avfcjono Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Please, no banter between posters. Read the posting guidelines if you aren't sure. limpid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadoftrinity Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Hi Gerneral On Saturday the Lichfield Road (A38) was closed in Aston and a there was chaos trying to get to the ground for people coming from North Birmingham area and getting of the M6 at Spagetti Junction. As I am sure people at Villa Park would have known about this, I feel it would have been helpful to put some notification on the website and people would have been able to head to the ground earlier or make alterate arrangements to get to the game. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrissmith921 Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Hi General My condolonces for your loss. Small, and possibly irrelevant to most question, but recently I've ordered tickets for a game and had to change my address on the system - as I live in a Welsh street, in a welsh-named village, in a welsh named borough, it gave the woman on the other end of the line a large amount of difficulty in getting the address right (hopefully my tickets will turn up!!) - I believe she got there in the end, but this issue could easily be controlled by a post-code lookup option on their system, or even easier, a way of editing it ourselves via our login on avfc.co.uk. Although it doesnt affect a lot of people - it maybe something to look into, as human error can always happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-krulak Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 General Krulak here: 1 I am back from San Diego and the funeral on Thursday and burial on Friday. I want to thank all the fans on Villa Talk for their kindness towards me and my family. You all are superb!! 2. I do not have much to do with the Browns...although I am a fan. I did have a long talk with their new coach...Eric Mangini and found him to be hugely motivated to move the Club forward. I am not sure what is meant by the Browns fan's feelings towards Randy...it has been a tough few years but certainly not a result of Randy. He has supported the Browns just like he has supported the Villa. Hopefully Eric will make the same difference that MON has made. 3. Questions re. the yearbook can be answered by Nicky Keye. 4. Pre-season games...numbers and locations...will be determined by MON and will be released when he makes the decision. This is not a Board or Randy decision. 5. Villa providing coaches. We can only do so much...and we need to be good stewards of the money we do have...in order to keep the Club moving forward. 6. Marketing in OZ: We are marketing world wide...but we need to have a "product" that is recognized world wide. We are getting to that point but we need to keep moving forward. 7. stevenjos: yes. 8. 87Leatherneck: Welcome aboard Marine!! 9. It may be hard to believe but the Club is not normally informed about road work around B'ham. 10. Re. Thomas Cook (TC): For the rest of this season, all European travel will be with our current partner, TMG...so nothing will change. TC will only be handling European Travel (counting on us making it) for next season onwards. We will be working with them to ensure we have a great program. They are one of the world's leading travel agencies and handle European travel for such Clubs as Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs. This is a new partnership that is very important to our Club from a commercial point of view...NOT from what they charge fans for trips (we do NOT get ANY commission) but from the fee they have paid for the partnership. As I have said before, Randy does NOT have a machine in his basement that prints 20 pound notes....we have to raise money in order to keep the Club moving forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 7. stevenjos: yes. Well then, they lied to us. It was an absolutely ridiculous thing to do, to pen the home fans in like cattle. All it served to do was wind people up. Won't be losing any sleep, but was very annoyed at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guus Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Hi General. Are there any plans to install seats similar to the ones in the ManU, Arsenal, Chelsea dug outs? I noticed during the ManU vs Chelsea game that there are 2 sponsors on the seats, and seeing that the TV cameras love MON at the moment, we could probably get a fair price for the rights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sellyoakvilla Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Hi Gen, Hope you are well and that everything is Ok with your family. Just to bring up a point made on the previous thread, about the magazine sales in terminals of train stations/airports etc? Did you ever find anything out about this? Kind regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddy Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Hi General. Are there any plans to install seats similar to the ones in the ManU, Arsenal, Chelsea dug outs? I noticed during the ManU vs Chelsea game that there are 2 sponsors on the seats, and seeing that the TV cameras love MON at the moment, we could probably get a fair price for the rights. Not to speak for the General but I'm pretty sure this was put to MON before and he said that he didn't want players getting too comfortable on the bench. Though I could be mistaken. On a non-football related note General, my best mate (who has unfortunately been misled by his family and isn't a Villa fan) has made a drastic career change and decided to give up architecture and join the Marines (British, rather than American). He's got through the interview and has the physical test coming up in the next few weeks. Do you have any words of advice for him about becoming a marine? Or perhaps more importantly at this stage... words that might put his mum's mind at rest a bit as (unsurprisingly I suppose) is a bit worried about her only son going into what she sees as a very dangerous profession. I told her about your Dad being a Marine and living into his 90s, which helped a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaluke86 Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 General Krulak here: 10. Re. Thomas Cook (TC): For the rest of this season, all European travel will be with our current partner, TMG...so nothing will change. TC will only be handling European Travel (counting on us making it) for next season onwards. We will be working with them to ensure we have a great program. They are one of the world's leading travel agencies and handle European travel for such Clubs as Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs. This is a new partnership that is very important to our Club from a commercial point of view...NOT from what they charge fans for trips (we do NOT get ANY commission) but from the fee they have paid for the partnership. As I have said before, Randy does NOT have a machine in his basement that prints 20 pound notes....we have to raise money in order to keep the Club moving forward. Hi General, Sorry to bring up thomas cook again, I'm not sure if the following question was answered: When TC take over next year (all things being well), if I want to follow Villa in europe do I have to travel through them in order to obtain a match ticket, or can I make my own travel arangements like it has been possible to do this year? Just want to say many thanks for all the top work since yours and Randys arrival, I have no doubt you are going to make us great once more! Many Thanks, Luke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-krulak Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 General Krulak here: 1. Luke: You can make your own travel arrangements...just like this year. 2. Seats on the bench: I would guess you would NOT see "plush" seats in the dugouts whilst MON is the manager. I don't think they would be high on Randy's priority either. Take a look at the benches for football players in the US...as an example, The Green BaY Packers. Those lads play in 10 degree temperatures and 30 mph winds and sit on a hard bench...sometimes with no back rails. 3. Magazines in airports, etc. They must make economic sense to be placed in the stores...and so far, the marketing surveys have showed that they would not. 4. The Royal Marines: This is a superb outfit. They are well-trained, well-equipped, well-led and offer great opportunity for someone who is looking to serve their country, gain self-confidence and learn a skill. It is NOT all about shooting and warfare...there are many skills that are taught that can be applied in the civilian community. If nothing else, a Royal Marine will learn a great deal about leading. I wish that there were words I could give to reassure a Mum but....that is hard to do when we are faced with the realities of a dangerous world. Not every Royal Marine will be a rifleman...nor will every Royal Marine find themselves in the mountain of Afghanistan but....it is a tough life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianrobo1 Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Hi General, sorry to have a moan at the club but this is a strong one personally for me. What is the club doing accepting that we should kick off at 7PM for the CSKA game ? It is a stupid KO time and we should never have agreed to it for whatever money the TV company will pay. In all likelhood the clubs acceptance of this means I am unlikely to attend and I think a few thousand others may be in the same position. After 2.5 years of Randy being in charge this is the first time I have felt angry and disappointed at the club because for me there is no logical reason whatsoever for this game to start then except for money. Cheers, Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blunther Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Hi General, I keep hearing disturbing rumours, though nothing official, about a possibility of moving the away tie vs CSKA Moscow to a ground nearly 1,000 miles away from Moscow itself. As I and no doubt many others are already booked onto flights/hotels to Moscow around the time of the game, this wouldn't be great news. I know we should probably wait for confirmation of things before booking flights and such, but you have to get in there early - my flights for example which cost £180 a few weeks back now cost £480, so waiting wasn't really viable. Hopefully it's all just pie in the sky and we'll play where we were drawn, but if you could put my mind at rest, it'd be much appreciated Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-krulak Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 General Krulak here: 1. ianrobo1: Hmmmm, let me see if I understand this. The FA and UEFA (and our Club) enter into a contractural agreement with, say, a TV outlet...and in that agreement the TV outlet has the ability to move start times by a certain set amount providing they pay a set amount for the overall contract. We then decide that the start time is not to our liking but within the parameters of the contract...so we break the contract. Hmmm, doesn't sound like something The Board would want to do...and certainly Randy would not want to do it. "It is a stupid kickoff time and we should not have agreed to it for whatever money the TV Company will pay". Simply put, that statement overlooks all the obvious legal issues, contractural issues PLUS the reality of the cost of running a Premiership Club. If we want to play with the "big boys", we need to be able to generate the revenue to do just that. I am VERY sorry you are disappointed in the Club but...I don't think you are thinking rationally at this point in time. As I have said before, Randy does NOT have a machine in his basement that cranks out 20 pound notes. He does the best he can to meet the needs of the Fans and the Club BUT, we ALL have to understand that you cannot run a car on "fumes" nor a Club on confetti. 2. blunther: As of this moment in time, the 2nd leg is to be played on Thursday the 26th of February, 2009 with a kick off at 8:00pm local time. The venue is scheduled to be Luzhniki Stadium. I do not have an atlas with me at this time so I cannot tell you whether this is 1000 miles from moscow or not. Maybe someone else has an atlas handy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NulliSecundus Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 I have an atlas, the Luzhinki is about 10km of central moscow I'm sure its not the Generals fault that the KO time got moved though, nor anyone else at the club for that matter. As I said in the thread about it, probably for the Russians themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b6bloke Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Luzhniki Stadium is in Moscow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramshackler Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Hi general, just wondering if i could bring your attention to something quite small, but also quite easy to fix! I am a member of the away scheme and as a result there are some games that i am sent tickets for that i cannot always attend. Most of the time it is easy enough to bring the unwanted tickets to the prior home games and return them, but this isnt always possible. I popped to VP on sunday (the only day i had off work last week) but got there just to late at 210pm and there was no-one around to take my ticket. Any chance of a small letterbox fed into a security box inside the ticket office for these circumstances, as i noticed there was nothing of the sort on the ticket office, villa village, villa reception or even catering!? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blunther Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 2. blunther: As of this moment in time, the 2nd leg is to be played on Thursday the 26th of February, 2009 with a kick off at 8:00pm local time. The venue is scheduled to be Luzhniki Stadium. I do not have an atlas with me at this time so I cannot tell you whether this is 1000 miles from moscow or not. Maybe someone else has an atlas handy. Many thanks for your prompt response General. The Luzhniki is indeed where I was hoping it'd be, so I'm glad that the few snippets I'd heard were wrong! Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazzakil Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 BOF : Response removed by request mate, come on we should be greatful we are in europe...... im sure 7pm will suit other supporters so the club and the tv company cant please everyone. The main thing is to get AVFC a brand name around the world and to help bring in the revenue to play with the big boys......we also need the pull of playin in europe on tv, big nights, full houses, excellent atmosphere etc etc to attract the type of players to improve our squad. Look at the bigger picture, these games dont come along to often, u choose not to pay your £20 thats up 2 u , bet ur watch it on the tv though........................ General welcome back, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-krulak Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 General Krulak here: 1. ramshackler: Nicky Keye (Hd of our Ticketing Operations plus a "wonder-woman") has said she likes your idea and will see if she can make it happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishCockney Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 General Sir I'd like to thank you for giving up your time to read the many requests and queries, however minor, which come your way via this thread, but not only that also to act on them so promptly as above speaks volumes. The boys have been doing great, but looked seriously out on their feet the last few minutes of the last few games. Now I know you can't talk about transfers, but could you just mention to Randy and Martin that my own policy in these tough financial times is to SPEND SPEND SPEND! Thus bringing confidence to a depressed market And by the way, if he's looking for a new head of policy or a similar highly paid role tell him to pm me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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