Disney on Ice.

All Smiles for Villa.

It hasn’t been a lot of fun being an Aston Villa supporter this season, so the chance to photograph a few Villa stars posing with Mickey Mouse seemed like a good opportunity to raise a smile or two.

I was covering the opening night of the Disney on Ice ‘Magical Ice Festival’ at the Genting Arena Birmingham last week for Disney. A host of local celebs (footballers) and their families had been invited to a pre-show meet and greet with a surprise guest…as the excitement built the one and only Mickey Mouse entered the room, the Birmingham City players in attendance got a little over excited, the Villa players remained outwardly cool but were first in the queue to shake Mickey’s hand.

An honourable mention must go to Aston Villa’s Fabian Delph who despite playing for England in Italy the night before (and the team’s return flight being delayed for 12 hours) still managed to dash back to Birmingham in time to have his picture taken with Mr Mouse…that’s commitment.

Pictured with Mickey Mouse are from the left: Joe Cole and family, Fabian Delph and Ciaran Clark with his family.