Fans Consultancy Group Meeting

[Chewie]

15 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

Gentlemen (and ladies),

There's another one of these meetings on the 6th June - VT will be sending a representative to listen, report back and most pertinently to ask the questions you'd like asked. 

I believe it'll be attended by Keith Wyness and there's usually a Head of Department or two there.

So, what do you want to know?

 

How this new streaming business is gonna work next season. International only? Is it through standard AVTV? How are the rights handled with other teams?

Thanks  

[rjw63]

As before, I'd like to know where the incentives are for lapsed fans to return. We used to do "bring a mate for a tenner" and "Four for £40" type stuff but last season, nothing.

Even the last day against Brighton they only knocked a tenner off. I'm not going to watch second tier football for £30+, which with the missus equates to over £60,plus grub and drinks looking at about a ton. Way too much.

[villanwesty88]

47 minutes ago, rjw63 said:

As before, I'd like to know where the incentives are for lapsed fans to return. We used to do "bring a mate for a tenner" and "Four for £40" type stuff but last season, nothing.

Even the last day against Brighton they only knocked a tenner off. I'm not going to watch second tier football for £30+, which with the missus equates to over £60,plus grub and drinks looking at about a ton. Way too much.

We seriously need to look at what Bradford City are doing - cheap tickets and match day experience. Surely if you get more people at Villa Park for a lower price they will spend on other things too, so in a sense we wouldn't lose out. Most importantly though it allows the next generation (and current) to be able to go to games building us a solid fan base for the long term. If what psychologists say is true (that fans can have an impact on the outcome of a game) then surely any slight subsidised cost would be coming back ten-fold with Premier League millions if a regular full Villa Park pushes us to promotion. 

[Hairdo]

Would like to know when the new kit will be revealed and when it is out and who our new sponsor is.

Also wish the chairman well after his Operation.

[rodders0223]

2 hours ago, rjw63 said:

As before, I'd like to know where the incentives are for lapsed fans to return. We used to do "bring a mate for a tenner" and "Four for £40" type stuff but last season, nothing.

Even the last day against Brighton they only knocked a tenner off. I'm not going to watch second tier football for £30+, which with the missus equates to over £60,plus grub and drinks looking at about a ton. Way too much.

Agreed. £35 to watch Bristol City on a Tuesday evening. Laughable.

 

[lexicon]

1 hour ago, rodders0223 said:

Agreed. £35 to watch Bristol City on a Tuesday evening. Laughable.

 

Welcome to 2017. To be fair, if you want to see good players, investment in the squad etc. then you have to pony up the dough. That's just how the modern game works. 

[Phumfeinz]

14 hours ago, Chewie said:

How this new streaming business is gonna work next season. International only? Is it through standard AVTV? How are the rights handled with other teams?

Thanks  

Echoing this. I and many others would gladly pay for a streaming service if it lets us UK-based supporters see games that we simply can't attend in person. 

I know it's complicated because of rights and all that, but it'd be nice to hear their thoughts on the matter and if it's even possible.

[MarkLillis]

33 minutes ago, lexicon said:

Welcome to 2017. To be fair, if you want to see good players, investment in the squad etc. then you have to pony up the dough. That's just how the modern game works. 

Doctor Tony thinks that we will surpass 20000 season tickets - http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-season-ticket-sales-12868811

If so 20000 x £500 (approx.) = £10,000,000 in revenue. Its not to be sniffed at but if we dropped the prices to £250 each Villa Park would be full to the rafters every week. That would cost (approx.). £5,000,000

Lets "buy" some supporters!! The atmosphere would be fantastic!

All for the price of one Micah Richards

 

[VillaChris]

22 hours ago, lexicon said:

Welcome to 2017. To be fair, if you want to see good players, investment in the squad etc. then you have to pony up the dough. That's just how the modern game works. 

When are we going to start doing that then?

All I see year in year out is increasing the ticket prices yet our league position gets worse and worse while we sign more rubbish for 10m and 40k a week.

It's true we've stopped doing deals for adult fans. I remember a few years back they did a 5 game 100 quid deal which got you games v Man. United/Arsenal etc.

I'd hope we wouldn't take the mick with ticket prices if/when we go back to the prem. Actually for a start prices in the witton would come down as we could only charge away fans 30 quid and I presume it costs more atm.

[Stephen_Evans]

I appreciate this is well down the Club's priority list, but as a long-time collector of the Villa News and Record programme, I have to say standards have dropped alarmingly in the past few years.  I spot dozens of mistakes every game: grammar, facts, typos etc.  Plus the general tone has become increasingly dumbed-down.  The graphic design and photography remains excellent, in fairness.  But when I compare the content with only a few years back, particularly when Rob Bishop was editor, the decline is very obvious.

Tom Otrebski is (I presume) being paid to edit the programme.  It's time he stepped up the quality and the standards or made way for a proper editor/journalist.

This may sound harsh, but having read 30 years' worth of Villa programmes, I do feel something needs to be done to protect an historic and formerly world-beating publication.

[bully]

Can you please ask them why, in light of the recent Premier League enquiry, is Kevin MacDonald still employed by the club?

[dn1982]

On 26/05/2017 at 12:43, MarkLillis said:

Doctor Tony thinks that we will surpass 20000 season tickets - http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-season-ticket-sales-12868811

If so 20000 x £500 (approx.) = £10,000,000 in revenue. Its not to be sniffed at but if we dropped the prices to £250 each Villa Park would be full to the rafters every week. That would cost (approx.). £5,000,000

Lets "buy" some supporters!! The atmosphere would be fantastic!

All for the price of one Micah Richards

 

The cheapest Adult ticket is £340 that's £90 above your price which when you pay over 9 months is £10 more a month. People use the higher standard prices to prove a point. I pay £530 for a very good seat because I can afford it. I have also paid a lot less for cheaper seats in the past when things were tighter. Our prices are very good especially as we are close to our FFP and all money is valuable. Last season we averages 30k and this year there's a lot more deals. You can find a price that fits if you want to.  I agree we should do things on a game by game basis especially midweek ones. Even do mini ST 4/6 games with a top\bottim team split as getting a full VP will benefit all of us. I just hope then that once we are promoted us long term ST holders get looked after. 

[Mat Kendrick's Dentist]

2 hours ago, bully said:

Can you please ask them why, in light of the recent Premier League enquiry, is Kevin MacDonald still employed by the club?

Thought you of all people would have had some empathy for him .

I'd like to know if the streaming service will be available to fans in Ireland, and how we plan to instill a footballing philosophy through all grades at the club.

[The Fun Factory]

On 2017-5-26 at 08:45, rjw63 said:

As before, I'd like to know where the incentives are for lapsed fans to return. We used to do "bring a mate for a tenner" and "Four for £40" type stuff but last season, nothing.

Even the last day against Brighton they only knocked a tenner off. I'm not going to watch second tier football for £30+, which with the missus equates to over £60,plus grub and drinks looking at about a ton. Way too much.

Yes to the above as well- good ideas

Also more on transport getting in and out of Villa Park esp on weeknights can be tricky-can this be improved at all? More trains etc to Aston and Witton- is this in the club's power? Free west midlands transport with the ticket would be great. That should be a question to Andy Street really. Also could they bring back any of the AV local buses? Might not be cost effective as championship side.

North stand news- is the disabled seats to be added in the summer? Any updates on that side of the ground on redevelopment? Probably nothing until we get promoted. 

Can Villa be marketed better generally? Again a harder question since we got relegated- It must be a lot less appealing to come to Villa as a netural fan who happens to be living in the west midlands. 

[chappy]

Probably not a common issue but is it possible that some sort of membership could be bought to get earlier access to away tickets. I know they had Villa cash last season but I can't think of an away game that went to that and then not to general sale the next day so it wasn't actually a benefit.

Either that, or a return to '5 aways'/ '3 aways'/ '1 away' before going straight to general sale. Or some kind of loyalty points system that other clubs have.

I ask because for those of us non ST holders (granted it may not be a large amount of people) that live far enough from VP to make going there cost a similar amount as an away game and a ST not really cost effective (I wouldn't be able to get home from midweek home games as I don't drive) it was very hard to get tickets for away games last season. 

Tl;dr access to away tickets, is there any way of increasing chances of getting them for people that frequent away matches more than VP?

[flashingqwerty]

On 5/26/2017 at 12:01, lexicon said:

Welcome to 2017. To be fair, if you want to see good players, investment in the squad etc. then you have to pony up the dough. That's just how the modern game works. 

Actually, no it isnt. Go take a look at what German clubs charge. Even Bayern only charge 15-30 for match tickets. And despite what you may think , we arent even n the same planet quality wise never mind in the same league!!!

40k * £35 is 1.5 mill approx. In modern footballling terms this is a pittance. Reducing the cost of match tickets will have a marginal impact on the clubs income. As others have said, get more bums on seats and merchandising increases. 

[villan_007]

19 hours ago, bully said:

Can you please ask them why, in light of the recent Premier League enquiry, is Kevin MacDonald still employed by the club?

Because after a club investigation he was found to have done nothing wrong?

[bully]

16 hours ago, villan_007 said:

Because after a club investigation he was found to have done nothing wrong?

Well let's ask the question and hear it from the horses mouth

[mikeyp102]

OBE, could you ask about the commercial aspects of the club. Are we starting to get sponsors for all manner of things like the top clubs.. e.g. The official club cereal, or the official club crisp etc. Utd have done it for years, and it not only increases revenue but also increases knowledge of the club across the globe.

[Raver50032]

On ‎29‎/‎05‎/‎2017 at 17:50, The Fun Factory said:

More trains etc to Aston and Witton- is this in the club's power? Free west midlands transport with the ticket would be great. That should be a question to Andy Street really. Also could they bring back any of the AV local buses? Might not be cost effective as championship side.

 

On this point, whilst I acknowledge that 'London Midland' (soon to be re-let as the 'West Midland' franchise) is not the only train operator serving Birmingham, they are pretty much the only realistic option to serve Aston/Witton in the current privatised set-up. During mid-week especially, the games kick off where LMs available rolling stock is still largely deployed serving the CrossCity line peak strengthening - i.e. running as 6-car trains. They don't have the rolling stock available to them (they lease it from another company, and are dictated to by the DfT) to run any significant level of additional trains these days - quite unlike the much missed British Rail. Train paths in and out of Birmingham New Street are at a premium too as virtually all day, every day, New Street is running at virtually full capacity - peak hours or not.

I'd love to see more trains serve Aston/Witton. And I like your idea of 'free' (or heavily discounted) travel on the buses - even if it was just to get away from the ground after.