General Krulak (No Transfer Questions allowed)

[Dave1380]

General

After the cracking result against Blues I think it is worth me giving my experience of the after match incidents. Before I continue, I think it important to point out that I am not suggesting the "trouble" was only caused by Blues fans, I am convinced their were a number of Villa fans who, in my opinion, let the club down by their actions.

However, in all of the local media coverage I have not read anywhere about the way in which the police dealt with the situation, which in my opinion was diabolical!!

Firstly, as has been mentioned, we were locked in the ground for an hour after kick-off. During this time we were pelted with coins and rocks at numerous intervals. My cousin was indeed hit by a coin which caused a nasty cut above his eye. Had he been hit an inch lower I am sure he'd be one eyed now!! The missiles were thrown at intervals of approximately 2 minutes but not once did the police move the Villa crowd back towards the stadium, nor did it appear that they prevented the missiles from being thrown.

Once the Police had cleared the Blues fans from outside the gates, we were released and as we walked down the street it became apparent that there were no police in sight!! It was obvious to all that we were Villa fans as we were the only fans on the road! When we got the the McDonalds at the bottom of the street we were ambushed by Blues fans and the fighting and ambushes got worse from there!!

In all of the media coverage those fans involved, both from Blues and Villa, have been condemned and rightly so. But no where have I seen an account of the policing, which in my opinion was inadequate and quite frankly left us exposed. Why did the police lock us in? In previous years they have allowed us to leave ASAP and formed a barrier down the street. Why didn't they block the road off so that the Blues fans were not allowed near the gate we exited, giving us free access to leave the stadium.

I fully appreciate that the police have a tough job and that the fans involved in instigating the fighting deserve to be arrested and banned etc but we needed better protection which we didn't get. We also deserve an explanation about their handling of our exit from the ground.

[Woody1000]

General, I don't know if this has been asked before but I was wondering if the club was going to have any sort of official send-off for Mark Delaney?

I for one feel very sorry for the guy who had his career cut short wearing the Claret and Blue at the relatively young age of 30, and I would like the chance to show my appreciation to him and say a proper goodbye, I'm sure there are many other Villa fans who feel the same.

Maybe you could tie it in with getting Juan Pablo Angel over? :wink:

Hope your back is on the mend!!

Thanks

Woody1000

[OutByEaster?]

General,

In the piece on the signage around the ground on the official site, they mentioned that heritage was one of our brand values. What are our other brand values and what do they tell us? Who selected them and how, and how will they be used?

OBE

[Villarocker]

Hi General,

I would like to make a suggestion regarding the Villa Park fixture between Villa and Blues in April. As we Villa fans have continually been charged over-the-odds prices to attend their stadium for the local derby, can Villa PLEASE charge them an inflated entrance fee when they come to Villa Park in April? the General has already answered this a few pages ago. We won't and can't do this.

There is no doubt in my mind that there will be trouble at the game that day, both inside and outside the stadium. The police force will be mostly made up of the same officers who were unable to control the thuggery on Sunday so the chances are it will happen all over again. Newspaper reports said that the thugs were a "minority of around 200-300 people", I would say that the vast majority of those will be present at VP in a Birmingham contingent of around 3,000, which would then see them making upto around 10% of their away support, not such a minority! Now if these "fans" are happy to cause mayhem outside their own stadium imagine what they will be willing to do at VP! Graffiti and the breaking of seats is surely to be expected and this will be at a cost to AVFC! I am not sure how the payment of the policing works but surely the cost will be higher after what happened Sunday, if only because more officers will be present!

Can any other Villa fans that agree with this please add your support. NO. This a thread for Q&A for the General not an ad hoc petition for the club to break the Premier league ticketing rules.. Blandy

[cheltenham_villa]

I would suggest the club stick with the fair pricing policy that they've adopted, looking at the derby attendance, the higher prices hardly worked for them and were also very badly received by the home support. Keep up the good work General

[paulanddonya]

The best solution is to do what most clubs who have troublesome games do. Only sell away tickets to fully paid up members of their official travel club - thus you will only get law abiding people inside the stadium.

I have seen this work at high profile games like Wolves v Stoke, Wolves v Cardiff etc.. and no trouble has occurred near to the ground. You will then get the mindless idiots meeting elsewhere, but lets face it, if they do, it will be away from the 42000 that just want to enjoy the game.

And can I make a point General about some of the comments above. It is easy to criticise - how would the people who are complaining on here feel if they were faced with 300 absolute thugs, armed with coins and bottles, trying to kill you - don't think they would "stand there" and "take it".

This is why emotion doesn't come into it - a guy who is hostile throws a coin, someone wants him arresting - it takes 3 police to arrest him - thats three away from segregating. You only need to arrest 30 people and there are no police left there !!, then what would happen with the other 270 people trying to kill fans. - that is why evidence gathering cameras are there in the first place, the name of the game is segregation and getting everyone away as safely as is humanly possible. Then they will arrest at a later stage after viewing evidence.

Before people criticise, its worth thinking how the police felt !!!! - dont blame the people (whether it is police , ambulance , fire) trying to help the situation - blame the mindless thugs who cause it !!!!

[rjw63]

General - what is the rule on away tickets?

Are we allowed to give certain clubs less tickets than others?

Are we allowed to give NO tickets to certain clubs?

[blandy]

Without wishing to answer completely for Gen. K. I looked into this issue when we had problems under the previous chairman in terms of getting away tickets for Villa fans.

The premier League rules on away tickets are that the home club must initially give the away club 1500 tickets, sale or return. In addition, if the away club wants more, then they have to be allocated 10% of ground capacity, or 3000 (whichever is the smaller). The tickets above the initial 1500 allocation do not have to be sale or return - they can be cash up front.

So basically at VP, we have to allocate 3000 seats to away fans if the away club demands them, for league games. Alternatively the away club can choose to only have 1500, or less than 1500, and only pay for those they sell.

For cup games the rules are different - the away club is entitled to 15% of capacity (6300) sale or return.

Clubs are not allowed to charge away fans more than home fans for equivalent seating

That's broadly it, Rob, though there is more detail concerning timescales, disabled facilities and the like.

[PopeJosh]

General - what is the rule on away tickets?

Are we allowed to give certain clubs less tickets than others?

Are we allowed to give NO tickets to certain clubs?

I can answer this one; We must allow the away side to have 5% (2,100) upon first allocation then increase it to 10% maximum (4,200) No exceptions to rule

honestly, it isn't, Josh. I have spoken to various clubs and the premier league about this, and it's as I wrote above. Blandy

[StewieGriffin]

Good evening General, I wondered if there was any way you could set our (read: my) mind at ease about the following article which was taken from one of the newspapers

today:

Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner is in the UK on average every 10 days. So it must have been a pressing matter for his manager Martin O'Neill to fly to New York this week for talks he could normally have on the American's regular trips to Villa Park.

Could it be that Lerner and O'Neill were fine-tuning the exit strategy when, rather than if, the FA make their expected call to Villa for O'Neill to replace Steve McClaren as England coach?

Daily Mail, November 15th 2007

I want to laugh at it and say it's a load of crap, and that any meeting was with regards to Janaury, but I've a real nagging feeling that MON would take the England job if it was offered.

[rjw63]

General - we all know Randy's stance on it, but can YOU stop Mr O'Neill from accepting the England job please.

At gunpoint if necessary

[Denis_B]

General regarding away tickets, are you protesting about the reduced allocation Suderland have given us?

If reducing it due to fans standing up during matches we won't have to send any to Birmingham, Manchester or Liverpool in future surely?

[c-krulak]

General Krulak here:

1. FA Council: We currently don't have a rep...not sure of the politics of the Council, ie. by inivitation only? etc. I am sure that we do "weigh in" when it is important to the Club.

2. MON in the changing room. Yes, I have been in the changing room. MON is a supreme motivator and knows the game. Without going into any details, let me just state that when he talks, the squad listens. They respect him and he respects them. MON is a very good leader.

3. The Holte End will eventually look very similar to the "old" Holte End...you all will like it if you like history and tradition.

4. I think that we, as a Club, are interested in winning on the Pitch. At the same time, I think that Randy and MON believe that we have many superb players in the UK that can help us achieve that goal. Obviously if a superb player from another country became available and fit our needs, we would look hard at him. At the same time, we believe we can have good success with a team that has a nucleus of strong UK players...coming up through a strong youth program.

5. There is no question that the two prime factors in controlling fan behavior at a game such as the Derby are 1) Proactive stewards and 2) Proactive police. We will ensure, as best we can, that we have both when BCFC comes to Villa Park. I understand now that over 17 people have been arrested as a result of the antics after the game.

6. Blandy is correct...3000 away fans is max. I can tell you all right now that we will not be jerking the BCFC Fans around with regard to ticket prices or number of tickets available. We will play it straight up....no games. It is not our "style" to play games with the opposing fans. We recognize that this Derby is a very passionate affair and can quickly become a conduct problem. At the same time, we do not want to appear to be petty and restrict the away fans by either limiting the numbers or raising prices. We want to be prepared for the game...have security in place...have a good, positive atmosphere and play a hard, fair, game. Passion and feeling can and should run high...but destructive, harmful, behavior MUST be limited. We will have the police out in force and our stewards will be ready to take proactive action.

[LancsVillan]

Thanks for the updates General.

If

3. The Holte End will eventually look very similar to the "old" Holte End...you all will like it if you like history and tradition.

Means a single tier with no upper and lower then I think that would be fantastic and create a superb atmosphere as the shelf in between currently affects the acoustics.

[villab0y]

Hi General

I wanted to pass on a big well done to Hayley Lingard, Venue Sales Executive the at the club.

She has been very helpful over the last few weeks in helping me plan my wifes 30th party to be held in the McGregor suite.

She has explained everything perfectly for us and is a real credit to the club.

I hope you find the time to pass my thoughts on.

VB

[MYSTERYMAN]

General ,

I am very excited to hear about taking the Holte End back I always think we missed a trick when we rebuilt it . This was the biggest behind the goal stand in Europe which housed 28000 fans in its prime , it dwarfed the Kop at Anfield and North Bank at Arsenal . There was nothing like it and the noise generated in the 70's was as good as anywhere and I don't mind admitting I shed tears in 1994 when I stood on it along with thousands of others for the very last time .

This would be a dream come true if the club restore it to a single tier stand and whilst we will never get the standing back , just wish my stupid wife hadn't thrown out my Holte End barrier to some people collecting scrap iron three years ago . I always wanted to have it cemented in the garden as a momento of my happiest days as a Villa fan .

I look forward to hearing about the plans , will it be in the close season ?

Anything to confirm on the stories about buying the Aston Hotel pub ? Again another good move land wise !

[PopeJosh]

Genral, I have a small problem;

The Portsmouth game has been classed as a Villa Value game on the offical site and I rang the site on how U16's can be only £1 as advertised on all the seating plan's.

I rang Consumer sales and they informed me that its actually a Category B but its still on the site as a VV game.

Could you please tell me the situation of what type of game it is and how to get U16's for only a £1 as I would like my mom, dad and 3 brothers to come down with me.

Thanks

[MikeMcKenna]

Thanks for the updates General.

If

3. The Holte End will eventually look very similar to the "old" Holte End...you all will like it if you like history and tradition.

Means a single tier with no upper and lower then I think that would be fantastic and create a superb atmosphere as the shelf in between currently affects the acoustics.

General I can only concur with LancsVillan's comment. It would be fantastic if the Holte was a single tier again. The atmosphere would be improved immensely and am sure the Holte would have a massive positive impact on our players and visa versa on the opposition!

[Stephen_Evans]

General,

I was just reading your comment about the Holte End. I respect the fact that, as you have previously stated, it is not possible at this stage for you to give us very much detail on stadium improvements. However, your comment does leave me wondering on what lines the Board is thinking. So in broad terms, can I ask you to let us know what is being proposed? Are you talking in terms of demolishing the current stand and completely rebuilding it, or just altering the frontage? At the risk of being controversial, the frontage of the old Holte was not nearly as impressive as the current stand, and the current double staircase arrangement is an impressive feature when viewed from the motorway. It did occur to me that you might just have been talking about giving the Holte a new roof to improve the acoustics, which would obviously be very welcome.

With regard to the Trinity, again in broad terms, can we assume that some kind of aesthetic enhancement is being considered, perhaps along the lines of the reinstatement of a red-brick facade?

More generally, I fully anticipate that the Board's plans for Villa Park will be carefully considered and ambitious in scope. As in other areas, I would hope that there will be, if not consultation, then certainly a sense of openness with supporters about the details. This has not always been the case. For example, the old Board led many supporters to believe that the old Trinity Road Stand would be "refurbished" and "redeveloped", when what eventually happened was the bulldozers moved in. The fact that the stand was being demolished was only owned up to very late in the day, which shocked and disappointed many of us. I would hate some new project to be sprung on us to the detriment of what is already, by comparison with many other stadia, a beautiful ground in many respects.

Thanks for reading, I realise this is a long one!

[MYSTERYMAN]

General ,

I have been told that the team coach was damaged on Sunday by brick throwing chavs causing a few grands worth of damage ? Is that correct ? Would you also pass on my thanks to the team / manager and his staff for showing a tremendous attitude and desire in last weeks win .

I have still not recovered from it . feel very ill !