AlwaysAVFC

45 minutes ago, thabucks said:

That was one of the things I was working on before I left OUFC - most footy memorabilia and apparel is just pure cheap tat. We were looking to tap into the affluent student market with a range of cashmere items with a subtle OX logo, polos, rugby shirts etc and the market research I did showed there was this huge untapped market for subtly branded high quality items. But they didn’t carry it forward after I left. Just go onto Etsy and you’ll find a huge range of classy Villa products and clothing we should be selling as a club. 

Yes, it does seem like a football club wide issue. Obviously I don't look at other clubs merchandise but rarely see someone wearing something and think wow I wish Villa did something like that. Which might say something about clubs not thinking there is a big enough market for it but I can't see why not? 

I have no idea with there is any contractual issues with kit suppliers on items that can or cannot be sold, but seems doubtful as you can get Tops, t shirts and polos, they're just not very good on the whole.

28 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

there's nothing stopping the club doing that under their own brand

That's one thing Villa could do so much better at. A lot of the non kit supplier clothing could be so much better. It often just looks a bit cheap and tacky, without being particularly cheap.

14 minutes ago, GarethRDR said:

Ha, you know as it all went ultimately tits up for him, my brain just automatically lumped him in under the Stevie Me-era.

Only just realised that I made the same mistake on Twitter. The way his time at Villa went. I could have sworn it was that season. 

1 minute ago, markavfc40 said:

There hasn't be any update has there regarding injuries since Thursday night? I'd hope there is a decent chance Tielemans makes this game given he was apparently close. I think the is crucial to our chances. Hopefully Zaniolo and Moreno could be back as well.

A midfield of Luiz, Tielemans and McGinn behind Bailey, Zaniolo and Watkins offers plenty of threat and also freshens things up from recent games. 

8 minutes ago, Folski said:

Sure have, says I exceed limitations. Very annoying.

Its showing sold out now. 

*Well the sold out seems to have gone but is coming up with this message.

Something went wrong: to buy this hospitality package please call our office. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Ticket website working well again.

1 hour ago, Folski said:

Yeah I get that but I'm happy to buy one now so why delay it?

Have you tried from this link? TERRACE VIEW

I just tried my brothers reference while i was logged in and it would let me buy one for him. He's not a member but has game history, but don't think that is a European game as when he went it wasn't on his reference.

I almost enjoyed the passiveness of the first half, it was pretty controlled and felt we were almost using it as a training excersise for potential pressure in the semi final games. That changed second half, we could have done with more intensity from second half kick off just to get in that zone again. Whether that was Chelsea or our own fault we never got that back.

They defintely cocked up not putting an extra category in. Maybe members who have been to 3+ games first if not more. I'm sure they would have known that it was likely to sell out on the category it did, so time to do it wouldn't have been an issue. Then members with 1 game going on sale today.

On the plus side from a financial perspective hopefully they've got some good numbers with extra memberships. Albeit small change in overall revenue terms. Mine expired in October but renewed after I couldn't get Ajax tickets and had to go in Terrace view.

13 minutes ago, The Moustache of Teale said:

Desperate times call for desperate measures. It was a last resort when I was blocked from buying the last remaining wheelchair space. 

Might be worth emailing accessibility@avfc.co.uk to see if there is anything they can do to help. I'd probably cc premium@avfc.co.uk as well as youve booked a premium package. Both have helped me out and better than trying to ring.

1 minute ago, Stevo985 said:

They keep flashing up but once I click in everthing is gone

How many are you after? I was trying to help someone who got sorted and now have 2 in my basket for Doug Ellis P7

Got 2 but not a great experience. Managed to get in straight away and get some seats in the basket but hardly smooth after that. Website crashing, closed for maintenance etc each stage being a nightmare. Could see the issue carrying on until my seats would be released but got there in the end thankfully.

If there was any doubt anyway, despite not scoring, today's performance could be the one to get him on that plane to Germany.

A few notes on atmosphere unrelated to today.

I think atmosphere in support of Villa is as good as anywhere in England. We can be very reactive to performance and situation on the pitch but I don't think that differs from most.

I do think we are a lot less hostile than other clubs. There's some clubs like Newcastle & Everton that come to mind that always sound like they are hard done by the ref and everything is against them and every decision is against them. It certainly annoys me when playing them but also watching games as a neutral. Would I like us to be more like that? I don't know it's tricky.

Similar, comparing to the European/Ultra side of things. There's no doubt it often makes for louder fans with their 'leaders' orchestrating and demanding chants and routines. However I also like the more traditional 'organic' side of English fans.

There is definitely some middle ground and there are things can be improved.

We do need to support the lads through thick and thin to the end now though. I imagine I'll only make Liverpool & Olympiacos but imagine I'll be pretty hoarse after both of those.

UTFV

Would anything other than relatively small Villa Park redevelopment (no more than the original plan for the North stand) or a new ground and location even be an option? 

I don't see any football ground share likely at all and Alexander stadium wouldn't be a particularly good option either.

They say you learn a lot in defeat. While there were personnel and shape differences against Spurs and Man City, I think the overall gane plans were similar to yesterday. However we executed it perfectly. Individual performances were high quality and worked well as a team.

The big difference was we kept them from scoring which enabled us to keep to Plan A.

14 hours ago, MrBlack said:

He absolutely was trying to get the ball back.  He thought he could win it and if he didn't then the game was going to end in a draw.

That foul was not a booking anyway. The ref ignored Ajer for 97 minutes despite committing more fouls and more cynical ones than that one from Luiz.

And he needed a rest anyway. He's been off the boil for a few games so I don't think he'll be especially missed compared with when he was on top form, and it may give him chance to get back to that form.  He'll still be playing 90 minutes a week anyway because of the Europa conference games, so this isn't the disaster it could have been, and he'll probably learn from this that picking up some of the more stupid bookings he did earlier in the season will come back to bite him. 

A lot of criticism of him yesterday for getting the yellow, which I thought was very harsh. The ball was defintely there to be won, it was a challenge after playing 97 minutes. With tired legs it's easy to get fractionally wrong which unfortunately he did. If it happened in the first half I doubt it would even have been given a yellow.

It's hard for him to be as effective as he was before Kamara got injured. Kamara was the primary defensive one of the pair since he's been out although it had been shared with McGinn he does have that extra responsibility.

1 hour ago, Stevo985 said:

This would be really interesting to me to.

I think a lot of people will put themselves on a waiting list just to be on the list.

You could say I've done that to be honest. I put myself and my lad on the list. I want to get a Season Ticket with him when he's old enough, but at the moment he's only 2 so it wouldn't work. But I put myself on the list assuming it would be a few years until I get to the top of it and can actually get one.

If they turned around to me tomorrow and said I could get one for next season I'd probably have to decline

 

I wonder how many people would be in similar situations

There will be a huge amount like that. I'm near the top and turned down the opportunity twice. This season I don't believe anyone had the opportunity in part using vacant seats in Holte for Terrace View as well as the original plan to demolish the North Stand would have meant a lot of relocations come next season.

So I'm on my last chance before losing my place in the queue. If I was asked tomorrow I think I would decline. Its not a 100% no but life just wouldn't allow it with ease currently. I now take my daughter more than I go with mates. So realistically more likely to go to the back of the queue and register her but then a couple of years down the line she might not even be interested.

Villa kindly emailed a 30% discount code to renew our memberships. So hopefully should be able to get tickets this time rather than having to get terrace view entry.

2 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

There seems to be a suggestion that opening the PDF in your ticket email and showing the QR code at the turnstile won't work for this one and that you now need to have downloaded the Villa App, with the only other ways to use the ticket being to print it or use one of the Google or Apple wallets

Can anyone confirm if that's the case?

 

 

Doesn't really clarify in regards to your question but have this from an email today. I will be going into the Terrace View rather than a turnstile but would say this applies to all.

Not too much to show today but could have been so much better. Just gone with 4 multiples today but chose the wrong combinations.

1330 5-1 winner

1410 15/8 winner

1450 13/2 place but had the winner in the ITV 7

1530 7-1 place (which was the 4th place but without fav)

1610 40-1 place.

1650 7-1 winner

So close but so far. That's betting all over though. I mean I'm up but seeing them listed in 1 makes me want to cry

Oh and 5 winners 1 placed and 1 unplaced in the itv7

21 minutes ago, alreadyexists said:

No bad views at VP though, I hope she loves it!!

She will (as long as it goes well ). Still trying to hook her in. It will only be her 3rd mens game. Leeds last season and Legia. She does love the games live, not so much on TV. She did watch the first half with me today though.

12 hours ago, alreadyexists said:

How much was that, £80? That isn’t too bad when you factor in a drink and a bite to eat too. Plus as you say there wasn’t much chance of a general sale one so best to secure the ticket if you can even if you pay a little premium to do so.

Yeah £80 for me and £35 for my daughter. It will only be a drink each and programmes, food will be extra. The added bonus is my daughter is Coeliac and they've said there will be gluten free items on the menu. So all being well if I finish work on time we can get there in good time, enjoy the evening and have something to eat, rather than rushing a mcdonalds or eating in the car.

Our seats are right near the back of Upper Holte so it's a new experience for her too.

8 hours ago, alreadyexists said:

 

 

Woooahhh! Sold out. Didn’t even make it to 5pm today for the general sale. Going to be a mental atmosphere under the lights.

 

Hadn't renewed our memberships this season so only eligible today. Really wanted to take my daughter so had to get some Terrace View tickets. At least with the decent general price it's not too much more than a category A Premier league game for the of us.

A league game I probably would have held off and kept checking for a season ticket resale but only chance would have been if any terrace view tickets went on general sale, which I wasn't going to gamble on.

2 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

We came back out with zero intensity and were far too lax, casual and sitting back rather than controlling the play as we did in the first half - the contrast was stark. Even Ollie stated that we relaxed too much after gaining a 2 goal lead.

It’s not the first time and the only reason we have gifted Manure 6 points when we should have won both games comfortably…

it needs sorting.

 

We have to keep focussed and maintain the right intensity & sharpness… composure & concentration in possession for a full game, not half of it.

Too many silly fouls (even if the ref was abysmal, Watkins getting rough treatment all game and no decisions his way) in dangerous areas and continually inviting pressure on us.

We’ve been doing great but we’re far from the finished article… this is all new for this set of players but they need to learn quickly and rectify this stuff, otherwise we will be punished by better teams.

We have to improve defensively on set pieces… it’s a weakness… and was exposed once again today.

I’m not overly concerned, after all we managed to grab the win (even if we made it so difficult but it’s good to see the character of this side) but we are not perfect and there are obvious areas for improvement.

The injuries don’t help either…

We keep fighting and pushing.

UTV

I think there is somwhat some complacency, whether that be during a game like today or going into some games. When were on our game we are close to the best in the league, we're not good enough currently when we are stepping back a bit. It's something that needs to be managed. We could be worse off if we did try 100% all the time, who knows.