Fans Advisory Board Meeting - 20th December

[tomav84]

16 minutes ago, MotoMkali said:

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. 

yes because their capacity probably went down to about 20k. we'll still have a capacity of 30k during renovations

i might be wrong of course

[blandy]

16 hours ago, tomav84 said:

yes because their capacity probably went down to about 20k. we'll still have a capacity of 30k during renovations

i might be wrong of course

You are, or at least based on precedent you are. When Liverpool rebuilt the Anfield Road end, when Man U rebuilt Old Trafford's North stand, when Villa rebuilt the Holte End - away allocations were all significantly reduced, and didn't meet the 10%/3000, whichever is lower, criteria. Special dispensation was granted because of the circs.

edit. To turn this into a question, will the club be asking for dispensation?

[Marka Ragnos]

Thank you.

1. I would like to see more official Aston Villa-branded efforts to organise American supporters and nurture America-based opportunities to be "officially" part of the Villa family. There are all kinds of exciting and valued informal gatherings and orgs, and those are lovely, but would love to see the club itself creating special opportunities—club membership, for example, with travel to Birmingham and ticket and hospitality discounts, special events, merch, etc. 
2. Please let the powers that be understand how consequential the American friendlies/tours etc. are to us. Highlight of our lives as Villa supporters here. 

Edited November 24, 2023 by Marka Ragnos

[alreadyexists]

I’d like an update on the castore wet kit debacle please?

 

to be more specific I’d like to know what is happening with replacing the kit and what castore are going to do for us, etc.

Edited November 24, 2023 by alreadyexists

[The Fun Factory]

9 hours ago, tomav84 said:

yes because their capacity probably went down to about 20k. we'll still have a capacity of 30k during renovations

i might be wrong of course

White Hart Lane went down to about 32k before they demolished it, and they moved to Wembley for a few years.

[TheAuthority]

11 hours ago, Marka Ragnos said:

Thank you.

1. I would like to see more official Aston Villa-branded efforts to organise American supporters and nurture America-based opportunities to be "officially" part of the Villa family. There are all kinds of exciting and valued informal gatherings and orgs, and those are lovely, but would love to see the club itself creating special opportunities—club membership, for example, with travel to Birmingham and ticket and hospitality discounts, special events, merch, etc. 
2. Please let the powers that be understand how consequential the American friendlies/tours etc. are to us. Highlight of our lives as Villa supporters here. 

There are actually tickets set aside for international supporters (at most PL clubs I believe.)

If you are going over for a “once in a lifetime/decade/year experience” the club will find you a seat.

[DakotaVilla]

The club helps international fans through the formal lions clubs. Your chairman should be aware of the protocols in place to leverage this support.

Also to manage expectations, it’s very unlikely the club is going to do anything to favour a specific international lions club at the expense of others.

That’s why they try to move things around as much as possible. Ie if the tour was in the US last year it would be great to give our fans in South East Asia or Latin America a similar opportunity to engage with the club and players in the same way next summer. 

[allani]

Firstly - your summary of the extra meeting last week seems to me to suggest that (hopefully) the club are seriously trying to improve communications after the issues with the first FAB meeting with the current regime.  Hopefully it will free up the FAB meetings so that they can concentrate more on the strategic stuff - maybe it would be worth proposing a structure of sub-meetings where fan representatives can meet with specific personnel to discuss things like - matchday problems, ticketing, toilets, etc.  I think it is important that there is improved communication between the club and the fans on these issues - but I kind of feel that they are lower level details and that the main FAB sessions need to focus on the bigger / wider picture.  Getting the most out of face time with Heck and other senior Board members is really important.

Secondly - I would like to know whether part of the V-Sports initiative is to improve marketing opportunities for all the clubs involved.  Whilst it is not the highest priority part of this - I would be interested in buying shirts / merchandise of other clubs within the V-Sports empire (whether that be through a formal part-ownership, a contractual partnership at whatever level or even something a little less formal).  I'd also hope that a small benefit would be selling our shirts at their club shops.  Are there any plans with the new club shop / online shop to introduce a section for merchandise from our linked clubs?  Is this type of thing impacted by the Fanatics arrangement?

[OutByEaster?]

25 minutes ago, allani said:

Secondly - I would like to know whether part of the V-Sports initiative is to improve marketing opportunities for all the clubs involved.  Whilst it is not the highest priority part of this - I would be interested in buying shirts / merchandise of other clubs within the V-Sports empire (whether that be through a formal part-ownership, a contractual partnership at whatever level or even something a little less formal).  I'd also hope that a small benefit would be selling our shirts at their club shops.  Are there any plans with the new club shop / online shop to introduce a section for merchandise from our linked clubs?  Is this type of thing impacted by the Fanatics arrangement?

It's an interesting question, and I definitely think it would be good to hear the club explain what we're looking at getting from the partnerships.

In terms of shirts sales, I think anything along those lines would be down to Fanatics - if Fanatics own the rights to the shirts at those clubs, I'd guess they'd be happy selling them in their/our shop - if they're owned by other people I would imagine it's a non-starter. I'm not sure if Fanatics have a relationship with the Japanese league for example.

[allani]

3 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

It's an interesting question, and I definitely think it would be good to hear the club explain what we're looking at getting from the partnerships.

In terms of shirts sales, I think anything along those lines would be down to Fanatics - if Fanatics own the rights to the shirts at those clubs, I'd guess they'd be happy selling them in their/our shop - if they're owned by other people I would imagine it's a non-starter. I'm not sure if Fanatics have a relationship with the Japanese league for example.

I would imagine that the benefits to the club(s) of such an arrangement would be much greater than just selling a few shirts.  I can imagine that if a Villa match is on TV in Japan and there was a big group of fans wearing Vissel Kobe shirts then that would spark a few Japanese fans (irrespective of whether they are VK fans or not) to at least check out Villa and what our link to Japan is.  Similarly having our shirts on Japanese TV when VK are playing might do a similar thing.  Probably not the main benefit of these partnerships but anything that helps raise our profile (and those of the other teams) you would imagine would be beneficial.

[DaveAV1]

11 hours ago, TheAuthority said:

There are actually tickets set aside for international supporters (at most PL clubs I believe.)

If you are going over for a “once in a lifetime/decade/year experience” the club will find you a seat.

Thst should cover about 90% of the average gate at Old Trafford 

[Villatillidie95]

On 24/11/2023 at 18:22, Marka Ragnos said:

Thank you.

1. I would like to see more official Aston Villa-branded efforts to organise American supporters and nurture America-based opportunities to be "officially" part of the Villa family. There are all kinds of exciting and valued informal gatherings and orgs, and those are lovely, but would love to see the club itself creating special opportunities—club membership, for example, with travel to Birmingham and ticket and hospitality discounts, special events, merch, etc. 
2. Please let the powers that be understand how consequential the American friendlies/tours etc. are to us. Highlight of our lives as Villa supporters here. 

Great shout! I was recently in vegas for the formula 1 and a few American people recognised the villa crest on my shirt and coat there and was interesting to speak to them. Football is still clearly not so popular there though, so it’s a great opportunity to expand and capture a large part of the group. It’s a shame the whole vegas villans thing Dosent seem to be happening now, I think that could have done a lot if we emphasised the links.

[imavillan]

I enjoyed a rare recent visit to Villa Park for the game against Luton.

Had a good walk around the ground before and as i have a memorial stone laid for my dad in the forecourt area of the Trinity Road stand went and paid my customary visit. Got to say that many of the stones are sadly illegible and in need of a little tlc/maintenance. They just need re painting which surely is not much to ask the club to do. It just looks like they have been neglected and it just does not look right.

I wish i’d have taken some more photos to show you in a better way as there are plenty that are in far worse condition then this. The pic shows it to be better than it actually is.

I’ve moved away from the area and only get to VP once in a while now, otherwise i’d be popping down in my spare time to tidy up and re-paint my old mans.

Admittedly when i purchased the stone many moons ago there was no maintenance contract. You just paid for the stone inscription and for it to be laid where it is. I would happily pay to help get it tidied up but i can imagine that getting hold of all of the people who have had these would be neigh on impossible with people moving away and people becoming HEITS.  

In comparative terms the overall cost to the club would be minimal. It would be more of a time thing than actual material cost.

It's the same for the McGregor plaque in front of his statue. It just needs some tlc.

Can you ask the club to look into this and get them all tidied up. Surely it's not too much to ask for from the hierarchy?

It’s another small thing to many but also a big thing to many who have paid for the stones. It’s also a poor image for any visitors to take away with them.

 

Thanks

PS: Next time i’m at VP I’m going to pay a special visit just to get mine cleaned up and repainted regardless of what the club does or doesn't do. I might bring a tub of Brasso with me as well !!

Edited December 2, 2023 by imavillan
typo error

[WHY]

Is there a meeting tomorrow? 

[OutByEaster?]

Just now, WHY said:

Is there a meeting tomorrow? 

There is - should be interesting!

[sidcow]

2 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

There is - should be interesting!

Can you just ask them to level with the fans about the North Stand. 

I'm absolutely gutted. I've waited my whole life to see that embarrassment to the club levelled. 

If it's construction costs just admit it but don't insult our intelligence with bollocks excuses. 

Yes I am still angry 12 hours later. 

[WHY]

1 minute ago, OutByEaster? said:

There is - should be interesting!

Very, hopefully serious questions are asked.
If Doug has done this there would be uproar and rightly so. 

[villarule123]

Just now, sidcow said:

Can you just ask them to level with the fans about the North Stand. 

I'm absolutely gutted. I've waited my whole life to see that embarrassment to the club levelled. 

If it's construction costs just admit it but don't insult our intelligence with bollocks excuses. 

Yes I am still angry 12 hours later. 

This!

[sidcow]

On 02/12/2023 at 11:05, imavillan said:

I enjoyed a rare recent visit to Villa Park for the game against Luton.

Had a good walk around the ground before and as i have a memorial stone laid for my dad in the forecourt area of the Trinity Road stand went and paid my customary visit. Got to say that many of the stones are sadly illegible and in need of a little tlc/maintenance. They just need re painting which surely is not much to ask the club to do. It just looks like they have been neglected and it just does not look right.

I wish i’d have taken some more photos to show you in a better way as there are plenty that are in far worse condition then this. The pic shows it to be better than it actually is.

I’ve moved away from the area and only get to VP once in a while now, otherwise i’d be popping down in my spare time to tidy up and re-paint my old mans.

Admittedly when i purchased the stone many moons ago there was no maintenance contract. You just paid for the stone inscription and for it to be laid where it is. I would happily pay to help get it tidied up but i can imagine that getting hold of all of the people who have had these would be neigh on impossible with people moving away and people becoming HEITS.  

In comparative terms the overall cost to the club would be minimal. It would be more of a time thing than actual material cost.

It's the same for the McGregor plaque in front of his statue. It just needs some tlc.

Can you ask the club to look into this and get them all tidied up. Surely it's not too much to ask for from the hierarchy?

It’s another small thing to many but also a big thing to many who have paid for the stones. It’s also a poor image for any visitors to take away with them.

 

Thanks

PS: Next time i’m at VP I’m going to pay a special visit just to get mine cleaned up and repainted regardless of what the club does or doesn't do. I might bring a tub of Brasso with me as well !!

In my email to the club I said that the Stadium Manager needs to have a walk around the place with his eyes open because that doesn't seem to be happening. 

This seems exactly that kind of thing. 

Well spotted and you are exactly right on how important these small details are. 

[WHY]

5 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Can you just ask them to level with the fans about the North Stand. 

I'm absolutely gutted. I've waited my whole life to see that embarrassment to the club levelled. 

If it's construction costs just admit it but don't insult our intelligence with bollocks excuses. 

Yes I am still angry 12 hours later. 

Same, don’t take us for fools, just be honest with us.
 

Gently remind them the first thing Wes Edens did at the Bucks was to sort the stadium out and look how that turned out for them!

Edited December 19, 2023 by WHY