b6bloke Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Hi General, I hope and trust all is well with yourself and the rest of the boardroom members. I have a question regarding smoking areas. I was wondering if there were any discussions at all on allowing fans out at half time to enjoy a cigarette (or three)? As you will well know by now watching the Villa can be extremely stressful and I feel the club could do a little more to accommodate fans who choose to smoke. I know Stoke City are going to pilot a scheme whereby season ticket holders are allowed outside in certain areas at half time. I appreciate it can lead to problems, some people no doubt will try and use it to their advantage to sneak in at half time etc but if governed properly it shouldn't be a big issue, I would suggest something similar to nightclubs where they stamp your hand or something on the way out, or for season ticket holders perhaps a handheld device that can verify the validity of the card? I appreciate it's not particularly 'politically correct' to be seen to be in support of smokers in this day and age, but until the government make it illegal I see no reason why the club should not at least look at a solution. Also, it will save the match-day stewards having to patrol the toilets every five minutes in the hope of catching someone smoking in the cubicles (which incidentally I don't do :winkold: ) Maybe if people just abided by the rules, stopped smoking in the toilets and held out for for a short period of time then the club could spend the money spent on staffing this area and paying fines to aid club to spend it on areas where the money would be better spent. If the game streeses you so much may i suggest alternatives such as patches etc or at the very least i do believe Prozac is not banned from Villa park. Derby had a great set up for smoking outside but the design of the ground enabled them to do this where as the design around the perimeter of VP does not make this possible all the way around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b6bloke Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 General, If you do consider the Charity bin idea i have contacts that regularly send out medical equipment to thes areas and i am sure they would gladly take these over at no cost to the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff43 Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 hi gen just wonderin if you had any more thoughts on sky channel for avfc tv as i think it would be a great idea for it please let me know you opion on it thanks gen u and randy and mon keep up the good work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcarpet Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 General, Me and my dad are one of the lucky few who have won entry into the holte hotel before the game tomorrow and i just wanted to say thanks for giving us the oportunity to be able to sample the delights of this place on match day! We are not season ticket holders so this was the only way it would have been possible for us. We are delighted! Cheers!! Bcarpet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marktam Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Hi General, Great to hear you are on the mend. I ovewhelmed by the great progress we have made under Martin, Randy and your good self and long may it continue! Congratulations on our progress thus far! I just have a small query about the cup scheme. I have been a season ticket holder for many years and it's great that we now have the credit card type ticket and the ability to renew on line. However, it seems strange to me that we have to manually download the cup ticket form to fill in the same details we put in for the on line season ticket renewal and then send it off in the post. Surely it would be better to have a box on the online season ticket renewal form that you could simply tick to say that you wanted to be part of the cup scheme. Indeed, it would be even better that this box was automatically ticked if you had previously elected to be part of the cup ticket scheme. Just seems like a bad process. I am currently on holiday and had to phone the ticket office to see if I could do this over the phone without the need to download the form etc. After much discussion, the helpful person in the ticket office said I could do it over the phone which at least solves my problem for this year. However, for next season, it would be great if we could get this process made simpler.. Hope you can help on this Anyway, all the best to you, Randy, Martin and the boys for this season and look forward to seeing you fully fit very soon Cheers Tambo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-krulak Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 General Krulak here: 1. mackavfc40: MON has commented on Delph...as late as today. 2. nokring2001: My recommendation is that you stand close to the entrance/exit area to the players entrance to Villa Park...and catch them as they come and go. 3. KSV: I can't comment on Sneijder or any other "marquee" signings. The only thing I will say is that whoever MON brings in, they will "fit" into his way of playing the game and will fit into the Club. That is critically important. 4. We have sent "old shirts" and entire kits to Africa...and to places much closer to home. We do this often...we just don't publicize it. 5. Smoking is not permitted in the stadium...and we have been given a "yellow card" on that issue...not good. We have looked at allowing people in and out of the stadium at half-time but it would cause us to keep stewards on the gates and would increase the complexity that already exists in running game day. I think the feeling is that if you fly to Venice or, heaven forbid, the US, you will have to go longer without a smoke. 6. stuw: We are still looking at pricing. 7. geoff43: We have looked at TV and what that would entail. We are not ready to start that program right now. 8. marktam: By calling the Ticket office, you have alerted them to the problem. I will do the same and see what they have to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avillafan.com Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Hello General, We havent spoke in a while so i hope all his well with you and your family. Now onto my issue - the upkeeping of Villa Park. You could call me a little sad but sometimes when im bored (usually in the summertime), i tend to take a drive to Villa Park and just look around at what i like to call my second home/church - whichever suits you best. Anyway ive noticed on a few occasions of late that not all the lighting Has been working on the signage that can be seen on the M6 motorway on the Doug Ellis Stand. Are the club aware of this? And another point, when Randy took over he had the North Stand jetwashed down so it looked cleaner and with this being one of the first stands people see when arriving at Villa Park i feel this should be done on a regular basis. It looks very dirty and grubby at the moment. Does Randy or any of the team have any plans concerning this matter? Thanks for your time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaretMahoney Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 Hey General, I've recently sent you a private message. I hope it reaches you and if you could reply back to me in a private message or email, that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. -Brendan Mahoney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 General.........sorry to bring up an old story but I was back in the Holte End for todays game. Went for a half time beverage - totally shocked to see that ALL of the draught beer has been removed except for horrible lager. No El Cid, no bitter, no Guinness. And to rub salt into the wounds, they sell half pint bottles of Magners for THREE QUID a throw. Now, I went in the Holte Suite after the game and it's absolutely fantastic. The upgrade is superb. But why are Villa ripping off the fans by charging the same price for half the amount of beer in the ground? I will not be spending that extortionate amount on a small bottle of El Cid again and I fully expect a lot more to follow suit. Apart from that, all is good :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wol. Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 Just to add to that as I swapped the other way to the lower north and it was not a great story at half time, The counter has two tills with two people on each with a separate queue for each. The one side moved along swiftly and one of my friends came back within 5minutes, my other friend in the other queue was 20mintues later and so we miss the opening of the second half. The reason was that the person at that till could not understand what people were telling him. -- And agree that the outside of the Holte End looked amazing today, the windows and mosaic looked even better than before, it all ties in beautifully, together with the work done on Aston Hall makes it the best approach of any ground in the country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 General Krulak here: 5. Smoking is not permitted in the stadium...and we have been given a "yellow card" on that issue...not good. We have looked at allowing people in and out of the stadium at half-time but it would cause us to keep stewards on the gates and would increase the complexity that already exists in running game day. I think the feeling is that if you fly to Venice or, heaven forbid, the US, you will have to go longer without a smoke. . couldnt agree more general, i dont see why people cant go 2 hours without a cigarette 9/10 jobs wouldnt let you smoke that often and as you say people manage to fly everywhere without one so why cant they do it at the villa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuleAthon Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 General, Just a quick one this time, hopefully the ladies shirt issue is still in the works. I wanted to pass on a view that both myself and my uncle shared sitting watching the warm-up to the Fiorentina game. As I'm sure you're aware, the players do a drill towards the end of their warm-up with the ball being layed off by the coach, then shooting for goal from distance. Anyway, I think the player involved with this was Craig Gardner, and he ran up to take his shot, caught it full blooded only to see it go over the bar, into the Holte and strike a young lad of about 8 I would guess full in the face. It's a pretty terrible thing to have happen, and he looked more than a bit gutted by it - but he got a pair of keepers gloves amongst other things to give to the ball boy, who ran up the steps to give it to the poor lad who got hit. I wasn't involved in the incident, but I saw it happen from my seat in the Upper DE Stand, but I'd like to congratulate the player for acting in such a kind-hearted manner. One would think that if (for example) Frank Lampard had've done such a thing he wouldn't have looked twice, so it was wonderful to see such generosity and kindness from one of our pro's. It's this kind of thing that makes me (and my uncle) proud to support the Villa. Please pass on at least two fan's thanks for a great gesture by an individual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heystally! Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 General, Just a quick one this time, hopefully the ladies shirt issue is still in the works. I wanted to pass on a view that both myself and my uncle shared sitting watching the warm-up to the Fiorentina game. As I'm sure you're aware, the players do a drill towards the end of their warm-up with the ball being layed off by the coach, then shooting for goal from distance. Anyway, I think the player involved with this was Craig Gardner, and he ran up to take his shot, caught it full blooded only to see it go over the bar, into the Holte and strike a young lad of about 8 I would guess full in the face. It's a pretty terrible thing to have happen, and he looked more than a bit gutted by it - but he got a pair of keepers gloves amongst other things to give to the ball boy, who ran up the steps to give it to the poor lad who got hit. I wasn't involved in the incident, but I saw it happen from my seat in the Upper DE Stand, but I'd like to congratulate the player for acting in such a kind-hearted manner. One would think that if (for example) Frank Lampard had've done such a thing he wouldn't have looked twice, so it was wonderful to see such generosity and kindness from one of our pro's. It's this kind of thing that makes me (and my uncle) proud to support the Villa. Please pass on at least two fan's thanks for a great gesture by an individual. Hi General, I agree that this is a very nice gesture from the player, but maybe a way around it would be to put up a large net behind the goal during the pre-match warm up, kind of like what golfers use so they don't smash a ball through someone's window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenjos Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 Hi General. the season is near and yet i find myself completely not looking forward to it! problem is we dont have a squad. been searching online, but cannot see anything about a refund policy! now i hope by mid next week we have the some players extra to last season on board, but if we dont do we have a refund policy? i hope i wont have to do it, but right now i'm confused as to how we havent strenghtened! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 General great to see whats been done with the Holte Suite. I have to agree with Rob ( rjw ) though and suggest that the club looks into how much they are charging for pre game and half time refreshments. On a positive note it is fantastic to once again see the emergence of a number of youngsters and the upcoming season looks as though it could be special if what we've seen pre season is anything to go by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sellyoakvilla Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 General Just looking at the ticket prices for Rapid Vienna at home, and why is there no young adult prices? There were for Ajax and Zilina last season - I feel £20 is a high price to pay for those sitting in Holte or upper sections, especially when the majority of young adults are either school leavers or students...there should be a cheaper option for games like this if we are looking to fill up the ground. I'm sure a young adult option for £10 or so would generate more ticket sales as a few people I know have said they don't know if they will be going as £20 is too high for a Europa qualifier when they usually pay young adult to other games. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparey16 Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 Gen, to add to Sellyoak's post, i for one will not pay £20 for a Europa qualifier, when that said money can go towards the new kit/away game. For most games Villa have u21 prices, even for friendlys. I fail to see why they havn't got one listed now. Also, on another note, any chance the club could do a wallpaper version of this picture, taken from the OS Thanks General! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sellyoakvilla Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 Another thing...has the price of beer gone up at Villa? £3.10 for a bottle is very expensive, I remember paying £3 last season? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis_B Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 General, is it not about time something was done about that man Redknapp consistently talking about other teams players and conducting business through his sychphantic mates in the London Press? Yet again he is talking about a Villa player he would like but is not available - I thought that this constituted 'tapping-up'Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp admits he would welcome Ashley Young in his squad but expects Aston Villa to keep the England winger at Villa Park. Redknapp has been linked with the 24-year-old as a solution to Spur's problems on the left flank. He said: "Everybody would like to have him but I don't think there is a chance we would get him. He's fantastic and Aston Villa do not want to sell him." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pablopicasso Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 i too am sick of that cretin... he has as much chance of signing ashley young as he does of winning a mr handsome competition... i would really like it if we spoke out about the irritating cockerney barraboy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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