Fans Advisory Board Meeting - 20th December

[ejs1111]

48 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Many? Many more like it.  Not my will, the majority of fans will!  You wanted a simple end to the chaos, then sticking with the round badge is the simplest out of that or a complete new badge.

You not liking it doesn’t mean everybody does.

completely agree.  Keep the bloody round badge we have.  Tweak it if needed but keep it.  Given that Heck is known for altering the badge into numerous iterations and logos- having a round badge as the base makes the most sense- that would be the easiest to start from as well.

Many liked it- wasn't the fan poll like 75% in favor? 78%?  It was a vast majority.  Its not rocket science.

[nick76]

1 minute ago, ejs1111 said:

completely agree.  Keep the bloody round badge we have.  Tweak it if needed but keep it.  Given that Heck is known for altering the badge into numerous iterations and logos- having a round badge as the base makes the most sense- that would be the easiest to start from as well.

Many liked it- wasn't the fan poll like 75% in favor? 78%?  It was a vast majority.  Its not rocket science.

Yep and 8% liked a shield type design style but sounds like we are going back to the shield

[Brumstopdogs]

3 hours ago, El Segundo said:

The whole things comes across as an exercise to try and demonstrate they are genuinely consulting fans when they are actually just doing what they think is right and ticking "fan consultation" boxes with lip service.  

He may be commercially astute in US terms, but I'm afraid Heck comes across as a blatant liar with little or no understanding of, nor care for,  English Football fans, our club, it's history and traditions.    

The "200 unsold seats per PL game" as a sign there is insufficient demand is a case in point and sums up his approach.   Take a minor, insignificant stat and spin it to suit your argument.  It is utterly unconvincing, disingenuous.  It's an insult to our intelligence.  Here's just a few reasons why it's bollocks:

• 200 seat is less than half a per cent of capacity.   
• A proportion of these are marked as restricted view, which many people, including me, will not pay for.
• The vast majority will be single seats - most people do not want to go and sit on their own. 
• Getting hold of unsold tickets either online or by phone can be akin to breaking into Fort Knox.
• If my experience trying to get an extra ticket for the Sheffield United and Burnley games is anything to go by, unsold seats are not all released at the same time, nor in good time.  Very late in the day a raft of tickets became available for the Sheffield game which were nearly all on the back row of the upper Holte.  At a point when most people had probably given up. Where did they all suddenly come from?  
• The website often shows games as "sold out" shortly before further tickets suddenly become available.
• A Season Ticket waiting list in the thousands, possibly tens of thousands, can never, ever be outweighed by by a piddling dribble of scattered unsold seats per game.  To even think it can is hilariously arrogant.

Everything he has done has been unpopular with the fans yet he spouts on about how consultation with us is at the centre of his strategy.  The guy is utterly untrustworthy and a Charlatan as far as I'm concerned. 

 

Good post and on the highlighted bit the season ticket waiting list was reported on the official site as over 33,000 in April 2023:

https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2023/april/24/aston-villa-season-tickets-2023-24/

Quote

Any remaining season tickets will then be made available to those fans on the waiting list, currently over 33,000.

Given how this season has gone I think it would be fairly reasonable to assume it would have increased further since then. Also, for comparison at May 2022 the official site were reporting the waiting list as over 24,000 so the waiting list has been growing at a fairly impressive rate.

Obviously not everyone on the list would take up the offer of getting a season ticket but even if "only" 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 got the season ticket it would be a substantial number.

It would therefore be useful if the club explained at a future meeting given the season ticket wiating list they are reporting why they think the demand isn't there or alternatively just give us the true reason as to the change of plans to the North Stand and I'm sure most people, although will be disappointed, will be happier knowing what has really happened.

[Stevo985]

My biggest issue isn’t so much the decisions being made, but that they’re clearly just making up a load of bullshit to justify it. 

If you’re doing something then do it and be honest. Don’t pretend it’s what we want. 

Youre not developing the north stand because you don’t want to pay for it. 

You don’t want the round badge because it’s too expensive

own it

[Mark Albrighton]

6 minutes ago, S-Platt said:

As far as I remember 1st survey we had 3 votes shield/gaslamp/round.

Gaslamp was dropped and we had a choice of 2.

Round won by a big majority.

I can't recall anything about the 2nd survey other than my comments about I preferred no star and a left facing lion.

Anyone else remember much about the 2nd survey and why we seem to be ignoring the 1st?

 

4 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Yeah I missed the second survey as well but OBE said there was one, surprised I missed it.

About page 39 (for me) in the new club badge thread there is discussion about the survey. The club published the survey on 2nd October.

 

[El Segundo]

2 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

My biggest issue isn’t so much the decisions being made, but that they’re clearly just making up a load of bullshit to justify it. 
 

If you’re doing something then do it and be honest. Don’t pretend it’s what we want. 
 

Youre not developing the north stand because you don’t want to pay for it. 
 

You don’t want the round badge because it’s too expensive

 

own it

I think this succinctly encapsulates how I feel.  Well said. 

[mikeyjavfc]

Just catching up. So to summarise this thread:

- FAB meeting held 20th Dec

- Meeting minutes released by club 22nd Dec

- FAB issues additional responses / clarifications to meeting minutes 27th Dec

- FAB reports club to FA for failing to properly consult fans on badge redesign process (!!) 28th Dec

- Club asks FAB to make statement / clarification that FA have in fact confirmed that the badge redesign has followed the proper consultation process 28th Dec (later)

Hell of a week. Wonder what that has done to Club - FAB relations. Seems pretty frosty at best.

[limpid]

Please use the Heck thread to post about Heck. This is for discussing the meeting.

[Risso]

Did the club ask for the attendees not to share the actual design of the new badge?

[OutByEaster?]

31 minutes ago, Risso said:

Did the club ask for the attendees not to share the actual design of the new badge?

I believe so.

[est1874]

8 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

I believe so.

And yet MOMS came straight out of the meeting and told everyone it looks just like the Lerner badge, and is shite!

[S-Platt]

7 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

I believe so.

Why though if it's out in the open with a description without actually seeing the final design you would get the feedback they need.

[S-Platt]

Just now, est1874 said:

And yet MOMS came straight out of the meeting and told everyone it looks just like the Lerner badge, and is shite!

Which is what they need to hear!

[est1874]

9 minutes ago, S-Platt said:

Which is what they need to hear!

Not really. It's just a good example of spin doctoring. He was the first and loudest to make a huge fuss because he got such traction with his leaks about the round badge too.

It's a cynical attempt to remain relevant (or extend/grow his social media reach) by flagrantly disregarding the request from the club to keep the details under wraps, all the while wielding more power than he should have by creating this furore about the new design, getting people all riled up before they've even seen the **** thing.

[OutByEaster?]

12 minutes ago, S-Platt said:

Why though if it's out in the open with a description without actually seeing the final design you would get the feedback they need.

I don't think they're looking for any further feedback - we have a badge, it's the one they've designed backed by the results of the October survey. 

[S-Platt]

2 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

I don't think they're looking for any further feedback - we have a badge, it's the one they've designed backed by the results of the October survey. 

In which case why the secrecy then? If this is it and we have no comeback just show it?

[ender4]

27 minutes ago, S-Platt said:

In which case why the secrecy then? If this is it and we have no comeback just show it?

Because that’s against FA rules and so they have to go through this pretence of fake consultation before giving us the badge that they’ve already decided on. 

[Risso]

1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said:

I believe so.

Theh they need to be told to get to f***. I don't think there's any provision in the fan consultation rules for them to keep things secret, the set of arseholes. (The club, not the people attending).

[Davkaus]

17 minutes ago, Risso said:

Theh they need to be told to get to f***. I don't think there's any provision in the fan consultation rules for them to keep things secret, the set of arseholes. (The club, not the people attending).

And what's even the point of it?

The FAB presumably weren't told in advance, they weren't asked for feedback - it seems the design is pretty much set, so they've got a small group of people together, who are supposed to be fan representatives, and secretly shown them something they can't tell us too much about while ensuring that there was no real opportunity for it to be used to play back opinions of the fans these representatives represent? 

All, in my mind, for them to be able to say "we showed it to the FAB and they had no suggested changes (even though we specifically told them that feedback wasn't wanted, lol)". From the excerpts provided and the FAB's response, it seems like they're being used like a bunch of pawns. It's an absolute farce.

To be clear I mean this as absolutely no criticism of OBE or other fans who give up their time to represent fans in good faith. I just think that good faith is going completely unreciprocated by the club.

Edited December 29, 2023 by Davkaus

[Risso]

Agree totally Dav.