"The Terrace View" - Upper Holte Lounge

[brommy]

8 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Good suggestions but i think if you freeze pricea for upper holte you just know other ST holders sitting in other areas will kick up a stick that thwir prices havent been frozen. 

 

A club statement acknowledging the actual reduction in facilities leading to a temporary price freeze (not reduction) in Upper Holte ticket costs, announced at the same time as inflation only (should be around 5% at the time) and recognising the significantly above inflation increases of the 23/24 season, should hopefully placate. Besides, as I've already been told on VT, what are they going to about it?!

Unlikely, not impossible.

Hopefully Chris Heck taking commercial advantage of our improved team and club standing will more than offset the relatively miniscule cost.

[DakotaVilla]

10 minutes ago, brommy said:

As I posted, they were my suggestions of much varying likelihood, so whilst another price increase is not inevitable (perhaps less inevitable for the 'wronged' Upper HolteEnders), I accept it is unfortunately likely, so definitely no need for you to apologise.

You 'not buying this facilities argument' and the club possibly not addressing it, doesn't negate the issue or undermine the strength of argument based on the factual reduction of facilities for the vast majority of fans in the Upper Holte.

Of course the club should address the facilities but you don’t buy a season ticket to stand on the concourse or to take a piss in the stadium toilets. You buy it to watch the team on the pitch x 19 home league games. And that team is progressing rapidly. 

[Don_Simon]

5 hours ago, NurembergVillan said:

A question for people who are annoyed or angered by the introduction of The Terrace View - what have you lost by it being added?

It's a genuine question. A lot of fans are really pissed off about this facility and the people using it, but what about your matchday experience has got worse as a result?

I as a Claret Club member, (I purchase memberships for my son and I), have lost the ability to buy tickets in the Upper Holte. This wasn't communicated to us. 

[brommy]

Just now, DakotaVilla said:

Of course the club should address the facilities but you don’t buy a season ticket to stand on the concourse or to take a piss in the stadium toilets. You buy it to watch the team on the pitch x 19 home league games. And that team is progressing rapidly. 

And yet the club often talks of the whole match day experience and encourages fans to arrive early and enjoy (spend on) the food and drink they are selling. At the moment, I think the financial gain of the TVL will be somewhat decreased by reduced spending by the majority in the smaller concourse areas - certainly until the quicker order facilities of the Lower Holte are introduced and increased toilets to cope with the inevitable two+ pint urinations!

The issue is about detrimental changes at increased costs for a majority in the Upper. In my opinion that shouldn't be ignored or glossed over by trying to compete on the pitch.

[DaveAV1]

2 hours ago, DaveAV1 said:

What a sensible set of suggestions, want a job? Apply to Aton Villa Fc. Trinity Road, B6. 
 

I hope that someone with influence and power at the club reads your suggestions and acts on them. Nothing but simple and may I risk saying unsophisticated suggestions. Thanks Brummy. 

Sorry my thumb typing gets worse! That should have said Brommy although I doubt you’re too offended by being called Brummy, @brommy

[DaveAV1]

4 hours ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

I'm sure Champagne Charlie would have done a better job of it than Careless Christian has.

Careless Christian the charlatan, just to add to the alliteration! 

[The Fun Factory]

19 hours ago, DaveAV1 said:

We’re not and don’t want to be sophisticated modern fans, whatever they are? 

I am considerably richer than yow.

[The Fun Factory]

4 hours ago, Villanbee said:

That pretty much sums up what I thought it would be. A bar for existing Upper Holte supporters to pay a bit more to get there early and have drinks pre-match in nicer surroundings than the existing concourses. An alternative to going to the pub pre match and to encourage the fans to spend their money in the ground rather than down the road.

The kind of place you wouldn't mind sitting down and spending an hour or two pre-game (which is not what the concourses are designed to do). Turn up in the usual way through normal turnstile, go to HETV, tap debit/credit card at the door for the entrance fee and go in.

The club were always trying to get fans into the stadium early and that would tick all the boxes. Something that would enhance the experience for existing Holte End ticket holders who wish to enter the ground early for a reasonable price whilst increasing the club's opportunity for volume food and drink sales.

Instead what we've been given is a hospitality facility for anyone who is in a position to splash the cash to attend (including football tourists and, I suspect, covert away fans) at the detriment (see examples in earlier posts) of the existing Holte End ticket holders who have all had to stomach a sizeable ticket price increase.

It was never going to go down well, was it?

They already had the Holte Suite and Pub, plus ample outside space to do something, instead of monterizing open concourse space. Given the latest season ticket rules we should  be  lucky enough to crawl through a cat flap whilst doffing our caps to the rich people.

[brommy]

50 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

They already had the Holte Suite and Pub, plus ample outside space to do something, instead of monterizing open concourse space. Given the latest season ticket rules we should  be  lucky enough to crawl through a cat flap whilst doffing our caps to the rich people.

As someone who could afford the £480 surcharge but doesn't see the value in it, I just stopped short of liking your post, even if your final sentence was somewhat tongue in cheek.

[NurembergVillan]

Thanks to everyone who replied to me. I was gonna QT you all but there were too many!

The last season ticket I had was in the Upper Holte, although that was MON's last season. I'm now a member and rely on that to grab tickets when I can.

It's disappointing to hear that the new facility has made the regular facilities worse, or at best they've stayed the same.

Personally I can understand the rationale of "having a nice bit" in there. At least the concept of it. The fan in me is still the same fan I've always been so I'd want to be in the Upper Holte. The everyday life me would like somewhere a bit nicer to have a pint and hang out on a matchday - and would pay a premium for that.

The correct approach should've been to implement the TTV idea but not take the piss with prices and not to the detriment of everyone else. That last part should've been an absolute non-negotiable. Well, the first bit should have too, really.

Sounds like a potentially good idea that was really badly executed.

Like the new badge...

[AvfcRigo82]

8 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

You didnt ask for it but your not the owners of the club. Whether we like it or not they bought club and can do as they please.

You say you would throw the ticket but would you? Even if you did they have so many on the waiting list they can replace you with someone else.

Sorry if thats coming across as harsh but thats the reality of the situation.

I didn't ask for it because I'm not the owner of the club?  Whether they are the owners or any owners for that matter I don't think it would be a good idea to piss fans of with a "we'll do what we want approach" nor do NasWes or Heck strike me as being like that for that matter.

They can do as they please to an extent, I get that but I solely do not believe we can lay blame at their door for this.

They will have signed off what looked a glorious idea on paper when presented with it, but I don't think they will be impressed on how it has all gone pear shaped and the goalposts have been moved somewhat in the process.

'I'll get the fans view and I'll submit that, but what will be delivered will be better in my vanity led opinion'.

This isn't the first incident it's happened on either. The gambling and sponsorship is one example and as @NurembergVillan states, the club badge being another example.

Back to the 'throwing of the season ticket at you', yes I would Dem. If i'm a fan with a season ticket, After being one and seated in the same place for say 10yrs+, but now inconvienced in the first place by now having to move and then followed by your attitude of 'move elsewhere if you don't like it' and 'fine, throw your ticket back, there's 19,000+ others waiting for it behind you' i think is poor.

It might be the reality of the situation in your opinion, but sad you assume that you appear to agree it's acceptable to show that attitude to towards fans that have possibly followed the club through thick and thin and parted with hard earned cash along the way to be told now "if you don't like it, move" - "If you don't want it, leave it".

Again, thankfully NasWes have had their eyes opened by the one man pantomime acting out "Carry on Villa" and acted on it swiftly.

The appointment of Heck will allow him to take care of all these kind of matters and other off-field bumflufferies while Monchi, Unai & Friends are taking care of matters on the pitch.

Hopefully this 'TTV' is one of many areas we will see improvement that eventually benefits all.

[Tomaszk]

8 hours ago, Don_Simon said:

I as a Claret Club member, (I purchase memberships for my son and I), have lost the ability to buy tickets in the Upper Holte. This wasn't communicated to us. 

Proper disgrace this.

So so poor from the club.

Edited August 29, 2023 by Tomaszk

[DakotaVilla]

6 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Proper disgrace this.

So so poor from the club.

This is factually incorrect though right?

There are still tickets available just less of them and maybe not exactly where you would want them. The claret membership never guaranteed tickets just early access to tickets that might still be unsold. 

For example there are still tickets available in the Upper Holte for Crystal Palace and there would have been more available when they went on sale to claret members over a week ago. 

[blunther]

9 hours ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

of the season ticket at you', yes I would Dem. If i'm a fan with a season ticket, After being one and seated in the same place for say 10yrs+, but now inconvienced in the first place by now having to move and then followed by your attitude of 'move elsewhere if you don't like it' and 'fine, throw your ticket back, there's 19,000+ others waiting for it behind you' i think is poor.

I'm the same as you mate, the people I go with bought their tickets off plan before the stand was even built, and I've been there for longer than I care to think. If I was moved or inconvenienced at a cost, I'm done. And yes, there's 19,000 people in the list behind me who'll snap it up. But let's see how many of them there are when the bad times inevitably come and we're circling the drain or in the Championship. I can remember the Lambert days when we had loads of sub-30k matches - there were years when I couldn't even give my ticket away when I couldn't make a match. Disregard the fans who've been through thick and thin at your peril, or you'll end up with Blues crowds when things go south.

Edited August 30, 2023 by blunther

[OutByEaster?]

21 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

You didnt ask for it but your not the owners of the club. Whether we like it or not they bought club and can do as they please.

You say you would throw the ticket but would you? Even if you did they have so many on the waiting list they can replace you with someone else.

Makes perfect sense - like London's roads, there are more people that want to use them than there's really room for, so, if you don't want to pay £12,50 a day, you can move out of London. 

Right?

 

[Don_Simon]

4 hours ago, DakotaVilla said:

This is factually incorrect though right?

There are still tickets available just less of them and maybe not exactly where you would want them. The claret membership never guaranteed tickets just early access to tickets that might still be unsold. 

For example there are still tickets available in the Upper Holte for Crystal Palace and there would have been more available when they went on sale to claret members over a week ago. 

For the Everton game Claret Club Members could not be tickets for the Upper Holte.

The main premise of the Claret club Membership for people purchasing the tickets were to get as close to guaranteed access to games as possible. 

To your point of it being factually incorrect, I guess if Villa had one ticket available in the Upper Holte for the thousands of claret club members then my point would be factually incorrect. The fact is there are thousands of claret club members who have gone from having unrestricted access to non season tickets seats in the Upper Holte, to none against Everton and single, sporadic seats for future games. 

This wasn't communicated to us. 

[DakotaVilla]

The club has never said tickets or tickets in a specific stand would be guaranteed under the Claret membership and the issues re Everton are well documented and discussed earlier in this thread. 

As we continue to improve tickets will become even less available than they are now. It’s just not realistic to assume that tickets will remain available to the level they were when we got promoted. 

[Don_Simon]

4 minutes ago, DakotaVilla said:

The club has never said tickets or tickets in a specific stand would be guaranteed under the Claret membership and the issues re Everton are well documented and discussed earlier in this thread. 

As we continue to improve tickets will become even less available than they are now. It’s just not realistic to assume that tickets will remain available to the level they were when we got promoted. 

I know it's been well documented earlier in the thread. I contributed to the documentation of the issue. @NurembergVillan asked for specific issues of the Terrace View, so I explained the issues Claret Club members have experienced.

The club has never said tickets in a specific stand would be guaranteed, but I think it would be acceptable to assume that if you're paying £40 for access to tickets, have done so for multiple years with no restrictions on location of tickets, that if suddenly Holte Upper tickets would be either banished, or severely restricted, communication from the club would be given.

The second paragraph I'm not sure how its relevant to this, so let's leave the conversation here.

[MrBlack]

3 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

Makes perfect sense - like London's roads, there are more people that want to use them than there's really room for, so, if you don't want to pay £12,50 a day, you can move out of London. 

Right?

 

Exactly. Alternatively, you can buy a car (~TTV season ticket) that has no emissions and let's you use the zone for free. 

Just the small additional up front cost. 

[birdman]

Why isn't there any actual photos of the terrace view facilities on the official website? (The cynic in me says stinky marketing ploy and it looks nothing like the CGI images )