Fan Consultation Group - the minutes from the meeting

[andyh]

The quality of the PA system has got to be looked into.
I sit in the upper DE and can barely hear it.

Didn't the club spend a fortune on getting a state of the art system some years ago ?

Its like we bought the best sound system from Ritcher sounds, with great woofers, tweeters, amps and shit, and got our 85 year old granddad to set it up for us.   

[mattjpa]

The service in the Holte End bars is pathetic at best. Why don't they have beers ready to serve rather than pulling pints at points of sale when they know for a fact that there will be demand before the game and at half time?

I've mentioned this before. My son has a decent job in match day events at a rival club (yeah I know I felt sick when he told me) Thing is he don't make many matches at Villa Park these days. The last one we went together there was around 35k on the day. He saw the queues and was gobsmacked at the amateurish way they were doing things and the slowness of service. He watched as hundreds gave up and went back to their seats with money still burning a hole in their pockets. I told him to e-mail the club pointing out his observations and offer his services to sort out the catering mess we currently have on match days. I doubt Dr Tony has had chance to get involved in such hands on match day stuff. I'd like to know if he has any ideas about improving things.

Its absolutely astounding. I reckon the halftime revenue could be increased by 20% with an overhaul in the system. Again, ive said this before but ill never forget going to watch a game of aussie rules where they had (constantly moving) backwards and forwards queuing barriers which you walked down (like a ride at alton towers) they had 3 staff manning  high speed pint pouring machines  and a rolling desk that constantly had about 20 pints of each type of ale and size. U literally walked through, put whatever beers you wanted in a holder and carried on through to 4 manned tills. The whole process took no more than 2mins tops, no waiting for beers to be poured etc.

They did similar stuff for food but the lack of pressure from keeping the beer completely separate was the key thing as far as i could see

[peter w]

Plus there doesn't seem to be much communication between the staff and whether anyone knows oif they have one particular item. Quite often you get a bored/confused looking face who rather than inform you of what they may not have will go walk about looking for things. or, you get the bored disinterested shake of the head if they do know something is out of stock. No customer service skills at all.

[Virgil Caine]

If this is within the remit of the group could we get an update on the Acedemy and the lack (in comparison to a few years ago) of quality players coming through? Results over that last couple of seasons have been average at best and is there a concern over the ability to get the very best prospects from around the Midlands region?

[cannock villa]

Re-naming the terrible titled North Stand ' The Graham Taylor Stand '.

[The Edge]

The service in the Holte End bars is pathetic at best. Why don't they have beers ready to serve rather than pulling pints at points of sale when they know for a fact that there will be demand before the game and at half time?

I've mentioned this before. My son has a decent job in match day events at a rival club (yeah I know I felt sick when he told me) Thing is he don't make many matches at Villa Park these days. The last one we went together there was around 35k on the day. He saw the queues and was gobsmacked at the amateurish way they were doing things and the slowness of service. He watched as hundreds gave up and went back to their seats with money still burning a hole in their pockets. I told him to e-mail the club pointing out his observations and offer his services to sort out the catering mess we currently have on match days. I doubt Dr Tony has had chance to get involved in such hands on match day stuff. I'd like to know if he has any ideas about improving things.

Its absolutely astounding. I reckon the halftime revenue could be increased by 20% with an overhaul in the system. Again, ive said this before but ill never forget going to watch a game of aussie rules where they had (constantly moving) backwards and forwards queuing barriers which you walked down (like a ride at alton towers) they had 3 staff manning  high speed pint pouring machines  and a rolling desk that constantly had about 20 pints of each type of ale and size. U literally walked through, put whatever beers you wanted in a holder and carried on through to 4 manned tills. The whole process took no more than 2mins tops, no waiting for beers to be poured etc.

They did similar stuff for food but the lack of pressure from keeping the beer completely separate was the key thing as far as i could see

Funny enough my son said he could increase the kiosk revenue by 20/25% with ideas he has implemented at other places so I reckon your estimate is not far off the mark. And it's not just about profit margins it's about fan experience. People should be able to get served and have a drink and a bite,chat with mates and get back to the game without too much kerfuffle. I sometimes look in on away teams forums and our match day service comes in for a lot of stick which is so disappointing when you consider we play at one of England's most iconic stadiums. I went to Brighton this season and came away with nothing bur praise for how we were treated in the ground . Superb I thought.

[SoccerHQ]

The quality of the PA system has got to be looked into.
I sit in the upper DE and can barely hear it.

Didn't the club spend a fortune on getting a state of the art system some years ago ?

Its like we bought the best sound system from Ritcher sounds, with great woofers, tweeters, amps and shit, and got our 85 year old granddad to set it up for us.   

You'd think the easiest thing to do would be a week before our first home game round up about 20 members of staff, sit them in different areas of VP, had a PA reading general stuff out like on a matchday and then you'd work out then which are the areas where more or less volume is needed.

[dave.woodhall]

The quality of the PA system has got to be looked into.
I sit in the upper DE and can barely hear it.

Didn't the club spend a fortune on getting a state of the art system some years ago ?

Its like we bought the best sound system from Ritcher sounds, with great woofers, tweeters, amps and shit, and got our 85 year old granddad to set it up for us.   

You'd think the easiest thing to do would be a week before our first home game round up about 20 members of staff, sit them in different areas of VP, had a PA reading general stuff out like on a matchday and then you'd work out then which are the areas where more or less volume is needed.

Sound in an empty venue is totally different to one that's full.

[brian green]

Whoo whoo Is there anybody there?  Knock once for yes and twice for no.

[Malandro]

They should try sports mode, it works on my telly

[brian green]

Actually that is not a bad idea for a TV drama.  The Seance in the Stadium.  Pongo. Are you there?

[adrenachrome]

Actually that is not a bad idea for a TV drama.  The Seance in the Stadium.  Pongo. Are you there?

We've got Pongo
Pongo Waring
In the air
In the air

[Jean Quereue-Quereue]

There used to be a 'Ticket Office Today' news bulletin, which would list all the upcoming matches and their status.  Now on the site there's a once-a-week update at best.  Can we have the daily bulletin back?

[Ad@m]

There used to be a 'Ticket Office Today' news bulletin, which would list all the upcoming matches and their status.  Now on the site there's a once-a-week update at best.  Can we have the daily bulletin back?

I just assumed the person who used to do that went in the relegation cull.

[Dave Wall]

Another vote for the round badge.