RECENTLY, contributors to the Star’s sport pages have been stumped trying to work out a question: should fans get their money back when their team is humiliated?

The discussion started when Aston Villa began losing every single week and fans grew more and more frustrated watching their team get pummelled.

Then, when PSG won the French title last month beating Troyes 9-0 away, one writer said that the home fans should be refunded their money as they shouldn’t have had to sit through that kind of loss.

I see the point but have to disagree. While some sides have refunded travelling fans after a heavy defeat, and there is a logic in that, it shouldn’t be the norm.

Fans watch their team in the hopes of a win. But you can’t win every match and sometimes the losses will be bad.

Villa fans have seen their team win three times this season: twice at home and once away. They’ll be relegated in a few weeks but should season-ticket holders get their money back because of a year of atrocious performances?

Supporters knew they were in for a bad year, but surely that’s what football is about — being behind your team through the good and the bad.

Leicester fans were staring at relegation at Christmas last season. Now they look likely to win the Premier League.

Obviously the situation for Villa is more dire, but there was no talk of Foxes fans being refunded — instead their loyalty has been repaid in the most remarkable fashion.

To their credit, Villa fans have stayed to watch the abysmal performances.

They don’t deserve Joleon Lescot tweeting pictures of expensive cars while they pay their hard-earned cash to watch a group of players who have let the club down.

Are they doing it on purpose? I doubt it — instead there are 19 better teams in the league. It happens.

There are other ways to show appreciation to supporters, such as Sunderland giving fans a free away shirt when they played West Ham last month, without the commodification that paying refunds for defeats entails.

One suggestion is that clubs doing poorly lower their ticket prices — but does that mean the league’s powerhouses should whack them up? In any event, it’s a sideshow to the already eye-watering cost of going to the football.

No-one wants to sit in a ground and watch their team get walked over week after week. But losing is part of the experience.

With Villa, because they are a bigger club their plight has received more attention than, for instance, Blackpool.

If anything, the Tangerines are in a worse state and if anyone should be reimbursed it is Blackpool fans.

They have protested and fought for change and yet are watching their club become a laughing stock. Where are the calls for them to be given free season tickets or a refund?

This is a difficult topic, not least because of the extortionate cost of live sport.

I don’t think, collectively, that Star contributors have come up with a clear and satisfactory answer — but for me at least such refunds are not the answer.