendance who could be affected or even motivated to behave in a certain fashion because of a minority.
As stated on the official Premier League website, the competition works closely with ‘Kick It Out’ on the ‘No Room for Racism Campaign’ to stamp out abuse and aggression at stadiums.
As reported by Kick It Out, there was a 67.3% increase in racial abuse in the professional game in the 2018/19 season, which proves that Purslow’s comments aren’t harsh at all, in fact, we feel he is correct in calling it out and showing his passion for eradicating it.
