Fans Advisory Board Meeting - 20th December

[OutByEaster?]

The club have confirmed the next scheduled meeting with the Fans Advisory Board for 20th December.

This is a formal meeting with a written agenda and the club have requested that any agenda items are submitted in advance so that the right people can be present.

If there's anything you'd like to see on the agenda, please let us know in this thread - we'll need to be ready to submit those items to the club by 13th December.

[andycv]

Thanks!

- Update on the stadium project - when will the Warehouse be delivered (I am sure I read the hope was to have it open Summer 2024) and what is the plan for the North Stand and Trinity

- What are the plans to improve the Dough Ellis Stand - both in the short term and long term?

- Master plan for Aston - keeps getting mentioned - how is it progressing?  When will we see it?

- Commercial Strategy - how are they doing bringing in partners that are top tier (ie not BK8) are they going to do a training gear sponsorship?  What is the target for income from sponsorship?  How close are we to closing the gap with the likes of Spurs, Arsenal and Newcastle?

Sorry - lots like normal!

 

[OutByEaster?]

Last night there was an informal meeting with Ben Hatton and Lee Preece - one of the additional meetings that Mr Hatton has added to the calendar as he's very keen to keep communication open and regular.

There was quite a bit of discussion around the game next week against Legia with some points worth noting.

This will be classed as a high risk fixture in terms of its policing and the arrangements made for the movement of the away support - it will look very similar to the way in which our games again small heath are managed and policed.

That means you can expect Witton Lane to be closed off before and after the game and that you may need to walk a little further around the stadium to reach your seat.

The club is making efforts to make the Legia fans welcome - inviting local Polish business's to provide traditional Polish food offerings on the away car park and pushing to ensure that the fans are treated properly - I think that's a good thing, sometimes in our fear of reputation games get policed in ways that affect the behaviour of fans. So, we're going to try to treat them well, as guests, but have a police presence and organisation that ensures everyone is safe on the night. I like that, it seems to me like a very 'Villa' way to do things and i hope the Legia fans enjoy their visit to Villa Park...although not the result.

If you're exiting from the North Stand or the Trinity, the exit behind the store, directly onto Witton Road will be open again - the club have added some lighting at the exit following feedback from supporters at the Alkmaar game.

For our part, the club have again asked that people get there as early as they can - at the Alkmaar game, the club had a record number of 'red 'lights' at the turnstiles - where someone (usually with the right ticket on them) tried the wrong way to get into the ground. They're going to put out a communication on this, but there are some really simple things we can do.

• Check the ticket you have in your hand, whether it's the phone one or a printout, is for the right game - you'd be amazed how many people tried the wrong one - it's easily done because of the deal where all three European tickets came as a bundled group - but please check!
• If you're the buyer for multiple tickets, please check that the people you're taking with you use their own ticket and not just the top one on the email you forwarded to them - there were hundreds of people who made that mistake and then had to fumble through their phones again.

There were something like 1,400 incorrect attempts to enter the ground against Alkmaar - those people get into the ground eventually once they've found the right ticket, but the delays they cause are making it difficult to get everyone inside in a timely fashion and we can really help to stop queues at the turnstiles with a couple of quick checks.

The club have also taken some action at the North stand where the number of turnstiles was causing delays and they've found a way to add two more - hopefully that should ease entry at that end of the ground.

There is a final additional kiosk scheduled to open in the Upper Holte which they're hoping will be in operation for the next game, pending a fire safety check on the shuttering - they've also added to the toilets and have given them a check over as well giving the place a bit of a spruce - they seem satisfied that the area is now a lot better than on opening day. your feedback on that would be appreciated.

The club are thinking about FA Cup 3rd round pricing if we get a home draw and there was a discussion on this, centred largely on two different aspects - fair pricing for those of us that regularly attend, and the right way to use any potentially empty seats to attract new people to Villa Park. They won't say so, but I think they're learning from the feedback they had from the Everton cup game and I'm hopeful we'll see something that's better received if we get a third round game - the only caveat being that we'd need to agree pricing with the other club involved for FA cup games.

The club are continuing to work with Castore and the team on the shirt issues and although (and i might be wrong) I don't think we have a resolution yet, there has been plenty going on behind the scenes to get the first team shirts right and I think it's improved.

In terms of upcoming developments - the club confirmed that there have been no changes to the situation with Witton Station - it's something the club are extremely keen to get done and that has support from both Mayoral candidates - it'll most likely feature as part of the upcoming mayoral election campaign for both candidates and the club remain hopeful of getting it done for the Euros.

The Academy building behind the North Stand will be open next season and will be able to accommodate up to 3,000 fans on matchday. The group stressed that we would hope it will be a free-to-enter facility and though Mr Hatton couldn't commit to that at this stage, he did suggest that he wouldn't be looking to sell it in the same way as the Terrace View or Lower Grounds - we're hopeful that's the case.

It looks like there will be a new shop in (or attached to) the Academy building, although in the interim the current shop will be extended within its current building - on matchdays, it's very difficult at the moment to get through there.

The club will be in a position to start talking to us about when works will happen and how they'll affect us toward the end of the season.

The club have appointed a Transport Officer whose whole job is sorting the transport issues before and after games at and around Villa Park - good luck to him - he's got some experience at Man City and we'll be introduced to him at a future meeting.

Plans for our 150th anniversary celebrations will be released before Christmas, and we'll most likely see the new crest around February of next year.

Mr Hatton seems to be more settled and he'll be taking these meetings - he's honest enough to say no when he means no and appears to be listening. He runs the days to day business of the club and it appears that he's been driving getting stuff like the extra toilets and turnstiles done. From what i can gather he seems to be someone who can make things happen, where in the past processes seem to have been very, very slow.

Mr Hatton said he's happier in a way that he's "chasing the football" and that he'd rather the football be great and him suffer criticism where the business and corporate element is playing catch up than for it to be the other way around - the football will bring him opportunities and his job is to take advantage of those - he appreciates that right now, some of what the club are delivering to fans isn't as good as he'd like and improving that is the challenge put to him by the owners.

Our owners continue to push him, he said that they are more critical than we are - and that they want to drive fan experience - he also said that FFP is a limiter. We won't cheat it but that the owners are on occasion both frustrated and baffled by FFP. It sounds like they are extremely keen to push on - which is really good to hear.

There was a little bit of to-and-fro around specific instances where communication from the club has caused fan difficulty and the group has again mentioned the importance of ensuring that the club doesn't ignore the feelings around Lower Grounds, Terrace View and the way in which some things are being handled - the group certainly thinks that the relationship between fans and club can be improved and that it's important we do that, even when the football is going really well.

I always like to mention mood and following his arrival at his first meeting in the Terrace View which was a bit of a battle, I think Mr Hatton is now much more settled, he's quite comfortable with this type of thing, he seems to genuinely want to improve the way in which the matchday experience is delivered, he's driving the additional communications and there is a chance he might be listening. 

If I remember anything else, I'll let you know!

[OutByEaster?]

One other thing - last night was the first meeting with guest reps - if you want to come along to one of these things, you can register on the official Villa website - they're picking two people a time.

[andycv]

6 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

Last night there was an informal meeting with Ben Hatton and Lee Preece - one of the additional meetings that Mr Hatton has added to the calendar as he's very keen to keep communication open and regular.

There was quite a bit of discussion around the game next week against Legia with some points worth noting.

This will be classed as a high risk fixture in terms of its policing and the arrangements made for the movement of the away support - it will look very similar to the way in which our games again small heath are managed and policed.

That means you can expect Witton Lane to be closed off before and after the game and that you may need to walk a little further around the stadium to reach your seat.

The club is making efforts to make the Legia fans welcome - inviting local Polish business's to provide traditional Polish food offerings on the away car park and pushing to ensure that the fans are treated properly - I think that's a good thing, sometimes in our fear of reputation games get policed in ways that affect the behaviour of fans. So, we're going to try to treat them well, as guests, but have a police presence and organisation that ensures everyone is safe on the night. I like that, it seems to me like a very 'Villa' way to do things and i hope the Legia fans enjoy their visit to Villa Park...although not the result.

If you're exiting from the North Stand or the Trinity, the exit behind the store, directly onto Witton Road will be open again - the club have added some lighting at the exit following feedback from supporters at the Alkmaar game.

For our part, the club have again asked that people get there as early as they can - at the Alkmaar game, the club had a record number of 'red 'lights' at the turnstiles - where someone (usually with the right ticket on them) tried the wrong way to get into the ground. They're going to put out a communication on this, but there are some really simple things we can do.

• Check the ticket you have in your hand, whether it's the phone one or a printout, is for the right game - you'd be amazed how many people tried the wrong one - it's easily done because of the deal where all three European tickets came as a bundled group - but please check!
• If you're the buyer for multiple tickets, please check that the people you're taking with you use their own ticket and not just the top one on the email you forwarded to them - there were hundreds of people who made that mistake and then had to fumble through their phones again.

There were something like 1,400 incorrect attempts to enter the ground against Alkmaar - those people get into the ground eventually once they've found the right ticket, but the delays they cause are making it difficult to get everyone inside in a timely fashion and we can really help to stop queues at the turnstiles with a couple of quick checks.

The club have also taken some action at the North stand where the number of turnstiles was causing delays and they've found a way to add two more - hopefully that should ease entry at that end of the ground.

There is a final additional kiosk scheduled to open in the Upper Holte which they're hoping will be in operation for the next game, pending a fire safety check on the shuttering - they've also added to the toilets and have given them a check over as well giving the place a bit of a spruce - they seem satisfied that the area is now a lot better than on opening day. your feedback on that would be appreciated.

The club are thinking about FA Cup 3rd round pricing if we get a home draw and there was a discussion on this, centred largely on two different aspects - fair pricing for those of us that regularly attend, and the right way to use any potentially empty seats to attract new people to Villa Park. They won't say so, but I think they're learning from the feedback they had from the Everton cup game and I'm hopeful we'll see something that's better received if we get a third round game - the only caveat being that we'd need to agree pricing with the other club involved for FA cup games.

The club are continuing to work with Castore and the team on the shirt issues and although (and i might be wrong) I don't think we have a resolution yet, there has been plenty going on behind the scenes to get the first team shirts right and I think it's improved.

In terms of upcoming developments - the club confirmed that there have been no changes to the situation with Witton Station - it's something the club are extremely keen to get done and that has support from both Mayoral candidates - it'll most likely feature as part of the upcoming mayoral election campaign for both candidates and the club remain hopeful of getting it done for the Euros.

The Academy building behind the North Stand will be open next season and will be able to accommodate up to 3,000 fans on matchday. The group stressed that we would hope it will be a free-to-enter facility and though Mr Hatton couldn't commit to that at this stage, he did suggest that he wouldn't be looking to sell it in the same way as the Terrace View or Lower Grounds - we're hopeful that's the case.

It looks like there will be a new shop in (or attached to) the Academy building, although in the interim the current shop will be extended within its current building - on matchdays, it's very difficult at the moment to get through there.

The club will be in a position to start talking to us about when works will happen and how they'll affect us toward the end of the season.

The club have appointed a Transport Officer whose whole job is sorting the transport issues before and after games at and around Villa Park - good luck to him - he's got some experience at Man City and we'll be introduced to him at a future meeting.

Plans for our 150th anniversary celebrations will be released before Christmas, and we'll most likely see the new crest around February of next year.

Mr Hatton seems to be more settled and he'll be taking these meetings - he's honest enough to say no when he means no and appears to be listening. He runs the days to day business of the club and it appears that he's been driving getting stuff like the extra toilets and turnstiles done. From what i can gather he seems to be someone who can make things happen, where in the past processes seem to have been very, very slow.

Mr Hatton said he's happier in a way that he's "chasing the football" and that he'd rather the football be great and him suffer criticism where the business and corporate element is playing catch up than for it to be the other way around - the football will bring him opportunities and his job is to take advantage of those - he appreciates that right now, some of what the club are delivering to fans isn't as good as he'd like and improving that is the challenge put to him by the owners.

Our owners continue to push him, he said that they are more critical than we are - and that they want to drive fan experience - he also said that FFP is a limiter. We won't cheat it but that the owners are on occasion both frustrated and baffled by FFP. It sounds like they are extremely keen to push on - which is really good to hear.

There was a little bit of to-and-fro around specific instances where communication from the club has caused fan difficulty and the group has again mentioned the importance of ensuring that the club doesn't ignore the feelings around Lower Grounds, Terrace View and the way in which some things are being handled - the group certainly thinks that the relationship between fans and club can be improved and that it's important we do that, even when the football is going really well.

I always like to mention mood and following his arrival at his first meeting in the Terrace View which was a bit of a battle, I think Mr Hatton is now much more settled, he's quite comfortable with this type of thing, he seems to genuinely want to improve the way in which the matchday experience is delivered, he's driving the additional communications and there is a chance he might be listening. 

If I remember anything else, I'll let you know!

Thank you.  An excellent summary. 

[OutByEaster?]

15 minutes ago, andycv said:

- Update on the stadium project - when will the Warehouse be delivered (I am sure I read the hope was to have it open Summer 2024) and what is the plan for the North Stand and Trinity

I think that one's covered off - schedule for the new North Stand and Trinity improvements hasn't been shared yet.

16 minutes ago, andycv said:

- What are the plans to improve the Dough Ellis Stand - both in the short term and long term?

I think it's unlikely we'll see much of anything in terms of improvement to the structure of DE in the short or long term - any sort of structural change would be massively expensive for very little gain. When this stand changes, I suspect the changes will begin with a bulldozer and I don't believe that's currently in the clubs thinking.

18 minutes ago, andycv said:

- Master plan for Aston - keeps getting mentioned - how is it progressing?  When will we see it?

The cynic in me would say that we'll hear a lot more about this when the people driving it want your vote. The election is in May.

19 minutes ago, andycv said:

- Commercial Strategy - how are they doing bringing in partners that are top tier (ie not BK8) are they going to do a training gear sponsorship?  What is the target for income from sponsorship?  How close are we to closing the gap with the likes of Spurs, Arsenal and Newcastle?

Without Chris Heck present, this wasn't really discussed - it's something we can add to the formal agenda for the next one though if you'd like?

[OutByEaster?]

Possibly also worth mentioning that the away ticketing group also met recently and the notes from that meeting are on the link below:

https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/gc-media-assets.gc.avfcservices.co.uk/bc6e3960-8232-11ee-830e-3be4e73a1ee4.pdf

They meet regularly:

Quote

 

To continually evaluate & establish fair process for the distribution of away tickets.

To identify & support processes that help ensure booking history is genuine and to identify appropriate sanctions against those who pass tickets to others.

 

 

[wishywashy]

Thanks as always for the great notes OBE. Sounds like Mr Hatton made a very good impression.

Glad to see that they're hopefully putting a bit more focus on the day-to-day stuff, it really is just a lot of little issues that have gone unsolved over the years for whatever reason (hence the length of the Fixing Villa Park thread) that has created a bit of animosity at times, especially with their new pricing strategy. Feels like priorities were very much out of order and hopefully they learn from that.

I do really feel for them with regards to the stadium development, it seems like they've  done all they can. Definitely had some rotten luck with the economy/politics that have made things more difficult and more expensive. Hopefully after the election(s) things might calm down a bit.

[rodders0223]

The staff in the Doug Ellis are truly beyond incompetent. Lazy badly trained not arsed and garbage attitudes. It was crap 5 years ago and it's beyond comprehension now.

[Demitri_C]

Question i have is when the capacity is reduced for building work hows the ticketing going to work?

I mean lets say we have 30k ST holders and caapcity is reduced to 32k that only leaves 2k tickets and thats not including away fans?

Surely they would have to suspend membership for a year?

[Captain_Townsend]

Capacity would be about 36k without the North Stand and I think we can reduce the away allocation 

[nick76]

Are the club concerned or discussing governing bodies treatment disparities of clubs in the league?

• Big six got only £3m fine each for almost abandoning the league
• Everton break FFP by £19m over three years and some of the components are debatable but are smashed by 10 point deduction 
• Big six team Spurs have been hit by charge of using unlicensed agent for Defoe deal from Spurs to Portsmouth, also includes Levy.  Decision is no punishment.

Seems a very large disparity between what happens to big six teams compares to the rest.  

Yes doesn’t massively impact us currently but I worry if a little indiscretion happens we are going to get bashed.

Yes any breaches should be punished but we need to make sure the punishments are consistent for all clubs, not one rule for some and other rules for others….I’ll be very interested to see the outcomes of Chelsea and Man City charges…

Edited November 23, 2023 by nick76

[Demitri_C]

2 hours ago, Captain_Townsend said:

Capacity would be about 36k without the North Stand and I think we can reduce the away allocation 

I dont think we reduce the away capacity can we? Dont we have to give a certain percentage of our capacity? Therefore reducing the fan tickets of our side?

[Kiwivillan]

7 hours ago, andycv said:

- What are the plans to improve the Dough Ellis Stand - both in the short term and long term?

Knead to know

[DaveAV1]

2 hours ago, nick76 said:

Are the club concerned or discussing governing bodies treatment disparities of clubs in the league?

• Big six got only £3m fine each for almost abandoning the league
• Everton break FFP by £19m over three years and some of the components are debatable but are smashed by 10 point deduction 
• Big six team Spurs have been hit by charge of using unlicensed agent for Defoe deal from Spurs to Portsmouth, also includes Levy.  Decision is no punishment.

Seems a very large disparity between what happens to big six teams compares to the rest.  

Yes doesn’t massively impact us currently but I worry if a little indiscretion happens we are going to get bashed.

Yes any breaches should be punished but we need to make sure the punishments are consistent for all clubs, not one rule for some and other rules for others….I’ll be very interested to see the outcomes of Chelsea and Man City charges…

It would be good if the authoritie could address similar disparities on the pitch too, with regards to refereeing and including VAR  as well. Since we area out to play some of the great self appointed “big six” I can imagine this will become a sore subject for many if not all of us over the next few weeks. 

[Captain_Townsend]

2 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

I dont think we reduce the away capacity can we? Dont we have to give a certain percentage of our capacity? Therefore reducing the fan tickets of our side?

I think we can as our own capacity would be down. Have read that somewhere.

[tomav84]

13 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

I dont think we reduce the away capacity can we? Dont we have to give a certain percentage of our capacity? Therefore reducing the fan tickets of our side?

the rule is that the minimum you have to give away fans is either 3k seats or 10% of your stadium capacity, whichever is smaller. so we'd still have to give the same amount if our capacity drops to 30k

[Demitri_C]

1 hour ago, tomav84 said:

the rule is that the minimum you have to give away fans is either 3k seats or 10% of your stadium capacity, whichever is smaller. so we'd still have to give the same amount if our capacity drops to 30k

Thats what my assumption was. Thanks for confirming  

[The Fun Factory]

Thanks for the notes, sounds like the club is more organised that at the start of the season. I have said my piece already on the monetisation of former free concourse areas and that is not going to change, but hopefully the club will learn on the league cup pricing and charge sensibly for our annual 3rd defeat in the FA cup.

[MotoMkali]

7 hours ago, tomav84 said:

the rule is that the minimum you have to give away fans is either 3k seats or 10% of your stadium capacity, whichever is smaller. so we'd still have to give the same amount if our capacity drops to 30k

I don't think that's accurate though for when a stadium is being renovated. I thought spurs only did like 2k during their renovations.