⚽ Aston Villa vs Birmingham City - St Andrews vs Villa Park Stadium Tour - England Football Travel ⚽

the 82 Club and the 82 Lounge. Again, it's a very, very nice corporate hospitality suite, and it comes with some very, very nice corporate hospitality seats. The view from lounge 82 is very, very nice and you get these lovely cushioned seats. It's definitely, definitely more comfortable than the crap I sit in at Old Trafford. You have some time to take pictures from up here and you get some lovely views of the field and stands. The North Stand, the Doug Ellis Stand on the other side and the famous Holte End, where all the bloodthirsty Villa fans sit. This corner here is full of restaurants where you can watch the game while eating a burger or pie.

But anyway, we go back to the doors, go around the

stadium

and enter the McGregor bar. It is a restaurant and bar dedicated to the great William McGregor. In this section, you will notice that there is some cutlery on display. However, don't stop by because a replica of the original FA Cup is on display and is much smaller than the current version. However, the views from this restaurant are magnificent. We walked up a flight of stairs and passed another restaurant before entering the Directors' Club. This is the most beautiful suite in all of Villa Park and it is the directors' home, and this is where our future king sits when he is here watching a game.

This is the best seat in the house, but you can't pay to sit here; the owners should invite you to do so. But then we walked into a real corporate hospitality suite. No prizes for guessing which company owns this one? And there are some very interesting things on display, and it's actually one of the nicest corporate hospitality suites I've ever been to. And the view of the countryside is obviously excellent. We went down the stairs and into the away team's locker room, and it's a really nice locker room. This is actually better than most home team locker rooms I've visited!

And Aston Villa does not believe in giving rubbish facilities to the visiting team. It's just rude! So, as a sign of respect and simply good manners, Aston Villa will always treat the away team well. Directly across from the visiting team's locker room is the home team's locker room. Okay, so it's a little nicer than the visiting team's locker room, especially with the cool lighting and player-specific bays. But believe it or not, it is exactly the same size as the visiting team's locker room. What a player this guy is! And aside from the questionable tactics on display, we enter the tunnel area.

It's a bit of a misnomer because the tunnel is just one big giant room. But you can also visit the coach's office, where Stevie G and his staff will meet before and after games. There are interesting tactics here! That's his seat there. I'm not sitting there. You can explore some of the press conference rooms, i.e. where the players are interviewed after the games, and right here in the tunnel they even displayed one of their FA Cups and their European trophy, so it's really cool . But once you're done exploring all that, it's time to march through the Aston Villa tunnel accompanied by their music...

So, as you can imagine, you're now at pitch level and it's a good photo opportunity and some tricks. videos in my case. You can sit in the dugout seats and these seats are very, very nice. The home team's seats are heated, the visiting teams not so much. But take your time to explore this area and, believe it or not, that's pretty much the end of the journey. For some reason we can't go to the press conference area, I know that's usually part of the

tour

, but for some reason we didn't do it today. And while I'm here I might as well talk about our

tour

guide Diane.

She is probably one of the best tour guides I have ever seen. I'm not kidding! Funny as hell, very knowledgeable, really good with kids, and most of the time while she's talking; she is talking to you like a true

football

fan. Not like a paid actor with a script. It makes a huge difference when you have an enthusiastic tour guide who will make you feel like royalty, even if you are a Manchester United-loving bastard. If you hire her as your tour guide, you're in for a fantastic afternoon. But before she goes, she walks across the

park

ing lot, where you can visit the ticket office if you want tickets to a real game.

And visit the Villa store - this is Aston Villa's club store. And you can buy many Aston Villa themed products, some retro t-shirts. Wow, I definitely remember these. And overall a good place to shop...OMG how much does a shirt cost! Overall, a tour of Villa Park is highly recommended. It's the top thing to do in Birmingham on TripAdvisor and after taking a tour here I now understand why. So Ninh, if I only have time to do ONE

stadium

tour, do I go to Birmingham City or Aston Villa? Well, it's not really a contest, since one stadium was under reconstruction, with a damn bike in the bathroom, and another wasn't.

But the elephant in the room is that there is a huge gap between the quality of the facilities at both clubs. So naturally I would say go to Aston Villa if you are neutral. But if you're a Birmingham City fan, the route there isn't bad at all. Where does this rank in the hierarchy of your stadium visits? Villa score highly, Birmingham City, not so much. Facilities and things to see aside, I think the real difference between the two tours was the customer service, staff, and tour guides. Malcolm was a great tour guide, he was enthusiastic about his team, he was good with kids and he likes to criticize United fans, which I honestly enjoyed.

But the Villa Park staff were on another level. The difference in customer service in places like the club shop and reception is night and day. Even the security guard treated me well. And although I already mentioned this in the video, Diane as a tour guide was really excellent. It's people like her who do any stadium tour, which is why the Aston Villa tour scores so highly compared to a team like Manchester United who scores very low due to their poor customer service, although in in a way they show the same things. Along with Gordon in Liverpool, and the undisputed leader of all tour guides;

King David of Celta, I think these three are possibly the best tour guides in the country. And if you get any of these three while doing their respective tours, you will have a great time. Well Ninh, I'm already sold, what do I do? Well, you either have to come here, to Villa Park or to St. Andrew's in Birmingham City. Both are located on the outskirts of Birmingham

city

centre, and getting here is a pain. Birmingham traffic is notoriously bad, so when driving your car, give yourself plenty of time to allow for traffic. You can take taxis and public transportation, of course I'll leave the details here.

And if you're local, of course you can walk here. The cost of doing the tours? Get out of my head, because I'm boiling and sweating in the sun. I don't know but I'll leave the prices right here on the screen. And is there anything else I need to know? Yes, you will get some strange looks if you decide to wear a shirt from a different

football

team, like Manchester United, so be prepared for that. And   once again the traffic is pretty terrible. Just give yourself enough time to get here, arrive for both stadium tours about half an hour early, and if you arrive early, wander around outside or the club shop, both pretty good things.

I forgot to mention that Birmingham City usually do their stadium tours in the off-season, while Aston Villa tend to do theirs during the season. So doing both on the same day is rare, and technically I did both on different days, hence the strange change in weather from one team to the next. And finally, you can take as many photos and videos as you want at Birmingham City, but at Villa Park you can only take photos. Filming is technically prohibited, sorry Diane! But I think this is an incredibly poor requirement. It's the 21st century and most people who go on tour want video memories of their visit, whether for social activities or whatever.

I think Aston Villa is one of the few football tours I've been on that bans video, so if any of Aston Villa's higher-ups are watching, please change your company policies. It's really ruining the enjoyment of the tour for fans, not just annoying idiots like me. Guys, I hope you enjoyed the Second City Derby tour and if you did, be sure to like, share and subscribe. Now you know what to do, leave me some comments and if you have other suggestions, tweet me. If I get enough suggestions, I'll probably make a video about it. But guys, thank you so much for watching, I'll see you in the next episode and now I need a drink.

A nice cold drink! Ninh Ly - www.ninh.co.uk - @NinhLyUK