Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: David_Nab on February 10, 2015, 01:16:30 PM
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http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~4477030,00.html
Aston Villa is pleased to announce Charlie Wijeratna as the club's first ever chief commercial officer.
In this new role Charlie will have responsibility for all areas of revenue generation and will also oversee the club's marketing and media operations.
Speaking on the appointment, chief executive Tom Fox said: "We are really excited to have someone with Charlie's commercial background joining the club.
"He has valuable experience in football from his time at Tottenham and has a proven track record in revenue generation at both London 2012 and now the Baku 2015 European Games.
"He knows how to build highly effective teams and develop winning partnerships with top global brands.
"Under his leadership we expect our commercial operation to generate the revenue that a club the size of Aston Villa is capable of."
Charlie Wijeratna commented: "I am delighted to be returning to football at such a storied club as Aston Villa and I'm really excited about the challenge and the opportunity in front of us.
"I am particularly looking forward to working with a senior management team that understands the opportunity that the Premier League's global television reach offers clubs today.
"Aston Villa is one of England's great football clubs and I am keen to make my contribution to developing the club's commercial revenues while respecting its heritage and values."
Charlie started his career at Sky Sports making sports TV programmes before spending eight years in the city as a corporate lawyer and then an investment banker.
He initiated London's bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the bid's first chairman Barbara Cassani, putting in place the commercial and legal deals behind London's winning proposal.
After the Games were awarded in 2005, Charlie was the driving force behind the sponsorship programme that raised over £700m.
He was also responsible for the sale of the Paralympic broadcasting rights, London's licensing and retail programme and the sale of hospitality rights.
In total he led deals that raised over £830m for London 2012.
At Tottenham Hotspur, Charlie was responsible for the overhaul of the club's brand and visual identity and at Baku 2015 he assembled a first class team that has so far built a new brand, completed and announced 14 sponsorship deals and announced broadcasting rights deals covering 47 countries.
He better hope we stay a Premier League team then
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He had to have "rat" in his name didn't he!!
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I'm a little confused, I thought the commercial side was effectively Fox's job?
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Impressive CV - Sky Sports, Corporate Lawyer, Investment Banker
He only needs to add Estate Agent and Politician to his list and he's ticked off every hate box I can think of
I'm joking - never heard of him.
Although wasn't Fox a Chief Commercial Officer when he was at Arsenal?
Edit, just read Ger's post about Fox's role
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He has some skills under his belt, TV producer, corporate lawyer and investment banker, bit of a jack by the sounds of things.
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I'm a little confused, I thought the commercial side was effectively Fox's job?
That was his job at Arsenal...
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I'm a little confused, I thought the commercial side was effectively Fox's job?
That was his job at Arsenal...
Yes, but what I meant was that my understanding of the CEO role at villa in particular was that he had responsibility for the commercial side, with Lambert reporting directly to Lerner on footballing matters. I'm pretty certain that's how it worked with Faulkner.
I'm just a little confused as to the need for two people seemingly doing the same job.
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Sacked by Spurs for not meeting their sponsorship targets after just over a year.
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Storied club?
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Whilst this is a good move and I am pleased the club is thinking long term regarding revenue generation, however the business will be in the toilet if we get relegated so I wish they would prioritise an assistant manager or DoF or both!
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Sacked by Spurs for not meeting their sponsorship targets after just over a year.
Is this verified anywhere?
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Storied club?
Yes, that was my first thought as well.
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Sacked by Spurs for not meeting their sponsorship targets after just over a year.
Is this verified anywhere?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2095147/Charles-Sale-Levy-axes-Spurs-commerce-chief.html
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Sacked by Spurs for not meeting their sponsorship targets after just over a year.
He was sacked by Daniel Levy for 'failing to bring in any relevant sponsorship'. About right for us then.... what will Tom Fox do to fill his time?
You will be OK Charlie...come and join the gravy train!
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It's a fair point, because at the moment our Premier League status is far from confirmed.
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Anybody else ever see these things and think 'I really don't care'?
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.... what will Tom Fox do to fill his time?
Search for a new Assistant Manager?
Hopefully he'll be looking for a manager to work with him.
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I just hope he can take some of the pressure off Benteke's shoulders
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Wonder how long its going to take him to realise that Lambert still in his job its detrimental to his role in getting sponsors in. Difficult to get a blue chip when your sitting in the Championship.
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Sacked by Spurs for not meeting their sponsorship targets after just over a year.
He was sacked by Daniel Levy for 'failing to bring in any relevant sponsorship'. About right for us then.... what will Tom Fox do to fill his time?
You will be OK Charlie...come and join the gravy train!
Oh good - another talking head. Looks like a right 'jobs for the boys' appointment.
Any chance we can get some new football management - preferably decent. You known in the ilk of Ron Saunders, Tony Barton, Graham Taylor, BFR, Brian Little etc...but obviously in a modern setting.
Any chance?
Any chance at all?
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Anybody else ever see these things and think 'I really don't care'?
Yep, when i heard about the Deloitte top 20.
I think Lambert thinks the same when he looks at the team playing.
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Anybody else ever see these things and think 'I really don't care'?
And if the club doesn't mention it they get taken to task for not communicating with the fans.
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Sacked by Spurs for not meeting their sponsorship targets after just over a year.
Is this verified anywhere?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2095147/Charles-Sale-Levy-axes-Spurs-commerce-chief.html
Just when everything was starting to come together.
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Sacked by Spurs for not meeting their sponsorship targets after just over a year.
Is this verified anywhere?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2095147/Charles-Sale-Levy-axes-Spurs-commerce-chief.html
Just when everything was starting to come together.
It's worth remembering Levy is a complete arse.
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Sacked by Spurs for not meeting their sponsorship targets after just over a year.
Is this verified anywhere?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2095147/Charles-Sale-Levy-axes-Spurs-commerce-chief.html
Just when everything was starting to come together.
really though, who cares? There are a number of football managers as an example who over the course of their careers have been fired that I would take at Villa. I'd take Ancelotti tomorrow if Real released yet he lasted less than two years at Chelsea. There are countless other examples along the same lines. And as for Levy he's got a pretty impressive record for firing people yet somehow he escapes all accountability and blame.
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Anybody else ever see these things and think 'I really don't care'?
And if the club doesn't mention it they get taken to task for not communicating with the fans.
Not by me they don't and I can't imagine too many people get upset at not being informed a new suit has been appointed to do something or other.
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Can he play LB ?
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Too many chiefs. No doubt this bloke will, for want of anything better to do, start 'streamlining' staff. Might as well have 'Just Passing Through' stamped on his forehead.
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Surely, a storied club is one with lots of floors?
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Surely, a storied club is one with lots of floors?
In our case it's lots of flaws
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Maybe he'll get sponsors to buy their way onto the bench each week as assistant manager.
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He had to have "rat" in his name didn't he!!
I thought rats deserted a sinking ship.
Sacked by Spurs for not meeting their sponsorship targets after just over a year.
We know how arrogant Tottenham are. Levy probably expected him to be bringing in the sort of deals Man United and Real Madrid were getting.
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I'm sure stand sponsoring will be one of his priorities.
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Storied club?
I think that is appropriate. A synonym for storied is legendary or fabled which we are. We are a historically significant club even if your most recent history isn't the most glamorous.
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New tv deal over 5 billion. Utter madness. And underlines the desperate need to remain in the division sadly.
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More worried about commercial revenue than the product on the pitch. One comes before the other, you can't market a piece of crap.
You cannot make this stuff up.
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make what up? That we recruited a person to make us better in the long run financially. That sounds awful.
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New tv deal over 5 billion. Utter madness. And underlines the desperate need to remain in the division sadly.
From Sporting Intelligence (I have no idea if they know what they're talking about, but…)
Estimated upshot: from 2016-17 season, BOTTOM club in PL will get c. £99 million prize money. And top club will get £156 Million. Blimey.
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The fact that we've been without an assistant for months and are in absolutely awful form, I don't think it's unreasonable for people to be questioning an appointment for a position whose success will be largely down to what division we're in next year.
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I'm sure stand sponsoring will be one of his priorities.
If I was to invest in stand sponsorship other than renaming the Holte End which I don't think will ever happen, I'd want a stand where aways fans sit, thus creating wider brand awareness. I don't see us renaming the Witton Lane Stand and I can't see us moving the away fans back to the North Stand, so I'm not sure how it could be one of his priorities.
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More worried about commercial revenue than the product on the pitch. One comes before the other, you can't market a piece of crap.
You cannot make this stuff up.
So because we're not doing well on the pitch and they don't want to sack Lambert no work be should be undertaken to improve the non-footballing aspects of the club.
This is like when Gabby signed a new contract early in the year before Delph and Grealish. It might not be top of the list, but why would it mean the club are only undertaking one thing at a time.
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make what up? That we recruited a person to make us better in the long run financially. That sounds awful.
We've been trying to penny pinch and monitor every dollar spent and saved for the past 5 years! Solidifying long term finances and marketing strategies with an outgoing owner is semantics at this point in his reign. He's out the door in the near future and whoever comes in is going to set up their own Board.
We've got bigger fish to fry. Expanding the Villa's popularity in Asia and America is small potatoes when you can't score a goal and are clinging to straws in order to stay in the league.. and praying before bed to beat feckin Hull and Leicester.
We brought in Tom Fox who should be more than capable of giving the club a direction. We still have no assistant manager, the search for a Director of Football continues and our own manager is one of the most guarded underachievers in all of sport.
With the current windfall of TV money there is little importance in searching for even more revenue. Randy went back on his morals saying he would not allow of gambling sponsor on our shirt and continues to search for new commercial ventures. But there's one problem with it all, PERFORMANCE ON THE PITCH MATTERS MORE.
Fix what is broken.
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make what up? That we recruited a person to make us better in the long run financially. That sounds awful.
We've been trying to penny pinch and monitor every dollar spent and saved for the past 5 years! Solidifying long term finances and marketing strategies with an outgoing owner is semantics at this point in his reign. He's out the door in the near future and whoever comes in is going to set up their own Board.
We've got bigger fish to fry. Expanding the Villa's popularity in Asia and America is small potatoes when you can't score a goal and are clinging to straws in order to stay in the league.. and praying before bed to beat feckin Hull and Leicester.
We brought in Tom Fox who should be more than capable of giving the club a direction. We still have no assistant manager, the search for a Director of Football continues and our own manager is one of the most guarded underachievers in all of sport.
With the current windfall of TV money there is little importance in searching for even more revenue. Randy went back on his morals saying he would not allow of gambling sponsor on our shirt and continues to search for new commercial ventures. But there's one problem with it all, PERFORMANCE ON THE PITCH MATTERS MORE.
Fix what is broken.
Right on the button.
Villa is a football club and revenue will follow success on the pitch. If we're not successful and are relegated, our new commercial officer will have his job cut out to increase revenues in the Championship when compared to what the club would have received by jut being in the Premiership.
Fox get your priorities right.
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The priorities are the finances, not the fans. I hope the club realises and gives a shit about the divide they are currently creating with the fans. Somehow, I see this as them giving even less of a shit. I hope I'm wrong. I also agree with the fix the team comments, has to start with pride in the team and getting rid of our current comedic reputation.
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Reading between the lines, I think Randy has effectively delegated control to Fox, and in-turn, Fox is establishing a layer of senior management below him. Whilst it is not most people's priority, I think the structure he is building will be more appealing to managers (and consequently attract a better quality of candidate) than the void of power which we had previously: a non-comitted Randy with Faulkner as his yes man.
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He needn't worry about capitalising on the status in the Premier League, because unless something changes we're going down.