General Krulak (No Transfer Questions allowed)

[thetrees]

A question ;

Are you aware of our member "the Trees" and his ongoing mission to track the flights of Mr Lerner and yourself across the globe ?

Thanks OBE, I am awaiting the knock on the door :oops:

In my defence, I only posted what had happened without going into specifics of active destinations etc., so hopefully I can be forgiven.

General, thank you for your participation on this forum. I find it difficult to believe that we have the opportunity to communicate with someone who rubs shoulders with Presidents. If I may make three points.

1. Please consider the stadium developments carefully. You may not be aware that Simon Inglis, a Villa fan, is also the foremost authority on the history and development of UK football stadia. He published a book entitled 'Football Grounds of Britain' and would serve as an excellent consultant.

I for one would like to see the corners filled in, but not necessarily in the soulless (my opinion) athletics stadium type that has been favoured at Old Trafford and the Emirates. Ibrox stadium in Glasgow is worth a look.

2.Last season I was a corporate guest for a game in the North Stand. The service and standard of the food served was appalling, in my opinion unacceptable. I did not complain as I did not wish to embarrass my host, but the hospitality side of the business, if not already addressed, could do with looking at. Last season's experience made me shelve plans to host my own clients at a later fixture.

3. This one for everyone else. Please forget the Witton Lane/Doug Ellis Stand thing. The last regime lacked respect for the supporters and (most of) the employees of the club. Respect is the bye word of the new regime. Respect for the history of the club, respect for the supporters, respect for the players and management, and respect for everyone, including their predecessors. Don't knock it. I for one find it incredibly refreshing.

[ianrobo1]

Making the entire stadium non smoking would be a great idea in my opinion, the concourses are awful at half time.

Yeah i second that. Its great that the stands are no smoking but when you go downstairs at half time you hit a wall of smoke!

£500 for what is basically 4 season tickets, that isnt going to happen, double it and that is realistic.

the point is about encouraging families, this is the way to do it, I would rather see the staduim full and if this means incentives so be it ...

Get the kids in young and they will sty with us forever.

As to the comments about the shop, totally agree on the location points, but credit where it is due IMHO I believe it is superior to the shop at VP and is a quality shop in the wrong location.

Iguess the problem is a cost thing and whilst the bullring would be nice that is probably too expensive, however due to the bull ring opportunites lie in New Street and High street and the footfall there would make a shop viable.

[The_Lions_Roar]

Making the entire stadium non smoking would be a great idea in my opinion, the concourses are awful at half time.

Yeah i second that. Its great that the stands are no smoking but when you go downstairs at half time you hit a wall of smoke!

£500 for what is basically 4 season tickets, that isnt going to happen, double it and that is realistic.

the point is about encouraging families, this is the way to do it, I would rather see the staduim full and if this means incentives so be it ...

Get the kids in young and they will sty with us forever.

As to the comments about the shop, totally agree on the location points, but credit where it is due IMHO I believe it is superior to the shop at VP and is a quality shop in the wrong location.

Iguess the problem is a cost thing and whilst the bullring would be nice that is probably too expensive, however due to the bull ring opportunites lie in New Street and High street and the footfall there would make a shop viable.

I definitely think promotions on season tickets for families is something that should be looked at. But i was thinking maybe we should offer Buy one adults season ticket and get a kids free. I think this would be very popular. The main aim like you say is to get people into the ground. We can then get secondary sales and possibly a fan for life.

[sam100]

500 pound would be way too cheap, and the buy 1 season ticket and get 1 free for the child i wouldn't go along with either, fair enough if its buy a season ticket, and you can get 5 games free for your child, or something on the lines of that.. but the club need to make money, and i would prefer to see people come to the games because the tickets are a decent price and because the football being played at villa park makes them want to come to see villa, not because the tickets are being given away.

or if there was going to be a very cheap offer like the ones above it would be only viable for 1 section of villa park, the lower north stand say

[ianrobo1]

500 pound would be way too cheap, and the buy 1 season ticket and get 1 free for the child i wouldn't go along with either, fair enough if its buy a season ticket, and you can get 5 games free for your child, or something on the lines of that.. but the club need to make money, and i would prefer to see people come to the games because the tickets are a decent price and because the football being played at villa park makes them want to come to see villa, not because the tickets are being given away.

or if there was going to be a very cheap offer like the ones above it would be only viable for 1 section of villa park, the lower north stand say

any offer is limited because people would take advantage but it shows intent and inventive pricing is something even under the old regime we were good at.

Basically as a football club if you want full houses in the days of mass TV coverage, strange KO times and the like, you have to offer something else other than normal prices and special deals at teh start of the season to guarntee higher season tickets means we can increase our overall average.

Lerner has already intimated that ground expansion could be on the cards and to do this we need more season ticket holders, now this could happen with a successful team but our support has always been a bit flaky and we need to get 25k or higher in ST sales, that has to be the target.

through whichever methods neccesary

[jasthevillan]

Making the entire stadium non smoking would be a great idea in my opinion, the concourses are awful at half time.

Yeah i second that. Its great that the stands are no smoking but when you go downstairs at half time you hit a wall of smoke!

£500 for what is basically 4 season tickets, that isnt going to happen, double it and that is realistic.

the point is about encouraging families, this is the way to do it, I would rather see the staduim full and if this means incentives so be it ...

Get the kids in young and they will sty with us forever.

As to the comments about the shop, totally agree on the location points, but credit where it is due IMHO I believe it is superior to the shop at VP and is a quality shop in the wrong location.

Iguess the problem is a cost thing and whilst the bullring would be nice that is probably too expensive, however due to the bull ring opportunites lie in New Street and High street and the footfall there would make a shop viable.

The rent will be more but I think for perception would be invaluable and if you think of when you go shopping, I for one always go to a shop I hadn't planned to go to and normally make a purchase that I hadn't budgeted for. The longer opening hours in the Bull Ring are also attractive because at present I struggle to get to the shop in the week.

[The_Lions_Roar]

500 pound would be way too cheap, and the buy 1 season ticket and get 1 free for the child i wouldn't go along with either, fair enough if its buy a season ticket, and you can get 5 games free for your child, or something on the lines of that.. but the club need to make money, and i would prefer to see people come to the games because the tickets are a decent price and because the football being played at villa park makes them want to come to see villa, not because the tickets are being given away.

or if there was going to be a very cheap offer like the ones above it would be only viable for 1 section of villa park, the lower north stand say

A full stadium is better than having empty seats. It creates a good atmosphere and creates secondary sales. Obviousl we put a limit on how many we put on offer but whats the point in having 6/7 thousand empty seats? The club would make up the money 'lost' through merchandise and the possibility of gaining a fan for life, i put it like that because if its empty for the game then why not have someone use it? Sports marketing is very different to all other marketing, you cant sell a ticket for a game that has gone. So its better to have a full ground than to have empty seats. Another idea is to have buy one season ticket and get a childs half season ticket for the first half of the season. Then there is the possibility that they will want to get anohter half season ticket for the 2nd half. Therefore the club makes up the money. Say we offer this to the first 10,000 applicants that want an adults ticket and get a childs ticket for the first half of the season free. That means 20,000 plus the other adult season ticket holders, plus general sale tickets. Which equals a full house.

[sam100]

people would just scam it though, like say for instance i wanted to, instead of paying 300 pound for a season ticket, i could ask an older mate to get a season ticket and get me 1 free.. it would be hard to pull off something genuine like that.. but i get the feeling when january comes, say we get 3 or 4 signings, 1 or 2 being 'big names' that will bring in a fair few thousand rather than giving away tickets.

there is many teams that sell out the same or more than us, maybe they do these sort of deals i don't know, but as we are the only team in the midlands i don't think we should have too, if we get some some household names, who arm chair supporters see week in week out playing well on MOTD etc, i'm sure plenty would start coming down.

We've made big strides in the last few months but on the pitch we haven't yet tbh, we've got a quality addition in petrov but wasn't hardly a house hold name due to the league he was in.. and our performances have improved a lot, but lately we aren't a million miles away from previous seasons, in time the attendances will take care of themselves IMO

[Rocafella]

Mr. Charles Krulak; welcome to the best Villa-forum on this planet.

I would like to share the greatest appreciation from the Scandinavian Villa-fans, although

praise goes without saying.

I have some questions though:

1) Will you bring American players to raise interest in the states?

2) Will Mr. Lerner conduct the transfer wheeling and dealing?

3) Will you change our current sponsorship before the deal is up for renewing?

To be honest I think we all believe it's rather poor for a club of our stature and

it sends out the wrong ethical message in my opinion. I mean; a gambling-company?

I'm not the person who cares a whole lot about that, but I reckong certain people do.

4) We currently field Hummel, a pretty lousy piece of garment from Denmark. Wouldn't

it be nice to wear Nike on the pitch? Even Puma or Adidas.... send the message to Lerner

that the fans would like to change both sponsorship and kit-supplier.

5) Do you know about any positions Martin O'Neill would like to strengthen?

6) Have you heard of David Beckham? I am pretty positive he would make us sell some

more kits down at Villa Park!

Again; support is too small a word given to the new regime. Cheers from Norway.

[jasthevillan]

Just one idea would it be possible to do a AVTV channel - screening reserve games and youth games + interviews and stuff - just like Man U. and Chelsea does? It could be distributed via satellite, i.e. Astra or hot bird and could be sold as an “add on†package for i.e. £5 a month or via web. I mean we have the interviews already on villa World and I guess that most reserve games are taped anyway? Just an idea - I think a lot of fans around the world would like to have an opportunity to follow the club even closer.

Thats a fantastic idea. I'd love to catch our reserve games on the box.

That would be a great idea, however i know the reserves dont get great attendances and i dont know how they compare to man u who show the reserve games on tv. But im guessing we might get just one man and his dog turning up if we were ot show the games. I think the TV channel is a great idea but leave out the reserve games until we get more sucessful.

The TV channel is surely something that the marketing mogul on the board, Bob Kain would advocate!

However I think that with regard to media it is most important that we strike a deal with BRMB to have our away games back on the radio, it was bad when the Villan radio station was on Sky but now it is terrible because WM always have Wolves or Walsall on! This is especially important for the elderly. As a pioneering Brooklyn Dodgers manager in the 20s thought itis imperative that we get maximum exposure to increase interest and would be complementary not a substitute to attendance.

Regarding Bob Kain that I would like to ask the General is if he has been to a game as yet and has he began to implement many of the things that he would think is necessary to get us to where we want to be?

With regards the position of CEO, are we waiting for a particular person or are we looking to conduct interviews for the position.

[ianrobo1]

Scams can always be secured against but attendances are likely to go down, success or not, we have reached a tipping point in terms of prices, KO times and the like.

the new TV deal I believe gives the clubs an extra £10m a year, our revenue from attendances last year I think was about £10m, so in fact with the new TV deal you have an ideal opportunity to offer different deals.

so for example for Man Ure, Chelsea, Liverpool etc. every seat is priced at full prices and maybe the family ST don't cover these but you can purchase tickets especially, against teh big names filling the staduim is no problem. However the PL is turning out to be full of meduim teams like Wigan, Reading, Fulham etc. (at least 10 of them) and for these something has to be done to fill the ground.

with the new board I have no doubt marketing will be a number one target (Why else is Bob Kain involved) so I expect us to becaome the most inventive club in this area in the country.

[jasthevillan]

Mr. Charles Krulak; welcome to the best Villa-forum on this planet.

I would like to share the greatest appreciation from the Scandinavian Villa-fans, although

praise goes without saying.

I have some questions though:

1) Will you bring American players to raise interest in the states?

2) Will Mr. Lerner conduct the transfer wheeling and dealing?

3) Will you change our current sponsorship before the deal is up for renewing?

To be honest I think we all believe it's rather poor for a club of our stature and

it sends out the wrong ethical message in my opinion. I mean; a gambling-company?

I'm not the person who cares a whole lot about that, but I reckong certain people do.

4) We currently field Hummel, a pretty lousy piece of garment from Denmark. Wouldn't

it be nice to wear Nike on the pitch? Even Puma or Adidas.... send the message to Lerner

that the fans would like to change both sponsorship and kit-supplier.

5) Do you know about any positions Martin O'Neill would like to strengthen?

6) Have you heard of David Beckham? I am pretty positive he would make us sell some

more kits down at Villa Park!

Again; support is too small a word given to the new regime. Cheers from Norway.

Think I can answer some of theses from a forum I attended with MO'N last Thursday.

1. If MO'N wanted them.

2. MO'N will choose the players.

3. I think so.

4. Whoever will make us the most money.

5. I think up front is clearly a position as well as right wing.

6. MO'N was asked about this and he said he would only sign a player if he felt they could do it for him on the pitch, not his job to sell shirts, his job is to win games. Thats the impression he gave anyway. Personally I think Beckham would be ok for us in a 3 man central midfield.

[Witton_Lane]

He is the Manager and there is not a single Director who believes he knows more than Martin.

Now THAT makes a refreshing change, that's for sure. If Martin feels confused at any time then feel free to point him in the direction of our life president, I'm sure he could recommend a few players - you'll have to ask though as he doesn't like to interfere in team affairs, honest :roll:

Hope your father is in fine health General, thanks for everything again.

Semper Fidelio 8)

[Gizmo]

RE the smoking thing... It's banned next year anyway. There'll be no smoking in the concourse whether anybody likes it or not.

(The spoilsports)

[Jez]

Some of these are easy Rocafella

1) Will you bring American players to raise interest in the states?

Upto MON whether there are any players he wants.

4) We currently field Hummel, a pretty lousy piece of garment from Denmark. Wouldn't

it be nice to wear Nike on the pitch? Even Puma or Adidas.... send the message to Lerner

that the fans would like to change both sponsorship and kit-supplier.

Nike would look trendy in the playground but in my experience are just as badly made as Hummel. I have never had a problem with Hummel kit whilst i have with a Nike kit. Love people moaning about Hummel just beacause it is apparently not well made, when its really about how 'trendy' it is :roll:

[Rocafella]

Nike would look trendy in the playground but in my experience are just as badly made as Hummel. I have never had a problem with Hummel kit whilst i have with a Nike kit. Love people moaning about Hummel just beacause it is apparently not well made, when its really about how 'trendy' it is

Quite true.

But I must admit I think the Nike-kits nowadays are much prettier than the Hummel ones. Boring and uninspiring springs to mind.

Adidas or Puma would also be nice. I would want us to have claret kits with blue collar and otherwise details on an all claret strip.

[bromsgrove_avfc]

Nike would look trendy in the playground but in my experience are just as badly made as Hummel.

Don't understand the problem with wanting Nike because it's 'trendy'?

Your right that's exactly the reason I want it. I want fashionable football attire to wear out and I want my kid to be fashionable and cool, whats wrong with that?

If you want to go global I'm afraid people are going to have to get use to 'trendy'. Your not going to change the populations fashionable thinking because you feel x brand makes well made kits and are more traditional.

This kind of thinking comes from the fans that really are stuck in the past.(Not personally aimed at you Jez for the record) I want Villa to become a modern global club that win's things now not just decades ago and with that comes new shirt designs(so long as the colours stay claret and blue) and 'trendy' brandnames so be it. You don't have to stagnate in the past to move forwards.

Yes I want a 'New' Villa for the next generation of fans.

[JohnCresswell]

Personally, a certain Villa fan at Puma designing the kits would be my choice

I would want us to have claret kits with blue collar and otherwise details on an all claret strip.

Wrong, wrong wrong. Villa are claret body, blue sleeves, this is how it should stay. The previous regime got criticised for changing it, and with the new owners saying that they understand Villa's traditions, and respect them, the blue sleeves will hopefully stay. I'm not saying an all claret shirt won't look nice, but most importantly, it is not an Aston Villa shirt.

[Jez]

Yeah but surely it should be the best quality kit?

One person might find it trendy others might not, best kit for the club in looks and quality. Not whether it looks good in the playground. Thats all am saying.

Anyway am sure the general and marketing team have plans

[Rocafella]

Personally, a certain Villa fan at Puma designing the kits would be my choice

I would want us to have claret kits with blue collar and otherwise details on an all claret strip.

Wrong, wrong wrong. Villa are claret body, blue sleeves, this is how it should stay. The previous regime got criticised for changing it, and with the new owners saying that they understand Villa's traditions, and respect them, the blue sleeves will hopefully stay. I'm not saying an all claret shirt won't look nice, but most importantly, it is not an Aston Villa shirt.

You're probably right, and I admit it would change certain values. I am however looking for some change, at least the round badge/logo would improve the kit. If Nike got the job I am certain they would make something we would all be cherishing

And Jez, I think most kit-makers would do a decent job. I wouldn't say Nike are known for making shirt of lesser quality. I often prefer Nike myself when buying training-equipment as it is ultra-comfortable, looks very nice and feels nice. Sure the price is a bit stiffer compared to certain alternatives, but that new breathing tech is very comfy. When running it never bothers you at all, and is absorbs sweat and moist just like that.