India

[peter w]

Isn't this something that was set-up under the Lerner regime?

[four fornicholl]

all of these puns are making me mad ras hell 

Especially when they refer to places not in India (but in Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc)

They should be Siouxed for such ignorance.

I agree, and it needs to be done tonto.

[ChicagoLion]

Now your Gupta believe it
We goa  w India  league

[peter w]

all of these puns are making me mad ras hell 

Especially when they refer to places not in India (but in Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc)

Bhut an excellent pun is still worthwhile.

[four fornicholl]

all of these puns are making me mad ras hell 

Especially when they refer to places not in India (but in Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc)

Bhut an excellent pun is still worth

sikhing out

[wittonwarrior]

Cracking idea, needs to be run properly and not as a gimmick.  One issue will be work permits. 

[olaftab]

It's all about shirt sales really. We don't expect many Indian lads turning up here very soon. We may run a nursery club out there to maximise retail activity.

[cdbearsfan]

I don't know but I wouldn't have thought shirt sales would be too great. In a poorer country such as India wouldn't most football shirts be fakes, rather than the overpriced, sweatshop-produced originals?

[four fornicholl]

I don't know but I wouldn't have thought shirt sales would be too great. In a poorer country such as India wouldn't most football shirts be fakes, rather than the overpriced, sweatshop-produced originals?

Do they not cut out the middle man?

[olaftab]

Yes faking it is a problem however Pune is a young vibrant place full of  totally aware well educated savvy punters who would spend good money on original branded stuff. City has a population of about 4 to 5 million so could be an interesting market place.

[Salsa Party Animal]

If we can find a world class Indian player from the Midlands or India and a World Class Chinese player for Aston Villa we would be very very popular. If South Korea can manage to develop good players enough for Premier League, then they could look at South Korea and Japan for role model.

[LeeB]

It will probably end up producing fuck all, and quietly die a death, but hey, at least he's having a go.

[Gregorys Boy]

Just the way the game is going.  I'm not moved by it either way.  Our problems right now have very little to do with the brand of Aston Villa itself.  Rather its because of years of mismanagement and how far we have fallen behind many other clubs.  We're a big club anyway, and that's not going to change anytime soon.  Likewise we are not going to get any bigger anytime soon either.  Partly because of us, and partly because of the way football is. 

This does send signs to me than our new owner might not be in this for the best of reasons.

[peter w]

It's all about shirt sales really. We don't expect many Indian lads turning up here very soon. We may run a nursery club out there to maximise retail activity.

Doubt it. How many genuine shirt sales will you see in India? never mind that there is very little in terms of football shirts across the board but given the price the cheap knock-off alternatives will always appeal. This is just a link-up to try and tap into a market with potential 500m or so potential players coming through. I actually mentioned this to the General back in around 2006 that the sub-continent should be tapped into given the amount of people there and the lack of any English football club's footprint.

[ciggiesnbeer]

The more we can reinforce the special relationship between India and Brum the better imho. Good stuff.