JustBeingCP

Aston Villa‘s final home game of the season against Tottenham Hotspur has been moved to Friday, the 18th of May 2025 and will kickoff at 7:30 pm.

The fixture has been rescheduled by the Premier League to allow Spurs more time to prepare for their potential Europa league final appearance just a few days later on the 21st of May.

Supporters who have disabilities may struggle to attend this match with just 10 days notice of the change in date and kickoff time.

We (the disabled community) cannot just bord train or bus and arrive at the ground independently, we rely on an army of personal assistant’s in some cases and they have to be booked weeks in advance not just 10 days before a scheduled appointment or event.

I know that many Villa fans reading this will question why I’m trying to highlight this issue but for us this issue often gets forgotten, by those living within our society.

As you will know Aston Villa have asked for fixtures to be moved in order to accommodate our European campaigns and the fixtures that have come with that journey in recent seasons.

However, these requests have been denied by the Premier League, so along with many others I find it absolutely disgraceful especially on behalf of the disabled community who support our club that may not be able to attend this match because it has been moved.

Those reading this could argue that it just about Borders on discrimination because I have already mentioned in this piece. Some of our community may not be able to attend our final home game and celebration of what a magnificent season we have had on the pitch.

I am not attacking Tottenham Hotspur or Aston Villa, I am simply highlighting the fact that the Premier League haven’t considered one of the biggest minority groups who follow football across the United Kingdom when making this decision. 

It is a lot easier for our community to attend weekend games because for us we have access to personal assistants for the majority of Saturdays or Sundays as this is our time to do things that we love to do.

In many cases as a community struggle to attend events or appointments in the evenings because we may have limited access to personal assistants, who we rely on to take us to these things.

My message to Richard Masters the CEO of the Premier League and his organisation is a clear but simple one and is this: please consider our community when you are making fixture amendments during the 2025/26 season, this will allow our community to enjoy the game. We love on a more regular basis without the frustration or upset caused by such late fixture amendment.

I am shocked and disappointed that it has taken you so long to decide when our final home game of the season is going to be played. I hope to God that so many of our disabled fans can attend the game on Friday, the 18th of May because if they can’t that is just disappointing to say the least.

Those reading this will probably recognise that I am incredibly angry by this news on behalf of our disabled supporters. We love attending matches at Villa Park because it gives us a sense of normality. However a decision like this just chucks a curveball into that.

As you will know by now, I have worked incredibly hard in recent years to ensure that our community attending matches and events Villa Park can travel with ease to matches by using the rail network,  if they wish.

They still have that option for our final home game in just 10 days time and I will continue to promote that as an option in the coming days ahead of the fixture.

If you are going to be using the railways to attend the match and require assistance too bored trains home from Witton Lane station after the match, your assisted travel can be booked up to 2 hours before departure in 1 of 3 ways.

By Phone: 0800 024 8998 or by using Next Generation Text – 18001 0800 024 8998.

Online: https://booking.passengerassistance.com

By using the App: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/passenger-assistance/id1542190496

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I know that this is my second post of the day, which  wasn’t my intention, but sometimes these things just happen. 

A massive thanks must go to you, my loyal readers and social media followers who continually take the time out of your busy schedules to read my latest post it doesn’t go unnoticed and of course very much appreciated.

Cam