Things are looking strong on the pitch at Aston Villa right now with Dean Smith coming in and helping unlock some fine attacking football.

Just four points off of the play-offs now, it's safe to say the Villans are looking up rather than down and it seems as though things off of the pitch are taking off too.

Last week and this, the club has launched their latest round of AVFC Gaming competitions with FIFA 19 kicking off last Tuesday and new addition Fortnite.

The latter marks a foray away from football gaming for them as they look to engage fans via an ever-growing platform and so we caught up with James Jeavons and Will Radford from the club, to get their thoughts on the initiative...

Why Fortnite?

(JJ) Purely because of the numbers. You only need to look at the participation of the game right across the world to see the appeal it has. Looking closer to home we’re seeing more and more top players like Mesut Ozil and Dele Alli try and build their own audience off the back of live streaming Fortnite. It’s everywhere you look.

(WR) The line for me would be about the close relationship that Fortnite seems to have with football. As James mentions, lots of football personalities are engaging with the game and that makes it a natural space for us to trial non-FIFA competition.

How will the Fortnite tournament work?

(JJ) The Fortnite competition will take place with squads of two competing in knockout style tournaments in a bid to be crowned AVFC Gaming Fortnite champions. Then we will have the finals of both the FIFA and Fortnite tournaments, with the winners of each tournament competing for a much-coveted prize pool.

How can fans follow the competitions and the finals from the 18th of December? And what can we expect from the centre-pieces?

(JJ) We’ll have coverage of the tournaments across our social media channels (mainly Twitter) but much of the info will be at egl.tv/avfc. With Fortnite especially we’re entering a bit of the unknown so much of this is trial and error.

(WR) Again, for me it’s trial and learn, seeking to find new audiences who can relate to us and us to them.

Do you expect to branch out into other games genres in the future?

(JJ) In terms of future games, FIFA is the natural link but we’ll be keeping an eye on what else is big in the gaming world. We’ve seen the likes of PSG and other esports teams engage with League of Nations so it will be interesting to see how that and the likes of the Call of Duty series develop.

AVFC Gaming has taken a different approach to other clubs' e-sports ventures by not getting a pro gamer in or entering competitions with other clubs - more keeping things to Villa fans to win prizes offered by the club - what's the thinking behind that decision?

(JJ) In terms of approach, I think esports is still relatively new to the footballing world and unlike clubs like Man City we don’t have the budget to be chucking money at a certain concept (signing a pro player) and seeing if it sticks.

Although the approach we’re taking won’t see us end up with a pro player it allows us to engage with a new audience and build that audience up over time and see how it develops.

(WR) We’re always keen to take a non-standard approach to activations. For us, there isn’t a core business reason to invest in esports, but to support our fans in this space (and possibly attract new ones) is a key consideration. We want to serve our fanbase and engage with them in spaces they like to play.

And, in general, where would you like to take AVFC gaming in 2019?

(JJ) Much of where we go next depends on the success of what we’re doing right now. Whilst in the Championship we need to ensure that every project we undertake has a positive end result before planning for the next stage. We’ll be keeping a keen eye on what others are doing in this space also.

(WR) Yes, not just success, but relative success, what shows promise. We’re taking small steps to see where our next audience is, as well as supporting current fans of the club. If that proves popular we know to invest further and explore the new opportunities.

Keep across the unfolding action this month by following @AVFCOfficial and #AVFCGaming on Twitter and at egl.tv/avfc

You can also submit your content to @AVFCOfficial on Twitter by using #AVFCGoals.