General Krulak (No Transfer Questions allowed)

[terrytini]

Hello General

I completed the online Transportation Survey recently and one of the questions was "What would make you come to the Game earlier and/or stay later".

Well I'm a person who has always got there at opening time - but that is MORE difficult now than in previous years as - and I have raised this before - the gte opening time at the Holte has got progressively later and later. It's not a 'one-off', we regularly wait until 1.45 now where not so long ago we could be in by 1.20-1.25.

So it seems odd the club are asking what would make us get there earlier !

As for staying later, a similar comment, namely that I always leave the ground at the latest possible moment, but it's never more than a couple of minutes after the final whistle because the stewards throw us out ! So again, it seems odd the Club would like us to spend more time there but make it impossible to do.

And on a related issue, some months ago I suggested a few benches / bar stools in the upper holte for us oldies who like to get there early. You were going to look into it. Any news ? - I appreciate you are looking into 12,000 other things.

All the best

[shortshadyuk]

General I think its sad that people want to know the sponsor early, or have no sponsor on tops (we would be missing out on income) we should out of respect wait until the end of the season as a mark of respect for the current sponsors who took us on during a dark time and saw us come into the new era at Villa...

I have joined the New York Villans Fan club and it looks like im moving to New york (decent wages) or Lexington KY (hot girls) lol but I love that villa has these fan clubs globally and I can meet fellow Villans whilst travelling around the world and wondered can the Official site have links to some of the supporters clubs globally, i think its a very good way to connect with other Villans and I look forward to drinking pints with the NY villans when im not flying out to see games at Villa park next season (i've applied for the season ticket) :-)

Could the club also look into a Fan Day say in the summer a mini tournament between the Villa fan clubs to play a mini friendly tournament at Villa park before/after a Pre season game, perhaps even meet a few players. I know a heck of a lot of people abroad who want to come to VIlla park and playing on it would be a heck of an experience, if not a once in a lifetime experience and perhaps tip the scale when they think can i afford $xxx.xx for one game remember some people haven;t been to Villa park and its nice to see incentives for everyone to come see a game, you have discounts for students, government employees etc there is a huge global market of fans too :-)

[chrisp65]

general

even a limited edition run of non-advertising shirts would surely hit two spots

it panders to the oldskool that don't want KrispyKremes written across themselves and it gets nationwide press coverage as a novel move and gets every other set of supporters clamouring for their team to follow our lead

and after the first few limited edition boxes role out the sponsor gets the rest of the season

for those that miss the boat, there's the sponsored shirt or classic 80's shirt both available in the shop win win

[Gabby15]

General, can you give an update on the Middlesboro tickets?

[Woody1000]

Hi General, I was just wondering if the club had any plans for another pre-season tour in the U.S.A this summer? Or are any plans like that on hold until we know whether or not we will be playing in the Intertoto cup?

[Genie]

Hi General,

Following on from a thread I just started in the forum Here I was wondering if you had any plans to make Villa merchandise more easily available to those away from VP or the city centre shop?

I wanted a couple of scarfs for family to take to the Middlesboro game but the shops I visited (JJB and Sports World) both said they weren't allowed/licensed to sell them.

Thanks.

[shortshadyuk]

General I did the transportation survey too and I had problems with some fields and had to go previous to come back and fill them out. also some questions could do with a text box so we can add our thoughts/ideas on the issues being looked at like what sort of entertainment might get me to the ground earlier or to stay behind... so many ideas came to mind but the information gathering here is a little too narrow minded, they have alist of things they are looking to implement and it seems like we can not suggest things outside of this which seems like an opportunity wasted

*fingers crossed* i wanna win the prize :-P

[Mattansell]

Agree on the survey - no room for comments.

I wanted to put that I would probably stay around after to hear/see MOTM and MON's post match conference on the screens.

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

1. For all who filled out the survey...thank you. Good luck to each of you for the S-T draw!! I roger your concerns re. no place for written comments. Part of the rationale for the survey was to focus in on some issues that we saw outstanding. We will be coming back for more comments on many issues as we proceed...and everyone will get an opportunity to "fill in the blanks." terrytini....please refresh my memory (what is left of it) re. the seats/stools in upper holte.

2. shortshadyuk: Hate to see you move from Philly but...so be it. Fan Day and mini-tourney...sounds like fun. We had something like that on the Summer tour to US last year...lots of fans had a great time.

3. Crisp65: I know you probably have a good deal of support for your idea but....lets please look at it from the point of a sponsor. They put down money to sponsor a Club...to get their name on the kit. Believe me, they do this to increase exposure of their name and brand. For us to then say to them that we will be selling a small number of shirts w/o the name is not right...nor smart. Let's just see what happens in the next 30 days...who knows what will happen.

4. We are hoping to get 38,000 for M'boro...which would be super after having to move game.

5. No plans yet for this summer.

[ianrobo1]

38k for Boro on a midweek game is indeed fantastic and it shows the policy having flexible pricing is the correct one

[TheSufferingVilla]

2. shortshadyuk: Hate to see you move from Philly but...so be it. Fan Day and mini-tourney...sounds like fun. We had something like that on the Summer tour to US last year...lots of fans had a great time.

Yes it was arranged by Ahin and Simon of the Toronto Villans.

Basically the travelling Villa fans played a team of Columbus supporters and staff. heres a picture from the day I'm the fatty on the right with foot on ball.

The New York Red Bulls hold a summer supporters tournament, where fans get to play off against each other in Giants Stadium, we did it last year and it was brilliant, basically we had 6-aside league and knockout in the afternoon prior to an evening match. Obviously this wouldn't be very viable for Villa due to the lack of an astroturf field as it would be cut to bits before the main game began but they do have another tournament which basically starts late Saturday evening and runs all night under the floodlights. Might work for Villa Park at the beginning of the summer break giving the pitch plenty of time for recovery.

It might also be fun to have a game day at Bodymore Heath, where fan teams can go to play each other and maybe use the facilities, all money raised of course for charity. heres a pic from the Giants stadium supporters day to give you some idea of what it was like.

[chrisp65]

fair enough on the shirts, understandable really

38k for a midweek game against Middleboro, tells you all you need to know about progress made

cheers

[Richard]

General two question please

1. Has Martin Oneill ever been put under any pressure by Randy or anyone at the club to sell players in order to generate funds

2. Is Randy prepared to personally fund player transfers or does he now expect the club to fund them out of the business model

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

1. shortshadyuk. Yes, I remember the good work at Columbus...I wanted to get there early enough to see the game but Randy and I got in late...so had to give up on your time on the Pitch. We did enjoy the Columbus game.

2. MON is NOT under pressure to sell players to generate funds...never.

3. Randy is prepared to do what is necessary to continue to move along with his 5 year plan.

[brummybloke]

377 pages down, just thought i would say thanks to Randy and Co for so far.

about 15 years ago, there was an open day at villa park which culminated in the villa team 'playing' against 200 young villa fans which wa on the full pitch.

the whole day was great and im sure converted several of the locals who supprted liverpool at the time.

are here any plans to have a 'local' week in the summer time? maybe a week of events is far too costly but im sure with the lack of proper footy this summer now we are not in the euro cup, possibly to coincide with the new kit launch?

at the moment most of the youths local to villa park are either man utd or arsenal fans, however these can be converted and are part of the future support of our club.

maybe even some kind of summer 'soccer school' which would keep kids off the streets and also possibly unearth talent which would not get the chance through more conventional methods?

[TheSufferingVilla]

Based on Brummieblokes comment above its easy and fun to have blitz days for kids, bring a couple of dozen youth 5-a-side teams to bodymore and have some of the Villa players referee games. Imagine it General your a young lad playing footie and Big John Carew or Gabby even MON is reffing the game, it would be magic and those kids would be throwing out their ManU or Arsenal jerseys the moment they got home.

[shortshadyuk]

I love the idea that TheSufferingVilla proposed there :-) imagine kids at school OOO ronaldo this, then Meh I nutmegged Gareth Barry and scored past Carew who played in goal... that would be sweet for kids (actually i think the reserves might be a better idea in case a first teamer is injured)

General Krulak here:

1. shortshadyuk. Yes, I remember the good work at Columbus...I wanted to get there early enough to see the game but Randy and I got in late...so had to give up on your time on the Pitch. We did enjoy the Columbus game.

General you should (if the NY villans all back this too and im a new member so i cant speak for everyone) come play for a few minutes in this years NY Villans team im hoping to join it too, but if they dont pick me this year im thinking of going to watch anyway and i have a horde of my fans willing to come watch from Philly, NJ and NY so yeah thats one thing thrown out there for you to consider

[ianrobo1]

General, I was very disappointed tonight not because of the result but the lack of a minutes appluase/silence for the two guys from 57 who died.

[JohnCresswell]

So disappointed you didn't even mention their names.

I too was surprised by the lack of one, and would like to suggest that for the last home game of the season we hold one to honour EVERY Villa fan, player and employee who has passed away that past year.

I was also disappointed with the result and performance, though.

[MagicMarlon]

General,

I purchased a match programme today and noticed that Gary Cahill is still included on our squad list on the back. It's nothing major, but I think it looks a little unprofessional especially considering he has been gone for nearly 2 months now. I understand there are probably a million and one things to do at the club that are more important than this but I just thought I'd let you know incase you were not aware of it.

Cheers.