Junxs Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 All the Asians around Birmingham pretty much support either Liverpool or Man Utd, what chance would we have in India when we can't get the locals of Indian sub-continent descent to support us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferguson1 Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 22 minutes ago, Junxs said: All the Asians around Birmingham pretty much support either Liverpool or Man Utd, what chance would we have in India when we can't get the locals of Indian sub-continent descent to support us Not sure that is strictly true as we already have “Punjabi Villans” locally. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junxs Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 2 minutes ago, ferguson1 said: Not sure that is strictly true as we already have “Punjabi Villans” locally. I'm Asian myself, most of my mates are Asian - pretty much all of them support the 2 clubs I mentioned. Even the guys drive I park on matchdays, who lives is Aston, supports Liverpool. Non of them support England either when it comes to International tournaments, I have conversations with them all the time to try to understand why this is the case.. they all have a rehearsed story why they support these 2 clubs, not a single of them admits to being a glory grabber. Obviously there are a few exceptions like the Punjabi Villains and a few others like me. But if you did a survey amongst Asians in Birmingham only about 5% will be Villa fans, maybe even less 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferguson1 Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 2 minutes ago, Junxs said: I'm Asian myself, most of my mates are Asian - pretty much all of them support the 2 clubs I mentioned. Even the guys drive I park on matchdays, who lives is Aston, supports Liverpool. Non of them support England either when it comes to International tournaments, I have conversations with them all the time to try to understand why this is the case.. they all have a rehearsed story why they support these 2 clubs, not a single of them admits to being a glory grabber. Obviously there are a few exceptions like the Punjabi Villains and a few others like me. But if you did a survey amongst Asians in Birmingham only about 5% will be Villa fans, maybe even less That’s disappointing to hear and something I wasn’t aware of. Perhaps a way forward is to capture the younger Asian community at schools etc? I know we as a club go out and do coaching and offer tickets to games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 14 hours ago, useless said: Chris Samuelson also did an intervew where he said we were looking to either buy or setup a new Indian Super League club as part of this project, in the end I don't think it was ever anything more than us sending some coaches to an already existing football academy and it probably came to an end as soon as we hit financial difficulties in eighteen. I think I'm right in saying that either Purslow or Harrsion made reference to having academies around the world saying that before we think about that we have to sort our own academy, and make sure we're getting the best local talent. Incidentally Al Jezeera have done a sort of exposé on Samuelson which I think is going to air tonight... How utterly depressing, even though you know these things, it's another level of sleeze watching it. It's a shame the honest owners are up against these kinds of owners, who literally have no interest in football until they need one to "clean" their money. Always thought Roman was a Chelsea fan before his Chelsea acquisition, not just passing it on the way back from Spurs and asking "what's that?" before owning it a week later.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khizzy Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 11 hours ago, Junxs said: All the Asians around Birmingham pretty much support either Liverpool or Man Utd, what chance would we have in India when we can't get the locals of Indian sub-continent descent to support us I think if a local Asian player made it at Villa then it would attract more attention to the club. Birmingham has a population of around 200k British Kashmiri people (of which I am one) and there are lots of Asian kids with massive potential waiting to be scouted on local pitches. Why any of them haven't made it is worrying. Easah Suliman should have been the poster boy in my opinion for my community and I'm disappointed he never made it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nepal_villan Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 11 hours ago, Junxs said: I'm Asian myself, most of my mates are Asian - pretty much all of them support the 2 clubs I mentioned. Even the guys drive I park on matchdays, who lives is Aston, supports Liverpool. Non of them support England either when it comes to International tournaments, I have conversations with them all the time to try to understand why this is the case.. they all have a rehearsed story why they support these 2 clubs, not a single of them admits to being a glory grabber. Obviously there are a few exceptions like the Punjabi Villains and a few others like me. But if you did a survey amongst Asians in Birmingham only about 5% will be Villa fans, maybe even less Any thoughts how the club could attract more Asian fans? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 1 hour ago, nepal_villan said: Any thoughts how the club could attract more Asian fans? Become a Champions League team. As boring of an answer as it is it doesn't make it any less true. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKP90 Posted August 10, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted August 10, 2021 I spent 3 months in India a few years ago. Sad to say I did not see any Villa shirts. A few Arsenal and Man U ones, but no Villa. In fairness 99% of the population is obsessed with cricket anyway, so it would be a tough nut to crack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khizzy Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 To increase the number of Asian fans the solution is simple - we need Asian players, as simple as that. A local hero, if you will. The overwhelming majority of the Asian population is Muslim, although there are no homegrown role models for Muslim kids to look up to at Villa. Having spent around 37 years of my life growing up and living in Birmingham I can speak from experience. In my opinion, there is little point in looking in abroad, especially in India because although the talent pool is probably large, football is almost a non-entity in that country. Scouts would be better advised to spend more time in inner city areas and scouting more local lads. You could say that Asian parents didn't care much about football 20 years ago and that is certainly the case but my generation that have kids who in could potentially be their late teens, early 20s now will be more into football and would be more inclined to allow their kids to play and develop in an academy. Although I don't live in Birmingham any more, I still visit occasionally and the conversation with my friends occasionally centres around players to look out for in academies at the clubs they support. There are very rarely any Asian names mentioned, which is a shame. Does it sound crass to blame it on racism? Maybe but it is there. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 20 hours ago, MrBlack said: Think he's of Punjabi descent but born in England...would he be eligible to play for India or Pakistan depending on his parents roots? Not sure he'd choose to even if he could and suspect this may limit his following. Correct. He would be eligible to play for England or India but if he ever made it to that level I’m sure he would play for England being as born and bred here. Plus India are a pretty poor team. As for getting exposure in India, I think it’s a potential gold mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanBalaban Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 14 hours ago, Junxs said: I'm Asian myself, most of my mates are Asian - pretty much all of them support the 2 clubs I mentioned. Even the guys drive I park on matchdays, who lives is Aston, supports Liverpool. Non of them support England either when it comes to International tournaments, I have conversations with them all the time to try to understand why this is the case.. they all have a rehearsed story why they support these 2 clubs, not a single of them admits to being a glory grabber. Obviously there are a few exceptions like the Punjabi Villains and a few others like me. But if you did a survey amongst Asians in Birmingham only about 5% will be Villa fans, maybe even less Same for me, but I was lucky that my dad chose (and was chosen) wisely. Any fellow Asian mates were either Liverpool, Man U or not that interested in football. To attract more fans, we have not only to be a better team, but a 'cooler' team too. We've already seen JG's marketability sky rocket by being at City - a level that wouldn't have happened had he stayed with us. It's a slow process, but results will lead to some more fans, but Leicester have shown that even winning the league is not enough if there's not a few superstars in the team. Someone mentioned it before, but some global Ambassadors could work - especially a tie in with high profile cricketers. Maybe we could wheel Ian Bell out on a Villa-based promotional tour of India along with the Indian cricket team? Maybe we'll see some Villa fans in Argentina soon? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 3 hours ago, nepal_villan said: Any thoughts how the club could attract more Asian fans? It’s difficult because next generation will just support the same club as their parents or mates do, namely Man U or Liverpool. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero7 Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 10 minutes ago, StanBalaban said: Same for me, but I was lucky that my dad chose (and was chosen) wisely. Any fellow Asian mates were either Liverpool, Man U or not that interested in football. To attract more fans, we have not only to be a better team, but a 'cooler' team too. We've already seen JG's marketability sky rocket by being at City - a level that wouldn't have happened had he stayed with us. It's a slow process, but results will lead to some more fans, but Leicester have shown that even winning the league is not enough if there's not a few superstars in the team. Someone mentioned it before, but some global Ambassadors could work - especially a tie in with high profile cricketers. Maybe we could wheel Ian Bell out on a Villa-based promotional tour of India along with the Indian cricket team? Maybe we'll see some Villa fans in Argentina soon? It's sad isn't it, very few Indians support Villa, I'm in the minority amongst friends who re 50/50 Liverpool or manure glory hunters thank god I got a lot of my nieces and nephews into villa, the next generation of fans. My daughter is in a u11's girls team and I'm one of the coaches, all the training tops are Manure or Plop. She wears her Villa kit with pride. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PussEKatt Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 On 09/08/2021 at 14:06, Junxs said: All the Asians around Birmingham pretty much support either Liverpool or Man Utd, what chance would we have in India when we can't get the locals of Indian sub-continent descent to support us The chance we would have in India is that there is no Manure/Liverpool close by,or even on the continent BUT if they got to watch Villa live im sure you would have a lot of Villa fans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junxs Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 Even the emergence of Man City and Chelsea hasnt taken these Mun U and Liverpool fans from the Asian community so I'm not sure Villa being successful would make a difference here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hornso Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 11 hours ago, Khizzy said: To increase the number of Asian fans the solution is simple - we need Asian players, as simple as that. A local hero, if you will. Isn't this hopefully Arjan Raikhy? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparrow1988 Posted August 11, 2021 Share Posted August 11, 2021 18 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said: It’s difficult because next generation will just support the same club as their parents or mates do, namely Man U or Liverpool. It might be different for kids in England but an Indian player would help things no end. I can only speak from my own experience but the only reason I support Villa is that in the mid 90's we had a lot of Irish players, not the strip, or the history or who my parents supported. My old man is a massive Liverpool fan but I held firm and decided Villa were the club that I wanted to support. Hopefully Raikhy can develop into a first-teamer. A few Indians fans will then come on board and then hopefully we can maintain/increase the interest there by finding other players to supplement him/take over from him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted August 11, 2021 Share Posted August 11, 2021 8 hours ago, Hornso said: Isn't this hopefully Arjan Raikhy? He would be good inspiration for Asian kids but Sikhs and Punjabi kids in particular. ‘Asian’ is quite a broad term. Not just as simple as having a brown faced player. This is for another topic though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted August 11, 2021 Share Posted August 11, 2021 Looking at the Olympics India are pretty feeble in most sports outside Cricket. They did get a gold medal in the javelin and there seems to be a long awaited revival in Hockey but that seems to be about it. When compared to China they are waaaay behind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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