Gordon Cowans searched for biscuits.

Aston Villa in crisis: Bodyguards protect club bosses, players told to avoid angry fans and chocolate digestives axed to save cash

As the Aston Villa crisis deepens, senior management figures have hired bodyguards, and players have been banned from leaving the ground until at least an hour after the final whistle to avoid clashes with fans, a club whistleblower claims.

Elaine Rose, a matchday hospitality hostess at Villa Park for six years and a supporter for 40 years, resigned on Tuesday. She had most recently been working as a part-time customer service host in the Trinity Road Stand’s directors’ balcony.

The grandmother-of-two says:


Aston Villa's Micah Richards tries to calm down fans at Wycombe Wanderers

* Six minders have been brought in since angry clashes with the fans after the FA Cup tie at Wycombe Wanderers on January 9;
* Players have to remain behind at the ground for at least an hour after the end of each game to avoid trouble with supporters;
* Fans paying up to £400 for hospitality packages no longer get chocolate digestives at half-time because of cutbacks;
* Some stewards are now teenagers and so failed to recognise England coach Roy Hodgson, and
* A member of security didn’t recognise Villa’s European Cup winning legend and development coach Sid Cowans – and made him empty his pockets in a security search

“It’s like working in Beirut now, to be honest,” she told the Birmingham Mail.

“Tom Fox, the Chief Executive, has two bodyguards. The others who now have a bodyguard include Paddy Riley (director of recruitment), Charlie Wijeratna (chief commercial officer), Hendrik Almstadt (sporting director) and Nicola Keye (head of sales).

“Players now have to stay behind for an hour after matches in case they get attacked.

“Meanwhile, so many good employees have been forced to leave and have been replaced by agency staff who often don’t know anything about football.

“One steward didn’t know who Roy Hodgson was. Another security guard made (development coach) Sid Cowans empty his pockets in a security search before the Norwich game on February 6.”


Elaine Rose says European Cup winner Sid Cowans had to 'empty his pockets' in Villa security search

Leaving the club she has supported through thick and thin was a difficult decision, says Elaine.

“It’s not something I have decided overnight. Everyone is complaining, but nobody has been doing anything about it.

“If it wasn’t so sad, it would be funny. We all had to re-apply for our jobs. One woman had to leave after 40 years’ service because she was told she ‘couldn’t do her job’.

“We had a great bunch of people, now it’s two-thirds agency staff, many of them teenagers.

“I thought if I do leave this place I am not leaving quietly. I decided last weekend, after we had lost 0-6 to Liverpool, that enough was enough.

Elaine Rose



“During the Manchester City FA Cup tie a lot of staff were told to go home at half-time.

“Because I was wearing a Villa uniform I was given abuse in the car park by fellow supporters.

“I am hurting just as much as they are so that wasn’t fair.”

Born in Tile Cross, but now a franchised driving instructor in Rugeley, Elaine has called on fans to follow the Liverpool example – and vote with their feet.

“All the people at the top want is the money, but if the fans didn’t turn up for a game or two, or walked out at half-time, they would start panicking,” she said.

All of Elaine’s allegations were put to Aston Villa FC by the Birmingham Mail but the club declined to comment.

Who turned Villa into a laughing stock?

Trotters wrote:

The Mail have turned this from something of interest to "oh fuck off lady, you've had your 15 minutes now".

DaveAV1 wrote:Is anyone aware of the, "Out the door on 74", campaign being organised on VT? As the title suggests it's calling for a walkout on the 74th minute during the Everton and Chelsea games. It seems to be gathering some momentum.

I know there is little love lost between VT and us here on TBAR, but Villa is worth more than any blog site. I'm not a member of VT and I'm not sure how successful the the protest will be. However this is committed Villa fans trying something and so I personally can't knock it. They're doing stuff on Twitter I believe, plus Facebook and perhaps even a dedicated website.

Trotters wrote:On Facebook it doesn't seem popular at all with many fans refusing to leave and others saying that i we're losing it won't look like a protest and if we're actually NOT losing, who's going to walk out?

EbeneezerGoode wrote:

DaveAV1 wrote:Is anyone aware of the, "Out the door on 74", campaign being organised on VT? As the title suggests it's calling for a walkout on the 74th minute during the Everton and Chelsea games. It seems to be gathering some momentum.

I know there is little love lost between VT and us here on TBAR, but Villa is worth more than any blog site. I'm not a member of VT and I'm not sure how successful the the protest will be. However this is committed Villa fans trying something and so I personally can't knock it. They're doing stuff on Twitter I believe, plus Facebook and perhaps even a dedicated website.

Every Villa fan should be getting behind thus protest. Good to see that VT as the largest Villa forum is behind it. Whats H&Vs stance on it??

Villa_Dan wrote:An invisible protest such as a boycott doesn't garner any media attention. Just "not paying them" will not affect anything quickly, when you have a product which is televised to millions, then you have to do something which is in view of the wider community. Which means paying to be in the ground and in front of the cameras. 

That, and they already have my money!

KMitch wrote:

Villa_Dan wrote:An invisible protest such as a boycott doesn't garner any media attention. Just "not paying them" will not affect anything quickly, when you have a product which is televised to millions, then you have to do something which is in view of the wider community. Which means paying to be in the ground and in front of the cameras. 

That, and they already have my money!

Media attention? What makes you think Lerner cares about media coverage?  He endured a bigger media shitstorm in Cleveland than he'll ever get in the UK for destroying Villa. The man doesn't care about anything other than mitigating his losses at this point. Media covering idiotic fan walkouts doesn't do anything to his pocketbook or his ego, while he is hiding away in the Hamptons.

The ONLY way for him to leave is if all Villa supporters stopped attending games at Villa Park. Crowds of less than 10k would cause him to sell the club to anyone who makes a bid, because the value of the club will continue dropping to the point where the club isn't worth what he pays in expenses to maintain it.

Villa_Dan wrote:An invisible protest such as a boycott doesn't garner any media attention. Just "not paying them" will not affect anything quickly, when you have a product which is televised to millions, then you have to do something which is in view of the wider community. Which means paying to be in the ground and in front of the cameras. 

That, and they already have my money!

KMitch wrote:Paying an entrance fee to the group you're protesting against only seems logical to football fans. If I was a fan of Chevrolet cars, but disagreed with the direction the company was headed in, producing poor quality garbage that costs more than their competitors vehicles, I'd take my business elsewhere. I wouldn't buy a car, then organize a road trip with thousands of other disgruntled Chevy owners and then all agree to stop 80% of the way through the trip and walk the remainder to protest the direction the company was headed in. The company already got out money for the cars, and we'll keep buying the pieces of shit out of blind loyalty to the brand. Why should they change anything at all?