Wembley spirit 4,000 miles away

Wembley spirit will be flowing at a Chicago pub 4,000 miles away from the football stadium this weekend.

Gingers Ale House in the windy city will turn claret and blue on Sunday when it is taken over by a stateside Villa supporters club.

Cup final tickets have become like gold dust for many Villa fans in this country and around the world but the 70-strong Chicago Villans will be doing their best to recreate the Wembley atmosphere on home soil after being faced with an uphill struggle to get hold of seats at the stadium.

Chairman Scott Barsky, aged 39, said a few of us had been looking at travelling over for the game until they heard about the difficulties in getting tickets for non-season ticket holders. Father-of-two Scott started up the group in 2003 after his first trip to Villa Park, when he was visiting Birmingham, where his ex-pat wife and girlfriend at the time Vicky is originally from.

He has since been at least once a year visiting his in-laws and was at Villa Park for the 5-1 defeat of Birmingham City.

"I knew nothing of football growing up in the states playing baseball, basketball and American football my whole life," he said.

"I was hooked after that first match and saw there was no Chicago let alone North American AVFC Supporters Club on the official AVFC website so emailed the club and asked to start one up.

"They were all for it and I submerged myself in all things Villa, winning over tons of points with my in-laws." He said there was a hardcore of around 20 members who regularly kept in touch and got together and they had also watched games with visiting Brits on holiday in Chicago.

"We mostly get together for Villa matches but have made some new friends through the process, both Brits and Americans, and we have gone to concerts and parties together, a real good group of folks.

"We will be getting together at our favourite football bar, Gingers Ale House, to watch the big match. We will be out at Gingers in full force hopefully outdrawing the Man U supporters, which has happened in the past," he added.