MrBlack Posted January 28, 2023 Share Posted January 28, 2023 8 hours ago, wilko154 said: So much more could be done to make the place look and work better. Some really minor changes would also dramatically increase the revenue for the club, some more costly changes would increase the revenue for the club in the long term. The card machines used at Villa Park, the Holte Suite and the Holte pub are awful. They fall over on the bar half the time, are wired so half the time you can't reach them and a lot of the time don't work. There's been a few times where I've been charged twice as the machines say I haven't paid when I actually have. Surely they could invest in some wireless card machines that the staff can use alongside a few decent machines installed on the bar like a normal pub. The toilets are a shambles all over Villa Park, Doug Ellis and Holte end specifically. I'm sure it wouldn't take much to give them a bit of an update, install some push-button taps and a couple of Dyson hand dryers. It's already been mentioned but some exterior toilet facilities would be a smart move, although this may be planned with the North Stand renovation. The outside bars would likely take more income if people could empty out the tanks before spending some more cash on beer. The clock in the Holte End Upper, left side hasn't worked for about 5 years. It may be back working now, but I've given up even looking at it. The Holte Pub has the potential to be a great pub and could take some serious income on a match day. Every now and again they make an effort and have a pop up bar inside to take the pressure off the main bar, but it's rare. If they did this every game they would make a lot more money, and it would make everyones lives easier. The catering and drinks situation has been a shambles for years. Some days it's like they are shocked that a football match is taking place, and don't know where all the people have come from. Fridges behind the bar are empty, they run out of chips, there's no ketchup available, beer pumps haven't been checked and don't work properly. Surely there could be some better preparation early in a week ahead of a matchday to fully stock and check the place over before 40,000 people turn up. Fix the bloody sound system, I can't hear what's going on half the time. It's not all bad though, and you can see they are making an effort. It looks as though the lighting at Villa Park has been replaced, the light shows before games are a nice touch. The steps outside the Holte End have been painted, and look a lot better; and it show's there is finally an effort being made to tidy the place up a little. All of this^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lichfield Dean Posted January 28, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted January 28, 2023 4 hours ago, Davkaus said: How long has this been a problem? **** decades and 4 sets of owners. Huh? They totally replaced the sound system (at least in the Doug Ellis) with an amazing system, the kind of thing you get at rock concerts. That did mean that the volume went up by about 1000% so I get the point about volume, but quality wise it's night and day compared to a few years ago. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodders0223 Posted January 28, 2023 Share Posted January 28, 2023 Can confirm. Doug Ellis sound system is absolutely top notch now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 On 28/01/2023 at 22:43, rodders0223 said: Can confirm. Doug Ellis sound system is absolutely top notch now. Will it perform at Notting Hill? 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 1 hour ago, The Fun Factory said: Will it perform at Notting Hill? The return of Doug Ellis in holographic form! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted January 30, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted January 30, 2023 1 hour ago, ender4 said: The return of Doug Ellis in holographic form! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 2 hours ago, ender4 said: The return of Doug Ellis in holographic form! And now the Doug Ellis Sound System Collective will perform their classic 1985 hit bicycle kicker ska. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blunther Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 The automatic shop thing seemed to work okay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Platt Posted February 4, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted February 4, 2023 Those flags on Witton Lane still need replacing looks poor. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brumstopdogs Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 (edited) First time in the Doug Ellis Stand Upper for while yesterday (after normally either going in the Holte or Trinity). Have to say I didn't remember just how bad the service / lack of room there is by the refreshment area. Queued for 30 minutes from 2pm to get 1 chicken balti pie! The main problem seemed to be the incredibly slow pace the kids were trying to serve food and drinks. There seemed to be no-one over-seeing what they were doing. In some ways you had to laugh (I did!) when it was taking one of the people working there (no lie) 3-4 minutes to pour 1 can of Heineken into a plastic cup. Couple of ideas (that no doubt have been mentioned before) a) Get Purslow or someone representing him to experience this on a match day. Queue up and view what it is like for themselves - we're losing revenue due to the shambles of the process. b) Pre-pour beers. It cannot be a surpise that some football fans might want some beer! c) Train the staff properly (as an example it took the young lass serving me 2-3 minutes to walk over to someone else and check what the different colour pies meant!). All in all I laughed that it was so bad but there were others in the queue that were getting pretty frustated and the club really can do and should do better in this area. Edited February 5, 2023 by Brumstopdogs 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodders0223 Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 They obviously don't pay the staff an extra hour salary to train them. They open the shutters and spend the first amount of serves working out where anything is and what they are doing. Trinity for the cup game I was amazed at the speed of service, the options and the fluidity of it all. Yes it is a bigger space with better facilities but the simple fact is they had better staff and that was obvious. Doug Ellis Upper has been a problem for the longest time and it isn't just space related. The club obviously don't give a shit about it. Like I've said in this thread for months. A load of easy fixes and not anything done. It's a complete shithole 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brumstopdogs Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 6 minutes ago, rodders0223 said: They obviously don't pay the staff an extra hour salary to train them. They open the shutters and spend the first amount of serves working out where anything is and what they are doing. Trinity for the cup game I was amazed at the speed of service, the options and the fluidity of it all. Yes it is a bigger space with better facilities but the simple fact is they had better staff and that was obvious. Doug Ellis Upper has been a problem for the longest time and it isn't just space related. The club obviously don't give a shit about it. Like I've said in this thread for months. A load of easy fixes and not anything done. It's a complete shithole To me that is the crazy thing. It's not as if the fixes are difficult ones to do. A few simple changes and sure it won't be perfect but will make a difference and they'll sell a lot more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villarule123 Posted February 5, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted February 5, 2023 I had WiFi for 90% of the game yesterday. Mind blown 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 33 minutes ago, villarule123 said: I had WiFi for 90% of the game yesterday. Mind blown I would’ve just watched the game 100% live in front of you than watching it for 90% of the time on your phone in the ground 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 My wife tells me the Ladies toilets in the DE stand are well below standard.....the same comment every match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 (edited) Same complaint as most I guess. The speed of the service in the upper DE is shocking. You spend all of half time standing in a queue then have to neck back your shit beer. Edited February 10, 2023 by Vive_La_Villa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBlack Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 On 22/06/2019 at 23:26, OutByEaster? said: One of the things that was mentioned by the club at the recent supporters group meeting was Villa Park. The club are currently doing lots of small building jobs to bring the club into line with Premier League regulation and to improve on some areas which were identified as needing a tidy up. Mr Purslow bemoaned the speed with which things become "normalised". He recalled his first week or two when he was looking with fresh eyes and noticed everything and talked of how familiarity means it becomes more and more difficult to notice the little things that need to be changed. Which is where the club would like a hand - those little things - the wrong badge, a poor finish on a counter, a badly painted beam, dirty brickwork, poor signage - everything from the gates to the toilet roll holders - anything and everything you see at Villa Park that you think could be improved without having to knock down and rebuild a stand. The club would be grateful if we can point those things out, so that they can look at making as many improvements as possible - quick wins that make Villa Park that little bit more presentable. So, what would you fix, improve or change? Are the latest concerns still being relayed via the supporters group meeting? It does seem as though a number of the complaints are consistent and have barely changed in the last 3 years. The cost to fix some of the things mentioned (an hours training for agency staff, an extra 15 minutes pay to start pouring drinks before half time starts, etc) are miniscule in the scheme of things. Those kind of things would actually pay for themselves with allowing more of the crowd to get refreshments. Also wouldn't hurt the morale of the crowd. A person that's been forced to wait 20 minutes, miss the start of the second half, all for a soggy balti pie is far more likely to get on the backs of the players than one that's had a pleasant experience at half time and is back in their seat for kickoff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hev Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 1 hour ago, TRO said: My wife tells me the Ladies toilets in the DE stand are well below standard.....the same comment every match. Correct. They are very poor and nowhere near enough of them either. Five in total in two sites in DE Upper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stevo71 Posted February 10, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted February 10, 2023 I'm hoping this has been fixed 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 As I understand it, there is absolutely zero option to buy a matchday programme without cash. So yeah, fix that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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