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Display Ground information
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Villa Park has been a League ground
for 114 seasons;
from June 1st, 1897
to
the current day
.
Villa Park was the 49th
ground
to be used for a League game.
Current Capacity; 42,551.
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| The Aston Lower Grounds were opened in the 1870s as a pleasure garden and a number of its buildings were retained when Aston Villa FC moved from Wellington Road in 1897 and laid out Villa Park on the site of the formal gardens and ornamental lake. The pitch was surrounded by a cycle track and the facilities included a 5,500 seat main stand on the east side, a pavilion and cover on the west side and embankments around the ends. Following the purchase of the ground for Ł8,250 in 1911 the facilities were improved with the removal of the cycle track, expansion of the end terraces to the pitch edge and installation of terracing in front of the stand on the east side whilst a new stand was subsequently completed on the west side.
The south end terrace was extended in 1940 (and subsequently roofed in 1962) and the record attendance of 76,588 was set at the FA Cup 6th Round tie v. Derby County (3-4) on March 2nd, 1946. A new roof was installed on the east stand in 1964 and seats installed in the paddock in 1966 as part of the preparations for the World Cup. In the 1970s seats were installed in the west stand paddock and a new two-tier 4,000 seat stand constructed at the north end.
In 1990 the terracing at the south end was refurbished and the roof extended but, as the result of poor planning, the whole end was demolished just four years later and replaced with a 13,462 seat two-tier stand. Also in 1990 the stand on the west side was refurbished whilst in 1993 the east stand was extended to the rear (necessitating a re-alignment to the road) and rebuilt as a two-tier structure giving an all-seat capacity in 2000 of 39,217.
In 2001 the main stand on the west side was expanded over the adjacent road and totally rebuilt and at the start of the 2007/8 season the ground capacity had increased to 42,573. The pitch size was 115 x 75 yards.
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