Mic09

55 minutes ago, Okonokos said:

The space might be viable at the NEC but getting there is not easy at all. I can just imagine how bad the roads would be on match days. No thanks.

NEC is next to the airport, multi-platform train station, motorways. They have massive parking spaces and it's possible to expand those, including exits. It is probably the easiest venue to get to in Birmingham, certainly easier than Aston.

It makes perfect logistical sense.

But I appreciate it might not be the best location considering it's a bit far from Aston/Witton. But then again, Aston is not exactly a football mecca. I would wager it would be much easier for most fans to get to NEC than Aston. 

So we'd have to address a question of whether Aston is our home, or are we going to be a global club that will be able to attract fans from London that can get to NEC in just over an hour. 

23 minutes ago, Okonokos said:

I really wish people would get the NEC idea out of their head too. It's 13 miles away from Aston; it's not exactly that much better than Wimbledon moving to Milton Keynes. And getting to the NEC general area is nowhere near as easy as some people think, trust me!

We stay in Aston.

It's not even comparable to Wimbledon moving to MK. 

NEC is in the same city - it's 15 mins down the M6. 

I am not advocating for it. but considering the NEC infrastructure already in place, it is a feasible option. Especially if resorts world arena is taken over by the exhibition space, and we strike a deal with them to build a venue that is capable of hosting 20k attendance concerts on weekly basis AND 60k football matches. Now THAT would be a cash cow that would challenge or overtake the spurs stadium. 

50 minutes ago, WallisFrizz said:

To the stadium announcer…never call him Pau “wow” Torres ever again please.

They could call him "Kung Fu" Pau

On 14/02/2024 at 21:40, Marka Ragnos said:

Conventional wisdom: “Gen Z’ers have it considerably harder than previous Gens.”

No, they don’t. They have it considerably easier.

Every generation has different challenges. Back in the 80s tickets for Villa were a few £ and kids could afford it easily. Try spending £60 every other week as a teen now.

Unless you are in a war/starvation situation (or need specialist medical help) no generation has it easier/worse than the next. 

2 minutes ago, Captain_Townsend said:

How much more complex was the new North stand compared to say the Trinity? The old Trinity was demolished in May 2000 and the new Trinity was opened in about January 2001!

The Anfield redevelopment is a more contemporary comparison. What they did is way more complex than what we had planned. And they did it for better or worse.

As always, I will put in the disclaimer here, I am not claiming to know more on this than the club - experts, geniuses etc - but the vacuum of info leads to speculation. 

Anfield's new behind goal stand started being built in October 2021. It was finally fully opened only a few weeks ago?

Numbers wise it looks like a similar sized project, other than they haven't fully knocked down the previous stand? 

It looks like it cost in the region of £80-100m. 

3 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

If we had a beer sponsor it would be the first time since probably Muller that I personally might actually be in a position to buy something from.

We have to be careful what we wish for thought!

Problem with beer sponsors is that it's mostly large international breweries. The piss beer that we will have to buy at the stadium.

21 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

I guess there's a chance that the demands of HS2 on suppliers decrease or there's a time when no one is building and the contractors become a little bit more flexible - I don't know, it's not an industry I know a massive amount about and I guess the next five years aren't an option anyway, perhaps it just didn't make sense and we'll revisit after the Euros and see if things are easier.

Other than the apparent large cranes which have been mentioned in the past, I can't see how our project might be affected by demands for contractors/materials for HS2. 

The more I think about it, it really isn't that big of a project. It's like building a large apartment block/office building, hundreds of which are built across the country. I would hazard a guess that considering limited indoor space (hospitality suites, toilets, media etc) is is largely a roofed over terrace with beer taps. I know nothing about construction, but my idiots logic tells me that building an office 15 storey might be a much more demanding task. 

Stadiums are being built across Europe. We are planning to build less than a quarter of a new stadium (I say less because additional infrastructure like roads etc is already there). 

Now, I can see why owners might not want to spend £100m more than they expected. Its their money. But I guess at some point something will have to be done.

16 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

For me, alcohol is a million times worse than gambling for a multitude of reasons.

As @MNVillan and @maqroll I'm speaking from personal experience too.

Anyway on topic, is anyone else hoping that the delay with the badge, means the club have gone back to the drawing board?

Or are simply working with Adidas to create a streamlined launch ( As well as much improved badge )

Probably they are currently worried about turning the witton lane toilets into hospitality areas and looking to bring in porta potties just outside of the stand. 

43 minutes ago, Zatman said:

The problem with Zaniolo through no fault of his own was that a lot of fans got into the head that he was the second coming of Totti and people were just expecting him to explode when he got a goal

I warned people at the time he is a completely different player and not near that level and got talked down for being negative

I didn't expect a 2nd coming of Totti. I expected a filler for when Ramsey is out.

And I'm still underwhelmed. 

19 hours ago, Xann said:

The UK's in a bit of a state of flux with cannabis.

With police resources stretched as they are, they're not always taking the types they're finding with personal quantities of cocaine down the station anymore. If they're satisfied that they've identified you correctly? They'll take the sniff and I guess you'll get a fine or summons in the post? I didn't see what happened next to find out which? 

Cannabis edibles are here now, illegally obviously, but it's moving the culture away from the historic perception of being seedy and illicit.

Canada and Israel were in the top 3 stoner states a couple of years ago. I didn't see that coming in 1990.

Don't know what happens next really? At the moment on a still Summer day, everywhere stinks of weed in London. Brixton to Kingston there it is. Legalised, I suppose it's feasible that the smells could drop off? (Though I wouldn't put the mortgage on it ). There will be people that choose edibles, and the dry herb vapes hardly smell at all unless someone's exhaling in your face?

I do wonder why there isn't more talk about legalisation of weed in the UK. It has recently been legalised in Germany. 

38 minutes ago, maqroll said:

Also, most people who regularly drink beer don't have a drinking problem. They drink beer because they enjoy it and usually do so with friends. 

Should a football club not have a beer sponsor because 5% of regular drinkers are clinically alcoholic?

BTW, congrats on the teatotaling. I'm 3 years and 3 months myself. 

 

 

And most people who gamble don't have a gambling problem either. 

5 minutes ago, maqroll said:

It would be mighty disappointing to have a swanky Adidas shirt with a new badge but still have that crap sponsor on it.

Man City have a nice sleeve sponsor in Asahi beer. I like the typography, I like that it's a beer company and it would look great on a Villa shirt-

Just wait for the anti-gambling sponsor minded people to destroy your suggestion of an alcohol led advert  

34 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

Unless I'm misunderstanding it? 

But if the answer was yes then I would straight away want us to vote no

Also the PL could easily just pay this themselves and then deduct it from what they pay the teams, I'm guessing the TV money is paid to the PL who then divy it up across the 20 teams, just get the PL to pay the lump sum and then give the teams less... Why should each club make a payment? That makes no sense 

Isn't the 'PL' the clubs themselves? 

Any such decision would have to be voted by 20 teams. 

Which in itself is silly because Sheffields and Burnley's have very different goals to Arsenals and Liverpools. 

5 minutes ago, ozvillafan said:

But it's not just Aston Villa paying the clubs below us, right? We all pay an amount, I'm assuming based on something like income or league position.

So the argument of having the most money to compete seems null and void - it "weakens" everybody else in the same way.

Sure. But why would NSWE want to 'weaken' us and everyone else? Especially as we will likely be competing in Europe?

3 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Your £8k second hand ICE car is still very much going to piss off the polar bears.

Which brings another reason why this will be such a high success.  There is a sizeable number of people who just want an EV.  They worry about the Environment and want to do their bit.  But the price of EV's has just made it impossible.  I think a lot of them will jump at this regardless of if it 'makes total sense' because they will be more willing to make compromises in an EV than they will for an ICE vehicle.  I'm one of those people but I'm holding out for a VW ID2, hopefully next year as I hope VW will allow me to exit my PCP early.  Either way my next vehicle will 100% be electric.

Buying a car that is already on the market is much more environmentally friendly than building a new one, getting all the parts for the batteries, transferring everything around the world, running massive factories, getting workers to build it, the costs to environment are not even comparable.

You can have an argument between a new traditional vehicle vs a new EV and EV comes out on top. I have no issues with that. 

But 2nd hand purchases are more environmentally friendly for cars that barely burn any petrol and do minimal miles annually. 

And that is before we even consider things like 'I just saved £8k, we can now afford solar panels and a heat pump'. 

7 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

It’s just highlights in general how different interpretations can be, 50% of people see it as McGinn going for the player, 50% see it as going for the ball. 

100% people should agree that if he was in fact going for the ball, he made a shitty job of it. And that's the bottom line. 

19 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Eh?  You are comparing the new price of an EV for the second hand price of an ICE vehicle?

It's the tipping point because it's where EV's become price competitive with ICE cars.  There are a number out in the next year like the VWID2 which are price competitive with a Polo that will enable you to pick up relatives from Luton or have a weekend in Wales.

Battery prices are plummeting all the time  it will soon be CHEAPER to make an EV than an ICE car.  In fact looking at this we're probably there already.

And next year or the year after you'll probably see a Dacia Spring refresh with a bigger battery to extend the range as competition bites.   

You are probably right. It's not a fair comparison.

I love the idea of a brand new car, but I always question myself; why. But that's just me. If everyone thought like me, there would be no cars. 

If I was shopping around for a small nippy town car, £15k is not the price point for me. 

But I appreciate there is a market for these, my close relatives are in that market.

So I am looking at it from a purely subjective perspective. If I want to have a nippy weekend shopper, I can wisely spend £5-8k and still not piss off the polar bears. 

1 hour ago, sidcow said:

You've got to put this into perspective. This is an EV that is price competitive with ANY car you can buy. One of the very cheapest on the market.

This is very much the tipping point. 

 

It is still £15k for the cheapest model of a very basic vehicle. 

You could easily buy a used Aygo with a 1ltr engine for £7k which will burn next to no petrol (I just checked the combined consumption of 68.9mpg) and if you are green I guess the 2nd hand market is where you should be looking.

And there are no downsides if you have to pick up relatives from Luton airport or want to take the family for a weekend in Wales. 

I am really rooting for the electric vehicles, but to me, this is not a tipping point just yet.

But well done Dacia. 

36 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

Because football in the UK is an important community asset, it isn't just like any other business, and this is recognised both culturally and legally, which is why the government are looking to intervene if the clubs don't produce a satisfactory deal.

The Premier League is now such a juggernaut with such grotesque wealth that it could probably survive without the grassroots or the football pyramid by continuing to hoard talent from across the globe, but we'd never have got our sport to this point without the rest of the English league structure.

A healthy pyramid of clubs below us should ultimately be good for the top flight and the game as a whole, but the Premier League is happy to see it whither away

Sure, hence I see your arguments and very much sympathise with them. 

But as you mentioned yourself, the government looks to intervene precisely because it is unlikely Villa or Chelsea or any other ownership might want to take their money and just give it to lower league clubs. We do so already don't we? This is an improved deal. 

And from a business perspective (which I have no doubt is the perspective of NSWE) it is about Aston Villa having the most money to compete with the clubs at the top. And while I share your sentiment, it is their money so their thinking might be purely bottom line driven. 

11 hours ago, Davkaus said:

Disappointed but not surprised to see us listed as one of the clubs who blocked a better financial deal for the EFL clubs.

**** the pyramid, we're alright Jack.

I don't have a strong opinion one way or another, but why are you dissapointed?

Isn't the deal taking money away from Aston Villa towards other clubs lower down? Isn't it like Tesco voting to funnel money to Co Op? Why do you think the businessowners might want to go for it? 

Due to the kindness of their hearts to fund a Shrewsbury player getting a transfer to Burton Albion? 

29 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

Disagree, it’s pretty much the opposite of what you said.

How so?

19 minutes ago, Wainy316 said:

A textbook cynical yellow card offence.

Yellow card is to pull his shirt.

We see a few of those every game.

Red card is to do what John did. 

16 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

Yes, I'm one of them. It's called 'a normal human being'. 

You can't leave the house without sugar puffs?