ejs1111

The talk of adding 2000-3000 seats by reconfiguring the existing seats to me is utter bollocks. The only potential areas are filling in the corners- and that is where many of the structural components are for each of the stands. You cannot just remove those and fill with seats. Not to mention in the FAB meeting Heck also mentioned the need to DOUBLE the number of ADA seating to over 200. Where will that come from? By REMOVING existing seats and putting in more platforms. Everything coming out of Hecks mouth has been a complete lie. IMO Villa Park will see a REDUCED capacity in the coming seasons due to ADA requirements, not an increase. Best case scenario- we are able to add seats in the corners to recover the lost seats due to ADA. There will be no 2k-3k increase in capacity. Heck is just telling people what he thinks they want to hear in an attempt to soften the blow of his decision to shut down the North Stand Expansion. Last item- when all this negative news was brought out in the past few days... did anyone confirm if the warehouse and club shop refurb/expansion were still going to happen? Or did Heck scupper those as well? He really is a Grinch- doing this all over the Christmas holiday! haha-

where can I get a job like Heck? Get paid millions to make shite decisions like this. Its the new weatherman gig

completely agree. Keep the bloody round badge we have. Tweak it if needed but keep it. Given that Heck is known for altering the badge into numerous iterations and logos- having a round badge as the base makes the most sense- that would be the easiest to start from as well. Many liked it- wasn't the fan poll like 75% in favor? 78%? It was a vast majority. Its not rocket science.

I think the answer is obvious. NSWE are secretly building a temporary stadium elsewhere at the moment. A super cheap lego style stadium for Villa to play in akin to Luton in appearance. Then NWSE will demo VP except the Holte and rebuild a brand new stadium in the same location as VP. A gorgeous modern 4 stand stadium similar Everton's new facility. Win-win for everyone. AVFC will just have to suffer playing in a lego sandbox for awhile. I'll get my coat

I agree with previous posters. This is being done to improve our commercial revenues and assist with infrastructure. Villa need to compete commercially and financially with the big boys (ManU, Citeh, Spurs, Chelsea, Liverpool). We were always going to need additional partners abroad to expand the clubs reach. It will take decades to catch up with those clubs listed- but we can certainly close the gap quicker with outside investment, global branding, etc.

The Atairos paragraph in the club statement says it has offices in NYC and Philadelphia. Perhaps Chris Heck had some involvement? Previously worked with the Philadelphia 76ers- maybe that organization dealt with them as well.

I can see it now. AVFC will fall 1 point short and everyone will be moaning about the Forest match until the end of time.

I saw a post on YouTube that Villa have had the toughest start to the season in the Premier League with our opponents averaging 1.47PPG this season. By comparison Arsenal have had the easiest at 1.10PPG. Granted this doesn't take into account home vs away. But I really fancy our chances to maintain this form and dare I say improve on it... notwithstanding injuries of course! UTV

I'm just speechless. And I'm watching a replay of the game to relive it all again. I'm 49yrs old and given the opponent- that's the best I've ever seen a Villa team play. They couldn't lay a glove on us, we were in complete control and dominant for the vast majority of the match. Could have easily been 2-0 or 3-0. Should have been frankly. I saw on twitter from one of the xG stat posters- from the 11th minute until the end of the match- Citeh had 0.00 xG. Thats how dominant Villa were today. Remarkable. Bring on the Arse this weekend. UTV

Frankly Arsenal look very beatable to me- when away from home. Soft underbelly, typical Gunners team. Rice helps improve that- but doesn't eliminate it. They struggled defensively on the road against Luton- shipped 3 goals. I'd like to think they will have trouble too at Villa Park. Citeh comes tomorrow missing several key players, most notably Rodri. Citeh also has been poor defensively lately, and playing without Rodri will weaken them further. Honestly I fancy Villa's chances to get a result in BOTH matches. I think we can get 4 points from these 2 matches. Why not? UTV

I hope he scores the winner against the Arse this weekend and kisses the badge while looking into the away end! UTV

UCL qualification everyday and twice on Sunday. Frankly I agree with others that we are fully capable of winning the EUCL and finishing top4-5 and getting UCL. So we can certainly have our cake and eat it too this season. But the UCL qualification will certainly be what UE and the owners are reaching for. It will raise the commercial stature of AVFC globally, increase our revenue to new levels, allow Monchi and co. to recruit a higher caliber of player as well. This will improve the overall squad significantly- which will make League Cup and FA Cup trophies more achievable in future seasons with a rotated squad. Even if the UCL is too strong of a competition in the short term as many are suggesting, we would simply drop down to the later stages of Europa like NUFC will likely be doing. And who do we have managing? Only the Europa king himself... Unai Emery. Who's to say we don't drop down and win that trophy? Thereby qualifying for UCL again the following year? Personally, I don't buy the 'too soon' argument that Villa cannot compete in UCL next season. UE took Villareal to the UCL semifinal FFs- does anyone think that squad was a super power? UE has so many more tools and resources at his disposal here at Villa- I'm confident he will be able to put together an extremely competitive squad for UCL play. UTV

doesn't UCL have different FFP rules that will be coming into play? Something about 90% turnover to wages, or 80%? I thought that was going into effect next season- wonder if that will have a negative effect on Villa?

What is also incredible about this table... Villa lost to Pool and Newcastle combined 8-1. -7 GD... Villa are now +13 GD. Our offensive output has been simply staggering all season. 31 goals in 13 Premier League matches. We are on pace for 90 goals this season- NINETY!! That type of offensive output is the main reason why we will be in the top4 contention all season. Villa are an offensive juggernaut this season. Every match teams know we are likely to score 2-3 goals against them. Its like playing against prime Citeh offensively- that puts massive pressure on the opposing team to try and stop us. UTV

I just think he needs competition. That alone will help 'up' his game. Similar to Moreno and Digne. Moreno has certainly helped Digne up his game imo.

I agree. For me its Leon is now showing the graft needed that UE demands- in addition to the production/technical skill. Bertie has never had that graft.

Born in the States (Indiana). Still live in the States (Washington DC area). Played footy all my life into college and was always a student/history type kid. In middle school, around 7th/8th grade (1987ish) read about Aston Villa and their history, league creator, founder, etc- really drew me in. Thought they had a cool name, colors, etc. Started using them in my video games, watching Villa on TV when they were on. Other high school footy friends were typical ManU, Liverpool, etc. But I liked Villa. I was the only one. Fast forward 35 years... I've been lucky enough to see them play twice in person when they have come to the States during preseason. Going to Villa Park one day is near the top of my bucket list. I only have 2 sport passions in my life. Watching Aston Villa and my alma mater (Purdue). They keep me engaged year round! UTV

That is very clean- he responded to my tweet say as much when I asked him about that very image. What seems odd is: if you take our current badge and remove the circles- you are left with that image. Not very imaginative. haha I think it could play into what he did with the NBA team. Multiple logos/badges. That image above could be the main, but you could easily put the rings back in and make it the round badge as well. There could be instances where that is needed for printing/design purposes, having hard edges.

With his $500mil per week salary I'm guessing he's being cytogenetically sealed after each match with stem cell enhancers. Thats the only explanation for him playing nearly every minute of every match this season. UTV

My 3 areas to review in January- whether we improve in these locations? I don't know- GK Olsen- still not sold on him as our no2. Above average shot stopper, below average distribution, below average command of his area. Ideally acquire a 21-25yr old GK who can be Emi understudy RB Cash- I agree with earlier posters that he needs competition for his position. Originally I thought we would play 3CBs and Konsa would provide RB cover. But due to CB injuries we use a back 4 much more often. DM Dendonker- I'd like to see an upgrade here. Granted he has not featured much- but when he does he's really struggled. Perhaps the UE system doesn't suit him? I think his lateral mobility is causing him problems. Thats it for me. All other areas we have adequate depth (2 deep) or injured players that will be returning prior to January. UTV

should the moderator move this thread to 'Off Topic'? Seems like we should allow discussion for conservatives, Labor... not only 'Lefties' I'll get my coat

Good grief VT. Everyone please go to the bathroom and have a wank. UE is going nowhere. One of the selling points for UE to Villa was that NSWE completely changed the backroom staff, the leadership team above and around Emery to people UE wanted. Emery has HIS preferred setup on the pitch, off the pitch, physio room, recruitment room, DOF office, etc etc. Does anyone HONESTLY think that ManU would give UE that much power and say over how the club is run?! Not a chance in hell. NO big club would be willing to take that risk. They all want to micro-manage and put 'yes men' into positions of power, etc etc. ManU can certainly offer the bigger salary and higher transfer budgets- but UE would never get the inside men behind the scenes that he desires. Smaller clubs would prolly agree to the UE setup- but they don't have the financial backing to get in the players he desires for UCL. Villa are uniquely placed with ambitious owners willing to offer UE everything he desired. No way he leaves anytime soon. He only leaves if the circumstances change or the wheels fall off. The only 'big club' that comes close to this setup is Citeh. But I don't count them frankly because they are cheating bastards. Villa fans. Relax. Have a pint. Enjoy the ride. Everything runs in cycles. I strongly feel that this is the beginning of an AVFC cycle for the better- which means a typical top6 side (ManU, Chelsea, etc) will be on the decline.

Not to mention the inevitable Maddison injury that will sideline him for 2-3 weeks.

Based on an earlier post of avg UCL point totals to qualify (69pts) for top4 in the prem... Villa only need to avg 1.68 points/game for the remaining 28 matches to finish with 69 points. 1.7pts/game for 70 points. Well below UE average with Villa during his career. We are qualifying for UCL this season. Book it.

Not fussed about Spurs. Madders will have his seasonal injury bug hit and their form will drop like a rock. Not to mention sometime this season they will inevitably get all Spursy as well and bottle everything.