You are the owner

[ktvillan]

Some good points made, particularly regarding the youth team. Over the years there appears to have been no shortage of players who have appeared on the fringes of the first team, but who have not then gone on to make a name for themselves with us, for example: Luke and Stefan Moore, Barry Bannon, Marc Albrighton, Steven Davis and Jack Grealish looks like he might go the same way. So it appears to me that the problem with development of home grown players is the coaching set up at first team level. So I guess that if you are the owner then looking to bridge the gap from development squad to first team should be a priority. As another poster pointed out go see how Southampton or Ajax do it.

I was chatting to a London based colleague who told me her son plays for Southampton academy - I think he's early teens.  I asked what position he plays and she told me they don't have a position as such, they are trained to play every position and then switch around, which means they all get to know every aspect of the game.  I'm sure this echoes the way Ajax used to do things and probably still do.  I wonder if Villa academy does anything like this - based on our success rate compared to those clubs, I somehow don't think so.

Another colleague has a son aged 9 or so who is attracting interest from local clubs and tells me that the scouting representatives of Villa come across as amateurish and flash,  whereas Albion and Walsall academy scouts seem to know their stuff and are able to offer much better better advice to parents on their development programmes.   He said he wouldn't want his kid go to Villa's academy, and he's a Villa fan.

It doesn't do much to dispel the widely held notion that our coaching and scouting set ups are not the best,  also evidenced by our failure to develop the very promising players mentioned above into top notch players, and the fact our first team recruitment has seen us sign a long line of both expensive and inexpensive duds.   

For me those two areas, scouting and coaching, are the first two priorities to get right for any owner.

[Rico]

Interesting points regarding our scouting Network, and if true quite concerning. Maybe it's a hangover from the Lerner era. Let's face it Aston Villa became a by-word for amateurish. I hope that the current owner has been monitoring the situation and has plans to overhaul the youth development.

[Salsa Party Animal]

Share this information to Dr Tony When did he get an approach from Villa scouts ?  is it during Randy's era or afterwards.

[Ad@m]

Another colleague has a son aged 9 or so who is attracting interest from local clubs and tells me that the scouting representatives of Villa come across as amateurish and flash,  whereas Albion and Walsall academy scouts seem to know their stuff and are able to offer much better better advice to parents on their development programmes.   He said he wouldn't want his kid go to Villa's academy, and he's a Villa fan.

I've heard the same but you never know if it's the dad getting a bit arsey because his lad got dropped by the Villa!

[TonyD]

Simple

Rebuild the Holte in a single tier 20,000 like Dortmund.

Massively reduce prices like the German league. 

Encourage walk up support on the day and reduce the perception of need of booking tickets online except for sell
Outs.

Invest in the kids and local and British talent.

Keep Jack.

[brentastonb6]

Simple

Rebuild the Holte in a single tier 20,000 like Dortmund.

Massively reduce prices like the German league. 



Encourage walk up support on the day and reduce the perception of need of booking tickets online except for sell
Outs.

Invest in the kids and local and British talent.

Keep Jack.

Like the thought of the Holte End being restored to something like it's former glory. Wasn't it the largest behind the goal terrace in the country / world with a 29,000 capacity? 🤔

[ktvillan]

Another colleague has a son aged 9 or so who is attracting interest from local clubs and tells me that the scouting representatives of Villa come across as amateurish and flash,  whereas Albion and Walsall academy scouts seem to know their stuff and are able to offer much better better advice to parents on their development programmes.   He said he wouldn't want his kid go to Villa's academy, and he's a Villa fan.

I've heard the same but you never know if it's the dad getting a bit arsey because his lad got dropped by the Villa!

The lad plays in various kids tournaments most weekends and there are often scouts around.  My colleague's son has been offered the chance to attend academies at I think Albion and Walsall and his Dad thought Walsall were quite impressive and the best option, but also thought Albion's guy came across well.  However the kid is currently not that interested, he wants to play for fun.   My colleague has been around all the parents as they talk to club reps and mentioned the Villa ones seem a like a bit of a joke.

[Chris Harte]

I think if I was the owner of the club, whether I'd earned my Bill Gates-type fortune or inhereted it, I think I would come to resent the likes of Agbon and Richards taking literally hundreds of thousands of pounds each per month for very little in return. Especially when things weren't going so well on the pitch.

[IFWaters]

Simple

Rebuild the Holte in a single tier 20,000 like Dortmund.

Massively reduce prices like the German league. 



Encourage walk up support on the day and reduce the perception of need of booking tickets online except for sell
Outs.

Invest in the kids and local and British talent.

Keep Jack.

Like the thought of the Holte End being restored to something like it's former glory. Wasn't it the largest behind the goal terrace in the country / world with a 29,000 capacity? 🤔

Rebuild the Holte with a 30,000 capacity, single tier. £10 adults, £5 kids.
50% off these prices if you live within a mile of the ground.

[class-of-82]

bumped into a mate in the bull ring who I had not seen since rover days and he is massive villa fan, his son was at Walsall and had been there for 12 months . he got a call from villa inviting his son down for a 6 week trial after 2 weeks he took away from bodymoor heath and back to Walsall, he told me take away the wow factor of bodymoor heath and the rest is pants

[Salsa Party Animal]

For the person saying rebuild the Holte. Logical sense say rebulid North Stand as it got more room (No road cutting off corner) than holte end and it can be even bigger stand