c-krulak Posted November 17, 2006 Author Share Posted November 17, 2006 General Krulak here: 1. Holte End box office/porta cabins. I am not sure how I have missed you but I will be by to see you a week from Wednesday. I had to go back to the US for Thanksgiving or my wife and family would have killed me. She is harder than woodpecker lips and could do it!! 2. We are looking into developing a way to link all of the great web-sites in a manner that would allow the sites to remain "independent" but, at the same time, share fan thoughts, etc. Additionally, we are looking at a way to enable fans to "vote" on certain issues that are of interest...such as the song to come out on the field to, etc. 3. Great idea on update re. construction at Bodymoor Heath and Holte Inn. Let me see what we can do from Villa Park to make that available. 4. To the postman...if I am going on a long walk...but not a trek...I wear ASICS GT 2110's. 5. Thank you for the warning re. the Press. I understand that they can be "rough" but , at the same time, I can't imagine that they will find our discussions of any great interest unless they, themselves, are Villa Fans...and if they are Fans, well then, welcome aboard. Semper Fidelis, General Krulak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaTiger Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 General: What can be done to more directly market the club here in the States? Any chance of an official U.S. supporter's club, perhaps with organized trips to matches at Villa Park once or twice a year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 General there has been mention of a fans representative and I think this is being looked into. Can you confirm that? In addition can you confirm how this fan will be selected? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrshnn Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 Thanks for keeping us informed,what do you anticipate the villa park capacity to be when completed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted November 17, 2006 VT Supporter Share Posted November 17, 2006 General Krulak here: 4. To the postman...if I am going on a long walk...but not a trek...I wear ASICS GT 2110's. 5. Thank you for the warning re. the Press. I understand that they can be "rough" but , at the same time, I can't imagine that they will find our discussions of any great interest unless they, themselves, are Villa Fans...and if they are Fans, well then, welcome aboard. Wouldn't have thought of GT2110s as regular walking shoes - I use 'em for distance running (10Ks and up) - for which they are excellent. As for the press, they don't give a flying one about the Villa, they'll just be looking for something that they can twist and distort to display as either (a) scandalous/corrupt or ( "amusing" (hey, let's all sneer at the very concept of a US Marine General involved in running a Premiership club). I can second guess your replies of course - on (a) we have nothing to hide and on ( let 'em laugh, we'll have the last one. All I'm saying is that it could get - at best - very, very *tiresome*. Be prepared. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianrobo1 Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 On the other hand Mike, if the press can be played correctly they can be a valuable asset, look at what happened at Newcastle, got Skky onside through the 'entertainers' tag and from then on the press thought of them as serious contenders. The press just want stories, the aim of the club is to provide positive ones to them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted November 17, 2006 VT Supporter Share Posted November 17, 2006 On the other hand Mike, if the press can be played correctly they can be a valuable asset, look at what happened at Newcastle, got Skky onside through the 'entertainers' tag and from then on the press thought of them as serious contenders. The press just want stories, the aim of the club is to provide positive ones to them Totally agree Ian - but that is the stuff that they can control through the club's PR machine. Stuff on here and the other fan sites is a little more.... "freeform"/potentially libellous, and we've already seen some conversations that could take "iffy" turns - be they about top totty, Doug Elliss, whatever. I'm sure the General is smart enough to handle that though. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianrobo1 Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 thats why you get a decent press officier who can stop certain stories and place others. Is Phil Mepham up to the taks, we shall see, but at Villa we have the perfect PR person in MON. A manager who no-one wants to criticise or even dare .... He is the perfect man to 'front' up the new regime, leaving the General and Randy to do the good stuff, behind the scenes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trinity-Tom Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 General there has been mention of a fans representative and I think this is being looked into. Can you confirm that? In addition can you confirm how this fan will be selected? General, I would personally suggest having a core team of permanent members. Then to get all fans involved, I would suggest a rotational arrangement whereby each month (or however frequent the meetings are) a small number of season ticket holders, members of supporters clubs etc... are invited to attend the meeting to get their opinions across. That should ensure that everyones voice is heard and that everyone feels part of it. Elaborating on this a little. I would send letters to all known fans by the club to guage interest in becoming involved in this as I am sure some will want to and some won't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeebra Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 General, cant say enough how we all appreciate the efforts you are making in talking with us on this site. It means a hell of a lot. Anyway to my point.... You wrote: "...we are looking into a foray into the Czech Republic" Anything I can do to help? Im Villa through and through, and live and work in CZ, also own a recruitment company, and have CZ staff who are pretty good at searching for and introducing themselves to anyone. We have an office and meeting rooms here you can use, and we could even put an Aston Villa CZ sign out the front:) So if you need us for anything we're here to help. Anyone else who wants a job out here, send me your CV:) Or....whilst im inadvertantly advertising myself a bit here (am I allowed to MODS?, it is on topic:) anyone interested in skilled Czech staff (mainly IT and engineering) to work for their companies in UK (or anywhere) please let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimzk5 Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 General... i notice that on our official site, avfc.premiumtv.co.uk there are links to cleveland browns storys etc, i just wondered if there were any plans to incorperate Aston Villa on to the cleveland brows official site. and on the subject of our website, are there any plans to make into a site run by the club, cus as i undestand premiumtv run a lot of clubs websites and, to be honest there not that well run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-krulak Posted November 17, 2006 Author Share Posted November 17, 2006 General Krulak here: It is the intent of the Club to meet with about 7-10 individuals who are already involved in Fan support (as an example, our leader here at Villa Talk) within the next several weeks and sit down and really dig into what we can do to increase fan participation, communications and support to OUR Club. This meeting will be the beginning of a series of meetings that will hopefully result in a better linking of the fans and the Club...to include a "voting machine" linked to fan websites and to the Aston Villa FC website that will allow Randy, the Directors and the CEO to get a "numerical sense" of what the fans are thinking with regard to certain decisions. A very simplistic example would be a vote on what song the fans would like to hear when the Team comes onto the pitch. Again, we have a distance to go in getting all this set up...there will need to be "give and take" as we move forward...BUT, we are committed to opening up the lines of communications. Another example of what might be accomplished is that I am on 3 websites now....I get questions at each website...very good questions. Unfortunately, when I answer these questions, they only go to the population on that particular site. In this age of advanced technology, there must be a way to "link" my replies to all 3 sites. You and I know it can happen...we just need to "make it happen" without any site losing its own identity. As you can see, we do have some work that needs to be done. The key is that we, the Fans and Villa, recognize that we need to do a better job of communications...that the flow of information needs to be spread to all fans. Semper Fidelis, General Krulak PS Re. the Czech Republic: We may be coming to you for some advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnCresswell Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 General Krulak here: It is the intent of the Club to meet with about 7-10 individuals who are already involved in Fan support (as an example, our leader here at Villa Talk) within the next several weeks and sit down and really dig into what we can do to increase fan participation, communications and support to OUR Club. This meeting will be the beginning of a series of meetings that will hopefully result in a better linking of the fans and the Club...to include a "voting machine" linked to fan websites and to the Aston Villa FC website that will allow Randy, the Directors and the CEO to get a "numerical sense" of what the fans are thinking with regard to certain decisions. A very simplistic example would be a vote on what song the fans would like to hear when the Team comes onto the pitch. Again, we have a distance to go in getting all this set up...there will need to be "give and take" as we move forward...BUT, we are committed to opening up the lines of communications. Another example of what might be accomplished is that I am on 3 websites now....I get questions at each website...very good questions. Unfortunately, when I answer these questions, they only go to the population on that particular site. In this age of advanced technology, there must be a way to "link" my replies to all 3 sites. You and I know it can happen...we just need to "make it happen" without any site losing its own identity. As you can see, we do have some work that needs to be done. The key is that we, the Fans and Villa, recognize that we need to do a better job of communications...that the flow of information needs to be spread to all fans. Semper Fidelis, General Krulak PS Re. the Czech Republic: We may be coming to you for some advice. Perhaps you could set up a blog or website which is linked directly to permanent threads on each site. I am no IT guru so don't know how feasible that would be! It's very feasible, to be honest. All three sites display a link to a page where you can submit questions, The General recieves these through email and can reply to them in an 'admin' section, then post it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sm Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 General Krulak here: It is the intent of the Club to meet with about 7-10 individuals who are already involved in Fan support (as an example, our leader here at Villa Talk) within the next several weeks and sit down and really dig into what we can do to increase fan participation, communications and support to OUR Club. Assuming that is you JC, are all Villatalk readers happy for a dodgy hat wearer to represent this excellent website? :winkold: I think that is an excellent idea to be honest for all the main players on the fans front to get together. We all want the same thing afterall, or at least should do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnCresswell Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 Or I know this is heresy but...... following the suggestion about developing the Club site he could have a q and a on there and each website can have a link to that! Stands by for flaming! Personally, I think that would be the best thing all round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginge Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 General you mention the CEO would be able to look at the questions the fans want answered etc does this mean you have appointed somebody? Is the rumour that Bruce Langham will be coming back true? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianrobo1 Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 I personally think it should be done through the OS and then it gets to the widest possible audience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasthevillan Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 General you mention the CEO would be able to look at the questions the fans want answered etc does this mean you have appointed somebody? Is the rumour that Bruce Langham will be coming back true? I hope not! I mean nice man but his record ain't great and he ain't what dreams are made of is he. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelle Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 General, A somewhat odd question maybe but who's your favourite Villa-player so far? I understand perfectly if you chose not to answer that question but would still be interesting to know. As a footballer that is, of course. Just a bit curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedkandi Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 As a female fan my wish would be that certain players should wear tighter shirts!!(Cahill, Sorenson,Baros) that would make me very happy!!! hehe just kidding! My serious suggestion would be that the pre match entertainment is improved!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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