Villa Park as an Olympics Venue

[Dave]

Colourful? I would shudder to think what you'd make of as abusive.

sorry next time I'll be a weasel and just hide behind snide remarks and insinuated insults.

If it's good enough for the rest of us...

[remy]

"Justifiably ridiculed" - because Im bringing some valid points across and I dont agree with some of the points made?

You think they are valid points, but they aren't - they're your opinion.

The standard of teams has been pretty poor? What difference does that make? Dont they play reserve games at VP? Are you expecting Brazil 70 vs Spain 2010 every time you see teams step onto the turf. Get real. Ive seen some seriously poor games played at Villa Park over the last few years and this is supposed to be the Elite league in all of England!!!!

Yeah, but its Villa, I'd rather Villa won a corner than see 'Team' GB win the gold.

And what if there was an Aston Villa player in the starting XI for Team GB?

Are you going to deal in anything other than the hypothetical? They don't make your point valid.

By this guys rationale he is only interested in seeing Villa win a corner than ANY other team at Villa park. I said what if a Villa player was in Team GB - its a straightforward question, would you be interested or refrain? From my position I support Aston Villa and would watch an Olympic game at VP whether it was Qatar vs Solomon Islands or Team GB vs Brazil, Villa players or no Villa players. That doesnt make me a better supporter or worse, Im simply saying it would have been great if Villa Park has been a venue for the Olympics because Aston Villa have been woven into the fabric of football history in this country and a massive sporting spectacle that is once in a lifetime for some (I feel) the club should have been part of. If the reason we didnt participate was of financial reasons and inconvinience, I think its a small price to pay for all the good it would have done the club.

[Ger Regan]

What good would it have done the club? Genuine question, as I really can't think of anything substantial.

[bertlambshank]

Remy do you get out much?

[Stu]

By this guys rationale

Don't attempt to play to the crowd, everyone thinks you're talking shit here anyway.

he is only interested in seeing Villa win a corner than ANY other team at Villa park.

There's 92 league clubs and I hate 91 of them.

I said what if a Villa player was in Team GB - its a straightforward question, would you be interested or refrain?

I wouldn't want any Villa player in it for a start, I'd be worried about them getting injured. I don't have any interest in Olympic football in any case. What has the hypothetical idea of a Villa player go to do with your argument anyway? It wasn't a good deal and the CEO stated why.

From my position I support Aston Villa and would watch an Olympic game at VP whether it was Qatar vs Solomon Islands or Team GB vs Brazil, Villa players or no Villa players. That doesnt make me a better supporter or worse, Im simply saying it would have been great if Villa Park has been a venue for the Olympics because Aston Villa have been woven into the fabric of football history in this country and a massive sporting spectacle that is once in a lifetime for some (I feel) the club should have been part of. If the reason we didnt participate was of financial reasons and inconvinience, I think its a small price to pay for all the good it would have done the club.

What good would it have done the club? If it's not making money for us then its not worth it, end of story. I fail to see how about 5,000 people turning up to watch UAE play Fiji or something would do anything positive for Villa.

[remy]

I think we're all being a bit harsh on remy.

Disagree. Had he kept to the prestige argument then I don't think he'd have gotten as much stick as he has. Sadly, for him, he brought some utter nonsense into the debate, and is justifiably being ridiculed.

And I also have to disagree with your assertion that we'd be hosting bigger matches than New Zealand and the likes. The overall standard of the teams on offer is pretty poor, and we'd have been up against 3 other grounds that I would consider to have been ahead of us in the queue for the top matches, 4 if you include Hamden.

"Justifiably ridiculed" - because Im bringing some valid points across and I dont agree with some of the points made?

The standard of teams has been pretty poor? What difference does that make? Dont they play reserve games at VP? Are you expecting Brazil 70 vs Spain 2010 every time you see teams step onto the turf. Get real. Ive seen some seriously poor games played at Villa Park over the last few years and this is supposed to be the Elite league in all of England!!!!

I'm being very real, thank you. You're the one dealing in some intangible value of prestige in Villa Park being an Olympic Venue. I consider this prestige to be seriously diminished due to the actual quality of teams involved, which would invariably have been played in front of low crowds. When I see the highlights of games at Hampden or Millenium Stadium or wherever, I don't think "wow, the people of Glasgow / Cardiff must be really proud to be part of the Olympic games", mostly it's been "wow, the crowds are really poor".

Bringing reserve team games and crap PL games into your argument is utter tosh as well. For one, we get a direct benefit from PL games, and then there's the small matter of villa actually playing in those games, which is, you know, the reason Villa Park exists in the first place.

I apologise for the 'Get real' comment.

Firstly, its not JUST the prestige of Villa Park being an Olympic venue, its being part of the biggest sporting spectacle in this country since 1966. I have seen on the news about the crowds being poor with me being in attendance at Coventry they had an entire stand closed. Disappointing but I believe that the ticketing organisation should have been better and priced cheaper which would have drawn bigger crowds. A game at Villa Park would be a big enough draw no matter who was playing.

Well when I see the highlights of the games I think wow wouldnt it have been great if Villa Park had some of the Olympic football.

The reason I brought reserve games and the crap PL games into the argument is to highlight that sometimes the football played at VP isnt the best or at a high level so why should that count against international teams who are seen as lesser lights?

You say the small matter of Villa actually playing in these games, so all the FA Cup semi finals, International friendlies (when wembley is out) Cup winners cup finals or whatever its called these days when the ground was made available to others dont count?

[PeterWithesShin]

I'm not sure why you think there would be much bigger crowds at Villa Park. Less than 27K for the Euro '96 QF would suggest otherwise. As would none of the group games selling out IIRC.

[remy]

By this guys rationale

Don't attempt to play to the crowd, everyone thinks you're talking shit here anyway. - I have no idea what playing to the crowd means, Im going to google it. So by expressing my opinion and its not agreed with (especially by the foul mouthed) its shit. Nice.

he is only interested in seeing Villa win a corner than ANY other team at Villa park.

There's 92 league clubs and I hate 91 of them. There are (roughly) 196 countries in the world and you hate 195 too?

I said what if a Villa player was in Team GB - its a straightforward question, would you be interested or refrain?

I wouldn't want any Villa player in it for a start, I'd be worried about them getting injured. I don't have any interest in Olympic football in any case. What has the hypothetical idea of a Villa player go to do with your argument anyway? It wasn't a good deal and the CEO stated why. So as long as the CEO stated why (including appointing Mcleish) we have no right to disagree. Doug is that you?

From my position I support Aston Villa and would watch an Olympic game at VP whether it was Qatar vs Solomon Islands or Team GB vs Brazil, Villa players or no Villa players. That doesnt make me a better supporter or worse, Im simply saying it would have been great if Villa Park has been a venue for the Olympics because Aston Villa have been woven into the fabric of football history in this country and a massive sporting spectacle that is once in a lifetime for some (I feel) the club should have been part of. If the reason we didnt participate was of financial reasons and inconvinience, I think its a small price to pay for all the good it would have done the club.

What good would it have done the club? If it's not making money for us then its not worth it, end of story. I fail to see how about 5,000 people turning up to watch UAE play Fiji or something would do anything positive for Villa.

Im not interested in whether it made money for AVFC, it certainly wouldnt have made such a huge loss like Habib Beye, Marlon Harewood, Alan Hutton etc. The partnership with ACORNS wasnt about the money. The links with the coaching in the schools isnt about the money. The concert put on for those two teenagers who were shot wasnt for the money. The visits to the ethnic minority places to form links with Birmingham multicultural population isnt about the money, its about Aston Villa being more than a Premier League football club.

I wouldnt expect Villa Park to be a sellout 42,000 for any of the Olympic games, hell we dont get sellouts until Manchester United are in town! I would expect an excitement around the city that the Olympics are in our own back yard.

[peter w]

remy, we get it, you wanted Villa to host the Olympic football. Most, if not all of us, are in the couldn't bothered camp.  Leave it now you've made your point.

[garyfouroaks]

So because Team GB werent going to come and the massively oversubscribed and commercially lucrative non-matchday business (such as weddings and conferences) and the disruption to the start of the season (but its ok for ManUre and Newcastle - both finished higher than Villa last season) its not in the 'best interests of Aston Villa'.

Well done Paul.

I think when a decision is made that can affect thousands of jobs, businesses and lives of ordinary people it should be taken out of the hands of those who think for the minority and should be put as an open question to the majority - the people of Birmingham.

I am a PF critic,but he called this correctly.

[PeterWithesShin]

remy, Just because you want to sit in a half empty Villa Park watching Gabon v New Zealand doesn't mean everyone else should want to as well.

And despite what you claimed about crowds it would be half empty. Olympic football in Birmingham will cause far less excitement in the city than Euro '96 did. And only about 23,000 Brits were excited enough to turn up for the QF.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Do you think now we have all gone Olympic crazy, we should start referring to the Villa as "Team AV"?

[Legion]

No.

[Pete3206]

...and No

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Awwww why not ?

Come on Team AV !