brommy

3 hours ago, HKP90 said:

I would guess that it's taking this long because they were not expecting the utter horror that greeted the earlier leak. Hopefully they have spent the intervening period actually doing something about it.

Governments leak possible future policy to see how much pushback is generated. It's possible Heck and co. did similar.

IF those who don't like either/or the star and 1874, acknowledge the majority of fans surveyed wanted them, and we acknowledge that the round badge wasn't working as good brand recognition amongst all the other current round badges in top level football, do we think that the recent images showing a gold (not yellow) lion on a shield are decent and at least acceptable?

1 hour ago, blandy said:

What if, and I’m just speculating here, but what if those empty, unsold seats are mostly the “premium” type seats, TV and that other one? Suppose the case for a new stand assumed high demand for posh seats, but the experience with the TV seats tends to show that there’s actually not a big demand, or much of one at all for paying £120 + per game from our fanbase. That would likely undermine the business case for a fancy new stand with lots of premium seating.

Exactly my thoughts on what I believe is the primary reason for the cancellation of Phase 1.

Every home game I take a look across the stands from my vantage point in the centre of the Upper Holte. Even sell out games will see single empty seats, perhaps 1 in 100, which is to be expected through illness/holiday or toilet visits (there's a bloke, who sits in the row in front of me, who makes 3 or 4 visits during every game!).

The groups of seats visible without fans in the occasional not sold out games are always in the same areas - the very top corners of the Upper North and the very top corners, closest to the Holte, of the Trinity and D.E. stands. Those latter two areas are reserved for those without season tickets who have purchased hospitality in the Lower Holte. In a couple of games there's been an empty group of around 50 to 100 seats in each of those two areas.

I fully expect Heck has done the return on investment maths (we can sell out another 8000 seats at season ticket prices of around £40/match but not at £60+/match or £120 with some hospitality) and presented his findings to NSWE. It will then have been NSWE's decision to choose not to replace the North Stand.

3 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

It’s a massive disadvantage for us with the way we play. Even the players have said it. 
 

Fortunately I think it’s an error and we will have VAR on Friday

Surely it is an error on that website - perhaps they were awaiting confirmation of the VAR personnel?

It was my understanding that all FA Cup games played at current Premier League grounds would feature full VAR coverage. Why would Stamford Bridge be any different this Friday evening?

2 hours ago, stuart_75 said:

I only know her from Brassic where she is easy on the eye and plays a more comedic roll. The whole premise of her being an ex special forces/Delta/assassin was just ridiculous. Also the house she lived in looked like she'd won the Euromillions jackpot.

Didn't her husband's family own the multi-billion pound pharmaceutical company?

18 hours ago, Jas10 said:

 

Clearly not injured. Wouldn't be the first to throw a sickie to get a birthday off work.

6 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

Apologies because everyone seems to like the new leak. I really want to like it. I might be able to convince myself in time, but if I'm completely honest about my initial impressions, with the new lion detail it kind of looks like a sign outside a pub to me.

That's a good sign to most!

7 hours ago, Rustibrooks said:

What a stupid penalty to give away lol. Happy for Bert though 

I'm pleased Bertie kept his cool to score a decent penalty. Just one thing confuses me about that video clip - why does Jean-Paul Gaultier appear in it?

8 hours ago, Seat68 said:

Sadly my mum didn't make it through the night.

Sorry for your loss. I'm sure the VT community are here for you if you need us.

Still no news on the appeal against the red card for Calvert Lewin?

1 minute ago, sharkyvilla said:

Probably because it has a shitload of butter in it.  Always makes food that bit nicer.

Yep. Shortbread can taste lovely made with all butter but cheap and nasty if made with another fat.

15 minutes ago, theboyangel said:

I imagine Everton will appeal the red card  and have a good chance of having it overturned 

absolutely appalling decision by the officials

The result of a possible appeal will be interesting. After all, several VAR officials and the match referee viewed it several times and from various angles. All agreed it was a red, so an overturned decision will be saying they were all incorrect. Interesting if the PGMOL will 'throw them under the bus' for what is a subjective decision.

48 minutes ago, villa89 said:

Is it that OR is it that the club don't believe that the cost of the North Stand redevelopment is worth the extra ticket income received over the course of a season from the additional seats. My non-ITK assumption is that Heck thinks the club can be more profitable by selling merch, food & beverage, fan experiences and higher priced tickets than having a bigger stadium and paying down a huge loan for it. 

Quick maths, 5K extra tickets sold on average per game, £40 a ticket, 19 home games = ~£3.8 million. Add in a bit more for cup games, a few more hospitality boxes and food/beverage sales and the additional seats bring in around £5m a season. Cost to build the stand, £100m+......doesn't really add up....

I agree. I strongly suspect the somewhat mediocre demand to pay the prices for the Terrace View and Lower Grounds hospitality offerings, has caused Heck to believe there isn't the money in the Villa fan base to pay for the new North Stand in what he and the owners believe is a reasonable timeframe.

We've thousands of fans willing to fill a 50k Villa Park with their £40 per match season tickets. They might also give an extra £10 profit to the club by buying a pie and a pint (possible a bit more if the catering was more efficient!). Change those averages to £80 and £30 respectively and Heck would have already approved the construction start, but we've not got the numbers willing to pay 'London prices'.

15 hours ago, fruitvilla said:

It's not the payback time, it's whether the project makes money. The five years is a reflection of an aggressive rate of return ... it's probably about 15%.

I don't know how much the construction is going to cost say 100 million; what rate of return are you going to accept, bearing in mind a 20 million overrun or delay is not impossible. Like I said it is a conservative estimate. I would hope the senior management doesn't put the club at risk.

edit

plus it is not really five years as such ... the construction time and spending rate need to be factored in.

Already posted but while it's being discussed, just to add some perhaps comparable detail (in terms of both being large Premier League clubs), regarding anticipated financial return - Chelsea very recently rejected the expansion of Stamford Bridge as their payback period was 25 years with just a 2.8% annual growth over a 50 year period.

A significant difference from Villa Park was their cost per new seat was double the North Stand cost per new seat, but I also strongly expect Chelsea could charge around double for their tickets and hospitality.

56 minutes ago, LondonLax said:

Man City will hit their stride and walk the second half of the season. 

Pfft, walk? If we get a bit of a jog on, the title is ours. I like it, a lot!

15 minutes ago, rodders0223 said:

The demand is not there.

The demand is there at £800 per season ticket. It's not there at £70 per match seat or £150 per seat including basic hospitality. I think Heck has decided the payback period using reasonable season ticket pricing is too long for a new North Stand to be financially viable.

6 minutes ago, Villaphan04 said:

16 points from a possible 18 in their last 6 matches. We were the only team to get anything from them. 

Good stats. It now looks like a decent late earned point away at Bournemouth.

9 hours ago, WHY said:

Shit facilities and hardly any legroom as it is but they can add another 2/3000 seats, pathetic. With the exception of Brighton we have the smallest capacity in the current top 10! 

...and Chelsea. Stamford Bridge is over 2k smaller than Villa Park.

CFC have also recently concluded that the constructionally feasible expansion of adding 13000 seats isn't financially viable, with a minimum payback period of 25 years and a return of just 2.8% over 50 years. The construction cost per seat would likely to be double that of a new North Stand but Heck also now knows our fan base can't support Stamford Bridge prices.

An announcement cancelling the expansion closely followed by announcement confirming the next step on the way to station expansion. Something is very weird here!

19 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Can't imagine Emery is happy with that being broadcast to the world. Mind you it could be a bluff! 

Emery said in today's pre-match conference that Pau isn't fit for tomorrow night's game. I don't think Unai is one to bluff/lie.

2 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

Hope it's okt o post this here as it's not 23/24 specific but it is about season tickets

 

Given our mythical 24,000 strong season ticket waiting list, I was thinking of getting myself on it with my son.

He's only 2, but give it a couple more seasons and I'd like to start taking him to games so I'd like to get us both on the waiting list.

 

How do I do this? I can find where to add myself but I can only reserve one place. Which makes sense I guess. Do I have to register my son as a fan/member even though he's only 2?

I think you will need to register your son as everything Villa tickets appears to be fan ID driven.

1 hour ago, gilbertoAVFC said:

Jonathan Pearce asking if Watkins would "do it again" after being abused. Absolute rocket polisher that bloke

In fairness, I didn't see an issue with Pearce's question. It gave Ollie the perfect opportunity for his great response that in the same circumstances he'd do the same again. His question and Ollie's response also gave a good foundation for the three MOTD2 presenters to comment in support Ollie's action.

Found this thread at the bottom of page 4 so I guess their 'mind the gap' crap hasn't aged well.

Exactly double their points (38 to 19) after 17 games. Mind the maths - karma's a Villan!

9 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

I don't think we'll have a capacity of 52,000 for the Euros - I suspect that's a 'bid number'.

 

I agree. I think I've written similar at least a couple of times on VT.

21 minutes ago, UpTheVilla26 said:

Like that will stop them, they will still travel and do exactly what they did at our place.

They should have made them play any remaining European games behind closed doors, home or away. 

It's probably not fair to ban home fans from their away fixtures!