Good evening General
90 posts already? You're here for the long-haul after all...!
Regarding marketing, not a question per se, just a couple of statements:
a) You rarely see a Villa top on sale outside of the midlands, never mind potential prospective fan bases such as Malaysia or Thailand. Recent success isn't a factor - Liverpool FC have an amazing fan base in SE Asia, even prior to their recent European Cup Win. We're simply not in the mix..... even I don't have the opportunity to buy Villa apparel in London - and I know a good few fans down here in the Big Smoke.
I personally feel we look cheap with the sponsors we have. I read the deal with 32Red is worth seven figures over a period of time, which I feel falls way too short of who Aston Villa are. As someone who is invloved with sales day to day, I think it would have been better kudos to have an NGO sponsor us for free (a la Barcelona and UNICEF - even though Barca did make a financial contribution), rather than taking peanuts from a dodgy, Gibraltar based online gambler.
My two cents. Apologies for the spelling errors - long day at the office today