Pre-Season Friendlies 2012

[cdbearsfan]

That would be twelve pounds Stirling?

Sorry...

[Dave Cooper please]

Personally I don't think£15 is too bad. That's cheap to watch Villa nowadays.

It's a pre-season knockabout.

And a chance to watch Villa play a game for £15.

If you think that £15 for a pre-season strollabout at Peterborough is good value then that's great, but it shows how we have become numbed into forking out stupid money for football in this country.
 And of course it rolls down to the lower divisions, which is why clubs like Alfreton are charging £18 for league games this season.

 As alluded to in the Bremen thread, when you can pay less to watch a Bundesliga game than you can to watch a friendly at Peterbrough then something is badly wrong.

[bertlambshank]

Spot on.

[Brian Taylor]

Any pictures of fans/player in Chicago appreciated.
I didn't make it.
I emailed AVFC official organiser with a few questions, regarding travel, but got no answer..thanks a lot.

I believed you could just get a ticket and a visa arrangement was in place, just turn up at the airport etc. Now you have to get the ticket first and then apply for an ESTA, security thing, a minium of 72hrs beforehand.
The ticket co said I had to get an Esta first before they'd issue the ticket. What a load of old shite..??
I was looking forward to getting away from the Olympics. I am def getting out of Hackeny for the ensuing period. Now it looks like Sidmouth and the Villa fans appreciation society down The Radway during Sidmouth folk week; and beer festival week at The Swan.
Any pix appreciated. I'll post the cousin's stuff, if he sends them.
They are all well up for it as he works for the Fire dept! The family will be wearing Villa colours for the day!
Looks like it's building up into a great occasion

[Rob92]

Those Bremen prices are mental. £7.50 to stand... Farnborough v Aldershot last week was £10 to stand!

In other news, is Forest likely to ever go on general sale? I'm taking two non-Villa supporting mates, who obviously don't have any sort of booking history...

[bertlambshank]

Nice write up on the Fire OS.
http://www.chicago-fire.com/news/2012/07/overview-saturdays-opponents-aston-villa-fc

[peter w]

Personally I don't think£15 is too bad. That's cheap to watch Villa nowadays.

It's a pre-season knockabout.

And a chance to watch Villa play a game for £15.

If you think that £15 for a pre-season strollabout at Peterborough is good value then that's great, but it shows how we have become numbed into forking out stupid money for football in this country.
 And of course it rolls down to the lower divisions, which is why clubs like Alfreton are charging £18 for league games this season.

 As alluded to in the Bremen thread, when you can pay less to watch a Bundesliga game than you can to watch a friendly at Peterbrough then something is badly wrong.

but this is an old argument. the prices in Germany are lower across the board - they also have more expensive top end prices don't they? - we can argue the toss about pricing season in season out and we do but the market sadly dictates the prices. So, with that in mind, £15 to watch the Villa - pre-season or not- is worth it.

Pre-season games are better supported than they used to be and do have a league-game 'lite' feel to them. So, people like to go and clubs will make money out of that. from paying 30, nearly 40 quid for a home game to £15 quid at Peterborough sounds fair enough. Especially if that nigh on 40 quid was to watch us last season.

[Billy Walker]

A little Chicago Fire video to whet the appetite for tomorrow's match:

...and this from the Portland Timbers side of things:

&feature=player_embedded#!

[dave.woodhall]

Pre-season games are better supported than they used to be and do have a league-game 'lite' feel to them.

No they aren't and no they don't. Burton got 4,165 against us - take away our supporters and that's much less than their average last season. You can also show me a league game where we've ever made ten substitutions at half-time.

[peter w]

Pre-season games are better supported than they used to be and do have a league-game 'lite' feel to them.

No they aren't and no they don't. Burton got 4,165 against us - take away our supporters and that's much less than their average last season. You can also show me a league game where we've ever made ten substitutions at half-time.

friendlies a good few years ago were nothing more than fitness sessions and taken slightly more seriously than testimonials. In terms of attendances I'm thinking exactly what you said about Burton - the amount of fans willing to travel away make it feel like its more than a warm-up session. With more now on a finishing league position in the Prem there is a different feel around playing friendlies.

The biggest thing is that you can mix the above with the optimism of having Paul Lambert in charge and having our Villa back. Maybe that's more to the point. People want to go and see their resurgent Villa again and £15 to do it will see us flock down to Peterborough.

[dave.woodhall]

Pre-season games are better supported than they used to be and do have a league-game 'lite' feel to them.

No they aren't and no they don't. Burton got 4,165 against us - take away our supporters and that's much less than their average last season. You can also show me a league game where we've ever made ten substitutions at half-time.

friendlies a good few years ago were nothing more than fitness sessions and taken slightly more seriously than testimonials. In terms of attendances I'm thinking exactly what you said about Burton - the amount of fans willing to travel away make it feel like its more than a warm-up session. With more now on a finishing league position in the Prem there is a different feel around playing friendlies.

The biggest thing is that you can mix the above with the optimism of having Paul Lambert in charge and having our Villa back. Maybe that's more to the point. People want to go and see their resurgent Villa again and £15 to do it will see us flock down to Peterborough.

When was the last time you went to a friendly? As I said, ten substitutions at half-time - there is no way you can call that serious.

[bertlambshank]

I would guess Burton being the brewing capital of the world helped.

[Louzie0]

You can also show me a league game where we've ever made ten substitutions at half-time.

Maybe that was the 'lite' bit!

[Vancouver]

Any folks going to Portland? About 14 of us heading down from Canada as its only about a 6 hours drive (relatively short distance in North America road trip terms).

[Dave Cooper please]

The biggest thing is that you can mix the above with the optimism of having Paul Lambert in charge and having our Villa back. Maybe that's more to the point. People want to go and see their resurgent Villa again and £15 to do it will see us flock down to Peterborough.

No doubt there's the renewed optimism, and for many fans friendlies are the only away trips they will do all season due to a combination of cost and availability of tickets (friendlies being the only games where the home fans are likely not to care that much if Villa fans invade the home areas), but it remains that £15 for a pre-season knockabout is extortionate.
 The very fact that they can get away with it shows how football fans in this country have become immune to paying stupid money for very poor fare. I can understand why fans pay a fortune to watch their teams in competitive games, it's what fans do, the clubs know it and have raised prices accordingly knowing loyalty means fans will pay up regardless.
 Peterborough are taking the piss out of both our fans and theirs.