General Krulak (No Transfer Questions allowed)

[OnMyHead]

Isn't it funny that people like to have an opinion without any idea of the really facts. The Mails story is a mixture of 2-3 other stories from this week relating to ticket prices. They just want to inflame the tension between the clubs. The General has done nothing wrong and should continue defending the fans he represents.

I don't understand... Just read the Sports Argus article in full and can't see how it's biased. The paper recorded what the General said on this site, and also records what the General said to explain his comment. Meanwhile, when the General originally made his comment here, nearly ALL posters understood exactly what he meant (that Gold is a pig in mud... who disagrees??)

Moreover, a few posters even said things like 'hope the papers pick this one up'. Another poster even now uses the historial 'pig in mud' quote as his sign-off.

So, given he said it, why is the Mail biased in its coverage? Especially, for those of you who have actually gone to buy it, its splash that day was this headline: 'Blues thugs are jailed' re the five convictions of fans for violence in Cardiff.

I agree that the Mail can get it wrong, and am happy to slag it when it does.

But how did it get the 'pig in mud' story wrong?

BOF : The general's 'pig' quote was to do with Gold's assertion that the rest of the Premiership should follow the noses' lead on reducing ticket prices despite them continuing to rip people off in this game. It was not specifically about the price being £55 or £45, just that it was a rip off. So it was taken out of context to suit the papers agenda of inflaming (or creating) the situation.

Can we discuss this in a more appropriate thread, thanks

[jones1328]

Hey General, hope you haven't deserted us for good.

I was just wondering if you could get us some info. on Moustapha Salifou - I havent heard anything about him since he joined us on deadline day. Is he actually training with the rest of the squad at the moment?

[rjw63]

General......I have spoken before about the beer in Ramseys....and today for the 3rd time in 4 games they ran out of cider mere minutes after half time.

In fact they ran out of bitter and Guinness too. Whoever orders the beer is making a huge **** up. Its just not good enough.

Last time I complained you said it would be sorted, but as yet it isnt!!!!

[Fuse]

General,

I made a change from my normal routine today and after the game went into the Holte Suite for a pint. I am a season ticket holder and whilst I applaud the club for what they are doing, what is the point of charging 50p to go in after game? I am not talking about charging, but more that because people had to queue it might put people off. Let any season ticket holder who wants to, go in. Sod the 50p lark. Next thing is can you ask the staff in there to turn the sound up on the commentary and also turn the light off above the big screen. Lots of people left because of this.

Now I have stopped whinging some compliments.

I went in the Holte Hotel afterwards and I have to say that it is incredible what Randy has done with the place. A lot of the old faces were in there and a great place to be after a win. Beer good (when they had the pumps on) and it is something to be proud of.

Can we keep it open later after the game when we beat West Ham?

[holte_k1]

General did you enjoy todays game? A real hard fought hard working performance that im sure you appreciated.

[1968]

General ,

In view of the fact that yet again Birmingham City football club are attempting to rip off Villa fans and there own would it not be in everyones interest to refuse any away allocation for both the away and home fixtures ?

I apply this logic also in the interest of safety and the fact that the two matches wouldnt have to be on sundays and at crappy kick off times !

Up the villa !

[b6bloke]

General ,

In view of the fact that yet again Birmingham City football club are attempting to rip off Villa fans and there own would it not be in everyones interest to refuse any away allocation for both the away and home fixtures ?

I apply this logic also in the interest of safety and the fact that the two matches wouldnt have to be on sundays and at crappy kick off times !

Up the villa !

The general has already covered this a few pages back

[fastzombies]

hi general

you have mine and i'm sure many other peoples backing if you were to go and kick

david sullivans & golds boil ridden flabby porn paid for arses all around the shite hole of a stadium.

kindest regards

[sidcow]

Hi General

I know you have taken some stick in the news but at least you have forced them into lowering their prices.

After coming out and saying they refuse to lower from £55 they have tried to save face now by saying you were wrong and offering £45 to show you up.

So thanks for taking one for the troops General!

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

1. Sorry I have been off site...my father wasn't feeling good and I had to fly out to San Diego to see him. All is well now.

2. I finally saw the newspaper article. It was somewhat unfortunate because I did speak with a savvy reporter and hoped that there would be a bit more perspective placed around my comments. The pig in the mud analogy is one that is used quite often in the US. It is not used in reference to an individual but, rather, to a circumstance or issue. The issue here was ticket prices and "who was doing what for their fans." My point was simply that AVFC was not going to get into a duel over ticket prices. We were going to do what was "right" for our fans and the away fans....we were not going to crawl around in the mud over the issue. My sense was that the real losers in this was the City of Birmingham and the fans who cheer for two of the teams in that City. We hear about London...about Manchester...about Liverpool...and about the Clubs in those Cities. They have Derbys and it is great competion. We have two teams in the Premiership in Birmingham...and I hate to see our rivalry brought down by the price of a ticket. We are not going to play in the ticket game...we are going to charge a fair price and let it stand. As an aside, Richard did approach BCFC and attempt to work out a ticket price but was told that they would fix the price at a level they wanted. At that point in time, we had to make a decision and we did...and the price will be a fair one.

[thecraft]

I don't know if I just missed them, but after fortunately getting a lift up to VP on Sunday, I hadn't managed to get to a cashpoint before I got to the ground. I was sure there had been one by the shop, but if there was I couldn't find it and the people on the door said there were none. Normally I get the train up from New St and get cash there. Is there a technical/legal reason why there are no cashpoints anywhere and if not, is it possible to get some? Luckily I had enough to get a drink and a programme for my kid, but it seemed a bit odd to not have anyway to get a bit of extra cash out.

[Ginge]

They removed the one from the shop as i discovered last year when i turned up at the ground with no cash on me. I had to walk all the way to a dodgy little shop past the Aston social to get cash. The girl in the shop told me it kept breaking down and wasnt practical to have on site??

[Demitri_C]

lets see if the mail print your side of the story gen. i bet they dont as it wont sell them papers :?

[villab0y]

General,

I arrived at the game on sunday a little, hungover shall we say.

I was all prepared to buy a burger to settle my stomach from one of the outside stalls, but thought instead I would try out the new catering we hear so much about.

Only to find there was no hot food available till halftime?

For a sunday afternoon KO i'd have thought a fair few people would be wanting something on arrival..

Was this a one off or is this normal?

Also, I wanted to say how much better the outside of VP is looking, the shop, signs everything.

Cheers

VB

[OnMyHead]

lets see if the mail print your side of the story gen. i bet they dont as it wont sell them papers :?

In fairness, the Mail did use the General's perspective... this is an exact copy that appeared in print, with the relevant paragraphs highlighted:

VILLA'S American director General Charles Krulak has sensationally compared Blues chairman David Gold to a 'pig in mud' over recent comments he made about ticket pricing.

And the General has inflamed Villa fans by incorrectly stating that tickets for the November derby game are £55 when, in fact, they are £45 – the same as when the clubs last met in the Premiership.

Today the former US Marine played down his comments, which were made on a popular fans’ website, and stressed they were not a personal insult aimed at Gold.

He explained: "I standby what I said. The pig quote is an old Yankee expression. The pig is the situation not the person and was not aimed at David Gold.

"To get into a public debate over something like this is not the thing to do because nobody wins.

"I didn't want to get into an argument about ticket prices and cause tension in the build up to our big match in November."

When told the actual price of tickets for the game were £45 he said: "If that's so then great. Let them bring it down another £10 and it will be even better."

The General made his controversial remarks on www.villatalk.com after he was asked what he thought of Gold’s recent comments regarding ticket prices.

Gold had said that all clubs should reduce prices by 20 per cent, claiming that short-changed supporters were being "kept in the dark and fed manure".

"The greed in football means we preclude the people who made the game great – the fans," said Gold.

His comments came after Blues slashed prices to £15 for last Saturday's game with Bolton and more than 28,000 fans – their highest gate of the season – saw them win 1-0.

Gold added: "You could argue those extra fans won us the game.

"Clubs keep getting money and giving it to agents and players but fans get nothing. That's obscene.

"If the whole league agrees to reduce prices by a certain percentage – say 20 per cent for two or three years – no-one would be worse off."

General Krulak, a non-executive director at Aston Villa, is a regular message-board visitor on various fans’ websites.

On villatalk.com one fan asked him: "I trust yourself or Richard [FitzGerald, Villa's chief executive] will be showing the said article to him [Gold] and asking how charging Villa supporters £55 fits in with his current 'vision'."

The General replies: "Not sure what Mr Gold is after other than publicity. When you get down in the mud and wrestle with a pig, the pig loves it – and you get muddy. I think I will just let him continue to talk."

In another comment, about Blues supposedly charging £55 for the home game against Villa in November, the General says: "I just got off the phone with Richard re. the ticket prices for away fans for the BFC fixture.

"Bottom line: He tried to convince BFC that it was in the best interest of all fans to have fair ticket pricing for everyone.

"At the end of the day BFC have decided to go with £55. We will take an allocation and hope that we fill that allocation with fans who will ‘physically’ support the team at the game." Despite the General’s claim, Blues have today confirmed that tickets for the game will cost £45.

Meanwhile, the Birmingham Mail has been inundated with letters and phone calls from furious Villa fans worried that the tickets might cost £55.

One said: "I wish to bring to your attention the other side of the self-proclaimed ‘peoples champion’ David Gold.

"At the same time that he is slating the profiteering of Premier Football chairmen he is upping the cost for Aston Villa fans attending the local derby at Birmingham City to £55."

A spokesman for Birmingham City today said: "David Gold is entitled to his opinion, as is General Krulak.

"Although the General should get his facts right about tickets prices before criticising our chairman."

[OutByEaster?]

That reads;

-Opening of story.

-Generals quotes.

-Mr Gold is the peoples champion.

-The General is a nasty man and has been lying to his fans.

-Last word as ever to a spokesman from small heath.

Hardly the Generals side of the story is it?

I for one would thank you General for trying to stick up for the everyday football fan in opposition to those who are lying to their own fans across the city. I think the paper should be ashamed of itself.

[mjmooney]

General,

You may remember way back when you first joined this board that I warned you that the UK press were very likely to be rather underhand and mischievous, and distort your words to bad effect.

Here's the proof. But don't let them gag you. We know what you meant, and you have nothing to apologise for.

The changes that have been effected since Randy took over have been fantastic, and we really appreciate it. Keep up the good work!

Semper Fidelis!

Mike

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

1. Cannot for the life of me understand about the hot food. I will check and see what happened. When did you attempt to purchase the food...ie. how long before the game?

2. Cash Point...a good point!! Let me work on it.

3. This won't be the last time I am in the media over something posted on the sites. I can either a) stop posting or be very guarded in my answers. I do not believe either will be good for Villa or the Fans.

[thecraft]

General Krulak here:

2. Cash Point...a good point!! Let me work on it.

3. This won't be the last time I am in the media over something posted on the sites. I can either a) stop posting or be very guarded in my answers. I do not believe either will be good for Villa or the Fans.

2 - cheers

3 - Even more so, when you are blatantly right :notworthy:

[OnMyHead]

General Krulak here:

This won't be the last time I am in the media over something posted on the sites. I can either a) stop posting or be very guarded in my answers. I do not believe either will be good for Villa or the Fans.

Good for you! You are a rare example of direct comms from the very top.