As Aston Villa limped out of the Carabao Cup at home to Everton on Wednesday evening, the club’s ticket pricing for the game was brought sharply back into focus. The early rounds of the League Cup have traditionally been the most reasonably priced fixtures of the season, offering opportunities for fans who may not usually be able to attend the chance to along with young children and our fans of tomorrow. Villa decided against that this year, instead seeing it as yet another chance to empty pockets with ticket prices approaching £40 for most.

The result was a half empty Villa Park (they didn’t announce the attendance but reports suggest it was around 23,000), a sight we haven’t really seen since relegation. Everton brought a strong following of over 4,000 and from noise alone you’d be forgiven for thinking they had home advantage. While the damage in the game was probably already done, the team could have used a lift from a vociferous home support in the last 20 minutes, as they did to great effect coming from behind to win against Crystal Palace the previous week. This time many of those supporters had been priced out of being there in the first place.

For the ones that did go, it felt as though the ticket prices had created an unnecessary tension and the atmosphere suffered further as a result. When you see the team selection and the performance that followed, it’s hard not to think about how much you’ve paid to be there and boos understandably rang around the ground on both half-time and full-time whistles.

The whole situation felt entirely avoidable. While fans desperately want to see Villa win a trophy sooner rather than later, the majority are accepting of the fact we have to rotate the squad, particularly with the run of games coming up and the injuries we’ve suffered. Knowing this would be the case, would the club have made any less revenue had they charged £15 a ticket and sold out? That’s what Newcastle did, and they’re in just as many competitions as we are.

That it follows a string of other money-grabbing ploys from the club in recent months compounds the feeling that it is in danger of becoming disconnected from its fanbase. Season ticket prices were increased by 15% (with the announcement tactically delayed until Villa climbed up to 7th in the league), while the launch of the Terrace View and Lower Grounds ‘premium’ matchday experiences have been prioritised over much needed improvement to basic facilities for the regular match-goer.

Of course, I get why they’re doing this. Financial Fair Play rules make it necessary if you want to progress and ‘create’ revenue to improve the playing squad. The sad reality is NSWE don’t need any extra cash from us. But because they’re not allowed to spend their own money freely, they have to maximise sales of tickets, merchandise and players. Until a day where Aston Villa is a successful global brand, generating revenue from shirt sales in Asia and America, they have obviously decided it’s the hardcore supporters that will be squeezed for every penny. Isn’t modern football great?

From a commercial perspective it feels as though the club is trying to run before it can walk. The owners are ambitious and it’s incredible what they’ve achieved in the 5 years since they arrived. But the fanbase hasn’t changed overnight just because the team is doing well. Yes, more fans will want to go and watch a successful team but those fans haven’t become wealthier as the quality of football has improved. We’re still in the midst of a cost of living crisis and despite being the country’s second city, Birmingham has only the 17th highest average salary in the UK, making comparisons of our matchday pricing with the likes of Tottenham, Arsenal or Chelsea particularly unfair.

If Villa aren’t careful they risk driving away their core supporters in favour of a different crowd or no crowd at all, and that’s a slippery slope towards losing your soul as a football club. Maybe they’re not bothered about that right now – after all, we were on a 10 game winning run at home with the atmosphere as good as it’s been in years – but until we’ve reached the level our owners want us to, they’ll need us with them every step of the way. Take our support for granted and it might not be there when it’s needed most.