General Krulak (No Transfer Questions allowed)

[Ginge]

To be fair our ticket prices were never that much under the old regime either though and the football this season hasnt really been much better than last year, next year is the time to see what changes.

[paulanddonya]

General

Just a quick message for you to hear about the magnificent attitude of the Ticket sales staff, and would like you to pass on my regards to all involved.

To cut a very long story short. I wanted to take my wife and child to the Sheff Utd game (taking advantage of the £5 for season ticket holders offer). Unfort. my wifes motehr passed away two weeks ago and you could prob. imagine, the football was the last thing on my mind. On Wed at aroudn 5pm I rang to book the tickets only to be told the offer had finished.

I sent the ticket office a brief email, regardiing what had happened and asked for their help.

On Friday morning my wife received a phonecall from the office, not only offering to sort us out, but she said the way the lady spoke to her was so caring and understanding that it brought her to tears.

This is a credit to the football club, thank everybody involved and you should be proud of your staff !!!

Cheers

Paul

[KOONER]

Hi General,

First point - As you are aware Ian Taylor was a real fans favouritre at Villa Park, like the 82 team do you have any plans to acknowledge his services to our club. Would be great if he was offered a role to work with our youth team lads or even working with the local community as a Villa ambassador.

Second point - Do you plan to do anything with Villa over in Vancouver at any point? we have many ex-pats who still follow the Villa!

[timharding]

Hi General,

First point - As you are aware Ian Taylor was a real fans favouritre at Villa Park, like the 82 team do you have any plans to acknowledge his services to our club. Would be great if he was offered a role to work with our youth team lads or even working with the local community as a Villa ambassador.

Second point - Do you plan to do anything with Villa over in Vancouver at any point? we have many ex-pats who still follow the Villa!

How about a PR role? Not a corporate PR position but he could concentrate on Liason with the fans. some sort of position with the SCG perhaps? I don't know, but I'd love to see him involved.

[nycVILLA]

General,

I had a conversation with a Browns Fan from PA, he loves "Soccer", so it took me less that a min to start raving about the Mighty Lions, I asked if Villa was his "Premier League" team, being a Browns fan... he had no idea of the link between Browns and Villa... I'm assuming there is a corporate link, but thats only an assumption. Is there a legal tie between the two clubs, or is it a case of same guy owns two companies?

Are season ticket holders of the Browns going to get a Discounted Tickets at VP or the flip?

So do WE have a link, and if so are you holding off telling the Browns fans? (Or did this guy just miss it?)

Cheers!

[timharding]

General,

I had a conversation with a Browns Fan from PA, he loves "Soccer", so it took me less that a min to start raving about the Mighty Lions, I asked if Villa was his "Premier League" team, being a Browns fan... he had no idea of the link between Browns and Villa... I'm assuming there is a corporate link, but thats only an assumption. Is there a legal tie between the two clubs, or is it a case of same guy owns two companies?

Are season ticket holders of the Browns going to get a Discounted Tickets at VP or the flip?

So do WE have a link, and if so are you holding off telling the Browns fans? (Or did this guy just miss it?)

Cheers!

I actually looked on the Browns site the other day and I couldn't find anything about the Villa. But then its quite possible that they wouldn't give a shit. Its different for us cos we became part of something special, but to a Browns fan we're just another business that Mr Lerner happens to own.

[jasthevillan]

Hi General, looking forward to next wWeekend immensely and I have now received my tickets for Friday and Sunday.

Just come for an update on the HRH invite, have we received a response yet? Does he want to bring his grandmother with him? Will Prince Philip come with him and say something completely unappropriate? Oh, the possibilities.

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

1. Thank you for the comments re. ticket office. Nicky Keye and her team are absolutely magnificent. Every game day I go to the office and sell tickets with her team...believe me, they CARE about the fans.

2. Ian Taylor will have his day at Villa Park and, like Ron, will be invited back forever.

3. Not sure if we can do anything in Vancouver right now.

4. The Browns/Villa link is there...and there are Browns' fans who wear the Villa shirt. There is no "official" link between the two Clubs other than Randy...who owns both...A pretty official link in its own right.

5. Really nice win today. We just need to keep it up.

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

1. This coming weekend will be a blast...lots of things to do and see for Villa Fans. I hope all get a chance to participate in some facet of the weekend.

2. Draft Day in the NFL yesterday...Cleveland got two great players. Things are looking up on both sides of the ocean.

[stato]

General,

Don't know if you can answer this or not, but will cameras be allowed at the new training ground tour, or do the club want to keep things "under wraps"?

[dont_do_it_doug.]

General - Congratulations on getting Quinn. Gutsy move.

[brommy]

General,

Don't know if you can answer this or not, but will cameras be allowed at the new training ground tour, or do the club want to keep things "under wraps"?

The General has previously stated that cameras will be welcome, take as many pictures as you like. 8)

[thetrees]

General,

If this has been covered, please ignore it.

Like everyone I appreciate the recognition that is being given to Ron Saunders and the European Cup squad, but 2007 is not only the 25th Anniversary of the win in Rotterdam, it is also the 50th anniversary of our last FA Cup win.

Now the FA Cup may appear insignificant alongside the European Cup, but to many Villa fans of a certain generation it remains the only major trophy that we have not seen our club win, and is therefore most significant.

The captain of the FA Cup winning side was Johnny Dixon, a fine servant to the Villa, and a personal hero of mine, despite the fact that I am too young to have seen him play. The opening of the BBC video 'The History of Aston Villa' includes an interview where this great man shows the depth of feeling he has for our club.

Johnny is in his mid-eighties now, and I have no idea of his state of health but, given yours and Mr Lerner's deep interest in the club's history, it would be wonderful if he could be brought back, along with his surviving team mates, to receive similar recognition as the EC squad.

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

1. Absolutely cameras are allowed!! Should be some great opportunites. If you see me, let's get one together.

2. The Browns draft should say tell you all a great deal about Randy. The move to get Brady Quinn was a gutsy one...but could pay off in spades. Randy is a gamer.

3. Understand re. the FA Cup winners...and we will do something there. First we wanted to honour the '82 Squad.

[Rocafella]

Dear General

I just want to point out that the official website of Aston Villa is totally wack. I see teams like Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Utd all have official .com addresses and they are not part of this premium TV deal.

Will we go on to get an astonvilla.com or something else worth visiting because what we have now is.... well..... not worth visiting.

[mosch1one]

Last weekend I went to watch Sporting Lisbon. I noticed a couple of interesting things. Firstly they had a massive poster right on the side of their stadium which basically had an electronic tally of tickets that were sold for that game. I think the poster translated to something like, "Are you going to stay outside or join every one else inside and get behind Sporting?"

Also when I tried to buy refreshments inside the stadium, you had to buy a card/voucher (of various amounts) and then use that to pay for your items. This would firstly stop people handling as much cash as there would be only a select few people who sell the cards, also people may leave money on the cards and therefore the club may make some extra profit as away fans will obviously throw them after the game.

[LJRM050389]

Looking foward to your first 'derby' next year General? Do you have anything to compare it with in the States?

[OutByEaster?]

Looking foward to your first 'derby' next year General? Do you have anything to compare it with in the States?

General, I hope you've still got your tin hat. These derbies are lively affairs. You'll love it !

[trekka]

Last weekend I went to watch Sporting Lisbon. I noticed a couple of interesting things. Firstly they had a massive poster right on the side of their stadium which basically had an electronic tally of tickets that were sold for that game. I think the poster translated to something like, "Are you going to stay outside or join every one else inside and get behind Sporting?"

Now that is a fantastic idea.

General, how possible would it be to look at that idea above and have our own version (technology warranting of course), possibly outside of Villa Village or if thinking further afield maybe in the City Centre where we would get a much bigger audience? If I remember correctly, in the past on Broad Street there used to be a large radio display showing what is playing/played on the (now rebranded) Choice FM. Surely if that is possible we could somehow implement a similar system?

Also, I trust you and Randy have heard a few stories already on our new local derbies next season and it's true when they say absolutely anything is possible!!

[leviramsey]

Looking foward to your first 'derby' next year General? Do you have anything to compare it with in the States?

Not quite a derby (the teams involved are separated by 250 or so miles), but I'm sure the General has experience with the Army-Navy Game, one of the marquee events on the college gridiron calendar despite neither program being high-level. (GO NAVY! BEAT ARMY!)

More geographically similar, though at an even lower level would be the Phillips Exeter v. Phillips Andover rivalry, which has been played every year since 1878.

Outside of the really major markets (New York, Chicago, LA, San Francisco/Oakland, and Baltimore/Washington), derbies don't really exist in North American professional sports.