R.I.C.O. Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 General Great to see that awful "Hi Ho Aston Villa" song has been well and truly exorcised by the entertainments staff at VP, but please, please please put a word in the stadium announcer's ear to stop using the phrase "Super Saturday" and shouting "MAKE SOME NOISE" as it sounds awfully trite and cheesy. This ain't a rave. P.S. Fantastic result yesterday, hope you enjoyed it. Thanks Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomb2233 Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 General, Me and my Dad decided to take advantage of the bus you have started to provide from Bromsgrove to Aston for the game against Reading on saturday. I'm sad to say we probably won't be again. After ringing customer service on saturday morning, they assured us it was ok to pay the driver at Bromsrove Train Station as it was to late to pre-book. Unfortunately the bus never turned up and in the end we didn't arrive at the ground until 5 minutes before the game started. Could you look into why this happened? Many Thanks, thomb2233 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddy Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 After ringing customer service on saturday morning, they assured us it was ok to pay the driver at Bromsrove Train Station as it was to late to pre-book. Unfortunately the bus never turned up and in the end we didn't arrive at the ground until 5 minutes before the game started. Could you look into why this happened? Think I might have the answer to this, I'm pretty sure the bus from Bromsgrove goes from the bus station (the bit by Iceland) and not the train station. Fairly sure I'm right on that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-krulak Posted January 14, 2008 Author Share Posted January 14, 2008 General Krulak here: 1. Paddy, I think you are correct. 2. We obviously cannot talk about sponsor...other than to say we are working on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomb2233 Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 General Krulak here: 1. Paddy, I think you are correct. 2. We obviously cannot talk about sponsor...other than to say we are working on it. You may need to let the guys on the phones to state the bus station then, as we rang twice and were both told the train station. A car of other fans also turned up at the train station and waited for it there to no avail. thomb2233 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irish1 Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 Sorry for the double post I just thought my post might have got lost among all the comments on attendance. Hi General, Irish Villa fan here, I was just wondering if you knew if the Marketing people at Villa park had any plans to target the Irish market, Sunderland have exploited it very well since Keane took over facilitating Irish fans in making trips to Home games. I remember going to see Villa play in a tourament in Dublin during O'Leary's time in charge they played leeds in it, it was during pre-season, a game or two in Ireland during pre-season is a great way of attracting new fans. Its just I know that Villa have a huge following in Ireland and with the Celtic Tiger the Irish have a lot of disposable income and I know Sunderland are targeting that and gets plane and bus loads over each weekend, with cheap Ryanair flight's into Birmingham Villa Park is very accessible and I think with a bit of intuitive marketing Villa could build a strong fan base here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coleshill_Villa24 Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 6. paulanddonya: Interesting that you saw an advert for MBNA...because there is no MBNA anymore. MBNA was sold to Bank of America a couple of years ago and the term MBNA ceased to exist. I was the Chairman and CEO of MBNA Euorpe Bank, Ltd located in Chester...and Randy eventually became Chairman of the organization. When MBNA was sold, I believe the Europe Bank kept the name for a year or so. Are you sure about this? (Incidentally, obv you will be). My credit card bills have MBNA on them, as does my credit card which I received about 6 weeks ago. Interestingly, there was a guy asking people to apply for MBNA credit cards behind the trinity road before the game on Saturday (against Reading) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deamie Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 General Krulak here: 1. How far we have come!!!!!!!! Comment after comment re. the attendance. As I have said more than once, the attendance was 38,000+! We will try to correct the "beeb" and others who got it wrong but what is to worry...the end results of attendance in the Premiership will have it right. We cannot always get the media to "get it right"...we give them the numbers but they transpose or mistype a number. This too shall pass. General as i type this post even our own Official Site still has our attendance down wrong at 32k. So before we try and correct the beeb and others can we please make sure we get it right on our Official Site first as it would not look good correcting others when we cant get it right ourselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiggainmanila Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 Dear general, this is my first post on here also like a few other newbies recently. Just wanted to say firstly thanks so much for all that you, Randy and the new regime have done for our club and for us, the long suffering supporters- it is just amazing the different levels of improvements that are going on all over the place. Great times are ahead and I think everyone involved with the club can sense we are on the verge of something special. I have a couple of things I'd like to point out and ask you, there's a lot to read BUt your reponse only needs to be a brief one as I'm making just 2 points! I hope you and some of the posters out there agree with me... 1. I like to think of us being 'joint 4th' at the moment and think now is the time that we really push on and aim to finish in that 4th spot despite this being ahead of our 5 year plan! While there are people out there talking of the top 4 being miles ahead of the rest, I don't see it as the top 4 anymore- yes Man U and arsenal of course are different class, Chelsea will finish 3rd easily (though not many teams will take 4 points off them this season!) but we, along with everton, liverpool and man city are all fighting for that 4th spot. Currently we're not far from it even with our small squad, lack of a right back and most importantly a 20 goals a season striker. Imagine where we could be now if we had say Defoe or Martins, Hutton or Bosingwa? in our squad from the start of the season. BUT we have a chance to get these players in now. I have read some posters on here not really rating Defoe but I honestly thnk he'd be amazing for us and hope MON is doing all he can to convince Defoe to join us- not that he or any other player nowadays should need much convincing...with our state of the art training facility, amazing support and fan base, the best leadership team in the prem ( so pleased we are not owned by the Glazers, Abramovich or the Gillette jokers etc) and with our promising young squad and excellent youth set up what's not to be impressed by and that's without even mentioning the man himself -MON and current quality players such as Carew, Young, Aggy, Laursen, Barry-they all seem like really nice blokes too!! I honestly think if we add the quality of Defoe and Doyle or Martins, all very gettable also, convince Hutton he did the right thing in turning down Spurs and join claret and blue army instead and last of all do something that I'm not sure the Villa have ever done before- the final piece of the jigsaw for this season- make a bid for a player and not take no for an answer ie Bentley to totally sort out our right side with hutton behind him, is there anyone out there who thinks with those 4 additions we could not finish 4th? I could not see us finishing anywhere other than 4th with those additions to our squad! AND THEY ARE ALL GETTABLE! I of course agree with other posters that IF we do make 4th, we'll need to strengthen a LOT more in the summer but we can but dream and I'm dreaming of 4th. Our home games are ALL very winnable and after our Chelsea performance, I look at where we've got to go and think we can cause a few upsets and pick up some points along the way. Apologies for the long first post but this has been building up in me for a while now and I needed to get this off my chest! And so general, I'd like to know if you share this view that we are say 4 quality players away from a 4th spot finish this season and will the club be going for the sort of quality us fans are crying out for? I certainly hope so, please keep up the great work and please stay at our club with MON at the helm of course for a very long time, we will be eternally grateful! 2. The last thing I wanted to say and it's a quickie, is about our new possible sponsor- will you please consider 'Aston Martin', not just because it's a quality company and one of the classiest cars to drive, but the badge would look quality on our Nike shirt and of course its name combines part of our beloved name, along with the name of our beloved manager! I can't think of a better sponsor and maybe the players and your good self would get complementary motors to drive around in too! Well anyway that's it from me, look forward to hearing back from you when you get the time on these 2 main points, Long live the Villa and a happy new year to all, Cheers Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-krulak Posted January 14, 2008 Author Share Posted January 14, 2008 General Krulak here: 1. Away fans, When we start renovation of stadium, we will have a look at "splitting" idea. 2. Parade at end of season. We will focus on that when we get closer to end...and when we have a better idea of where we will be. 3. We are working the Irish market. Lots of things to come. Hang in there. 4. Attendence...this issue has been raised with Richard Fitzgerald and Phil Mepham...they will sort it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-savman Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 3. We are working the Irish market. Lots of things to come. Hang in there. . Great to hear General, I've been trying to get over for next week's Liverpool game but it seems the whole damn travel system is working against me, I can't get anything to work logistically no matter what I try. If there was ever to be any kind of "package deal" on offer from AVFC I'd take it in a heartbeat. It's not so much the cost, but more the serious hassle of trying to join up all the dots with planes, trains and beds etc. Guess I'll be watching Setanta next monday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MYSTERYMAN Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 I understand that the results / recommendations are due shortly on the ground development , will the information be posted on the Villa website ? Also another word of thanks who took notice of what people were saying about old player participation at the games there must be at least five players now every game who take the time to talk with people . John Deehan was with us for over an hour . Nice to see Kenny Swain on Saturday who admittedly was working for England but made himself available to talk about Villa and his time with Clough . From what he said about Young would be very surprised if he isn't in the England squad when its announced . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hev Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 General Krulak here: 1. Away fans, When we start renovation of stadium, we will have a look at "splitting" idea. 2. Parade at end of season. We will focus on that when we get closer to end...and when we have a better idea of where we will be. 3. We are working the Irish market. Lots of things to come. Hang in there. 4. Attendence...this issue has been raised with Richard Fitzgerald and Phil Mepham...they will sort it. What is the "splitting" idea - sorry if I'm being stupid but I can't remember what it is - but hopefully it doesn't involve moving us out of Witton Upper P3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villarevolution2007 Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 read back in the forum... it is what Everton did to the away fans where they split them up so that they are less likely to make more noise than the home fans- yet i dont see how our fans can be matched for noise this season both home and away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas_Mike Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 General How about putting a couple of strategically placed web-cams around Villa Park and Bodymore Heath. Daft as it seems I would take a look to see the comings and goings. Match days for sure but also just to see the place. It would also be an opportunity to show the Villa brand around the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom_Wren Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 That Mike, is not a bad idea at all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted January 14, 2008 Moderator Share Posted January 14, 2008 A great idea Mike. General, when are you over here next? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V111AFC Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 General, not a question, but a point. I would just like to say a little about Randy. When he first came to the club, the man showed class and dignity by staying out of the media spotlight. Now whilst this frustrated many of us in that we wanted to hear what he had to say, it gave the man a status and he showed the fans that Martin would be in charge and have the backing of the board in a way that would not interfere. In the light of all the recent press about the americans (gillet and Hicks) talkin to other managers behind the current ones back, and the embarrasing antics with the newcastle chairman, it really shows how lucky we are to have a man with such class and respect. Lets face it, we are talking about a university educated bloke, with a personal fortune that is scary to even comprehend. A man who has acheived so much in his life time, you would think that such an individual would have an ego that gets in the way of the running of the club. And yet he remains in the shadows overseeing things in such a classy manor. I dont know whether you could pass this message on but the guy is just a hero! We are so lucky to have him! UpTheVilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hughser Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 3. We are working the Irish market. Lots of things to come. Hang in there. . Great to hear General, I've been trying to get over for next week's Liverpool game but it seems the whole damn travel system is working against me, I can't get anything to work logistically no matter what I try. If there was ever to be any kind of "package deal" on offer from AVFC I'd take it in a heartbeat. It's not so much the cost, but more the serious hassle of trying to join up all the dots with planes, trains and beds etc. Guess I'll be watching Setanta next monday Great news that Villa are looking at the Irish market. I too would agree that package deals from AVFC for fans travelling from Ireland would be something i'd be delighted to see and avail of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brommy Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 In the early days of Randy's bid and subsequent acquisition I did some light research (mostly on the internet, so it must be true :winkold: ) on the man that was buying our beloved club. There are many aspects to Randy that most people are unaware of due to his modesty. Randy is an extremely rare breed - an astute businessman with a conscience. He doesn't brag about the good causes he supports. I get the impression he doesn't take his wealth for granted and likes to make life better for others. As a Villa fan I can honestly say I feel enriched by his ownership of our football club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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