How far can fans go? Aston Villa Town in Ghana
A small town in Ghana is made up of entirely Aston Villa fans, and it’s all down to ‘God’ or Paul McGrath as he’s more commonly known.
You might have thought that Villa wouldn’t be the most popular club anywhere outside of the west Midlands, especially with the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United to contend with in their own country.
However it seems that a small town in the Ashanti Region of Ghana has the most incredible concentration of Villa fans around, with everyone in the area supporting Dean Smith’s team.
Owusu Boakye Amando, a 21-year-old from the town, set up the Ghana Lions, a fan club for the Premier League team, and claims they have over 1,000 supporters in the town.
On matchdays the fans wear the team colours and march and chant in the town to show support. “Every Sunday morning it is our routine. We have to be fit and more active so that we can chant, so we do exercises and after that, we will chant and chant and go on for more than three hours,” Amando told the Daily Mail.
“When we come back we start the chants using the names of the footballers who play for Aston Villa, and we chant against the opponents we come to play against. We do some chants and we all watch them play together.
“Most people were Chelsea fans, Man United fans, Barcelona fans. They are all joining us as Aston Villa fans now! Because what we are doing is amazing.”
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The Ghana Lions have become very popular on social media, with their videos singing songs against opposition teams and players.
There was a petition to try and help get Owusu and some of the other fans over for a game, with Tyrone Mings and Jack Grealish among those to contribute to trying to make it happen.
It wasn’t possible but the Aston Villa Foundation did send over replica shirts for the fans instead, and their founder still dreams of visiting the club. “It is our dream to go and see Villa Park. We want to see a game. All of my friends at the Ghana Lions say that.