brommy

16 hours ago, WHY said:

31,000 apparently on the waiting list but there are tickets available for tomorrow, something don’t add up!

From what's been said already the available tickets are in the away area having been very recently returned by Fulham. There will be fans who couldn't get a group of seats together a few days ago that haven't checked since the 'away' seats were returned. Yes, the ticket office could or should have been proactive in the last couple of days to nudge known fans without tickets but that's another and smaller matter.

Either way, with less away fans, Villa Park will still have approaching forty thousand Villa fans for a Tuesday evening game against one of the league's unfashionable teams. Indeed, if Fulham had sold their allocation, tonight would be a sellout.

Also, I wouldn't conflate a few seats available on a Tuesday evening against a team who didn't sell their own allocation, with a denial of the now 33k waiting list.

2 hours ago, pas5898 said:

I've always said £800/£850 is my limit so I have a season or 2 left realistically.

Been a season ticket holder for 20 years but the outlay is now starting to affect my kids, their activities and holidays. It's not fair on them.

Are you going to allow for annual inflation on the £800/£850?

1 hour ago, Davkaus said:

I probably could have done, if I wasn't 7 or 8 whiskies in  

I'm half annoyed I just walked out without dealing with it, and half proud of myself for at least not making an arse of myself

(I think drunk me was joking about the likelihood of violence, not trying to play internet hard man - besides, the bloke was **** massive)

Ah yes, the addition of alcohol to both parties probably ruled out my option.

You definitely did the correct thing, given the circumstances.

18 hours ago, Davkaus said:

I'm the most privileged category of word removed imaginable. I'm a white, cis, able-bodied, neuro-typical male in the 21st century. But I've got a disabled daughter. And she's cool, it doesn't usually bother me. She's just Caitlin, not disabled Caitlin.

But tonight, I was at a whiskey tasting with a bunch of white, cis, able-bodied, neuro-typical males, and as it tapered down, one of the regulars started to tell a funny story about some "special needs" kids he knows, and while I'm too angry to recall the details, it was meant to be a funny, endearing story about how these kids are almost human, despite their limitations. I had the choice of laughing, crying, or breaking the word removed's nose on my knee, and on this occasion, I was able to blink back the tears and walk away, but **** hell, were my eyes opened tonight on the discrimination people face even from well-meaning people with their backhanded compliments

Could you have gone with a fourth option of explaining your situation and educating the bloke who might then never repeat his stupidity, or would he have been riled by you embarrassing him?

17 minutes ago, Lord Willard said:

My only gripe of the Europa conference, look how it's affecting West Hams season.

I'm all for 5th 6th and 8th. 

You may have just guaranteed us 7th!

47 minutes ago, Mic09 said:

Or even better, get them to 7th - let's see how magical it is against FC Pyunik of Armenia on a cold wet Thursday night. 

Isn't this what a decent end to the season could result in for us?!

1 minute ago, gwi1890 said:

There’s no reason not to believe that we will build his minutes up next season and involve him in cup competitions.

I wasn't necessarily saying he should be loaned out but suggesting why some may believe he should be. This may be influenced by Villa's typically short amount of cup games through poor results or freakishly common ties against top class opponents - both of which can stunt the game time of fringe players.

I'll be slightly surprised if Duran does get loaned out.  If he were, possibly Spain, but I really can't see Duran being loaned out to the EFL. Either way, I  trust Emery to do the correct thing for Villa's and Jhon's medium and long term interests.

1 hour ago, TheMelvillan said:

Garth Crooks's (I know , I know) team of the week was posted on twitter the other days and there was a huge amount of outrage that he didn't include Moreno. The mad thing was that the majority of those complaining were Newcastle fans who couldn't praise him enough

On balance he also included David deGea as his goalkeeper who made zero saves in their match against bottom of the table forest 

Garth Crooks' choices for 'team of the week' often demonstrate he's either a pundit fraud or he's simply taking the pee in seeing how  he can irrationality shoehorn some of the best known players in. If it's the latter, it might be to generate reactions and clicks, but I suspect it's the former.

His output is best laughed at or ignored, in my opinion.

23 hours ago, MrBlack said:

Not sure what size this will come out but it was such a good header.  Watched the ball all the way then last second turns his head away to perfectly cushion the ball so that it drops dead weight in the box in front of Ramsey.  It was perfection. 

I'm glad Ollie knew what he was doing because when I saw it from my seat near the front centre of the Upper Holte, my instant reaction was - he must have been fouled for his header to be so far off target - 'PENALTY!'

13 minutes ago, gwi1890 said:

What’s so hard to understand about keeping him around and developing him?

I suspect concerns over lack of competitive game time that could prevent his development.

3 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Heading back to where they belong. Outside the top division.

My theory is that they'll lose against any team we're fighting top six for but win or draw enough other games, spoiling our chances whilst dragging their arses over the survival line.

14 hours ago, Made In Aston said:

I'm confused why he has no international caps and hasn't played for anyone better than betis, as he is top quality. 

Without all those international friendlies, qualifying and tournaments, we can take advantage of a low mileage Moreno!

27 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Can’t believe I have to support Leeds tomorrow, feels so dirty but if they can somehow beat Liverpool that would be such a blow for the red Scouse and great for us.

A 0 - 0 game, resulting in half a dozen 3 match bans for 3 players per side, is fine for us.

4 minutes ago, sidcow said:

4. The club stated it was connected to changes to The Holte End and The Trinity Road stands. 

Yes, I should've saved my efforts and written that!

7 hours ago, Captain_Townsend said:

With the new North Stand we get to 50,000. For me, the obvious next move is Witton Lane. As things stand the current Witton Lane Stand is about 3,500 seats smaller than the Trinity (and a lot more cramped). 

I would not be surprised to learn that they have figured out a way to build a new Stand on Witton Lane - maybe diverting the road under the Stand- and this new Stand will, aesthetically, look like the Trinity but won't quite be on the same scale. So, that's our extra 2,000 or so seats (and better facilities).

Overhangs, digging down etc? I just don't see it. 

 

This extra seats we've been talking about comes from the capacity listed for Villa Park in the official bid for the Euros in Summer 2028. The expanded capacity is stated as 52,190, some 2125 higher than the 50,065 quoted by Villa following the completion of the forthcoming approved phase of works - replacing the existing North Stand and upgrading the existing hospitality areas (primarily in the Trinity Road Stand).

I really don't think these extra 2125 seats will be in a new stand on Witton Lane, for three reasons:

1. It hasn't even been proposed yet. Then there's the lengthy consultation and approval process so final build completion in good time for UEFA's inspections prior to the Summer 2028 tournament would be very difficult and possibly too rushed.

2. If Villa are to replace the stand on Witton Lane it would probably be the biggest part of the recently stated desire for a 'future Villa Park' to reach 60,000 capacity. This would require building a new stand with far more additional capacity than 2125.

3. Building a totally new stand on Witton Lane would cost probably as much as the North Stand phase - around £100m. Possibly worth it for an additional 8k seats, almost definitely not worth it for 2k seats.

5 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Whoa. That picture DOES suggest a new Holte Roof with possible extra rows to the rear. You might well be onto something there. 

Whilst the promo video appears to show a different style roof than current it doesn't appear to extend any further back. I think plain white roof shown in the video was used to simplify the CGI process in lieu of the actual roof which has black lines on it.

2 minutes ago, Rich192 said:

Looking back at the promo video that we released. Looks below as if the Trinity and the Holte is connected far more than it is now:

 

 

So maybe a few seats there? There's also a different roof on the Holte End in this video, so there might be bigger changes in the Holte in phase 2 than we originally thought, which would bring about those additional 2k or so extra?

Or am I reading too much in to a promo video...?

I'm not convinced the promo video is that accurate in its visual portrayal of a future Villa Park but hey, if the capacity is increasing to 52,190, the 2,100 or so extra seats are going somewhere and I enjoy chatting about what I see as my second home.

3 minutes ago, sidcow said:

I mean looking at that there must be 5 or 6 rows on the existing overhang. 

I'm now pretty certain they could add 10 rows to get that 2,000 though exists will start attracting a lot of attention. 

2,000 seats could produce circa £1.2m per season in pure entrance money so the economics of a big spend really do stack up, especially if there is some Euro 2028 cash floating about. 

The more I think about it the more this makes seems like the most likely solution. 

For me the main issue is the support for the structure. Could you could but a massive beam across the whole length of the stand supported either side?   Is there a way of putting in steel uprights at the back of the lower Holte for some cantilever support? 

Questions Questions. 

 

From my seat in row 12 Upper I can't see the rear half of the lower Holte due to the angle of the Upper Holte rows in front of me which overhang by only a few rows. Adding too many rows at the front of the Upper could risk restricting the view of the Holte End goal line below.

22 minutes ago, sidcow said:

OK apologies for the excess of posts. 

I've just looked at photos taken from my seat. I can see acres of sky above the North Stand. I'm talking over twice it's height and no sign of the overhang. 

I'll see if I can post a picture. 

I'm certain you could extend that overhang A LOT and not affect my view. 

This seems like a logical way they could fit in a lot more seats. Probably need addition exits, maybe to the side but I would say definitely possible. 

Crazy that my group of Upper Holte row 12 seats that I've had since the stand was completed in 1994, could end up being row 20!

I do wonder if we're close on where the majority of the extra seats taking Villa Park from just over 50,000 to just over 52,000 will be located. Could an extra few rows be added at the back of the Upper Holte?

48 minutes ago, sidcow said:

You upper Holters don't know the meaning of a crowded concourse

I do appreciate the Upper Holte currently has a mahoosive amount of space compared to especially the D.E. and current North Stands.

1 minute ago, OutByEaster? said:

If you look at for example the back of the Lower Holte - if you take a chunk of that concourse out of use for the general public and have the Holte Suite as a feeder for Hospitality seating, you can knock out the (shuttered) bit at the back and add seating there with the lounge behind. The club are also moving to a sort of hospitality with standing room pitch side, so rather than those people going into seats they stand on balconied areas (think bar stools around little tables). Whether you can take out boxes and add more capacity by doing hospitality in other ways, I'm not sure, but I have a feeling the club are looking at every part of the ground they can to see if they can convert to this GA+ hospitality level - I'm just guessing at whether that might help with the mystery 2,000.

 

I was stood with my family looking through the glass behind the goal before the shutters were closed prior to us taking our Upper Holte seats for the recent game against Forest. There is some space to add a few extra rows that would form a new back of the Lower Holte under the overhang of the front of the Upper Holte. If the extra rows were to be across the whole width of the stand (around 200 to 220 seats per row?), the majority of the catering facilities for the Upper Holte would need to go somewhere else. It’s possible as there is a reasonable amount of room in the Upper Holte concourse but it would make the sell out match day experience a bit crowded under there. The extra 2.1k capacity would need about 10 extra rows which seems unfeasible to me, but who knows?

28 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

I think it's likely that some of the new capacity will be lounges taking over from boxes - I think there are ways to increase hospitality attendance over regular seating and we might see some re-profiling of stuff like the DE boxes or the concourses at the back of the Lower Holte to allow for more of a sort of balconied hospitality - the stuff with a flat standing space behind a glass fence - I think they can increase on the capacity allowed in individual boxes with larger lounges.

Not sure you'd get 2,000 out of that, but you never know.

 

Wouldn’t an increase in hospitality numbers still require pitch view seating for those people? You can mass cater in lounge areas but are they then supposed to watch the game on a screen and would that count towards stadium capacity?

4 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

Those metrics aren't perfect but they do align generally with most teams fortunes. 

What is worth noting is that Emery states as much after every game.  We won, but we can be better. 

Those stats give him something tangible to explain to his players when he continually demands more of them. That can only go on for so long before you start losing some people who feel the need to get recognised for achievements.  I'm sure Emery finds a near close to perfect balance of carrot and stick, but he isnt just saying it after we win. He genuinely knows we can be better. 

Yes, the points return isn't sustainable, but we're constantly improving and he'll have some of his own signings to add to the mix next season.

We're in a wonderful place and a downward trend may yet kick in before the season ends, but it won't change how elite Emery is.

I agree with your excellent post.

6 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

whilst i see you point (re your dismissive comment), if i had to find some issues with us (and im not really looking for them - im very happy with Emery, but just for a discussion point)......

over Emery's time at the club (and probably/certainly before), we have conceded quite a few clear cut/gilt edge chances to the opposition teams, most of them for whatever reason werent converted since Emery has been here, which is great for us, but if you did a short video of the clear cut chances we have given to teams, it might be a bit more of a shock than expected, as its a lot, i have thought this myself recently, but as of now it is what it is, we are performing well and getting the rub of the green right now, so im not going to complain.

I do think we will see defensive upgrades in the summer, coupled with Carlos coming back when fit, but anyways, my point is, we do need to improve the defensive line, and i can see it happening in the summer for sure.

So while i agree with the scoff at people trying to "do us down", i also kind of accept that we have been very, very lucky with some of the glaring chances we have given away at times.

It does seem we've gained a few extra points from some missed chances by our opposition, but without analysing the chances missed against other teams, I couldn't be sure how unusual it actually is. I'm sure it can happen over half a dozen games, perhaps even a dozen. Emery has now managed Villa for 17 league games.

If we have been fortunate, it's likely to even out during our remaining 8 league games. Either way, a top half finish looks very likely which is incredible given the form and position Unai inherited us in and I'm not buying we had a significant balance of luck over 25 league games.

I'm also reminded of the quote:

The harder I work, the luckier I get!

21 minutes ago, duke313 said:

Apparently we’re shit.

Well either we're fluking many games (it's just possible but surely getting less and less likely as we approach a half  league season under Unai) OR Emery is going to force a change in the algorithms those xG, xGA, xPts type stats currently use!