General Krulak (No Transfer Questions allowed)

[Dave1380]

General

I don't expect an answer to my post, I just need to get something off my chest.

I am really concerned by the lack of transfer activity at the club. We have sold a load of players (can't say I disagree with the players we have sold except for Davis) without getting in replacements. I am sure MON knows what he is doing, but I really don't see the logic in selling players before a replacement has been tied up, just as Liverpool were doing with us over Carson. It really p**sed me off to see our squad photo the other day, there were nearly as many backroom staff as there were players!!

I am absolutely delighted with everything you and Randy have been doing for our club since you came a year ago, I am just concerned that all that hard work will be thrown away if we do not improve the squad. I hear lots about us having more quality in the squad now than we did a year ago, if we stay as we are I will have to disagree. I am sure you are aware that I am not alone in this thought, the problem is that since you involvement we have much higher expectations. We are a massive club and want to compete at the top of the league.

Like I said, don't really expect a response - just wanted to say what I was thinking.

Keep up the good work, and hopefully MON will put us all out of our misery sooner rather than later!

Dave

[JamieAV]

General,

First of all I would like to thank you and the board and also MON and he's backroom staff for the great work you have done since taking over our great club.

Just a quick question, because of the '5-year plan' roughly when will the re-development be starting on the North stand?

[MYSTERYMAN]

General ,

Seems the banner went down well but in hindsight wish I had got it done in a claret background with blue writing but never the less some good positive feedback . Re the pm I sent you would like to donate one to the North Stand and again more on keeping in line with Villa traditions and feel it would create atmosphere , get the Holte End going as they could see an 80 foot banner ! .

The North stand is now a home end so think putting a banner in there would make them part of what we are trying to create an intimidating fortress for opposing teams and lets get the atmosphere going .

Think we need to look at the acoustics its been mentioned before but definately in the Holte End and the North Stand the positioning of speakers would help tremendously along with everyone getting behind the team .

Just want your support behind it and will get it made and funded .

Cheers MM

[bromsgrove_avfc]

General,

Why have you ignored every question I have posted in this thread?

Edit by JC: I'd suggest thats because The General has already stated he will not comment on the subject of transfers - this is 100% the domain of the manager.

EDIT2: Sorry, misread your previous post. There are a lot of questions being asked, don't take it personally if he doesn't answer yours........

[uncle_junior]

General

Can i ask you for a clarification on this response you gave:

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.

Are you referring:

1. Specifically to the case described here of the Liverpool fan in an executive box goading the home supporters

2. To the issue of away fans in home areas who make a nuisance of themselves

3. To away fans in home areas full stop. By this I am talking about situations people have referred to of stewards having a laugh and joke with Liverpool shirt wearing supporters in Villa seating rather than ejecting them?

Sorry if this is forcing you to reiterate a point, but this is a subject of some concern, and as such, I think this could do with a little clarification, so we all know what is being looked at

[bromsgrove_avfc]

Why dont we make all stewards wear identification numbers so that fans can report specific stewards that are clearly not following the rules they are there to enforce?

Obviously we would get the odd problem of a sour fan that got correctly ejected but if one steward got complaints from a number of people complaining about the same thing then you would know it was true and needed following up.

[one_ian_taylor]

Hi General,

I noticed on here a while ago that there was a request for Craig Gardner to be notified about a forum including many positive things about him. Could I request a similar action for the Mark Delaney retirement thread. The consensus is that he was a great servant to the club and that he'll be missed and I believe that it is fitting that he should be made aware of the high esteem in which fans hold him.

There's a link here:

http://tinyurl.com/23s8sh

Hope that helps, cheers.

[LondonLax]

Hi General,

It is being reported that sports world in walsall town centre are selling knock offs of the villa kits. They dont have a nike swoosh on them but are replicas other than that.

They have the following kits on sale:

home £35.49

black £30.49

white £20.49

training top £18.49 (as modelled by nrc)

It annoys me as a fan when that happens and the club lose out. Is there anything that can be done?

[MYSTERYMAN]

General just got off the phone to the Villa business department seems that they are going to take appropriate action now about away supporters in the corporate areas and start to enforce the rules about colours / celebrations . My arguement is that at some clubs you can't wear jeans into their coroprate areas ( have seen people get turned away at Albion / Man City ) but some of our people just allow away supporters to come in away tops . The rules should be the rules and think we have been too worried about upsetting the box holder in the past but if done correctly shouldn't be an issue . Whenever I have had guests from other clubs they are told the rules straight away thus avoiding any embarrasment .

P.S Don't go to the trousers rule though as smart jeans do look the part .

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

1. If I do not answer your question, it is probably because I have been on a lengthy trip and am trying to get answers to the bigger issues that impact all fans. Bromsgrove_avfc, send me the question again and I will get on it.

2. Ginge: Catering Issues, etc....all known before, expectations heightened, etc. etc. I wish I could agree with your thought process but I can't because it just isn't as clear-cut and simplistic as you make it out to be. Your post would indicate that no improvement has been seen, no actions taken, etc. The facts are different. Much effort has gone into the catering ....improvements, education, etc. Much effort has gone into all aspects of the "gameday environment." Away fans are an example. Yes, we had problems at the Liverpool game but think back to last season....where were the away fans for last season? Where are they this season? Does this just happen overnight? Just a simple re-assignment of seats? We had to increase restroom capacity, alter ticket locations, coordinate across the Club, etc. etc. We have had one Premiership game at Villa Park and that was a sell-out. Yet you believe everything should have been "perfect." SO WOULD I!!! But I am a realist and know that things just don't happen overnight. I can promise you....we are fully aware of the problems and are working hard to make things "right"...give us a few games to get things on track.

3. Director of Football. I know that people think that a DOF is the answer to "signings"...well, it isn't. Most Premiership Clubs do not have a DOF. Can you imagine Sir Alec deciding what players he wants and then turning the deal over to someone else? Do we really think players and agents want to interact with someone who is not running the Squad? Too many people think that MON is a "Lone Ranger" out there doing all of the work. He is not. He has a great deal of help...from Financial experts to Legal experts to Contracting experts. He is NOT out there doing everything and still trying to run the Squad. Right now, MON is going to continue to hold the role that he holds now. EVERYONE understands the frustration that the fans are feeling right now. I have "felt" the frustration on all 4 web sites for the past month or so. I see the same things you see...and can understand how you feel the way you do. But for me, I am trusting in MON. I just have to believe that he sees what is going on and has a good plan.

4. I don't know about the Browns web site. I do know that Villa was on it last year. Let me check and see what the scoop is. As you know, we are a month away from the real opening of the NFL seaon.

5. For those who have not got the Claret and Blue, etc. Please contact Nicky Keye and tell her the issue. The postal situation has caused us real problems.

6. "Getting rid of players before signing new ones." Again, I am not involved in player signings but, it makes no sense to me to keep players that you know you are going to get rid of...just because you are waiting to sign others. If they aren't good enough to make the squad, then why keep them? To have them play?? They didn't play...they sat on the bench.

7. Away fans. We know we had a problem and we are working on a resolution. I wish it were as easy as chucking out everyone who comes in with an opposing team kit. We may get to that point at sometime but...again, things have unintended consequences. Please know that we recognize this issue.

[bromsgrove_avfc]

1. If I do not answer your question, it is probably because I have been on a lengthy trip and am trying to get answers to the bigger issues that impact all fans. Bromsgrove_avfc, send me the question again and I will get on it.

I really do appreciate what your doing on the forum it's amazing, no other team has such easy access to ask a board member such direct questions and I thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do so. Long may it continue.

However I don't really see why my question has any less impact on all fans than other questions asked? Most fans will visit the shop at some point? Also you do seem to be answering the same questions with the same answers over and over again due to people constantly repeating the same questions - transfers/catering/ away fans! Hence my frustration at being ignored.

Reading back I hope you take the above in the context it is meant, it certainly isn't meant as a criticism of yourself more an explanation of my frustration.

I would fully understand if you felt you did not want to answer a question as any information we receive from you is a lot more than have ever had before. I would just appreciate acknowledgement that it hasn't been missed.

Anyway here were my previous 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 I'm 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?

[b6bloke]

General, Although there has been a lot of complaints on this thread over the last two weeks i'm sure the majority are just letting you know that something is not going right and know the amount of work that goes on behind the scene.

I hope this is taken as constructive critisim and not a vendetta. For the first time EVER you have given the fans a right to reply and we do but unfortunatly some will complain about the most smallest of things like the wrong badge on the stewards hi viz :roll:

Stick with us General as the highs are well worth the wait.

Dave

[LancsVillan]

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?

Excellent point - having priced up the shirts I note that to get one from the club costs roughly £20 MORE than getting it with the name and number from JJB. Which regardless of the amounts going to the club is such a difference as to make it far more likely for parents to go to other outlets. Add in the P&P for those not local enough and it gets worse, I believe JJB will order a kit in for free.

Also whilst out at lunch today in Manchester I never saw 1 single Villa shirt in JJB / JD Sports or Sports Direct, plenty of other non-local Prem teams but NO Villa, surely this was / is one of the things our new links with Nike should be addressing from day one?

[Chim_Richalds]

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?

Excellent point - having priced up the shirts I note that to get one from the club costs roughly £20 MORE than getting it with the name and number from JJB. Which regardless of the amounts going to the club is such a difference as to make it far more likely for parents to go to other outlets. Add in the P&P for those not local enough and it gets worse, I believe JJB will order a kit in for free.

Also whilst out at lunch today in Manchester I never saw 1 single Villa shirt in JJB / JD Sports or Sports Direct, plenty of other non-local Prem teams but NO Villa, surely this was / is one of the things our new links with Nike should be addressing from day one?

Same issue in South Wales and West London. Can't find one anywhere. Not wishing to moan but the price difference between our shops and and non-villa outlets is quite large. Combine this with printing costs. It costs £5 for any name and number in JJB yet costs £11.95 in our shop. Just wondering what the reasons are for this large price difference? I appreciate that these may not be as important as other issues so understand if this question gets overlooked.

[JB]

In JJB in Cardiff they have a whole stand dedicated to the new Villa kit, complete with a picture of Barry, Gabby, Young, Maloney, Moore and Mellberg in front of the Bullring on top of it. They haven't got anything like that for Spurs. This would never have happened before and shows that our marketing is now reaching places it never would have before.

Thanks General. Really appreciate what you guys are doing for this club. I'm embarrassed about the moaning from some about trivial issues over which you clearly have no control. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed by the vast majority of Villa fans.

I for one am extremely grateful. You've given me so many (Villa-related!) shiver-down-the-spine moments already - I can't wait to see what's next.

[Ginge]

General please see the other post where i said that first matches always throw up problems that need ironing out, i was not saying at all that there is no improvement just that as fans this season we are all expecting too much. Rome wasnt built in a day as they say.

[TheSufferingVilla]

General, how about arranging a pre-match or half-time sendoff for Mark Delaney, at our next home game? I'm sure all in attendance would be delighted with the opportunity to thank him for his services.

[isgill88]

General, how about arranging a pre-match or half-time sendoff for Mark Delaney, at our next home game? I'm sure all in attendance would be delighted with the opportunity to thank him for his services.

Absolutely, I was going to ask the same thing. I think it was 7 and a half year he was a loyal servant to the club and he deserves a proper thank you from the fans.

[Dave1380]

Thanks for your post General. It is good to know you appreciate my frustration over the lack of signings and that you are just as intrigued as we are.

Keep up the good work and I hope some of the negativity doesn't affect your desire to keep on posting, whatever Mrs. Krulak says!!

[uncle_junior]

7. Away fans. We know we had a problem and we are working on a resolution. I wish it were as easy as chucking out everyone who comes in with an opposing team kit. We may get to that point at sometime but...again, things have unintended consequences. Please know that we recognize this issue.

Sorry, General, but I don't see what is so complicated about this.

It says, quite clearly, on the back of the tickets that the ticket is for the use of home supporters only. It says, above the entrances, that the stands are for home supporters only.

If stewards see away supporters wearing opposition kit, what on earth is complicated about enforcing our own rules and ejecting them?

We manage to do it sporadically (seemingly dependent on the whim of the steward concerned), so why can't we have a consistent policy?

I look forward to hearing your reply.