General Krulak pt 4 - Q & A (No transfer Questions)

[rjw63]

General, 2 points;

1. I have got 2 extra tickets for my mates for the scum heath game - £25 each, and they are delighted with that price.

2. Can you give the lads a pre match team talk Sunday, I want them to KNOW that we won't accept defeat.

Many thanks

Rob (El Cid)

[markavfc40]

5. avillafan.com: Ticket prices....you can't win for losing! A 43 pound ticket price is "disgraceful"???? I would say that is a bit strong. It is a big game, a very important game, a game that cost more to attend at B'ham City two years ago than this price. We want to re-sign players, we want to buy strikers, we want to buy other players, we want more security, we want a lollypop person on duty, etc. etc. etc. BUT we want lower prices (forget the fact that our prices are already low). You can't win for losing.

General, £43.00 in this financial climate is a hell of a lot of money for 90 mins of potential entertainment and I am saying that as someone who has, and continues to, put his money where his mouth is every year for over twenty years in terms of season tickets, cup tickets and away tickets.

Interesting you say that we want to resign players. We sure as hell want to resign our better player - the Ash Youngs and the Milners/Barrys before him but hey ho. We do desperately need a top class striker and other players but haven't signed a player since August 2009. Have sold/let a few go though, one who was our player of the year and who we took a few Arabian millions and an inferior player in exchange for with no manager in place but hey ho. You want people to pay £43.00 a ticket then I'd suggest the club need to get back to putting up.

Kindest Regards General

Mark

[Coops_AVFC]

General, how delighted was Randy with the Browns massive win in the defending superbowl champions' backyard?? Unbelievable result!

[Wainy316]

General I saw the new crest mentioned earlier whcih I am a fan of. The only issue I have is the AVFC rather than saying Aston Villa FC like it used to. I don't think in areas such as where I am it is instantly recognisable and I saw a guy wearing a Villa jacket as they were on sale in the Nike shop and he didn't even know what it was, when I asked him!

On a side note I did see a guy in Villa shirt with Reo-Coker on the back, givig the club much love.

Of course this is a very minisucle issue, but just something to consider if the crest was ever altered/ upgraded.

[SiDanger]

3. Deeps: You state that, "If Ashley Young goes, it will test your resolve for Randy". Do you really think that the owner of ANY Club can prevent a Player from leaving if he wants to? ManU saw Rooney prepared to walk out the door....because he wanted to. He is staying with ManU because he wants to. I wish it were as simple as you make it out to be....we just say, "nope, no players can leave this year"....hmmmmm, sounds nice. It doesn't work that way. To lay the blame on Randy is wrong.

This is true but if the money made from the sale isn't put back into the strengthening the squad then we will never be in a position whereby these players will want to stay with the club. I'm not having a go as Randy has put his money up and has bankrolled a lot of signings but as you keep stating that ambition of Champions League football remains the same this will not happen if we sell our best players and don't use the money received to buy new players. If when you say 'our ambition remains the same' you mean that there will be money available for new transfers and that any money made from future sales will go into buying new players then it is fair enough to say that but if you think Champions League is possible when you sell off your best players and don't use the cash to strengthen then this is an empty sentiment. I won't complain if the club cannot afford to compete at this level as the money has to come from somewhere and if we are losing so many millions each year then it can't be done but if this is the case then I'd rather have the truthful message. The way football is now you have to continue to build, especially if you lose players, and getting into the top 4 requires a lot of spending. It's a sad fact but it's true. Personally I'm hoping when you say 'the ambition remains the same' that it means there will be quite a reasonable sum of money available for GH to rebuild the squad but the board isn't going to come out and say that as it would be silly to let other clubs know how much we have to spend.

[TheDon]

General, I see that Take That have announced a tour including a date playing Villa Park. You've stated previously that the club wasn't looking to host concerts due to the damage that it can do to the pitch, and that that was a position shared by many premier league clubs.

Can I ask why this policy has now changed, and is it due to being certain that the pitch will be able to fully recover or be relaid to the same high standard it currently holds, or is it solely financially motivated? It would be a shame if something like this resulted in our excellent pitch taking a hit for the worse.

[benevans]

General, I asked the question before but I think you must have skipped it. Do you have an update on the situation with the new kit? It's November next week and we still don't have a release date. Cheers.

[Cracker1234]

Release dates were posted yesterday on AVFC.co.uk I posted the dates in the kit thread yesterday also.

Wednesday November the 10th for the home shirts

Wednesday November the 24th for the away shrits

[choffer]

Hi General,

Just wanted to ask if you could pass on my thanks for Monsieur Houllier, the players and the staff for yesterday's open training session. One member of staff was particularly helpful when he spotted that our view was somewhat impeded by the tv cameras and helped us find somewhere else to sit. The attention to detail in even spotting that we didn't have the best of views was impressive, as was his willingness to approach us and find us somewhere else to sit.

Also big thanks to the players for staying out so long to sign autographs and pose for pictures. My 11 year old nephew will long remember the day he got his shirt signed by so many of the players and had his photo taken with a number of first team players. Special thanks to a certain Mr Young who I'm sure risked the wrath of the rest of the squad by staying out in the cold much longer than anyone else to ensure that everyone had an autograph and a quick chat.

The only slight downside is something that I'm not sure the club could do much about but we were sat very near the camera crew of a certain global broadcasting company and I would have hoped that with so many young children around, their reporter might have chosen to use slightly less "industrial" language when talking with his crew. No matter, it did not spoil what was an excellent morning.

Please do pass on my thanks to those responsible.

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

1. PKAVFC. We are still discussing this with Nike...there are contract issues to deal with.

2. We expect 30,000+ for Burnley.

3. The Don: the answer is a combination of all the comments you made...with emphasis that we CAN recover the Pitch with minimum effort. It will be fine.

4. SiDanger: I think that I have tried to be as honest as I can on an open site. As I have indicated and continued to indicate, GH will be supported. Randy has shown a sincere willingness to spend and that has not changed.

5. Markavfc40. I often wonder if you read my posts.....since I have answered your question multiple times. Let me try again.....the Club, ours or anyone's, have VERY little control over whether a player re-signs or not. We can attempt to re-sign...offer more money than another Club, etc etc. At the end of the day, if a player wants to leave, they will find a way to do so. Handcuffs and leg irons are illegal!!!! We don't "let a few go"....that indicates that we did not try to keep them which is simply NOT true.

6. Choffer: thank you for your kind comments.....we put a great deal of effort into the Family Day.

7. Randy was thrilled with the Brown's victory...beating the World Champions is a big deal.

[theunderstudy]

Hi General – Did you follow English football before you joined the board at Villa?

[Cracker1234]

7. Randy was thrilled with the Brown's victory...beating the World Champions is a big deal.

I read in one of our national Newspapers "The Sun" that they had won...Good Job, but the newspaper wasn't very nice in what they said about the win.

I honestly hate the media in this country, they only print good things about either London clubs or clubs with LOTS of money.

This is what was said "New Orleans suffered a shock 30-17 loss at home to no-hopers Cleveland Browns"

I understand that the Browns haven't had the best of times of late, but to print that in a national newspaper isn't right.

[b6bloke]

General just a thanks for the recent training day, my neices loved it and their dad is now happy that they are now Villa mad!

Also a big thanks for the ticket prices, £10 tomorrow and the deals that have been done recently have really helped out mates who could not afford a season ticket this year, the rubbish about the £43 should just go over your head, we are not a charity and there is a choice, to buy or not to buy. For Villa fans there was a great choice including £25 which is great for a big game like this.

[SiDanger]

General thanks for your response, I am very impressed with GH so far and if he is backed the same way MON was then I am confident we can take things to the next level.

[steaknchips]

Just want to say that its great news that NRC is a player Houllier is looking to try and keep long term.Fingers crossed he gets and signs a new deal in the near future.I think he will be a great club captain.

[Texas_Mike]

General, How does the NFL chose their Wembley teams? TRandy should put forward their name, Nice trip for you all and you can see both teams same weekend!!

[maqroll]

General, do you ever browse the rest of this site, and if so, are you ever tempted to post anything?

[ChrisNichollsToe]

. SiDanger: As I have indicated and continued to indicate, GH will be supported. Randy has shown a sincere willingness to spend and that has not changed

Like it General 8)

So, if Houllier asks for 15m to purchase a top quality striker. He will be given it?

And if he wanted a Midfield player on top at around £10m?

These are the type of figures the quality players cost, and if we are not to stand still, they are what we have to purchase.

Enjoyed the training day, Monday. Would be good to have another one during the spring, with the warmer weather. Any plans for doing this General?

PS

Pass on to the manger my sincere appreciation of the style of football he is trying to get us playing. Im sure we will be reaping the rewards of his good work, very soon, especially with a top quality striker at the tip of our spear :winkold:

[avillafan.com]

avillafan.com: Ticket prices....you can't win for losing! A 43 pound ticket price is "disgraceful"???? I would say that is a bit strong. It is a big game, a very important game, a game that cost more to attend at B'ham City two years ago than this price. We want to re-sign players, we want to buy strikers, we want to buy other players, we want more security, we want a lollypop person on duty, etc. etc. etc. BUT we want lower prices (forget the fact that our prices are already low). You can't win for losing

The fact is general - Your comparing us to Birmingham? Who charged season tickets holders £5 for the league cup game last night? And Villa are charging double that? Its not me bringing other clubs into it but yourself

Aston Villa is Aston Villa not Birmingham City or any other club!

And your also saying its acceptable to rise prices for home fans because its a 'big game?' so in fact its more about making money than how happy your fans are?

You talk about transfers etc - I would understand if we actually spent some money in the summer. £24 million for Milner, 20k+ season ticket sales etc.

[AVFCChis]

General. I'd just like to say what good value I think my season ticket was this season despite a rise from last season. I'd also say that the individual match ticket prices seem very sensible too. Thanks for all the good work.