Tickets for Schools is no more

[Marlon From Bearwood]

Something doesn't add up here as my kids school have been told by Villa that they're not doing it anymore whereas Small Heath still are.

[amfy]

Something doesn't add up here as my kids school have been told by Villa that they're not doing it anymore whereas Small Heath still are.

Do you mean Small Heath School or Small Heath Alliance FC?

Mr amfy says PNE do tickets for school for all their home games too.

[Marlon From Bearwood]

SHA FC. They're still doing offers next season.

[amfy]

Weird isn't it?

If they want to stop doing tickets for schools, I think that it's pretty shortsighted of them.

.....but even more shortsighted to make up a reason which everyone can obviously see isn't true.

Neither PNE or Small Heath appear to be operating under any EFL restrictions on giving away tickets to children, so why would AVFC be?

Bizarre.

[Des Little]

You'll probably find that the person who ran the scheme got their P45 so it's been parked. That of course is me wildly speculating.

[dave.woodhall]

Do Preston and the other lot do it for all games?

[amfy]

Do Preston and the other lot do it for all games?

e

Mike says they do it for all home games.

[Marlon From Bearwood]

Do Preston and the other lot do it for all games?

Yes, I believe so.

[Phil from the upper holte]

I seriously doubt we'd say something that wasn't true like that

[wittonwarrior]

Two things here - again a potential own goal  in more than  one way  by the Villa (the story they have put out and to the fact that the ticket opportunity has stopped).

However as a partial counter balance comparing Aston Villa Football Club to the likes of PNE and SHA is like comparing Rudi to Andy Gray or Guzan to Jimmy Rimmer.  The other two clubs need initiatives, Villa obviously think we have a fan base big enough to cover gates  of over 20,000 no matter who the opposition are.

[Walmley_Villa]

Any idea as to whether we will still be involved with Acorns. I'm all for global domination but hope that we don't just ignore our doorstep...

[itbrvilla]

All very strange.

[saunders_heroes]

I suppose it's just another cutback on the back of relegation. They've looked at money saving opportunities and sadly it's been picked out.

[dave.woodhall]

It's nothing to do with relegation, or cut backs, or anything else within the club's control. The Football League have a regulation that clubs can't do a junior tickets promotion more than four times a season; any more than that and they would have to offer the same concession to away fans, which is clearly impractical.

Villa staff explained the scheme to the league, told them how long it had been running and how popular it was, but to no avail. If anyone can explain how other clubs can seemingly get away with similar ideas, I'm sure they would love to know.

[amfy]

OK - so a 'tickets for schools' idea doesn't work because the practicalities of offering the same deal to way fans don't work out.

A generic kids concession however, could replace it. Those are the things that run at other clubs.

At PNE - kids under 8 get in free for every game. I have no idea whether that also applies to away fans, but it would encourage more adult away fans to travel if they can take their kids free. PNE feel this is worthwhile because it brings through the next generation of supporters. There are always loads of young kids on the Town End. They all hang around down the front together, trying to meet the Deepdale Duck.

This will also happen because they know they don't fill their ground, but we aren't going to either - we've closed down a whole tier and still don't expect to sell the rest. We might have some games where we think we can sell out, or sell out the whole away end, but maybe for some of the games where it'll be less full we could offer free or very cheap tickets to kids, and do the same for the way support.

Kids bring a paying adult with them, and nag them to buy them chips, coke and burgers. They bring in money one way or another.