Popular Post OutByEaster? Posted March 16, 2023 Moderator Popular Post Share Posted March 16, 2023 There was a meeting this evening between the club and Fans Consultation Group at Bodymoor Heath. Paul Tyrell COO, Tommy Jordan, Communications Director and Lee Preece, Supporter Liaison Officer, brought the group together to go over the upcoming changes to the way the group will work and indeed how fans consultation will change over the Premier league as a whole. On Wednesday, the Premier League will launch it's Fan Advisory Board initiative. That's essentially a formal instruction to clubs to set in place the kind of relationship that we already have with Villa - there will be some changes to the make up of the group and a more formal structure to the way in which meetings are minuted and recorded, with more responsibility for clubs to engage in meaningful consultation. These measure will enable the Premier league to be ahead of compliance requirements expected with the governmental white paper on football, expected later in the year. Whilst this wasn't a formal meeting there was also some talk about the potential for a trial of rail seating next season and some of the good work being carried out by the Player Care department. What was notable was that at 19:45 on a Thursday night, many of the key staff were at their desks. Unai Emery left just before our meeting ended, Johan Lange joined us for twenty minutes to talk Duran, Vittoria and developing our future and we were lucky enough to bump into Pako Ayestaran and Victor Manas as we walked through the facility, alongside Austin McPhee. I'll update on some of that tomorrow (nothing too juicy, but some very positive stuff) and would mention that all of these people had been at Bodymoor since 07:00 this morning, yet still took the time to talk with us - there are some good people here. The club have taken some questions away with them, and there will be a first formal meeting of the new FAB in April at which those will be discussed - if you have anything you'd like to be added for that meeting, please let us know below. We'll also be forwarding all of the more recent items in this thread to the club next week - if there's anything in here you don't want to be missed, please mention it in this thread and I'll capture it - if there's anything you want to add, please post that here too. Thank you 22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 For me, just getting next years home shirt out as early as possible please ready for the summer. New badge, new sponsor, new shirt ready for the summer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody1000 Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, nick76 said: For me, just getting next years home shirt out as early as possible please ready for the summer. New badge, new sponsor, new shirt ready for the summer. I agree Nick, especially with the new badge being on there. There’s no change in manufacturer, if necessary I’d love to see us play in the new shirt on the last day against Brighton, even if that has Cazoo on it to ensure we don’t break any contractual agreement. Great stuff though OBE, we’re going in the right direction Edited March 17, 2023 by Woody1000 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 2 hours ago, nick76 said: For me, just getting next years home shirt out as early as possible please ready for the summer. New badge, new sponsor, new shirt ready for the summer. Yes we always seem to be slow on this for as long as I can remember. Some clubs have the new shirt ready for the last home game of the previous season. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheltenham_villa Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 @OutByEaster?, any feedback on the food and drink trials that have been taking place in the lower Holte. Some great initiatives that have really made a difference to queueing times. All seem a huge success to me. Any feedback on thoughts around premium seating in the Holte, the recent survey alluded to a few things, would be great to see what the club is considering. Keep up the good work, its appreciated. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Milfner Posted March 17, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted March 17, 2023 Can you ask why the club found it necessary to fly from Birmingham to Gatwick for the Brighton game? It would've saved little to no time at all, and they no doubt had the team coach drive down there to pick the team up from the plane to take to the hotel and onwards to Brighton's ground. I've no doubt this likely happened for the Newcastle game too. It is particularly jarring that this happens when a big part of the North Stand redevelopment focussed on sustainability and then they're taking 30 minute flights to save no more than an hour. We are well placed geographically that domestic flights should never really be necessary. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 37 minutes ago, Milfner said: Can you ask why the club found it necessary to fly from Birmingham to Gatwick for the Brighton game? It would've saved little to no time at all, and they no doubt had the team coach drive down there to pick the team up from the plane to take to the hotel and onwards to Brighton's ground. I've no doubt this likely happened for the Newcastle game too. It is particularly jarring that this happens when a big part of the North Stand redevelopment focussed on sustainability and then they're taking 30 minute flights to save no more than an hour. We are well placed geographically that domestic flights should never really be necessary. Its a long trip by coach for players to be ready to play the same day and the club would have probably stayed overnight if we had used one. Back in the day often a train would have been used, although they aren't currently that reliable, so are not currently much of an option. It therefore makes sense, from the playing point of view to fly. I get where you are likely coming from, but I think as a country (& a football club) we are trying to do our bit on this, unlike say China, Russia and India (who seem to escape too much criticism). I have also seen other clubs have flown shorter distances in the past, such as Manchester United to Leicester and Spurs to Bournemouth. That said, we all are entitled to have our opinions on how the club could/should travel to away games. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Zen Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 Safe standing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaJ100 Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 6 minutes ago, John said: Its a long trip by coach for players to be ready to play the same day and the club would have probably stayed overnight if we had used one. Back in the day often a train would have been used, although they aren't currently that reliable, so are not currently much of an option. It therefore makes sense, from the playing point of view to fly. I get where you are likely coming from, but I think as a country (& a football club) we are trying to do our bit on this, unlike say China, Russia and India (who seem to escape too much criticism). I have also seen other clubs have flown shorter distances in the past, such as Manchester United to Leicester and Spurs to Bournemouth. That said, we all are entitled to have our opinions on how the club could/should travel to away games. Totally ban domestic flights for football - problem solved 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milfner Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 (edited) 14 minutes ago, John said: Its a long trip by coach for players to be ready to play the same day and the club would have probably stayed overnight if we had used one. Back in the day often a train would have been used, although they aren't currently that reliable, so are not currently much of an option. It therefore makes sense, from the playing point of view to fly. I get where you are likely coming from, but I think as a country (& a football club) we are trying to do our bit on this, unlike say China, Russia and India (who seem to escape too much criticism). I have also seen other clubs have flown shorter distances in the past, such as Manchester United to Leicester and Spurs to Bournemouth. That said, we all are entitled to have our opinions on how the club could/should travel to away games. They would travel the day before a game, not on the morning of. Talking broadly, if you add the journey time up, it makes no difference. They're not crammed into the back of a minibus, there's likely 30-40 people on a massive coach. Time from their house to the airport (they may even meet at BMH which would add extra time). In the airport for a while. Time on plane including taxiing etc. Landing at Gatwick. Gatwick to hotel. There's no way that would take less than 2.5 hours. If they stayed somewhere slightly north of Brighton, that's a 2.5 hour. What time are they saving exactly? And as I said before, they'd be being picked up by the team coach from Gatwick too. It's nonsense. And because United or whoever flew for 5 minutes less than us to Leicester is irrelevant & it doesn't justify our flight. My view is still the same. Edited March 17, 2023 by Milfner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 19 minutes ago, VillaJ100 said: Totally ban domestic flights for football - problem solved Who has authority to do that? I can’t think of any part of football that has the authority to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 Well they should promote in house. Can't have any credibility promoting sustainable measures elsewhere whilst clubs fly domestically. It's a complete joke. There should be a minimum distance criteria so essentially it might only be Newcastle flying to the most southern clubs who qualify. Otherwise, get on a **** bus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted March 17, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted March 17, 2023 1 hour ago, El Zen said: Safe standing? @OutByEaster? literally mentions that in his post 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 I think taking domestic flights is a matter of choice for the football club concerned and it is clearly something that posts above, show that those posters would like our club to consider, which is fair enough. I think that actually banning such flights would be something that the government would have to do, it has been done in France for internal flights between cities with a train link that takes less than 2.5 hours and the European Commission has rubber stamped this (although only flights between Orly, and Nantes, Lyon & Bordeaux are currently subject to the 3 year ban). This doesn't apply to private jets though, so the choice remains with the flyers themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Zen Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 1 hour ago, sidcow said: @OutByEaster? literally mentions that in his post My apologies. I was slightly distracted while reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaJ100 Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 4 hours ago, nick76 said: Who has authority to do that? I can’t think of any part of football that has the authority to do that. The Premier League? 'as part of playing in this league, domestic flights are banned'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboy54 Posted March 18, 2023 Share Posted March 18, 2023 Another suggestion is to please turn the PA volume of the "music" down, cannot hear myself think sometimes it's so loud. Especially bad at the entrance of the teams and at the end of the game... Rant over, for now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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