The Club and The Fans

[Chris Smith]

It's only natural, as we get older, to look back fondly on days of yore. The difficult bit is to work out how much of it is you changing, and how much is the world around you moving on, as it always does. In this case it's probably 50/50, we look back fondly on our younger days and our memories conveniently block out all the crap bits, and then look at all the crap bits of today and gloss over the improvements.

Football, like almost everything else, is expensive, over commercialised and increasingly cynical both on and off the pitch. It will take a shift in society as a whole before football does anything to rein thing in, there's just too much money involved.

[Chipsticks]

Because I have seen more change than many others I probably feel it more acutely but the present malaise through the club from the owner right down to the performances on the pitch seems rooted in the relationship which the club now has with its supporters.

Most areas of leisure and entertainment have been affected by american style marketing, detrimentally in my opinion.   Football is no different and I think Villa is probably more typical than most of the effects of marketing of the game as a"product" because we are owned by an American and the people he has chosen to run the club reflect his ideas and his business background.

In short, we, the fans, have become regarded as a crop to be harvested.   Money was put into the club by the present owner when he bought it from his predecessor and that capital investment was it.   A farmer spends money on seed corn and fertilizer then stands back and awaits results.   If the crop is patchy, he puts down a bit more seed or a bit more fertilizer and awaits the harvest.

Everything I see at Villa these days makes me feel less like a lifelong fan and more like a unit of consumption.   I hate the endless mail shots to my home trying to sell me over priced tat.   I hate the cost of the drinks.   I hate cost of the food and its quality.  I hate the cost of the programme and its banal content.   I hate the volume of the public address system.   I hate the stupid music played on the public address system.   I do not want a flag.   I do not want a scarf.   I hate the stupid, deafening demands over the public address system to "get behind the lads in claret and blue". I hate the bloody stupid flag waving over the players. I hate the daft and meaningless giant plastic ball racing at half time. I hate the instant public address system at the full time whistle advertising programmes for sale or upcoming games when I want to cheer or applaud players who have done well. I hate the boring cliches which we are fed by successive managers about bad performances. I hate players who are playing badly feeding puffs to the tabloids in order to polish their own tarnished reputations on the advice of their agents. I hate the wall of silence which surrounds the club on matters which really are important to us like are we going to buy in players or not, what exactly is wrong with Richard Dunne, why is Ron Vlaar out for twelve games and counting, what is happening to Makoun, why did we roll over and let Martin O'Neill take us to the cleaners, why does Paul Lambert look so bored every time we take a battering.   The list of things a loyal fans wants to know goes on and on but all we get are free flags and adverts for upcoming games.

I want to get back to the way it used to be when we were a family, a tribe, an army of claret and blue who just wanted to see games of football on our ground in Aston.   A family with an unbreakable, unshakeable bond with each other and the club, not a herd of flag waving, brain dead consumers to be sold rubbish (including the football) and to keep coming back regardless of how we feel about the treatment we get.

The bits in bold I disagree with quite strongly. As others have said he game is changing and we need to keep up or risk being left behind.

[Chico Hamilton III]

As others have said he game is changing and we need to keep up or risk being left behind.

To be honest, if "keeping up" means turning us into some sterile, corporate cash cow, claret and blue version of every other team in the premier league, I'd really rather we were left behind to our own identity. Old fool that I am

[Clampy]

The time to despair is when we have music after a goal.

[pauliewalnuts]

The time to despair is when we have music after a goal.

We had that once, about five years ago.

There was so much uproar, they stopped it. It was horrendous.

[Clampy]

The time to despair is when we have music after a goal.

We had that once, about five years ago.

There was so much uproar, they stopped it. It was horrendous.

I don't remember that. What was it?

[pauliewalnuts]

The time to despair is when we have music after a goal.

We had that once, about five years ago.

There was so much uproar, they stopped it. It was horrendous.

I don't remember that. What was it?

I think it was - and, seriously, I am not making this up, it happened - Chelsea Dagger by the Fratellis.

[not3bad]

The time to despair is when we have music after a goal.

We had that once, about five years ago.

There was so much uproar, they stopped it. It was horrendous.

UTV!! 

[Clampy]

The time to despair is when we have music after a goal.

We had that once, about five years ago.

There was so much uproar, they stopped it. It was horrendous.

I don't remember that. What was it?

I think it was - and, seriously, I am not making this up, it happened - Chelsea Dagger by the Fratellis.

Oh dear, i'm glad i can't remember it. That's what they play for the pissed up revellers at the darts nowdays.

[eastie]

It's only natural, as we get older, to look back fondly on days of yore. The difficult bit is to work out how much of it is you changing, and how much is the world around you moving on, as it always does. In this case it's probably 50/50, we look back fondly on our younger days and our memories conveniently block out all the crap bits, and then look at all the crap bits of today and gloss over the improvements.

Football, like almost everything else, is expensive, over commercialised and increasingly cynical both on and off the pitch. It will take a shift in society as a whole before football does anything to rein thing in, there's just too much money involved.

Good points chris, I'm just glad I was around to see us win the league and European cup and the football of the 70s which I found so much exciting than the game of today .

The characters  back then were  great too, now football is all to much of a business and money has ruined the game , players agents etc on ridiculous wages and the big clubs getting richer .

I feel sorry for the younger generation of villa fans who may never get to experience the glory that we once enjoyed when we were truly a great footballing side.

[DeKuip]

The programme is normally £3 for 76 pages, yet v Ipswich last week it was £3 for 24 fewer pages. To make up for the lack of editorial there was a double-sided poster stapled in, which is fair enough now and again, good for the kids no problem. But why insult us with a cover flash telling us the posters were "FREE"!
It's a bit like those rip-off "special" issues that were produced for the UEFA Cup games a few seasons ago where we were conned into paying more for fewer pages because the cover was printed on card!

Another thing. Has anyone been persuaded to buy a ticket for the Bradford game by the offer of a "Free Flag"? I don't have a problem with them giving out flags to those that want them when we walk in but does it need to be promoted in advance as if it'll attract more fans? Very small-time.

And if all the club can offer bitter drinkers in the ground (Trinity lower) is a CAN of John Smith's then the least they can do is cut their mark-up down to about 400%.

Brian also mentions the half-time testicle race. Not something I can get excited about one way or the other but it's harmless fun for those involved - or at least I've always thought it was!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20962906

[pestria]

The relationship the club has with it's supporters and indeed the wider footballing world has certainly changed over the years.

Villa no longer has the aura of one of the great clubs.  I was listening to 606 the other night when an older sounding caller from one of smaller clubs rang in to say he hoped his team would draw one of the big teams like ArsenL or Villa.  It is only people of a certain age that would say that. 

I think this attitude is reflected amongst our own support.  Us older supporters yearn for a time when villa were a big enough draw in themselves, without plastic marketing and tat.  We look back to when the name itself bought respect from the opposition regardless of the division we played in.  A football annual I had in the early 70s had it right when villa were described as aristocrats.

At this time we also have to recognise the financial bond between the club and it's supporters.  Thousands of supporters bought shares and gave their services to renovate the ground, simply to keep the club going.  The fight from the third division to winning the European Cup was achieved through the united efforts of the club and it's fans,  often in disagreement as witnessed by the mass turnouts at shareholder meetings, but always with passion.  Can you imagine how Lerner would react to having thousands of people waiting to tell him exactly how they felt about the current situation.  I'm sure HDE never enjoyed it, but he had to hear it directly even if he didn't listen"

Now, in the premier league era, fans are customers.  I think the change is more poignant for some supporters such as myself as we see the aura of the club diminished through changes to the stands, sinking down the league pecking order and not being able to compete with the best and no longer having that key ownership in the club.

[Archie]

As a chairman of the Italian fansclub I have to disagree with the author of the thread.
Brian, I can assure to you that the Villa have a fantastic relationship with their fans.
Courtesy of the fantastic job done by Alan Perrins, responsible of the Supporters Clubs Liason,  we feel  as a part of a family at Villa.

We had several times the opportunity to visit Villa Park.






We also had the occasion to dinner with the heroes that lift the EWC in 1982.




Every season we can vote a player to which deliver the player of the year's award.




Not only, but we even  had the opportunity to play on the sacred turf seeing our names on the board.






So, sorry to disagree, but I'm convinced that the Villa may be not currently the best team on the pitch but surely it's the best club of the world as fas as the relationships with its supporters are concerned.

Form is temporary, class is permanent!

[Risso]

The time to despair is when we have music after a goal.

We had that once, about five years ago.

There was so much uproar, they stopped it. It was horrendous.

I don't remember that. What was it?

I think it was - and, seriously, I am not making this up, it happened - Chelsea Dagger by the Fratellis.

Oh dear, i'm glad i can't remember it. That's what they play for the pissed up revellers at the darts nowdays.

I don't think there's been a conscious decision not to do it any more, we just don't score any goals at home!

[fbriai]

I don't think there's been a conscious decision not to do it any more, we just don't score any goals at home!

Mixing threads, maybe they only do it when Gabby scores!