General Krulak (No Transfer Questions allowed)

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

1. I know that other owners and managers and Directors have talked to the fans about winning...about the European Cup...about competitiveness in the Premiership. I do not question the sincerity of their feelings. I can only speak about Randy, Martin, myself and the other Directors. "dont_do_it_doug" (Dave) hit our goal right on the head!! We are absolutely dedicated to making the European Cup a reality....to make Dave's dream a reality. No BS...no "wings of a prayer"...no excuses or failed commitment!! We want to win the Cup!! We want to bring it back to Villa Park and fill the stands with maniacal fans screaming their heads off. We want to parade the Team through the streets of Birmingham and have the city and surrounding community proud that "their team" won the Cup. Can it happen? Is it really possible. Our answer: the entire community at Villa Park and Bodymoor Heath ABSOLUTELY BELIEVES IT IS!!!! Will it happen overnight? No. Obviously we have a distance to go...but I think we all know what it will take. Randy has demonstrated that if Martin has a player he feels will help us reach our goal, Randy will support him with resources. Some fans questioned whether Randy would spend the money needed...I think we saw the answer to that during the recent transfer window. Bottom Line: We have a vision and we are commited. ALL we ask of the Fans is that they share that commitment. That means coming to the Park and cheering for the Team. That means not getting discouraged by a bad run...but, rather, to reinforce the support. All of us can make this happen.

2. My sense is that after the last home game we will have plenty of time to walk around meeting people.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Thank you General. Others may say it, but when you do I actualy believe it. I guess that's why you're the General.

I do have a question after all - What is the ETA for finishing the training ground? Will there be some kind of official tour, maybe meet some of the players? Apologies if this has already been answered.

[NeilS]

Thank you General. Others may say it, but when you do I actualy believe it. I guess that's why you're the General.

I do have a question after all - What is the ETA for finishing the training ground? Will there be some kind of official tour, maybe meet some of the players? Apologies if this has already been answered.

I read on the OS that the European Cup winning team would open the training ground as part of the 25th Anniversary celebrations, then tours of the new training facilities would follow this. It mentions it as part of the weekend when Villa play Sheffield Utd.

[DEVONVILLANS]

Dear General,

I wonder what your thoughts are on Sky TV ruling the fixture lists? I for one am sick to the back teeth of changes. When you have to travel 400 miles to every home game, this is a nightmare. I have to use all my holidays from work, and my wife has to change her shifts to ensure being at Villa Park on a Sunday, Monday or a Wednesday game or face missing a match which would be a criminal offence in my book! We rarely get home before 2am on an evening kick off.

1. I am bringing 4 fifty seater coaches already booked up, tickets sorted, moneys taken etc for Portsmouth, which will now become a nightmare with people dropping out, wanting refunds etc with the new kick off time.

2. Sheffield Utd, i have 6 fifty seater coaches booked & sorted, and an end of season party planned in Bristol on the way home for the members of our club, all booked up and will now have to be cancelled.

3. Could we be the first football club to say to Sky, Aston Villa kick off at 3pm every Saturday at Villa Park, and 7.45 if its a midweek match, if you want to come and film it fair enough you are welcome, but that's when we will be playing, end of chat!

4. Sounds mad? Well St.Helens Rugby have done it. They told Sky we play Fridays at 8pm. I'm no Rugby fan, i hate the game, but i do take my hat off to them for putting the wishes of their supporters first, before money!

Finally, i am looking forward to a days training in front of the fans at Villa park, and a pre season friendly in the summer to which i am planning to bring a large contingement from Devon, but would like the dates announced asap rather than the last minute as a lot of planning has to go into these trips, do you have any idea of planned dates, or opposition yet?

Alan Perrins South West Supporters Club.

BOF : Added to the General's thread, as he may not see it in the regular section.

[DEVONVILLANS]

General,

without turning this into a villa winge thread..I would like to tell you about a recent experience.

I am a season ticket holder in C3 trininity road together with my 6 year old lad.

I live over 200 miles away and are they for every home game. I am travelling as an away fan to the Blackburn game, and, as its the easter weekend,

I have persuaded my good lady wife together with both my kids to drive up to Birmingham and meet me to make a weekend in Brum.

I thought it would be good to take my wife and daughter together with my son and I to Villa park to the Wigan game on easter monday to show them

what its all about.

I called the ticket office explained what i wanted to do...and they suggested, as C3 is all season tickets, that the best thing would be to surrender my season tickets and to have 4 tickets for the north stand (2 adults and 2 childrens)..so they have charged me for one adult and one child...now C3 tickets are a lot more than North stand tickets but I wasnt offered any refund back my way on my season tickets.

I am sure your aware that most season ticket holders are a little aggrieved at the moment regarding offers given to non season ticket holders...but I though the above just took the biscuit...would love to hear your thoughts.

PS hope you can make it the South West meeting on the 5th April !

Had you of contacted your supporters club chairman instead, i would of given you 2 seats next to yours for this game! You may be better off sometimes going through the supporters club rather than the ticket office, as we may just be able to help you. i could of given you 4 together in the Holte End instead of the dreaded North Stand mate! If you need anything, we are here to help........

[paulanddonya]

Gen.

Here here to Devon Villa - this is the thing I can't understand.

At the very beginning of Sky (and if you believe them that was the beginning of football) 1994 there was hardly any live TV- in fact, really only the FA Cup Final and one "Big Match" per week (and that only came in late 80's). Sky put the televised game at 4pm Sunday and ALL other matches were Sat.3pm - reason - so the 4pm Sunday game didn't effect attendances. Now as i have mentioned before, the "I won't go and see Villa v Liverpool game coz Man U v bolton is on the telly" theory i just cannot understand anyway, but that was the reason.

Then they put a game on the Monday night, then the Tuesday night, and so on and so on up to now when, lets face it, if they put a kick off at 3am on a friday morning, to appease the asian market we wouldn't really be surprised !!!.

Thing is this, Sky TELL football clubs that if they want to be on the TV then we MUST change the times to suit them - why ???. When the clubs only had the Sky deal I could see why we needed them, but now the Sky deal has been dwarfed by the international deal why don't all the clubs get together and do something about it.

You are the product, believe me, I (and I bet 99.9 - if not 100%) of people who have Sky have it for one reason only - Football. If you (and i mean the Premier league) turned round and said "we will go with you but only if you put the matches on at 3pm Saturday - they would soon do it - if they lose you, then they go the same way as ITV Digital.

AND - and this is what I can't understand - all the above reasoning was not to effect attendances, now all UEFA cup teams play on a Sunday, this no longer makes sense.

PLEASE General, look into it, I bet if you did an official poll with the "occasional" supporter, virtually all would say they don't have season tickets due to the varying kick off times.

Sorry for long request !!!

[jones1328]

Have to agree. These changes of dates and kick off times by Sky is getting ridiculous. Look at the Liverpool game last Sunday. Kick off time of 1.35pm! Surely, with us being a Premisership club, which I believe is debt free, surely we dont need all that Tv money??

[LancsVillan]

The General is well aware of our concerns about the moving of fixtures and the impacts it has on individual arrangements and has referred to it on a number of occasions now. Can we please not clutter this thread up with it - thanks

[82colin]

General, are you a bit disappointed/surprised with fans reaction to the performances and the manager?

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

1. The new Training Ground will be opened on Sunday 5, May by members of the '82 Team, MON and the Captain of the 2007 Team. After the opening, there will be an opportunity for fans to tour the facility. There will be information on this event forthcoming in just a short while. Obviously, not all fans will be able to go on day 1...we will have more days.

2. One last comment on the TV. Simply put, we all recognize that the situation is NOT optimum by a long shot. It is the same situation that exists in the US with the NFL (National Football League) and television. At the same time, it makes no sense to cut off our noses to spite our face. Randy does not have unlimited funds. In order to reach the level we want to reach, we need the telly contract to bring in revenue. If Aston Villa were to "stand alone" on this issue, that is exactly what would happen...we would stand alone and all the rest of the Clubs would benefit. Believe me, there is no way we could convince some of the other key Clubs to go along with us....there would be many, many, "haves" and one "have not"....we'd suffer. There is no question that we have a problem...as do other Clubs. We will be talking about this issue at the various meetings over the summer...but I do not have much confidence that we can change things. If we want to reach our vision, we need to make some compromises.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Just a quick recap, incase anyone missed his answer..........

Page 176.....

5. Unfortunately, we do not have much input to what is on the Telly. The FA basically has a contract that allows TV to schedule certain games at certain times. It is very similar to the NFL here in the US. If you are going to have TV contracts, then you are going to have to bend a little.

Page 177

2. I completely understand the frustration with changes in the schedule but, as I said, if we are going to have the Telly, we need to be willing to make some allowances. I continue to come back to my old refrain...when we are winning consistently, when we are fighting for the top of the Premiership, when we have a "ticket" to Europe, selling out Villa Park will not be difficult. We need to get to that point as soon as possible. TV revenue will help us do just that.

And now, Page 179

2. One last comment on the TV. Simply put, we all recognize that the situation is NOT optimum by a long shot. It is the same situation that exists in the US with the NFL (National Football League) and television. At the same time, it makes no sense to cut off our noses to spite our face. Randy does not have unlimited funds. In order to reach the level we want to reach, we need the telly contract to bring in revenue. If Aston Villa were to "stand alone" on this issue, that is exactly what would happen...we would stand alone and all the rest of the Clubs would benefit. Believe me, there is no way we could convince some of the other key Clubs to go along with us....there would be many, many, "haves" and one "have not"....we'd suffer. There is no question that we have a problem...as do other Clubs. We will be talking about this issue at the various meetings over the summer...but I do not have much confidence that we can change things. If we want to reach our vision, we need to make some compromises.

So, everyone happy now?

[paulanddonya]

Two quickies gen

Obviously you've said about the US tour, any news on UK friendlies ???, hope we have some, from the fans point of view it is a great way to get to grounds you haven't been before, I've done 62 of the 92 with the Villa - the only chance of the other 30 is cup and friendlies.

2nd - a few times this season Villa have put away fans on the side and crammed the Witton with Villa - can we do it long term - would hopefully bring the atmosphere back a bit. As an away fan, I used to love Everton, big end , behind the goal, good noise - then Everton switched the away fans to the side and it was never the same for us - but that is good for them, same would apply for us. can we do it long term ??

[kiddysi]

The General indicated a while ago that the away supporters would not be behind the goal next season.

[kiddysi]

General Krulak here:

1. Parking issue is as mentioned. People where constantly taking advantage of coming in early and just leaving their cars in the parking lot. Another perfect example of how the "few" can screw it up for the "many."

2. rsvdaz. I would ask you to do something for me. Please call Nicky Keye at Villa Park and relate your issue to her. She is overall in charge of ticketing and is an absolutely brilliant lady. She will listen to your issue and come up with a solution. She is constantly seeking ways to enhance customer satisfaction and will not back away from your complaint.

General, I agree entirely that a few always ruin it for the majority, but couldn't the parking issue for some of these people be resolved by a system on match days where in order to park in the acr park during the day, you have to surrender your season ticket at the barrier. When you leave you get it back. No point in early parking if you can't get in to the game!

[Denis_B]

General Krulak here:

1. The new Training Ground will be opened on Sunday 5, May by members of the '82 Team, MON and the Captain of the 2007 Team. After the opening, there will be an opportunity for fans to tour the facility. There will be information on this event forthcoming in just a short while. Obviously, not all fans will be able to go on day 1...we will have more days.

Not wishing to be pedantic General but there is no Sunday 5th May (well not in 2007)..... SAT 5th May we have a game at VP with 5.15 kick off that has ruined my birthday celebrations. So is it possible that Sunday 6th May I can have a belated birthday treat visiting the training ground?

[c-krulak]

Sunday May 6 is correcty...just making sure that you were reading the post Denis.

[ianrobo1]

General, I was out on my bike ride today and went past VP and went to the aston Hall.

there is no doubt from up there we have a unique place for a football groud and good to see the Holte ub work progressing well, any chance of a photo update on the site ?

Also I had a thought regarding reserv games.

I first went to a villa game which was a reserve one on a saturday afternoon at VP. In those days we played at home whilst the first team were away.

onw whilst I know we can not get back to them days, I feel a 7PM KO precludes a lot of parents with kids coming to reserve games, due to school times and getting hoem from work in time.

would it be possible to look into the possibility of Saturday reserve games at either VP or Bescot and using these as familty fun games. Amy is now 10 months in a years or so time I would love to take her down but not for a 7PM KO ?

[paulanddonya]

General

Sorry if this has been asked before, and sorry if it has now changed.

Around 3 yrs ago my kids brought me a tour around Villa Park for fathers day, which was very interesting (although as I did Barcelona a few weeks before that it unfortunately put a few things in perspective !!!).

On the tour I was amazed to find out that NO trophies were displayed anywhere around Villa Park (apart from one which was something meaningless - the under 10 cup or something which was kept in the main reception !!!). I couldn't believe that we didn't display them, considering we have the fourth biggest collection in England !!!.

Is there plans to change this (unless to already has !!)

[juantastic9]

Dear General,

Just an idea on the ticket front for next season; Student concessions. I know Bolton offer it and I think it's a good idea as you could attract many students from Aston and Birmingham universities to watch a match? Not to mention those villa fans away at uni who would see the cheaper option as good idea? Kind Regards.

[the-savman]

Hi General

just a quickie! I travel over from Ireland for certain games, whatever I can manage. When booking thru AVFC website, although the process is quite nifty, there is no option to search for "best available" seats like when booking on Ticketmaster.co.uk

It would be cool if the online ticketing system could automatically offer me the best seats available instead of me having to try and calculate myself and going thru stand by stand, block by block etc.

Just a thought...thanks for everything!