General Krulak (No Transfer Questions allowed)

[thegiddygambler]

General, well done for opening the Holte suite at half time for lower holte fans.

As I can now have a sit down in there and watch the game on the TV i no longer mind leaving my seat a few mins before half time to get a beer in and beat the queues.

The club should have done it years ago!

Although the result was disappointing I'm stilll very confident of us doing well this season.

[terrytini]

3. With 42,000+ folks at the game, the traffic pattern is never going to be perfect. I have waited 3 hours to get out of Old Trafford...we aren't alone when a full house arrives.

General - we all know more fans can mean delays - the length of time doesn't particularly bother me. It's the fact that there were no police at the junction stopping incoming traffic - this happens occassionally and is more often now. This is preventable, and is dangerous. My question was why no police ? Basically if it's up to the police whether they do traffic management I can complain to them, but if it's the clubs responsibility to request it does the request not always go out ?

Also, any info re the later and later opening times at the Holte end ?

Thank You

[ClaretBert]

I am posting this as i feel it is important for you to understand our frustrations. I have held back as i was a little embarrassed of my actions on saturday but here we go. Whilst in my seat (ST holder) in the lower witton lane (DE Stand) liverpool scored their second goal and the winner obviously. Whilst the disappointment was huge it was made worse by a group of 10 or more liverpool fans behind me in a corporate box jumping up and down and hugging each other whilst rubbing it in the faces of Villa fans sat aound us. Several people including myself became angered by their actions and retaliated verbally. To my shame i did react in a way that i am not proud of but it was an intense situation and trust me when i say that it was they who started the abusive gestures and a plastic carlsberg bottle was thrown in my direction. May i add that at no point did i become threatening, rude yes threatening no.

Plain clothes police interviened as stewards were busy dealing with other incidents i presume and i was given a verbal telling off for my reactions, which i apologised for. Even the copper that came over empathised and acknowledged that i had not been the instigator.

My point is i have paid hard earned money for my season ticket which i am sure is not comparable with the money spent on corporate boxes. However, i do expect to be around fellow Villa supporters and not be abused in my own ground by away fans. May i add that at no time were the liverpool fans confronted about their behaviour. I hope and believe this is not because we have a class system in place at Villa Park? I witnessed many incidents on saturday of potential conflict and i feel it is an issue that needs to be addressed regarding away support before a more serious incident occurs.

Again can i be one of the many to thank you for listening and giving us the opportunity to be heard it does make a difference. Any chance of getting Martin O'Neil on here regularly too so i can tell him where he is going wrong. :winkold:

[rjw63]

The away fan "problem" really only happens against Liverpoop and man Ure.......these are the games extra vigilance is needed , General.

And as the main bar in the Holte End ran out of beer for the second consecutive Saturday I'd hope whoever is in charge can order a few more barrels in future

[Rickmeister]

Thanks for looking into my concern, General...much appreciated.

[stewiek2]

Gotta say the catering/queues was a million times better than last week for the Inter game. Good to see the catring experience extended to the Holte Suite. I said to my mate I was with that I've found the place for my wedding reception!!

Pity about the performance and result but I guess there's a fair few teams expecting better starts to the season as well as ourselves *cough Tottenham cough*

General, a friend told me that a supposed fan on another forum game you some digusting abuse a few days back. As with every club you will get a percentage of complete morons who feel the need to spout vitriol and I hope you didn't take to heart some of his comments. I heard they were bad, but you'll get a few bad eggs in ever crowd sir.

Keep up the great work in answering our queries, good man!

[Salsa Party Animal]

Why not get someone from McDonalds fast food expert in to help to improve the club and identify how to improve our catering staff. I think temporary part time staff is not the answer. Maybe Villa could work with McDoanlds and use their off duty staff to work with Villa for extra money and perhaps add few things like Big Mac to menu if there is demand.

[claret+blue_watch]

Thanks for the prompt reply General

I do think the stewarding does need to be looked at as a matter of upmost importance.

Also are the stewards all hired and trained 'in house' or do we also use outside agencies to provide stewards?

[brommy]

General, after some of the difficult Villa issues you have dealt with recently, you may be glad of this less challenging matter!

My son has had a season ticket for the last 4 seasons but Saturday 25th August will be the first time Villa have had a home match on his actual birthday. He will be 10. My wife and I have been season ticket holders for 15 and 20 years respectively and we are looking forward to his proud event and hopefully 3 points for Villa.

I would like to arrange something special to mark the event for him and I know there are matchday packages available at a cost. The problem with this is that I have just spent £1150 on our season tickets and new kit for the season. Hopefully something like an announcement at half time wouldn't cost much. Can you please point me in the direction of someone who could organise something for us?

[bromsgrove_avfc]

I'm sorry General but you seem to have missed my questions?

Why is the selection of giftware in the new high st shop so very poor? There is very little(in fact nothing) in terms of bed linen/ key chains/ wallets etc etc! I wasted an afternoon taking my son up with the sole reason to treating him to something out of the brand spanking new shop? This sounds like Im saying they didn't have what 'I' wanted, but I actually mean they had virtually NOTHING! Literally all there was the home kit,the retro shirts and the a bin of over priced non Villa Nike footballs!

Why does it not have changing rooms?

Why has it not got a lift for disabled people or parents with pushchairs?

Why can a Newcastle Chairman owned chain of shops sell the new kit at 30% less the official AVFC source and include fitting rooms and actually have stock of other lines(Training tops and polo shirts in various colours) when the official AVFC shop can't?

Why has free shirt printing been taken away from season ticket holders privileges, now making a new higher price shirt even less value for money? I thought Season ticket holders were going to get lots of extras this season after everybody complained about all the budget/discounted ticketing last season yet already one privilege has already been removed?

[ramshackler]

Hi General,

Can i first start off by thanking you for everything you have done in the past year, despite some of the negative criticism, we have moved on alot in terms of a club.

Also i know that you have nothing to do with transfers and i appreciate that. What i would say however is that could you bring up the issue of a director of Football with Randy and MON?

All the top clubs have a DOF whose job it is to listen to MON, the players he wants get his list, then do the negotiating with other clubs with fees and salaries. This would leave MON to do what he does best, coach and train the players, whilst still getting the players he wants.

It is obvious he has struggled with all the work put upon him, and i fear it will lead us to not getting the best out of MON undoubted ability.

I know transfers have nothing to do with you, but if you could even bring the idea up with randy, using man utd, chelsea, arsenal tottenham as examples (who all have a DOF). I really do think it is naive in the extreme nowadays in the financial pressure cooker of modern day sport to have a manager negotiating his deals and being dragged away from the training pitch...

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

1. Brommy: Please call Lee Preece and see if he can do something for your son.

2. Security: There is no question that if the Stewards moved on the problem quickly, this would not have happened. If fans cannot obey the regulations established by the TA and the specific Club, they should be excorted to the nearest exit. Lots of work going on right now to get on top of this...from Richard Fitzgerald on down.

3. Catering. I know it sounds like bringing in McDonalds would be a good idea but the simple fact is that we do know what needs to be done. McDonalds would give us the same solutions we know now....infrastructure is the key.

[flashingqwerty]

Hi General,

So issues for catering have been identified? Thats very good news. May i ask what is going on behind the scenes to resolve issues at the moment and moving forwards? I appreciaate that some of the things mean building work and cant really be done. Still would be nice to know what has been identified and what plans are in place to try and overcome these challenges, and possibly even a timeframe that you think they can be overcome in?

Thanks

[DANNY_DYER]

Hi General,

I have phoned the ticket office this morning as advised to do so on the OS with regards to having a match ticket sent to me for the Fulham game as I cannot attend that match.

This really is to sell my ticket on via seatexchange.com advertised on the OS.

The ticket office has advised me this isn't anything to do with Villa, they won't send me out a match ticket and I would have to give someone my season ticket card which I obviously do not want to do.

Could you please clarify or investigate this as the OS is advertising one thing and the ticket office saying another.

Many Thanks..Keep up the excellent work, much appreciated.

[Ginge]

It needs to be noted that none of these issues are new to any of us just that we all expected that by the start of this new season with new management, new board etc that they would already have been resolved. Maybe the expectations we now have are too high and things have been talked up too much on sites like this?

[TrentVilla]

General Krulak here:

2. Security: There is no question that if the Stewards moved on the problem quickly, this would not have happened. If fans cannot obey the regulations established by the TA and the specific Club, they should be excorted to the nearest exit. Lots of work going on right now to get on top of this...from Richard Fitzgerald on down.

I'm glad to hear that as to be honest it angers me that Villa fans should feel threatened in their own parts of the stadium. I'm still staggered at personally seeing a steward in the Lower North Stand have a nice little chat with two Liverpool fans and just ask them to remove their shirts.

The sooner we see an end to that kind of stewarding the better. However, my dad used to be a steward at VP and he was sat next to me and on seeing this his response was that a lot of the stewards didn't want to get involved with removing fans especially away fans.

I hope that your able to solve this one but I fear that we will see this happen again in the future when the likes of Man U come to town.

[AshVilla]

Hi General id like to say thank you for all your work towards the villa so far id just like to ask one question

When will beer be available in the north stand i got told by a steward you hadnt obtained the licence in time i had to by my dad a bottle of fanta instead of a beer lol

[Trinity-Tom]

Hi General,

A colleague of mine who sits in the same block at Villa Park as me (Upper Trinity, A4) informed me today that a young male adult attempted to enter this stand wearing a Liverpool away top. He was told to turn it inside out by a steward and keep quiet and he would be allowed in. He agreed and gained entry which is an absolute disgrace.

Other than this gripe General, many thanks for your continued efforts in fan communication.

[Spoony]

Hi General,

I was looking at the Cleveland Browns website and I noticed that there was no mention of Aston Villa. There is a section devoted to the Cleveland Browns on the Aston Villa website and I was wondering if a similar section could be created on the Cleveland Browns website, devoted to Aston Villa? I feel it may increase the bond between the Browns and Villa and it may be a good oppertunity for both sets of fans to discover our respective clubs. Villa fans have certainly shown an interest in the Cleveland Browns and I doubt that any of the Villa fans would have paid much attention to American Football before the takeover.

Perhaps a link on the Cleveland Browns website would increase the Brown's fans awareness of Aston Villa and football (or 'soccer)

Thanks,

Liam

[Villa74]

Hi General,

Just a quick question, and a minor irritant compared to some I am reading lately but;

As a season ticket holder I was promised the Claret & Blue magazine and Villa Year book as free incentives. I have yet to receive either (although I was eventually sent tokens to 'collect' them), and on two visits to the Villa Park still no success. Worse still, no one at the club shop seems to have a clue when they will be available!

Can you please find out when they are likely to be available to collect? I'd rather not keep having to go to Villa Village, queue up for ages, only to feel like a 'numpty' (English euphemism for idiot) when told "sorry we don't have any and we don't know when we'll have any. Try next time you're here."!

Thanks General, and I appreciate the time you spend on here trying to help - I hope all the complaints don't drive you away!

Sorry to the repeat the above, but it seems to have been missed amongst all the 'well-done' comments and other questions.

Not that important to some I know, but I would like to know the answer.

Cheers!