Matt Maher: Muted reaction to Aston Villa's sponsor deal a sign of the times

The African country’s tourist board will adorn the front of the club’s shirts for at least the next two seasons and perhaps longer.

Financially, it seems a very good deal for Villa and in particular their president of business operations, Francesco Calvo, who was under huge pressure to find a new front-of-shirt sponsor due to the previous agreement with betting firm Betano coming to a necessary end.

Of the 11 Premier League clubs with no option but to find new partners, due to rules around the use of gambling sponsorship which came into force this month, Villa are the only ones believed to have increased the value, up to £20million-a-year from around £14m.

You can’t have too many complaints about the numbers. Ethically, it is a rather different matter.

To say the deal with Visit Rwanda comes with baggage would be something of an understatement.

Each of the country’s previous or existing involvements in football have been the focus of fan complaints. Within hours of Villa’s agreement being announced on Wednesday, Amnesty International had released a statement claiming the partnership would be used by Rwanda to sportswash its rather dire human rights record.

There’s a much larger debate to be had about morality in modern football. There’s no doubt having a gambling sponsor, as the majority of top flight clubs had, carried its own set of awkward questions.

That said, promoting a nation which the UN and UK government has accused of funding a military group in neighbouring DR Congo feels a few rungs up the ladder.

A quick perusal of the response on social media to Wednesday’s announcement is all you need to understand the deal sits uncomfortably with many supporters.

Yet there has been nothing like the organised and united response such a deal might have drawn in the past? When Villa announced a return to betting sponsorship in 2024, it prompted a statement from the supporters’ trust.

This time, from the trust, there has been silence. The sense within Villa Park is while supporters might not like the deal, most are mainly concerned with how the club will spend the money on signings. You have to think they might be right.

Though it might be a different topic, the rather muted reaction to the Visit Rwanda deal followed a similarly quiet response to the club’s decision to again raise ticket prices.

This era, of course, ranks among the best in the club’s history on the field. Villa’s is not exactly a fanbase in a militant mood.

Yet things might not always be so rosy. Even in the good times, supporters need an independent voice.