General Krulak (No Transfer Questions allowed)

[b6bloke]

5. I am glad people enjoy the Holte Pub. I hate to say it but we had some problems of our own at the Holte Pub....broken beer bottles, beer thrown on the walls, damage that was inexcusable. Not sure what happened but it was not good.

Disgraceful!! :evil:

[colples]

General, That's really bad news re the Holte Pub.I was there from 12.15 to just after the final whistle and I did not see any problems.That really pisses me off.It's a great location to watch away games. Why can't people just enjoy themselves.

[Pelle]

Hi, general

Don't write here that often as I've decided to only write here when I've something new to say. First of all sorry to hear about the Holte. Such a shame. Guess it kind of makes it all feel unappreciated. Think I can speak for almost every Villa-supporter that we do appreciate all that. But you know that. To the issue, charity.

Sorry if this has been brought up before, in that case I've missed it. I was in Tunisia the other week, A nice country if you leave out the president and some other minor stuffs. But a poor country. The people there lives for football and every kid wants to play football but they can't afford it. They don't even have any footballs to play with. We already had some friends when we went down there and they asked for a football before we went down. Unfortunately they asked for that after we'd left Birmingham after the Manure game so we couldn't get them a Villa-football. Unfortunately the only one we found back in Sweden was a Real Madrid-football. But they were happy. They got a ball to play with. Delighted.

This is the situation in many african countries and villages, and in other parts of the world. My suggestion is that we, Aston Villa could chose one village in one of those areas to sponsor with balls and shirts and maybe some other stuff. I think it wouldn't be too expensive for the club, it's good pr, we'll get new fans and maybe there is a gem or two to find this way. And most of all, we would make a bunch of kids less fortunate than ourselves very, very happy.

I know that Arsenal do this stuff for a club somewhere in southern Africa. They give them footballs and kits to play in and this club plays in the worlds biggest youth tournament Gothia Cup played here in Gothenburg and they always play in Arsenal shirts. I think it would be good pr for Villa if a youth team playing in that cup played with Villa-shirts. I see it as a win-win-situation with low costs. Of course I don't know the costs for this and might be wrong, but it's an honest suggestion.

Thanks for your time.

Regards

Pelle

[MYSTERYMAN]

Hi General

I hope your back is better.

A question about the new website, which I think is a definite improvement on the old one. On the results page it's possible to go back and see results from 2001/02 onwards, are there plans to eventually put the rest of the seasons results on there?

I appreciate that this would take some time and obviously it wouldn't be possible to do match reports and game by game tables for the majority of seasons but it would be great to be able to check results from any season, especially for overseas fans who may not have access to the books on Villa available here.

General just to confirm I went down to the Holte Pub today spoke with Alison Plant and all the staff don't know who is telling you there was damage but they have blown it out of proportion . It was beer stains and thats it , they were even holding some kind of conference on the upstairs floor. Alison will confirm there was no damage caused .

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

1. Good post about providing to some of the countries around the world. As you know, that is the direction we are heading. Unfortunately, we are still trying to get our act totally together here in the UK. There is much to be done in our own community...and in the UK. We are moving in the right direction but it will take time and some good organizing.

2. An assessment of the damage to the Holte Pub shows beer and coke splashed against the walls, broken glass, beer and coke on the floor, holes in ceiling. It is NOT minor damage and will require re-painting of some areas and, obviously, repairs to the ceiling. I cannot imagine what got into our own fans to treat that historic building in such a manner. Someone has used the term "over-exhuberance" on another thread....I don't buy that. Can you imagine a friend coming into your home and punching holes in your ceiling, pouring beer and coke on your floor and walls and breaking glass on your floors??? Unsat.

[holte_k1]

General, i don't want to make excuses because i wasn't there and didn't see what happened but over here we have a different culture.

To be honest drinks on the floor and broken bottles is pretty much the norm and i can imagine the scenes when the winner went in because iv'e seen it other times at other places. Holes in the ceiling is unnacceptable and maybe people threw things when we scored which is not acceptable.

I do think though that most of this sort of damage would not have been intentional. Invites are the way to keep going if this isn't the sort of thing you wan't regularly.

[OutByEaster?]

General,

It was me that used the phrase "over exuberance", I would have expected there to have possibly been some spills and even breakages, by the sounds of things it would appear that the damage was substantially worse than that.

Given that the damge includes holes in the ceilings, I'm appalled that people would do that and would hope that there is some way that the culprits can be identified, either by the club or by other fans that were present.

[MWARLEY2]

General Krulak here:

.

2. An assessment of the damage to the Holte Pub shows beer and coke splashed against the walls, broken glass, beer and coke on the floor, holes in ceiling. It is NOT minor damage and will require re-painting of some areas and, obviously, repairs to the ceiling. I cannot imagine what got into our own fans to treat that historic building in such a manner. Someone has used the term "over-exhuberance" on another thread....I don't buy that. Can you imagine a friend coming into your home and punching holes in your ceiling, pouring beer and coke on your floor and walls and breaking glass on your floors??? Unsat.

General. The holes in the ceiling are unacceptable . However to think that there wouldn't be broken bottles, glasses etc in a pub where EVERY person is there to watch the football, and everyone a Villa fan at that is just a pipe dream on derby day . The derby brings passion and stupidness in equal measure . People you see at games who normally wouldn't say boo to a goose go crazy .When you have a city rivalry that literally splits it and friends straight down the middle this is the result. I can't think that I would EVER throw beer or coke in a friends house but The Holte is a pub . A beautifully restored pub but still a pub at the end of the day. With the way our culture is and has been for hundreds of years a pub is a place to go to drink alcohol and let your let your hair down. Broken glass and damage is unfortunately a side effect of that letting off of steam.

As has been echoed before , maybe making the Holte guests only when the derby comes around is the best way to go.

[Stugriffin]

Agree with what others have written. Holes in ceilings is unacceptable but you can't complain that there is beer or coke spilt in a pub, it happens.

Anyway, what has been the biggest surprise you have found with Villa or English football seeing as it's been about a year that you have been involved with us now?

[bully]

There were lots of plastic glasses used as well as the glass ones. Most of the spillages were probably because of the bloody plastic glasses.

[Fuse]

I was in the Holte Pub on Sunday and left not long before closing. I did not see any wanton vandalism and if I did I am sure I would have been one of many to have put a stop to it. In which room were the holes in the ceiling? I was in the room where the bar is situated and don't recall anyone doing anything which could have damaged the ceiling. If you cannot understand that beer is going to be spilled when a goal goes in then you really haven't watched a football match in a pub before and maybe, as you quite rightly point out, this historic building should be used as a museum and not a pub?.

I do not condone holes in the ceiling as that is inexcusable, I hope the culprits are proud of themselves.

[WickerMan]

General

If it makes you feel any better, I knocked my drink over jumping around in my living room after Gabby scored, and ended up with beer all over the carpet.

[Fuse]

Just ready the latest report from Mysteryman and just goes to show how much notice I must have been taking as apparently the ceiling was damaged in the room I was in!! :oops: Nevertheless I do stand by the point that as rightly pointed out the Holte Pub is an historic venue that Randy has spent a fortune on and that perhaps it should be used as a museum and not a pub for showing a Villa v Small Heath game - where fans with beer in plastic glasses in hand and last minute winners are going to end up with beer being spilled

[PaulMcgrathsknees]

Hello General!

First of all, Sunday must've been a day of mixed emotions. Top result for Villa but a bit of a frustrating day across the Atlantic. Had the Browns on an unnamed internet stream and the first few drives they looked outstanding. Must admit didn't watch the second half so was a bit surprised when I saw the Steelers had managed to "steel" it.

To my question:

When booking tickets on-line on the os you can get to the block, but this then defaults to "best available seat". This isn't always ideal as when taking the younger generation their view is then obscured due to their height. Would it be possible to update this procedure to allow specific seats to be booked? i.e the front row of a block? I appreciate the system is probably in place to prevent single seats being left around the ground. Maybe selecting a row rather than just a block could be more workable?

As an adult I'd say the best available would be at the rear middle Holte for example. With the anklebiters, front row near the corner flag or goal would be ideal as they get to see their heroes up close and don't spend the match looking at the back of someones head?

Probably been asked before, sorry if it has.

Nuff respect for the number of sites that has a General thread! :notworthy:

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

1. Recognize the issue of a "Pub"....and recognize the historic perspective of Pub-goers. I only state the obvious...if we had to repair the ceiling and paint a wall, it may have been a wee bit over the top. 'Nuff said....we won and that is what really counts.

2. Good question on booking tickets on line...please contact Nicky Keye and give her your comments. Nicky is savvy and will sort it out if it can be sorted.

[mjmooney]

post moved to new "law and Order" thread. This thread is for Q&A as repeatedly stated. Blandy

[El-Reacho]

Hey there General,

Well done on all your efforts with the club to date. The mere fact that you may be reading this shows how refreshingly progressive the club has become in the last year. I'll apologise in advance if these points have been raised elsewhere in the last 300 pages.......

Firstly several Premiership clubs have representation on the FA Council (Man Utd and Chelsea certainly do), as far as I'm aware we currently don't. The likes of Graham Taylor and maybe even Doug Ellis have been involved previously from a Villa perspective. Is this something that the new board have plans to become involved with, or is this something we would have to be invited to take part in. The reason I ask is that David Dein was very much involved when Sven Goran Eriksson was appointed England manager, and Arsene Wenger was never approached (much to Arsenal's benefit). I know this opens a whole can of worms regarding conflicts of interest, but with the media beginning to jump on the 'MON for England' bandwagon it would be comforting if we had someone representing us in there.

Also one of the other threads this week quotes previous players telling stories about MON's pschyology and manner in the changing room. Have you ever seen him in action on match day? Maybe you're bound by the official 'stays in changing room' act?

All the best,

Des.

[Richard]

1. Recognize the issue of a "Pub"....and recognize the historic perspective of Pub-goers. I only state the obvious...if we had to repair the ceiling and paint a wall, it may have been a wee bit over the top. 'Nuff said....we won and that is what really counts.

Wise words there general. Points made and taken on both sides I guess?

[The_Lions_Roar]

General, while driving past the ground last night, i noticed the lettering on the side of the witton lane stand which looks great. I then looked the holte end and saw nothing. This is our main stand and is famous, therefore i was wondering if the club had any plans to put a badge on the holte and 'holte end' lettering like the ones on the witton lane stand. Many thanks.

[paulanddonya]

Gen

Over here a few high profile people have brought up the viability of having a "foreign quota" placed on clubs.

It was first mentioned by Alex fergusun, then Steve Coppell and today Steven gerrard, all stating that for the health of the English game, a limit of the amount of foreign players on the field at one time should be brought in.

The only people against it so far is (not very surprisingly, Arsene Wenger and Rafael Benitez - as they wouldn't even to field a five a side team if it came in !!).

Where do we stand on it, has MON /Randy made any representation - as from my angle, we could do very nicely thank you very much out of this !!! (or has MON already thought it may come in - thus buying predominantly English players)

On the above post - personally I don't want neon signing on the Holte - the ground is tradiotional and I believe the charector to the whole ground needs to be brought back. I say "bring back the mosaics !!".

Also gen on the same note (and it may not be possible) but when we do redevelop the stadium and surrounds - could the AV floodlights be reconstructed somewhere - not for use but just for tradition - take a look at the "photos" section on the official site (which is excellent by the way ) to see why they mean so much to Villa fans - it was our twin towers.