A fleet of 91 coaches will set off from Villa Park this afternoon ferrying 4,500 supporters - for free - to London for tonight's Carling Cup clash against Chelsea.
The convoy, paid for by Villa's American billionaire owner Randy Lerner, will leave Villa Park at 2.30pm bound for Stamford Bridge, with a further 1,500 fans travelling under their own steam to the game.
It is the first time since 1974 that so many fans have made a mass exodus to a cup game. Then 120 Villa coaches travelled to Highbury to watch their side play Arsenal in the FA Cup. The game was tied with Villa winning the return leg 2-1 at Villa Park.
Mr Lerner decided to reward fans for their loyalty after 5,000 turned up in the previous round at the Walkers Stadium to see Villa beat Leicester City 3-2.
Every fan boarding the coaches has been sent a letter telling them to meet at Villa Park at 2.30pm when the first 40 coaches will load on the Witton Lane coach park.
The remaining 50 coaches will load on Witton Lane.
Villa's travel club co-ordinator John Greenfield said: "The coaches will not drop off to collect passengers from anywhere but these locations although we are making special arrangements for those coaches carrying supporters with impaired mobility.
"The coaches will leave immediately after the final whistle and will drop off at the Thistle Royal Angus, Birmingham city centre, and Witton Lane."
Villa are understood to have hired the vehicles needed from every coach company within a 30-mile radius of Birmingham.
Ironically the huge demand for vehicles has had a knock-on effect for fans who book and travel on independently-run coaches as so few are now available.
Supporter Steve Terry, who travels with a Redditch coach company, said: "Fair play to Randy but we only just got our regular coach as the firm we use has hired all its buses to Villa. But we are making sure we leave at 1.30pm - we don't want to get stuck behind that huge cavalcade."
