fruitvilla

55 minutes ago, Captain_Townsend said:

Most important since about 1989:

Sid (Club legend)

McGrath (World class. The GOAT of my time)

Platt (Massive player, funded a new team in 1991-92)

Yorke (Bargain, top player. What may have been had he stayed in 1998)

Barry (Mr Aston Villa for a long time, a decade basically)

Merson (The heartbeat of the team, 1998-2002. A wand of a boot)

Mellberg (Just shades Laursen for longevity and games played)

Benteke (Crucial goals in a bleak era)

Martinez (Absolutely crucial to us since day one. World class.

McGinn (Symbol of our resurgence from championship to top 4 contenders).

Honourable mentions for Staunton, Bosnich, Ehiogu, Townsend, Angel and Mings. 

 

I must admit your prowess when it comes to financial matters, I find, wanting; but your acuity to Villa's legends is spot on.

26 minutes ago, Captain_Townsend said:

I still think cancelling redevelopment is the most short sighted thing we have done since NSWE bought us.

I am sure if Villa could issue 120 million pounds worth of bonds to fifty thousand Villa supporters at 2 % interest over twenty years, Heck would be eternally grateful and would have the North Stand torn down lickety split.

1 minute ago, VillaAlex said:

Looking at replay didn't watch the game, Trafford was in no man's land and nowhere near the ball. If Adebayo didn't block him Morris would have still scored. For that reason I think it's the correct decision. 

But was it a foul before the attempt?

1 hour ago, Xann said:

Bowie was a vile human being.

OK I checked his Wiki page I could not find any reference to Villa

1 hour ago, allani said:

Pride is such a great word that works for Villa on multiple levels.

Philosophically "pride" is something I would not want to go near.

1 hour ago, thabucks said:

Nowadays sadly that is the  VT way …  That and opinions spouted repeatedly and put across as fact and shit gifs… Gone are the days of reasoned debate. Bring back Scuba Steve ! 

Yeah, and I blame it on the parental generation of these young 'uns. And that gen ... is ... I'll be back in a minute.

Me (I) a plastic Villa fan?  Sorta ... But I am Bakelite, through and through, and proud of it.

6 hours ago, DakotaVilla said:

Sawiris would have clearly opened the door with his connections at Adidas

I sincerely hope this is not true. As a director/owner at Adidas and owner at Aston Villa, he has a conflict of interest here. The decision may well be in the best interests of both companies; but ideally, Sawiris should keep this business deal at a barge pole distance.

Villa were the better team and played like it.

The thing I am not sure about is when Villa brings the play to slow motion in front of the low block is the team following Emery's instructions or is there a lack of ability (whatever) to play the ball more quickly?

1 hour ago, May-Z said:

We need a RB who can work with intricate one-twos and play a ball through the lines. 

Cash is doing his best Neil Taylor impression of cutting back every single time he gets the ball. 

He did he a couple of glorious crossfields to Moreno though that were

In terms of beating the low block, again, we created enough chances to get a couple of goals:

Duran's three shots that elicited three good saves.

Moreno penalty

Diaby's miskick from in front of goal

Konsa's header onto the post

Moreno's volley

McGinn and Zaniolo long range efforts.

It seems we're not converting well enough at the minute. Against teams with a low block, it's easy to say we need a number 10 to 'pick the lock', but in reality you'll never have a tonne of chances against two defensive banks...you just have to take them when they occur. 

FIFY

Regarding crests in general.

They have an aesthetic quality, (likeable shades, font, direction of lions, etc). Then we have technical quality, (readability, contrast, detail, spacing, info conveyed for example). I'm not going to argue about aesthetics, but from a technical point of view, the 'leaked' logo does not cut it for me. 

There is also a symbolic aspect to crests/badges. Why was the 1874  lion reversed in the next iteration? Why was the original in the opposite direction to the Scottish one? Aesthetics change with time, symbolic meanings perhaps not. That's why I really liked the AV crest inspired by the old floodlights ... a nod to history. Perhaps crests/badges should also be a nod to the future? eg is the lion chasing the future or looking back at past glory?

What the crest should not be is some flavour of the moment.

9 hours ago, bickster said:

F*** me, a Tory resigning on principal.

How much was it?

9 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

a need to maximise revenues

The problem is it won't increase revenues that much ... unless prices are increased dramatically. These people are businessmen first. One of the questions we should be asking is, how much extra are we willing to pay to increase the capacity by ten thousand?

I get more people want to see Villa play. I probably won't get a chance unless they come to Portland, Seattle, or even Vancouver. 

Incidentally, I've been to Villa Park twice, The second time the North Sand was not built it was the old stand. The first time was when the stand had no roof.

1 minute ago, est1874 said:

Oh sorry, shame on the fans for wanting to be able to readily get a hold of tickets to every game, shame on the people who've been sat on the waiting list for ages for wanting to become season-ticket holders.

Is club revenue and FFP really all that you can see?

Wtf is the point in becoming a Champions League club if we don't have the capacity for the average fan to be able to see those games in the flesh?

What's the point indeed if fans won't want to afford watching the game at Villa Park?

8 hours ago, bickster said:

According to the last year available (To year end June 2022) Villa's revenue was £238mil of which matchday revenue was £36.4 mil,

Thanks ... this is interesting info. If 'we' want to increase our capacity by about 25% our revenue will go up by about 9 million a year (unless more is charged). So for an expenditure of some 100 to 150 million plus a loss of probably two years' worth of North Stand revenue, and interest on loans ... say 5%. I would not invest my pension in this project.

It may be useful to get around FFP regs. But people arguing for an increase in attendance need to give their heads a shake.

An optimist?

How would the world look?

6 minutes ago, spiezels said:

From what i hear the stands are full pre and post games with people boozing. 
They do a million game just on booze. The place has been designed so well to extract the maximum they can from fans.You can see how many tourists are in the stands when they’re on TV. 

I believe the 80 quid ... it's the twenty I don't get.

20 hours ago, ender4 said:

Spurs with no CL/european football - £100 million matchday revenue.

Villa with no CL/european football - £16m matchday revenue.

Something is off with these numbers .... that's about 80 quid per matchday punter for Spurs and 20 quid for a Villa fan

On 01/01/2024 at 16:07, The Fun Factory said:

United away  under Stevie G the last time we were on the beeb live?

Hibs?

54 minutes ago, thunderball said:

The fella whose missus work for the club suggests we put an offer in for a “ huge” name player. 

What did Monchi say?

1 minute ago, OutByEaster? said:

If we needed to redevelop the North Stand to increase our revenues in order to compete, then perhaps the sudden influx of money from on-field success might mean that, well, we really don't need to do that anymore?

Quite ... but I can't see a business walking away from even more profit. End of the day NPV is king, but one better make sure the assumptions that go into calculating the NPV are accurate/safe. If Villa plays an entertaining brand of football, bums on seats will be a safer bet than Champions League revenues (I think).

3 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

The cost and availability of suitable construction companies and material

Judging by the mining industry ... the cost of construction has been high for a decade or more. I am wondering about the cost of capital, Is there something that has changed behind the scenes that we don't know about?

7 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

The unexpected (and lovely) arrival of the potential for Champions League money meaning that the club can increase it's revenues more effectively through it's on-field success than off field growth at the moment.

Yes ... the loss of perhaps two seasons of premier and perhaps Champions League football which was not anticipated.

Can't blame Heck for taking a fresh look at the project, but saying the demand was not there is nonsense.

5 hours ago, Captain_Townsend said:

If we aren't moving and our current capacity is too small why the Heck did we bin the lovely new north stand?

The return on investment (ROI) is too low.

Just about every time I post it is double. I went as far as buying a new mouse. No luck

There is a setting somewhere on Invision Community that prevents people from posting in quick succession. Any chance of enabling that capability/setting please?