 The first shares in the club were issued towards the end of the 19th century as a result of legislation that was intended to <unk> the growing numbers of professional teams and players in the Association Football leagues . FA teams were required to distribute shares to investors as a way of facilitating trading among the teams without <unk> the FA itself . This trading continued for much of the 20th century until Ellis started buying up many of the shares in the 1960s . He was chairman and substantial shareholder of " Aston Villa F.C. " from 1968 to 1975 and the majority shareholder from 1982 to 2006 . The club were floated on the London Stock Exchange ( <unk> ) in 1996 , and the share price fluctuated in the ten years after the flotation . In 2006 it was announced that several <unk> and individuals were considering bids for Aston Villa . 
