Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: dave.woodhall on September 04, 2024, 10:44:29 PM
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https://heroesandvillains.info/2024/09/04/are-you-taking-the-piss/
Alex Whybrow talks prices and toilets.
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Nail on head
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Sigh. Yep.
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Depressingly accurate.
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Summed up nicely.
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Summed up perfectly
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This needs to be forwarded to as many people at the club as possible.
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Excellent article, it represents how many people are feeling at the moment.
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Perfectly accurate unfortunately. The line is definitely getting closer, and when this all goes tits up they'll be hammering down my door begging me to come back, by which point it will probably be too late.
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Brilliant.
Needs to go viral.
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I was minded to write something but it would've come out something like this, but not nearly as eloquent.
This, alongside the media coverage makes it quite clear that the Club are judged to have got this badly wrong. The key is whether or not they agree with said judgement.
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Very well done.
It makes you wonder what Heck’s next “how can I alienate as many fans as possible” trick is.
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Thats a great article and sums up the callous erosion of the loyal supporters standing in all this.
As a supporter I feel I'm being rejected for showing years of faith in this club.
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Thats a great article and sums up the callous erosion of the loyal supporters standing in all this.
As a supporter I feel I'm being rejected for showing years of faith in this club.
That is what they rely - our faith. Well sod them
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Scathing, deserved.
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What I don't get is how German clubs can look after their fans so well, yet still compete with the very best. This constant will of English Premier League teams to spend, spend, spend (*at ridiculously bloated prices) is unsustainable, and it either needs addressing soon or it will eat itself. This ticket pricing is nothing but a cash grab from Heck - He just does not get what football is about in this country. It might work in Soccer Land, but not here... .And I'm not just talking CL tickets. Don't forget that our season tickets have been bumped up to ridiculous levels these past two seasons, whilst services and urinals have massively degraded.
English football prides itself on passionate fanbases and that traditional football ground atmosphere. Atmospheres around the country are already eroded due to lifelong fans being priced out of supporting their teams. You can see it at Villa Park when the 'bigger' armchair teams come to town - The influx of non-brummie accents and half n half scarves.
Take away the fans, you take away what makes our football special. And it's going to happen, unless something drastic is done.
If they don't about turn on this, we as a fan base need to let them know who owns Aston Villa Football Club. We'll be here long after they've fooked off to the next investment opportunity.
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The piece pretty much sums up where I'm at. I can probably just about afford to go at that kind of price, but for the first time I am really questioning whether I really want to pay that sort of money to watch a game of football.
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It's hard to walk away but people need to start doing it if they want to make an impact.
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Very good article which I read in the voice of Henry Hill. “Business bad? Fuck you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? Fuck you, pay me. Place got hit by lightning huh? Fuck you, pay me.”
Fuck Heck!
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Is there really only Carlsberg on offer now this season?
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Done.
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Is there really only Carlsberg on offer now this season?
Beer Poretti for £6.50 if you're so inclined.
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Is that the alcohol equivalent of Tommy Hilfinger?
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Is there really only Carlsberg on offer now this season?
Beer Poretti for £6.50 if you're so inclined.
Outside of Australian stuff, Carlsberg is the worst beer I can think of.
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Carling, surely?
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No, I'd prefer that bland garbage over Carlsberg.
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Stan Collywobbles has posted summat similar on XformerlyknownasTwitter.
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Carling, surely?
Easily. The blandest, most pointless shite in the history of anything.
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Carlsberg is pish but it's certainly better than Carling
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Carling, surely?
Easily. The blandest, most pointless shite in the history of anything.
It’s got that metallic after tast, horrible stuff.
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Leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. Not the beer, as I don't drink it anyway!
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Excellent article - so sad it had to be written
I’ve supported us for over 60 years and have accepted having the piss taken out of me for decades for supporting a (usually) shite team (unfortunately two of the worst culprits are my Liverpool supporting sons!!)
I’ve always countered this with “yes, but unlike your team, Villa is a proper football club with a great tradition and has always conducted itself with dignity and is admired throughout the football world accordingly”
I am now, sadly, rapidly losing faith, not just in Villa but the game in general.
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Dave - a question for you really. Over the years you seem to have had good relations with some "insiders" in the club. Have you heard from any of them about how the club is reacting to the uproar this has caused?
Great piece, as always.
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Let me start by saying i think the price hike for these games are awful and so disproportionate to the regular pricing levels. It is commercial opportunisticly charged and i feel really bad for those that will be priced out.
But for balance it is more a condemnation of the modern commercial society we live in rather than, as some think, Heck's personal attack on the lower classes.
Look at the profiteering on the ticket prices for the gobby two from Manchester - i know folk who have paid £600 for a ticket as the hype means they "have to have them".
There are 2 choices pay it or dont go - harsh but true.
Supply and demand will always dictate what prices organisations think they can get away with.
I saw lots of complaints over the prices of shirts yet i would imagine the same folk also spend a fortune on designer gear and £200 trainers etc.
I would imagine a younger person would actually get more wear out of a £90 Villa shirt than a Hugo Boss / Stone Island T shirt yet no one complains about clothes made in a sweatshop - they still buy them.
It is sad but the lower turnout for the Everton cup game last year actually got them to think about the following early rounds of the cup pricing and they made a change.
Rather than negative chanting at the Everton game maybe banners could be arranged to get the message over?
We have so much catching up to do on the corrupt teams ahead of us commercially i cannot see anything changing.
Get to cup finals (and we know how Wembley is a rip off) and Champions league is a cash cow for teams so can we really blame them for milking it when they can?
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Yep, it’s the fans’ fault. Again. Bet they all spend their Universal Credit on satellite dishes and vapes and don’t budget sufficiently to have enough left for a £90 Villa ticket
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Boycott of cup games isn't a bad shout actually. The mainstream media might see it as just another example of how fickle Villa fans are, playing CL football and still whinging etc, but hitting match day revenue and negative PR is the only thing that worm Heck will understand.
I was watching that Burnley documentary last night, and there was a surreal scene where the Heck types were bemoaning the poor atmosphere in the ground, as their team was getting spanked on a weekly basis. One of the Hecks pushed for getting a drum in. Did any of you see it? No staff willing to challenge what was a clearly very bad idea and hence the drums stayed. That's what seems to be happening at Villa, skip having functioning technology, toilets and other basics and instead focus on some other drum like nonsense.
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Unfortunately the normal rules of supply and demand don't apply to football.
Much like China's growth is based on slave labour pretending to be a market economy, clubs know that they have a captive consumer base. The prices are obscene, but they'll still be confident of filling the stadium and then some.
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You would think or hope that Wes and Naz would be a little embarrassed by this reaction and would quickly get a club statement sent out pronto telling us about the re-think. Perhaps they won't as they've employed Heck on the basis that he will increase commercial income. He's complying with his remit so he's done nothing wrong. Maybe they should reword the remit to include "don't take the fans for mugs"
If there is no statement and rethink it will be very telling.
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Boycott of cup games isn't a bad shout actually. The mainstream media might see it as just another example of how fickle Villa fans are, playing CL football and still whinging etc, but hitting match day revenue and negative PR is the only thing that worm Heck will understand.
I was watching that Burnley documentary last night, and there was a surreal scene where the Heck types were bemoaning the poor atmosphere in the ground, as their team was getting spanked on a weekly basis. One of the Hecks pushed for getting a drum in. Did any of you see it? No staff willing to challenge what was a clearly very bad idea and hence the drums stayed. That's what seems to be happening at Villa, skip having functioning technology, toilets and other basics and instead focus on some other drum like nonsense.
You chose (by your own free will) to watch a documentary on Burnley? Look I don’t want this to get too personal, but I’m worried about you.
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You would think or hope that Wes and Naz would be a little embarrassed by this reaction and would quickly get a club statement sent out pronto telling us about the re-think. Perhaps they won't as they've employed Heck on the basis that he will increase commercial income. He's complying with his remit so he's done nothing wrong. Maybe they should reword the remit to include "don't take the fans for mugs"
If there is no statement and rethink it will be very telling.
Heck's major remit is to increase revenue. He is doing a very good job of it.
Revenue comes from TV, 'Partners', Fans (tickets and merchandise) and on field success. There are inter-relationships. Purslow hiring Emery is Heck's biggest fortune.
On the back of this he is generating even more money than otherwise would have been the case from the other streams - which includes fans.
He thinks, probably correctly, that a premium price point is +£20 quid on a regular game for the premium international club competition in the world. This has not been played at Villa Park for 4decades+.
If we ever get to a point when we qualify regularly for CL then this wouldn't be sustained - see Cit-eh and the Emptiad. This this season is a novelty and Villa can charge fans Arsenalesque prices.
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Unfortunately the normal rules of supply and demand don't apply to football.
Much like China's growth is based on slave labour pretending to be a market economy, clubs know that they have a captive consumer base. The prices are obscene, but they'll still be confident of filling the stadium and then some.
Maybe so, but Villa have only been selling out for the last 4 years. Prior to that, they have not had sustained demand over supply, probably since the war.
Everything looks very rosy on the pitch, but things can change quickly. At the moment only Emery’s genius is enabling us to get close to the current glass ceiling.
Once fans are priced out and lost, it’s hard to get them back.
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Great read as always, thanks. :) :)
You are quite right, there a line has definitely been crossed now.
The Rubicon, has been crossed; things are going to be different now. Even if the club changes its mind and alters the prices, I will always see the club differently now.
Its one thing supporting the club, through the hard times. Like most of us have; but it feels like we are just customers at the moment ( Bank accounts ).
I have definitely lost the connection with the club, at the moment.
We have done a lot right recently, but when we get it wrong; it's a shocker.
:( :(
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This will probably be my last year with a season ticket. I still like going down, but with the journey, and the traffic afterwards, it's the best part of a whole day gone, and I don't enjoy it enough to compensate for missing out on family life and other stuff I'd rather be doing.
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This will probably be my last year with a season ticket. I still like going down, but with the journey, and the traffic afterwards, it's the best part of a whole day gone, and I don't enjoy it enough to compensate for missing out on family life and other stuff I'd rather be doing.
Feels like I'm rapidly coming to the same conclusion, I was finding midweek games an absolute chore last season to be honest and the robdog pricing this time is not going to ease that feeling at all.
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From what i'm reading little has changed from when i used to slide down the bank at the Witton end. Toilet floor full of piss, queing til after the game has re-started trying to get a bovril. The problem is no action will be taken unless it starts to hurt revenue.
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This will probably be my last year with a season ticket. I still like going down, but with the journey, and the traffic afterwards, it's the best part of a whole day gone, and I don't enjoy it enough to compensate for missing out on family life and other stuff I'd rather be doing.
Feels like I'm rapidly coming to the same conclusion, I was finding midweek games an absolute chore last season to be honest and the robdog pricing this time is not going to ease that feeling at all.
Yep, everything's such a bind, midweek games especially.
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Dave - a question for you really. Over the years you seem to have had good relations with some "insiders" in the club. Have you heard from any of them about how the club is reacting to the uproar this has caused?
Great piece, as always.
I know hardly anyone there these days.
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You summed things up brilliantly Dave
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You summed things up brilliantly Dave
Apologies Alex Whybrow summed things up brilliantly.
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Really good article. I have decided that it is my last year. I think I highlight the problem that I am sure the next set of owners and new chief exec will face when this lot has upped the asset value and gone and Heck has hit his performance bonus for his short-term gain and moved on also.
I have missed approx 8 domestic games home and away in the last dozen years and have 2 tickets in the holte and full away points (210) so I have put some time in for the club. I started in Holte as a kid then when I got married and had kids moved to the family stand then as they got older moved to the Holte again. My son who's season ticket is next to me has been once last year and a couple the year before that. He is now married and really has better things to do. My daughter uses his ticket but is at Uni this year and honestly going out with her friends is a bigger priority. The club is never getting those back now they will be tourist supporters I suspect for the odd game as a treat to their families when they have them.
I don't want to add up, but I suspect over 25% of my take-home pay goes to Villa and maybe 2 weeks of my Holiday entitlement for Away games etc as I just don't recover as quickly with late away trips so book the next day off. I have a very understanding wife but there is a limit and I know she thinks that the money could be better spent.
I have said for 12 months that Emery had saved them from real issues as we would not have stood for it if it was not for him working miracles. Two big rises, messing with concessions and cheaper young adult zones, rubbish match day experiences, priority for GA plus etc all mixed with modern football of variable game times massive salaries, and a general disconnect.
My away day experience changed little, I get the bus from Villa park with the same people who I have for years but the home experience this year has finished me. We were moved from L3 to L2 with no real notice just an email that I did not see and i noticed when I went to pay my renewal. I have all different people around me, nice people but not my "Villa friends" who I see every season for the duration of the season and then don't speak to until the first game again. I now see them moved to different areas and they feel the same. That connection and frankly, a big reason to renew has gone.
I will not buy Champions League tickets at the price as much out of principle as anything else. I am sure we all have friends and relatives who once they stop going never go again and honestly don't miss it like they thought they would. I think that will be a lot of people next year.
Imagine a Madrid, Barca etc come calling for Emery or he misses his family etc and we lost him. We could easily end up 8th or lower next year as we have all seen with the Villa cycle. They will have massive issues as they will not fill it for some Conference league for another year in my view and will be back to the days a few years ago when the ticket office would be calling us to beg to renew,
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This will probably be my last year with a season ticket. I still like going down, but with the journey, and the traffic afterwards, it's the best part of a whole day gone, and I don't enjoy it enough to compensate for missing out on family life and other stuff I'd rather be doing.
Feels like I'm rapidly coming to the same conclusion, I was finding midweek games an absolute chore last season to be honest and the robdog pricing this time is not going to ease that feeling at all.
Yep, everything's such a bind, midweek games especially.
And this is when we're playing well and both of you are H&V lynchpins so clearly love the team/club.
What the heck's he done?
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This will probably be my last year with a season ticket. I still like going down, but with the journey, and the traffic afterwards, it's the best part of a whole day gone, and I don't enjoy it enough to compensate for missing out on family life and other stuff I'd rather be doing.
Feels like I'm rapidly coming to the same conclusion, I was finding midweek games an absolute chore last season to be honest and the robdog pricing this time is not going to ease that feeling at all.
I get what you boys are saying but it's a temporary phase tied up with work and family life. I went through this about 15 years ago but now I have stopped working and "kids" have long gone I am into "watch all matches mode" anywhere when it's Villa or England cricket.
And I admire people like you Risso who travel a fair amount just to make it to home games. (not that it's any easier from Castle Brom ;))
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I often use the line from a favourite song of mine
"The problem with success is that you become what you detest"
If / when we continue to upset the establishment and win the league or even the Champions league (Don't mock as even SUE has stated these are his targets) you just wait to see all the Johnny come latelys that turn up at VP with their half and half scarves who will think nothing of a few hundred quid for a match day "experience".
To think i used the away day trains every other weekend and queue up at Mold Trafford to pay £1.50 to get in with my working wages of £26.50 per week. Everything in them days were proportinonate today it is almost the opposite on everything not just football.
I hope the media backlash has prompted a rethink
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This will probably be my last year with a season ticket. I still like going down, but with the journey, and the traffic afterwards, it's the best part of a whole day gone, and I don't enjoy it enough to compensate for missing out on family life and other stuff I'd rather be doing.
Feels like I'm rapidly coming to the same conclusion, I was finding midweek games an absolute chore last season to be honest and the robdog pricing this time is not going to ease that feeling at all.
Yep, everything's such a bind, midweek games especially.
And this is when we're playing well and both of you are H&V lynchpins so clearly love the team/club.
What the heck's he done?
I don't think it's Heck in particular, I think it's the way football has gone. It's hard to love something you feel increasingly detached from and despise much of what now surrounds it.
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Unfortunately I don't see the owners getting involved as others have said Heck's a useful lightning rod. Given that the statement about the off field shit show (literally) for the Arsenal match didn’t actually contain an apology we ain't about to get an olive branch offered from Heck. I know he's been given a mandate to raise revenue but the guy is an absolute wrecking ball when it comes to relations between the club and fans. He's rode roughshod over the ordinary fans and he seems to be aloof and arrogant. As far as I'm concerned he can fuck off and keep on going as far away from my club as possible. Bring in someone with the same remit but someone who understands what it's like to follow a football club in this country for your whole life following in the footsteps of your forefathers. Heck is a hard nosed American capitalist who's more than happy to trample all over the little guy. The type of wanker I've spent my whole life despising.
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If you refresh the Bayern page Under 18 changes to Under 14 - https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2024/september/05/Bayern-munich-ticket-details/
Hoping it is a glitch as initial info said U18 were £20. If it has changed to Under 14 that means my 15 year old would need to pay £73.50 a game in which case they can GTF
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Very good article which I read in the voice of Henry Hill. “Business bad? Fuck you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? Fuck you, pay me. Place got hit by lightning huh? Fuck you, pay me.”
Fuck Heck!
I misread this at first and was trying to read it in the voice of HARRY Hill. Didn't quite have the same impact.
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A really good article that I really wish didnt have to be written.
I think the Bologna game may actually end up being an unorganised protest. I just dint imagine enough people paying that much for that particular natch.
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Spot on Alex.
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A really good article that I really wish didnt have to be written.
I think the Bologna game may actually end up being an unorganised protest. I just dint imagine enough people paying that much for that particular natch.
I think every game will be a sell out. Including Bologna. Apparently so do the club.
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This will probably be my last year with a season ticket. I still like going down, but with the journey, and the traffic afterwards, it's the best part of a whole day gone, and I don't enjoy it enough to compensate for missing out on family life and other stuff I'd rather be doing.
I've felt like this for about 20 years but I still keep going.
When you posted that you were not renewing the hospitality package, I asked if you were then able to drop straight on to a normal ST and you said no, did the club see sense and change their mind? Feel free to tell me to mind my own business.
in fairness we do this every year, I remember Gazza and Tony Cottee moving for £2m each and thinking football is fucked, its eating itself. But 30 years later here we still all are.
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I remember my old man ranting about how the game had gone to shit back in the day when Fulham director, Jimmy Hill, agreed to pay Johnny Haynes £100 pw back in 1962.
In 1968 George Best became the first player to be paid £1000 per week and it has escalated since then.
Ticket prices, and not just for football, have grown at a similar pace.
Whilst there are buyers there will always be sellers.
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A really good article that I really wish didnt have to be written.
I think the Bologna game may actually end up being an unorganised protest. I just dint imagine enough people paying that much for that particular natch.
I think every game will be a sell out. Including Bologna. Apparently so do the club.
And me. They’ll be those that try and get tickets for Bayern and Juve and are unsuccessful, they’ll then try for Bologna. Not got the wow factor but you would have still seen the Villa in the champions league.
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A really good article that I really wish didnt have to be written.
I think the Bologna game may actually end up being an unorganised protest. I just dint imagine enough people paying that much for that particular natch.
I think every game will be a sell out. Including Bologna. Apparently so do the club.
And me. They’ll be those that try and get tickets for Bayern and Juve and are unsuccessful, they’ll then try for Bologna. Not got the wow factor but you would have still seen the Villa in the champions league.
Sadly this is a bit of my thinking. If Bologna became available to me I’d snap it up to see Villa for maybe the only time in my life in the “European Cup”. I’d feel like a scab though.
But then I thought of the train tickets and hotel and time off work and thought of the lovely guitar speaker and cabinet I’d like to buy which would be a similar price.
Which got me to thinking, Villa would be an emotional knee jerk buy for one event, the guitar stuff a rational investment that can be planned more.
Emotional buys are always irrational.
I doubt this will be a problem though because I’m sure all matches will sell out before reaching my level of availability.
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A really good article that I really wish didnt have to be written.
I think the Bologna game may actually end up being an unorganised protest. I just dint imagine enough people paying that much for that particular natch.
I think every game will be a sell out. Including Bologna. Apparently so do the club.
I think you may well be right.
I studied economics in the mid 1970's, and there was a concept named the price elasticity of demand for a product.
Clearly, the current administration have decided that our current expanding supporter base are sufficiently elastic to bear the load. As many posters have remarked over several years, and particularly DW, the social base of our support is irrevocably changing.
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A really good article that I really wish didnt have to be written.
I think the Bologna game may actually end up being an unorganised protest. I just dint imagine enough people paying that much for that particular natch.
I think every game will be a sell out. Including Bologna. Apparently so do the club.
I think you may well be right.
I studied economics in the mid 1970's, and there was a concept named the price elasticity of demand for a product.
Clearly, the current administration have decided that our current expanding supporter base are sufficiently elastic to bear the load. As many posters have remarked over several years, and particularly DW, the social base of our support is irrevocably changing.
But isn’t that just a societal change anyway, a shift of lots of people into the middle classes through occupation, education etc etc. I’m not sure that’s peculiar to the Villa.
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A really good article that I really wish didnt have to be written.
I think the Bologna game may actually end up being an unorganised protest. I just dint imagine enough people paying that much for that particular natch.
I think every game will be a sell out. Including Bologna. Apparently so do the club.
I think you may well be right.
I studied economics in the mid 1970's, and there was a concept named the price elasticity of demand for a product.
Clearly, the current administration have decided that our current expanding supporter base are sufficiently elastic to bear the load. As many posters have remarked over several years, and particularly DW, the social base of our support is irrevocably changing.
But isn’t that just a societal change anyway, a shift of lots of people into the middle classes through occupation, education etc etc. I’m not sure that’s peculiar to the Villa.
Yes. It's been an ongoing and persistent process.
It just seems that in the past few weeks we have been sledge hammered with the brutal truth.
You will be one with The Lanyard and The Velvet Rope. Resistance is futile.
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A really good article that I really wish didnt have to be written.
I think the Bologna game may actually end up being an unorganised protest. I just dint imagine enough people paying that much for that particular natch.
I think every game will be a sell out. Including Bologna. Apparently so do the club.
And me. They’ll be those that try and get tickets for Bayern and Juve and are unsuccessful, they’ll then try for Bologna. Not got the wow factor but you would have still seen the Villa in the champions league.
You might be right. I suppose i was just basing it on the fact that ive already mentally opted out of buying my seat for Bologna. To be honest as much as ive been really excited by the prospect of champions league, i wouldnt pay those prices for anyone of them if it wasnt for my 14 year, who has been coming with me to VP since he was 5 years old, through all those dark days and losses, he can’t wait for these matches, but equally is old enough to understand how expensive they are.
Your probably right in that someone will pay more for my seat for Bologna, sad really.
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(https://i.ibb.co/dgWLDD2/IMG-20240906-WA0000.jpg) (https://ibb.co/dgWLDD2)
My son sent me this. There's no name on it unfortunately this situation is not going away.
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Complaint sent to fancomplaints@avfc.co.uk at 11.57 & response receive from Lee Preece at 12.37. Basically a ‘Thank you and being passed to Senior Management’.
I am complaint number 933.
Could we get the numbers up a bit? It only takes a few minutes -
Copy & paste wherever you put on here - it’ll be more use in a complaint email!
Later we could do a FOI request & show the strength of feeling as part of a campaign.
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I often use the line from a favourite song of mine
"The problem with success is that you become what you detest"
If / when we continue to upset the establishment and win the league or even the Champions league (Don't mock as even SUE has stated these are his targets) you just wait to see all the Johnny come latelys that turn up at VP with their half and half scarves who will think nothing of a few hundred quid for a match day "experience".
To think i used the away day trains every other weekend and queue up at Mold Trafford to pay £1.50 to get in with my working wages of £26.50 per week. Everything in them days were proportinonate today it is almost the opposite on everything not just football.
I hope the media backlash has prompted a rethink
Ticket £1.50, Wages £26.50pw
Now the equivalent would be....
Ticket £79.50, Wages £1395pw which is £72k per year..... there won't be many on that!
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It's good to see something happening. I'm too far away to get to VP regularly (inc the Everton game) but will be doing whatever I can, online and in complaint to the club etc.
I'm a Claret member and like many I'd been hoping to somehow wangle a CL ticket. They've really taken the shine off the brilliant work of Unai and the team though, so not sure I'll be arsed at these prices.
I see a lot of people saying that while they don't like it, the sort of thing the club is doing is inevitable. Sod that. As others have said, this is part of how our society's going more generally and we have to challenge it.
There have been recent victories over similar for Prem club fans at the likes of Liverpool, Wolves, West Ham, not to mention the pushing back of the Super League. If there's enough of a furore over this and other piss takes, the government may even be finally forced into regulating this shit show.
As the late great Bob Crow said, "If you fight you won't always win. But if you don't fight you will always lose"
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Is the hike in the cost of disabled parking spaces at VP true?
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Is the hike in the cost of disabled parking spaces at VP true?
Yes gone up from £190 to £380. Absolute joke at the moment off the pitch.
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See the Heck thread. Of all the things you don’t fleece people for, it’s being disabled. Utterly disheartening.
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Surely this isn’t how it appears?
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Complaint sent to fancomplaints@avfc.co.uk at 11.57 & response receive from Lee Preece at 12.37. Basically a ‘Thank you and being passed to Senior Management’.
I am complaint number 933.
Could we get the numbers up a bit? It only takes a few minutes -
Copy & paste wherever you put on here - it’ll be more use in a complaint email!
Later we could do a FOI request & show the strength of feeling as part of a campaign.
Sent my complaint in last night and received standard reply earlier this afternoon.
# 994.
Should be through the thousand by now. Let keep them coming.
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It’s a great article and it pretty much sums up how we all feel. I could probably afford a ticket but then add fuel, food, program etc and it’s becoming ridiculous. What’s also really annoying though is the great and the good of the sports journalism world lining up to condemn the club while overlooking the many misdemeanours of other “top” clubs
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It’s a great article and it pretty much sums up how we all feel. I could probably afford a ticket but then add fuel, food, program etc and it’s becoming ridiculous. What’s also really annoying though is the great and the good of the sports journalism world lining up to condemn the club while overlooking the many misdemeanours of other “top” clubs
I thought that too. It's like Villa is the first club to, you know, be a bit greedy.
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It’s a great article and it pretty much sums up how we all feel. I could probably afford a ticket but then add fuel, food, program etc and it’s becoming ridiculous. What’s also really annoying though is the great and the good of the sports journalism world lining up to condemn the club while overlooking the many misdemeanours of other “top” clubs
Arsenal have been heavily criticised in the past
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I was out last night with a few lads who are all season ticket holders of some years.
The general consensus was that if things didn’t change regarding how the loyal fan base are treated then nobody would be renewing next season.
My first game was in 73 and I’ve been a season ticket holder since 79 with 2, 1 season gaps in between and I’ve never felt so unwanted. Loyalty is a 2 way thing and although I appreciate prices rise, over the last few years the urine has been taken. I’ve gone from being angry, to sadness that my club is probably no longer for me.
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I was out last night with a few lads who are all season ticket holders of some years.
The general consensus was that if things didn’t change regarding how the loyal fan base are treated then nobody would be renewing next season.
My first game was in 73 and I’ve been a season ticket holder since 79 with 2, 1 season gaps in between and I’ve never felt so unwanted. Loyalty is a 2 way thing and although I appreciate prices rise, over the last few years the urine has been taken. I’ve gone from being angry, to sadness that my club is probably no longer for me.
There needs to be a compilation of all the posts like this and a (public) request via every discussion forum, podcast and fan meeting that they are passed on to the owners.
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I was out last night with a few lads who are all season ticket holders of some years.
The general consensus was that if things didn’t change regarding how the loyal fan base are treated then nobody would be renewing next season.
My first game was in 73 and I’ve been a season ticket holder since 79 with 2, 1 season gaps in between and I’ve never felt so unwanted. Loyalty is a 2 way thing and although I appreciate prices rise, over the last few years the urine has been taken. I’ve gone from being angry, to sadness that my club is probably no longer for me.
Nothing will change and if anything, prices will continue to rise. The club needs to make money for PSR reasons and that is why Heck was brought in.
Personally I think despite what people are saying now, everyone will renew or they will pass their season ticket on to someone in the waiting list. Nobody following Villa through the shit times is going to want to miss out on the good times. No matter what they are saying now. That's just my opinion.
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I was out last night with a few lads who are all season ticket holders of some years.
The general consensus was that if things didn’t change regarding how the loyal fan base are treated then nobody would be renewing next season.
My first game was in 73 and I’ve been a season ticket holder since 79 with 2, 1 season gaps in between and I’ve never felt so unwanted. Loyalty is a 2 way thing and although I appreciate prices rise, over the last few years the urine has been taken. I’ve gone from being angry, to sadness that my club is probably no longer for me.
Nothing will change and if anything, prices will continue to rise. The club needs to make money for PSR reasons and that is why Heck was brought in.
Personally I think despite what people are saying now, everyone will renew or they will pass their season ticket on to someone in the waiting list. Nobody following Villa through the shit times is going to want to miss out on the good times. No matter what they are saying now. That's just my opinion.
There are financial implications as well as the missing moral compass of Heck. People are being priced out on top of everything of being disillusioned.
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I was out last night with a few lads who are all season ticket holders of some years.
The general consensus was that if things didn’t change regarding how the loyal fan base are treated then nobody would be renewing next season.
My first game was in 73 and I’ve been a season ticket holder since 79 with 2, 1 season gaps in between and I’ve never felt so unwanted. Loyalty is a 2 way thing and although I appreciate prices rise, over the last few years the urine has been taken. I’ve gone from being angry, to sadness that my club is probably no longer for me.
Nothing will change and if anything, prices will continue to rise. The club needs to make money for PSR reasons and that is why Heck was brought in.
Personally I think despite what people are saying now, everyone will renew or they will pass their season ticket on to someone in the waiting list. Nobody following Villa through the shit times is going to want to miss out on the good times. No matter what they are saying now. That's just my opinion.
There are financial implications as well as the missing moral compass of Heck. People are being priced out on top of everything of being disillusioned.
£20 more to see us play in the Champions League, whilst certainly an increase, isn't going to an effect on the attendance in anyway. It's the UK not Haiti. I suspect people will find the extra £20.from somewhere. It's the Champions League so people will pay it.and the board know this.
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I was out last night with a few lads who are all season ticket holders of some years.
The general consensus was that if things didn’t change regarding how the loyal fan base are treated then nobody would be renewing next season.
My first game was in 73 and I’ve been a season ticket holder since 79 with 2, 1 season gaps in between and I’ve never felt so unwanted. Loyalty is a 2 way thing and although I appreciate prices rise, over the last few years the urine has been taken. I’ve gone from being angry, to sadness that my club is probably no longer for me.
Let's hope we see leadership this week.
If they are going to put prices up for fans because they need the money they could at least do it with somebody at the helm who has some dignity and doesn't pop up every few months to piss all over the mood of fans.
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£37 increase on my seat
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I was out last night with a few lads who are all season ticket holders of some years.
The general consensus was that if things didn’t change regarding how the loyal fan base are treated then nobody would be renewing next season.
My first game was in 73 and I’ve been a season ticket holder since 79 with 2, 1 season gaps in between and I’ve never felt so unwanted. Loyalty is a 2 way thing and although I appreciate prices rise, over the last few years the urine has been taken. I’ve gone from being angry, to sadness that my club is probably no longer for me.
Nothing will change and if anything, prices will continue to rise. The club needs to make money for PSR reasons and that is why Heck was brought in.
Personally I think despite what people are saying now, everyone will renew or they will pass their season ticket on to someone in the waiting list. Nobody following Villa through the shit times is going to want to miss out on the good times. No matter what they are saying now. That's just my opinion.
There are financial implications as well as the missing moral compass of Heck. People are being priced out on top of everything of being disillusioned.
£20 more to see us play in the Champions League, whilst certainly an increase, isn't going to an effect on the attendance in anyway. It's the UK not Haiti. I suspect people will find the extra £20.from somewhere. It's the Champions League so people will pay it.and the board know this.
I think you’re conflating two separate things. Are you talking about regular attendees at Villa Park such as season ticket holders, members etc or are you just talking about anybody buying a ticket?
If its the latter, then you’re probably right, people will fill the seats and if season ticket holders don’t go, someone else probably will pay for their seat.
If its the former, then I think your making an uneducated guess about everyones individual financial position. I have a decent job, Im not poor by any stretch, I live a nice life but we’re not wealthy and money is gone by pay day. Ive had to pay on my credit card for the Bayern tickets which i dont like doing, and Ive already made the decision I cant afford all the home games on top of paying £147 a month for me and the kids season tickets. I know we wont be going to the Bologna game, not sure about Juve and Celtic, might have to be one of them. There will be plenty of season ticket holders in a similar position I would guess.
So yea, all the games probably will sell out, but it won’t necessarily be the regulars who have been going for years filling all the seats.
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Yes that's a fairly accurate post.
The club won't care who pays the money as long as someone does. That's just the way it is, and the way it will always be.
Shit for atmosphere, good for the balance sheet. See Old Trafford, Anfield etc...
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It’s admittedly a small thing but the match day pricing over the past two seasons is slowly pushing me away from attending as regularly.
The price difference between an A and B fixture is much wider than I can ever remember it. (e.g.) Seats in the Holte will be £55 for a B and then £67 for an A fixture.
Category A games are usually televised anyway, and this is probably just a bugbear of mine but paying the same amount for a home ticket against Man City to watch us play Leicester and Wolves really grates.
I mean seriously £67 to watch us play Leicester?
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I'm a ST holder and have to say that our ST increase at 5% this season was much lower than say Spurs and Wolves increases. I'm prepared to pay the extra to see the likes of Bayern and Juventus at VP - it has been far too long to pass up the opportunity to see us in the world's top club competition. Also, I won't forget how NSWE saved our club from financial ruin in 2018 and have proved brilliant supportive owners ever since.
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I was also surprised at how little my ST went up this year, but I’m not expecting the same next year.
They had to shift a lot of people this year, either a little or a lot, so I think they needed to keep the rises low to counter that.
Even they saw that they couldn’t ask people for a load more money while shifting them out of some of the best seats in the ground that they’d had for donkey’s years.
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I was out last night with a few lads who are all season ticket holders of some years.
The general consensus was that if things didn’t change regarding how the loyal fan base are treated then nobody would be renewing next season.
My first game was in 73 and I’ve been a season ticket holder since 79 with 2, 1 season gaps in between and I’ve never felt so unwanted. Loyalty is a 2 way thing and although I appreciate prices rise, over the last few years the urine has been taken. I’ve gone from being angry, to sadness that my club is probably no longer for me.
Nothing will change and if anything, prices will continue to rise. The club needs to make money for PSR reasons and that is why Heck was brought in.
Personally I think despite what people are saying now, everyone will renew or they will pass their season ticket on to someone in the waiting list. Nobody following Villa through the shit times is going to want to miss out on the good times. No matter what they are saying now. That's just my opinion.
And you are probably correct with regards to most people renewing and not wanting to miss the good times.
As proven last season, it’s the less glamorous games the club will struggle with as they did with the Everton League Cup game. I paid my £35 and went but the attendance was so low it made Heck think again. People weren’t happy with being charged £35 for a cup ticket and stayed away. Most aren’t happy with paying £79 by me for the Bayern game but will go because it’s a CL game. If, and I hope it happens, we become a regular CL club then we’ll see how far the prices rise and if people are willing or able to keep spending at least £320 plus a season extra plus any domestic cup games.
Last season for the conference games,
there were a lot of season ticket holders around me who didn’t attend for the initial league games. For me, it doesn’t matter who we play, I go to see the Villa. I’d ask the club to be careful, I’ve seen how attendances can drop. We had the best years I’ve ever seen from winning the league to the season we won the super cup. A few years later we were relegated and even after Sir Graham pulled us back up it took a long while to fill the ground again.
You’ve got to make your support feel valued, look after them because there will be a point when things aren’t so good and you’ll need them to pay up.
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