Billson

On 03/08/2023 at 13:55, NurembergVillan said:

In the vast majority of cases, the brands are designing, developing and manufacturing kits. That's it.

Where Fanatics built a business model for themselves was picking up some of the work that was a PITA for the brands - licensed team product like caps, tees, accessories, fanwear etc. Across a load of teams that's a load of hassle. Fanatics take all that work and pay a percentage to the brands. The brands will usually have sign-off on those products.

Then Fanatics bought Kitbag, which gave them access to the distribution of both brand-created product and their own.

The Villa deal, as Doctor Tony (I think) said, is/was unique in that Fanatics were taking on the design and manufacturing and then "selling" the logo space to brands who didn't have the logistics to make kits themselves. This is apparently what Napoli have been doing with EA7 too - although here it's the club designing and producing and EA7 having their name dragged through the mud every two weeks when yet another substandard kit is released.

My understanding is that this business model worked ok for 12 months, but after that (and promotion) the sort of brands willing and able to pay the money to Fanatics were also the sort of brands who would want their own product, designed and made to their own spec, showing up in the Premier League.

So season 1 of Kappa, the designs had already been created by Fanatics and approved by the club. Then the Kappa deal came about and they wanted to use their own templates etc, so the eg green design was transposed onto the Kappa uniforms and manufactured (I believe) by Fanatics' suppliers - who are a really good factory, working with brands like Nike and Puma.

From season 2 of Kappa onwards, I believe the brands have taken control of everything with regards design and manufacturing but continue to lean on Fanatics/Kitbag for some distribution support - which is great for a brand like Castore who don't have their own partners and stores all over the world like the bigger brands would.

Once this Fanatics deal expires I would expect we'll be signing directly with brands, with all of the additional distribution and exposure that brings.

I also understand that the Wolves/Castore deal is done through Fanatics too, although this one is different to ours. The gameday and replica shirts are "proper" Castore product, but the sideline product (training and travel) is Fanatics designed and made with a Castore logo. This is why Wolves' sideline product retails cheaper than Villa's - fewer fingers in the pie.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Is there a way to pin this post to the top of every page in the thread?  

Loving Ahsoka so far! Last 2 episodes have been brilliant!

Dave Filoni is the man! 

1 hour ago, Seat68 said:

Right, so for your tax the emissions are in the 111 to 120g/km range. Birmingham uses the Euro 6 Emission Standard for Diesel Cars and that is significantly lower at 80mg/km. Euro 5 is much higher and you would have been OK with that standard, but Euro 6, not so much.

Thank you! Good to know!

Apologies if this is the wrong place to ask this! It might be a really dumb question but I don't know much at all about cars and only drive out of necessity rather than any enjoyment or interest in cars.

I have a Skoda Fabia estate 2012 diesel car and luckily only have to pay £30 tax annually which I believe is because the C02 emissions are low? However I can't drive in the Birmingham clean air zone without charge because of C02 emissions??

So is my car in some kind of emissions middle ground where they aren't low enough to get me free driving in the city centre but still low enough that I don't have to pay much tax? Or have I got this all wrong?

I just want to know for my own curiosity really and I can't find an answer online... probably because, as seen above, I don't really know how to ask the question or what I'm really talking about! 

I hope someone can decipher this and give me an answer please! It would be most appreciated! 

On 08/07/2023 at 09:54, Lichfield Dean said:

Our brand colourways do always seem to cause a problem with badges and logos, but it's true that the best combination definitely seems to involve a yellow lion on a claret background. I feel like that should always be the starting point, whether it's a standalone lion, a circle, a shield, a gaslamp or whatever. The blue should probably just be used for highlighting because it never really stands out alongside the claret and yellow.

As a stand alone badge I would agree, the yellow lion on the claret background in the post below looks great. However, I feel like it needs a predominantly blue background so that it stands out against the claret body of the shirt.

At this point I think I'd side with those who would like just the lion on the shirts.

On 08/07/2023 at 09:48, Jas10 said:

Main problem with the original badge was the order of colours, yellow on blue was a bad choice (washed out).

Much better:

Alternatives:

My favourites:

McGrath

Platt

Yorke

Bosnich

Grealish

Laursen was up there too, even if only for a short time between injuries. Milner that season he switched to centre mid as well.

On 31/01/2022 at 12:48, StefanAVFC said:

My 3 year PCP is up at the end of March. I'm going to pay it off, and the original plan was to sell it and get a new car, but I've delayed it for a year. Never had any issues with it.

But driving home Saturday night, I couldn't turn on my back wiper, so I tried 2/3 times, and instead my front wipers got stuck on, and the jet was constantly firing. It emptied the tank in 30 secs or so, then kept going.

Anyone had something similar? Skoda.

My 10 year old Skoda Fabia just had to have some work done because the back wiper wasn't working, neither were the heating strips in the rear window or the lock mechanism. Turned out it was a broken wire or something.

Also had other random stuff happening. Car wouldn't shut down, even when the key was taken out the ignition, key fob stopped working, Lights on dashboard would go haywire when locking the car manually. Sometimes the front wipers would also go on when restarting the car. I was really worried it would be some major electrical fault but turned out to be a lot of minor things all at once.

2 hours ago, bannedfromHandV said:

All it really confirms for me is that if religion was to be eradicated (somehow) I’m sure we’d all get along a whole bunch better.

I doubt it, I think the biggest issue is that some people just can't tolerate different opinions or lifestyles. Religious views are just an example of that.

People have fights because they go to different schools. People damage & vandalise property and fight amongst themselves because they support different football teams. People assault and abuse or even kill others because of their sexuality, race or even age/disability.

People and a lack of tolerance are the problem. We all just need to accept the fact that we don't all view the world in the same way. Live & let live and all that.

As it is, take religion out of the equation and we'll find something else to fight about.

On 07/05/2021 at 17:53, rjw63 said:

I'm.not one to.knock other people's tastes but...Bruce Dickinson?

Yes I think Bruce Dickinson was a fantastic singer in his prime. Whether you like the music he makes is up to you but his range and the control he has over his voice is brilliant.

I did say that Liam Gallagher technically isn't a great singer, still loved his voice in the 90s though.

I thought the discussion was about favourite singers/vocalists anyway, I didn't realise that eyebrow size would be a factor in who I'm allowed to enjoy listening to!  Maybe there's some connection between those of us with monobrows! 

Freddy Mercury is probably my all-time favourite singer/front man. He was one of a kind.

Conor Mason from Nothing But Thieves is incredible an incredible singer. Aside from his work with the band, which is always impressive, he did a version of 'somewhere over the rainbow' (Eva Cassidy style) during the first lockdown that was amazing!

Kelly Jones is a favourite of mine too. Seen the stereophonics multiple times and he's always excellent but I went to see him at the symphony hall a couple of years ago on his solo tour and was blown away. The venue was perfect for that gig.

Eva Cassidy's voice was beautiful.

Other favourites include, Bruce Dickinson, Michael Jackson, Simon Fowler, Hayley Williams, early Liam Gallagher (Technically not a great singer I know, but I love his voice on Morning Glory), Kimbra, Samantha Barks, Idena Menzel. The Motown legends of course, Aretha, Otis, Marvin Gaye were all brilliant.

3 hours ago, PussEKatt said:

Im not sure but I would think that term started in South Africa during the apartied years.

I don't know when it started but they certainly use the term 'coloured' in South Africa to describe mixed race / Indian people. It's not an offensive term there as I understand it, you are usually categorised as 'black', 'white' or 'coloured'.

Lived there for a couple of years but I could be wrong.

Can anyone more creative than me come up with something about Tyrone from this Super Furry Animals song?:

"I'm a minger, you're a minger too, so come on minger, I want to Ming with you. 

In honesty, it's been a while, since we've had reason left to smile,

hello sunshine, come into my life"

I mean, how many other songs contain the word "Ming" in them already!

7 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Bjarnasson at left back yippe. Bruce with his stupid squad selections. How can you not have a left back on the bench??

Whelan should even be in the squad let alone be starting. Derby winning as well done bruce 

Sky sports score centre app says Taylor was on the bench and came on for Hutton, did they get it wrong?

Man, I love Braun Strowman! 

Clearly got no idea how to get anything out of him. Get rid and buy someone who fits our style (or lack of).

On 7 October 2017 at 13:28, villanwesty88 said:

What about this....

 

 

Still better than singing about Small Heath!

Really need more songs about the Villa and our players… There was WAY too much singing about SHA on Saturday, it's embarrassing. 'My Old Man Said…' 'Birmingham are you listening…' crap songs that really should be cut out unless we're actually playing them.

34 minutes ago, Grasshopper said:

Gaby & Hutton (Richards with one more year?)

Gaby? 

1 hour ago, Wainy316 said:

The house shows are worth going to if you can't make the televised show.

As it'll be part of a UK tour the majority of the big names (minus part timers like Lesnar) will likely be there.  The show will only feature the stars of it's respective brand though (Raw or Smackdown).

They annoyingly seem to have taken Brum off the cycle of hosting Raw & Smackdown.  The last one was 2012 which was great.  I may be biased but Brum always seemed to have the best crowds.

Thank you, that's very helpful. I assume it will be the Raw superstars at Brum then since it's the same day Smackdown is being held at Manchester Arena.

They could at least have one of Raw/Smackdown at Brum, bit annoying that both are in Manchester!

This one for me is one of my favourite days a Villa Park. I was 12/13 and had friends at school who were Liverpool fans from Brum and were always going on about them so I HATED Liverpool… I hated the team, I hated that stupid kit with the giant stripes, I hated Ronnie Rosenthal (I think he'd dived under a challenge from God to win a penalty against us at some point around this time) and I hated that Mark Walters scored for them and celebrated in front of us! 

For us to go on and win 4-2 was good enough but Deano scoring two made it even better. Plus the extra special highlight was that amazing Ronnie Rosenthal open goal miss… I remember the whole of Villa Park laughing so hard at him, it was bliss!

Anyone know if the WWE Live events at the NEC/NIA are worth going to? Anyone here been to one? I've never been to one and have just started getting back in to wrestling so I'm interested in going in November but I don't want to go and find like only 2 big stars and the cruiserweight devision… They list a load of superstars in the advert description but then the small print says lineup may be different to advertised.

Also, how long do the events last?

Mail seems to think he was alright last night. Anyone there who can agree/disagree?

22 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

One if the best heel managers/commentators ever. Rip in the brain

He was the best for sure! He was great with everyone he worked with, particularly loved him & Gorilla as commentators… they were brilliant!