Job Losses At The Club

[Phil from the upper holte]

Bet day in day out its empty therefore your paying staff for nothing. Makes sense but it all seems to be about cutting costs of late.

[kippaxvilla2]

We'll be considering selling the infamous Serpentine Land next to help fund the NZogbia transfer.

[pauliewalnuts]

When it opened, they ran a ridiculous season ticket lottery scheme for matchdays, then in subsequent seasons allowed only season ticket holders who even had to pay to get in. Why didn't they let more people in from the off to build up a customer base, thus encouraging them to come back and telling their friends and family that it might be a nice place to have a Sunday lunch or a midweek meal? The place always looks as if it's closed, even on a matchday.

When it opened there was a lot of police 'advice' for matchday opening.

I never understood how it seemed to be the only pub in the country where the police insisted on having the name and address of everyone attending in order for them not to object to the license.

[Percy McCarthy]

Seems like bad management to me. It has all the same disadvantages as the Aston Hotel and  Witton Arms, which somehow remain viable, and some advantages over those pubs which haven't been er, taken advantage of.

[pauliewalnuts]

When it first opened and they had that lottery system enforced by bouncers who'd glare at you the moment you stepped through the gates, they managed to create the least inviting public house in Aston, which really takes some doing.

[ez]

I never went there except on a match day. People just don't go to Aston for a night out. A villa pub/members club in town would be a better idea.

[Chris Smith]

Pubs are closing left, right and centre so in itself it isn't a surprise. Taken in context of other cost cutting measures it paints a depressing picture. How much of this is a Villa thing and how much is down to the the recession has hit the West Midlands?

[pauliewalnuts]

There was no way it would ever have been economically viable, given the amount of money which was poured into it to get it open in the first place.

I think they knew that all along. The depressing bit is that closing it down just shows how hard the new austerity drive is hitting home - previously they were willing to carry the cost as a flag-waving exercise. Now they're not.

[dave.woodhall]

I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. With management and staffthe overheads must have been enormous.

[pauliewalnuts]

I don't think the overheads of day to day running would be enormous, to be honest, certainly not for a company throwing 40k a week at habib Beye;-) The staff won't have been paid a great amount.

Profitability is a totally different thing, though.

[dave.woodhall]

I don't think the overheads of day to day running would be enormous, to be honest, certainly not for a company throwing 40k a week at habib Beye;-) The staff won't have been paid a great amount.

Profitability is a totally different thing, though.

It's all relative. It would certainly have cost more to run than the other pubs round there, and the food waste much have been enormous every day.

[pauliewalnuts]

I don't think the overheads of day to day running would be enormous, to be honest, certainly not for a company throwing 40k a week at habib Beye;-) The staff won't have been paid a great amount.

Profitability is a totally different thing, though.

It's all relative. It would certainly have cost more to run than the other pubs round there, and the food waste much have been enormous every day.

True, but relative to the other costs at the club, peanuts.

The staff restaurant closing probably says more, mind. More people on the dole.

[dave.woodhall]

It's still probably a couple of thousand quid a week, which is a lot for a business of this size.

[pauliewalnuts]

Not really, for a company which turns over nigh on 100 million pounds a year.

[dave.woodhall]

Not really, for a company which turns over nigh on 100 million pounds a year.

Most of which goes straight out in player wages. if you take that & transfer fees out of the equation, football clubs are not big businesses.