What a result! Villa fans net £1m as syndicate scores raffle jackpot
A group of Aston Villa supporters had something else to cheer from the terraces after netting a cool £1 million lottery win.
The football-mad friends celebrated scooping the Euromillions prize on the hallowed turf of Villa Park.
They only kicked off the syndicate four months ago but the long-time friends have now scored a £90,909.09 share each of the £1 million prize from the Millionaire Raffle draw last Friday.
All 11 members of the syndicate teamed up to mark the shock lottery result yesterday.
They donned Villa shirts as they met up for photographs in the dugout, in the tunnel leading to the pitch and also where Villa boss Paul Lambert usually delivers his press conference.
But for once the cameras were turned on the lucky group, who all hail from Sutton Coldfield, as they celebrated their success.
Engineer Simon Ashcroft only started the syndicate with his 10 Villa-supporting pals last September and said they all feel 'ridiculously lucky' to have landed their big win.
The 22-year-old syndicate leader was travelling as a passenger on the M6 on Saturday night when he received an alert from The National Lottery saying one of their online syndicate tickets was a winner.
"At first I thought nothing of it as we have often won a couple of pounds but, when I went into the account and realised it was £1 million it was just unbelievable," he said. "A lot of the lads are still in shock. I'm a bit of a joker and no-one really believed me to begin with.
"We all just feel ridiculously lucky, especially as we only played our first game in September. I've never even won a raffle at the fair."
He first told electrian Matt Hammonds, also 22, and the pair then spent Sunday visiting the other friends in the syndicateto tell them the good news in person.
The syndicate includes Matt's brother Dan Hammonds, a 25-year-old manager, student Richard Cox, aged 23, electrician Joe Collins, 22, lift engineer Brad Taylor, 22, electrician Oli Hughes, 22, student Adam Holt 22, plasterer Adam Finn, 22, shop worker Kris Corfield, 24, and Chris Hedderley, 24, also a student. All are still thinking about what to spend the money on but they have talked about splashing out on holidays, cars and property.
