Fans Advisory Board Meeting - 16th September

[OutByEaster?]

4 hours ago, rjw63 said:

Worth a read if you are an attendee of these meetings:

https://astonvilla.vitalfootball.co.uk/and-its-goodbye-from-him-12-000-articles-and-out-and-the-real-issues-communicated-with-our-beloved-club/?fbclid=IwAR0EnJNnmRjmGNG6QWwycWRgyl0IMd95hg9jKH-BPKPeLYhcOU-cmBQUEzc

Jonathon has brought an enormous amount to these meetings, and those that preceded this group, his input will be much missed. Sadly his health has meant he has been unable to attend for some time and after considering this for a while now, he felt he couldn't in good faith continue the good fight. His misgivings about the direction these meetings have been taking has certainly been noted and his thoughts reflect those of many in the group.

 

[villarule123]

They've been great owners for us, they've totally transformed the club from what it was in 2018, and I'll forever be grateful for saving us when it looked a real possibility it was all over. 

But at the end of the day, this is just a hobby to them, all they care about is success and money. There have been very little improvements to the match day experience, infact a lot have things have got a lot worse now that every game is a sell out. 

They have bankrolled us to the position we're now in, but the value of the club now will still dwarf the '£300m' they've put in to the club. They are obviously very successful businessmen, the values and income of all the PL clubs is going to keep skyrocketing as eventually all games will be televised and the TV deals will keep getting bigger. They will sell the club for at least a billion when they are done IMO. 

As I said a couple of pages back, I spoke with the supporters liason about all the problems on a match day and the impressions I was getting (from what he was saying about the club, he is not to blame) for each issue was either a losers mentality where the club are just accepting that things won't ever get better, or even worse an impression that the club just can't be arsed to sort issues out. 

Poor service in the stadium can be sorted out, WiFi can be sorted out, cleaning a stadium before each game can be sorted out. I don't think they are bothered about sorting them out. 

[Stevo985]

The service at the food and drink outlets will never be solved while they employ agency staff. They just don't give a ****, and why should they. 

They're there earning probably minimum wage (or close to it) serving a bunch of rowdy football fans. What's their motivation to do a good job? Plus there's probably no consistency, they probably have new staff every week.

The improvement you'd get from a learning curve with motivated staff just isn't there and never will be

[Zatman]

4 minutes ago, villarule123 said:

They've been great owners for us, they've totally transformed the club from what it was in 2018, and I'll forever be grateful for saving us when it looked a real possibility it was all over. 

But at the end of the day, this is just a hobby to them, all they care about is success and money. There have been very little improvements to the match day experience, infact a lot have things have got a lot worse now that every game is a sell out. 

They have bankrolled us to the position we're now in, but the value of the club now will still dwarf the '£300m' they've put in to the club. They are obviously very successful businessmen, the values and income of all the PL clubs is going to keep skyrocketing as eventually all games will be televised and the TV deals will keep getting bigger. They will sell the club for at least a billion when they are done IMO. 

As I said a couple of pages back, I spoke with the supporters liason about all the problems on a match day and the impressions I was getting (from what he was saying about the club, he is not to blame) for each issue was either a losers mentality where the club are just accepting that things won't ever get better, or even worse an impression that the club just can't be arsed to sort issues out. 

Poor service in the stadium can be sorted out, WiFi can be sorted out, cleaning a stadium before each game can be sorted out. I don't think they are bothered about sorting them out. 

I don't blame the owners as they don't really run the club day to day and dont sit in the stands. People running day to day operations

A lot of this could have been fixed if they wanted to but prefer other things like a new badge or Terrace View. Its not rocket science and in financial terms not that expensive. A month of Coutinhos wages could easily cover the costs for a season or even two

[maqroll]

I've been Villa-obsessed since 1994, but I've only been to Villa Park once, and that was 24 years ago. So as up-to-date as I've always been with Villa on the pitch, I've been very much the outsider looking in on matters pertaining to ticket prices and the match day experience, things that do not effect me directly. That said, I commiserate with all of you who feel aggrieved by the club over these issues that have cropped up lately.

Purslow always struck me as someone to be wary of, despite his credentials and the positives he brought to the club. And I'm also wary of Heck. I doubt either had/has any authentic affinity with Villa supporters. The disconnection has obviously led to a chasm between the brass and supporters. It seemed to me from my vantage point that the long term Villa supporters were the glue of the club over the tumultuous late Lerner-Xia-relegation-early NSWE period. But now that the club has it's shine back, that supporter-led stewardship gets short shrift by the people crunching numbers at the club. And that disrespect is a damn shame, as expressed so well by Mr. Fear.

I understand the economics involved and why the club is desperately trying to maximize revenue. But the lack of transparency, insensitivity and disrespect shown towards long time core support damages "the brand" in ways are more difficult to gauge than a negative quarterly P&L report.

 

[villarule123]

I wonder if anything would be different r.e prices if FFP wasn't a thing. Probably not, but you never know. 

[ender4]

8 hours ago, rjw63 said:

Worth a read if you are an attendee of these meetings:

https://astonvilla.vitalfootball.co.uk/and-its-goodbye-from-him-12-000-articles-and-out-and-the-real-issues-communicated-with-our-beloved-club/?fbclid=IwAR0EnJNnmRjmGNG6QWwycWRgyl0IMd95hg9jKH-BPKPeLYhcOU-cmBQUEzc

Great article. Heck of a job for Heck to sort out (if he has any intention of doing so).

[AvfcRigo82]

17 minutes ago, ender4 said:

Great article. Heck of a job for Heck to sort out (if he has any intention of doing so).

I think he will be all over it tbf. He needs time to implement the changes but I'm hopefully he is the real deal.

Otherwise, he will see the door like the last guy did.

[mikeyp102]

1 hour ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

I think he will be all over it tbf. He needs time to implement the changes but I'm hopefully he is the real deal.

Otherwise, he will see the door like the last guy did.

I’m not sure it will fall under Heck or before Purslow remit. We have operations managers, facility managers etc, I’d say it’s more their remit.

[AvfcRigo82]

7 hours ago, mikeyp102 said:

I’m not sure it will fall under Heck or before Purslow remit. We have operations managers, facility managers etc, I’d say it’s more their remit.

Heck & Co then.  

[villa4europe]

15 hours ago, Zatman said:

I don't blame the owners as they don't really run the club day to day and dont sit in the stands. People running day to day operations

A lot of this could have been fixed if they wanted to but prefer other things like a new badge or Terrace View. Its not rocket science and in financial terms not that expensive. A month of Coutinhos wages could easily cover the costs for a season or even two

should have kept purslow  

id be interested in how many of the smaller problems we all experience on match days are unfortunately considered industry standard, the problem that agency staff are not very good at serving food is not a problem exclusive to aston villa, id say even english footballs crown jewell wembley is a worse match day experience than VP

[PeterSw]

They will have had over two weeks since the last home game so you'd like to think they have made at least the bar minimum improvements - cleaning, painting etc. - in that time.

Echo the points about the slow bar service, definitely needs to be looked at in the short and long term  

[S-Platt]

26 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

id say even english footballs crown jewell wembley is a worse match day experience than VP

Difference is there is an absolute shit-tonne of places to eat and drink within walking distance of Wembley so the need for food and drink when inside is less.

[wilko154]

The problem Villa have now created for themselves in the Holte End with the service is the space that they have taken away for the Terrace View. They had so much space available in which they could have implemented self service beers, wider food choices, better toilet facilities. That has now all gone.

I would argue that a vast amount of money could be made all over the stadium with improvements to service; this also goes for the Holte Pub which is a complete waste of space at the moment and could be churning money over on a matchday. The only place at Villa Park that they seem to have succesfully improved in recent seasons is the Fanzone area outside of the Trinity.

Every seasons small changes could be made to help increase the revenue, but the club are now chasing the bigger money in hospitality and ignoring increasing the average fans match experience and small increases of revenue streams.

If everyone in the stadium bought a beer (or extra beer) on matchday that would bring in over £200,000. It sounds like an impossible thing to happen, but in reality with a better concourse, better service for beer/food and better toilet facilities fans would arrive earlier and be able to get served straight away. Currently people arrive late, and don't bother due to the poor service. I for one buy two beers and food on a match day; currently I don't buy either beer at Villa Park due to the poor service, and food is normally bought from a van on the way to the ground. Why aren't the club trying to bring that revenue in? Overall that's an extra £3.8 million a year from league games alone they could be targeting.

[blandy]

On 01/09/2023 at 13:32, limpid said:

Looks like OBE is going to be speaking for about 24 hours during this short meeting. Perhaps we could try and focus and not have conversations in this thread.

limpid has asked nicely once. Please take heed.

[The Fun Factory]

Can someone ask what is happening about the Holte Suite as it has yet to open this season?  Is this the next GA+ scheme?

[nick76]

@OutByEaster? quick one - crowd mics for tv need to be fixed based on my experience. I wondered why the ‘Atmosphere’ thread was so critical
 

1 minute ago, nick76 said:

Well I wasn’t able to go to the game today so I got Villa to give my ticket to my brother.  I watched the game online and I can understand why those that don’t watch live think the atmosphere at Villa Park is crap.  

I spoke to my brother after the game and I asked him about the atmosphere and our experiences today was very different re that.  Definitely the crowd mic’s are in the wrong places because we sounded dead all game online and I know that wasn’t the case.  Somebody should fix that.  Will put fans meeting thread!

 

[Risso]

On 15/09/2023 at 13:06, The Fun Factory said:

Can someone ask what is happening about the Holte Suite as it has yet to open this season?  Is this the next GA+ scheme?

Apparently next season it's going to be another terrace View type thing.

[Villatillidie95]

Not sure if the queing situation has been raised but i noticed on my way in again there was a huge amount of people waiting 15 mins before kick off on the ramp outside the north stand again. I dont think its going to be getting sorted this season as its the 3rd home game ive seen thay now, will be utter chaos against everton for the evening kick off. The only way to get to your seat on time is to walk up the north stand steps instead of the ramp and "push in" although the guards always encourage people to use the other ques. Its only been an issue in that part of the ground this season

[sidcow]

1 hour ago, Villatillidie95 said:

Not sure if the queing situation has been raised but i noticed on my way in again there was a huge amount of people waiting 15 mins before kick off on the ramp outside the north stand again. I dont think its going to be getting sorted this season as its the 3rd home game ive seen thay now, will be utter chaos against everton for the evening kick off. The only way to get to your seat on time is to walk up the north stand steps instead of the ramp and "push in" although the guards always encourage people to use the other ques. Its only been an issue in that part of the ground this season

They seem to be doing more thorough body searches this season I think.