Villa Park Redevelopment

[Risso]

He's not hiding anything, it's in clear sight: "Over the summer months I became more concerned we were adding too many seats too fast"

He's been here 6 months and the plans were well advanced before he got here.  Let him figure out what is best before criticising him for cancelling plans that weren't even his.

But that is clearly a load of absolute nonsense. As I said before, we've got the 8th biggest stadium in the country, and it's miles smaller than those in the top 7. Also the facilities in the North are shite, and the hospitality offering is terrble too, as behind glass executive boxes went out with the Ark. 10,000 clearly isn't too many seats, and it's certainly not too fast. The stadium expansion is an investment in our future, and unlike many investments it's an almost guaranteed massive boost to revenue. There's only so much further they're going to be able to increase season ticket prices, and that won't go anywhere near to matching what the extra capacity would have brought in.

It's like investing in the first team, if you don't do it and are happy to stand still, sooner or later you get left behind.

You seem to be having almost a meltdown over this and I'm not sure why?   He hasn't said we aren't going to address any of the issues you raised, he just said the current plans are being shelved.  Also you are stating as fact that 10,000 seats isn't too many - how do you know?  He literally said it's too many to fast, so he thinks it is and probably has access to data that you don't.

Again, he's been here 6 months, give him a chance to get his ducks in a row and then let's see what he comes up with.

It's not a meltdown, it's concern regarding the damage one individual, with no experience in English sport, appears to want to do to our club.  It's short term thinking, and there's no good reason that's been presented for it. We need a bigger ground, and he's been one of the main individuals trumpeting the 30,000 person waiting list since he's been here. His communication is woeful, and so far absolutely nothing he's done could be said to have gone well.

He's starting to remind me of Tom Fox, who was a similarly big name executive with a big reputation but who actually turned out to be a complete simpleton.

[Gareth]

I wonder if part of the decision might be based on how few of the mythical thirty thousand have bought tickets since joining the queue.

I’d say that’s a huge bearing on it…potentially offering 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 of the list the chance to purchase tickets when it’s about 1 in 6 who have purchased tickets for themselves.

Also more televised games ahead…if we are to be a European teams there will be a lot more Sunday games where people have option to watch on box rather than pay 50/60/70 quid to be there

[Risso]

I understand the differing views on it. It wouldn't be an ideal time to knock down a stand if we're playing Champions League football, it would actually be a shame because fans would miss out and we'd lose revenue but like someone else said, we might only last a couple of games in it anyway if we did make it. If that's one of his reasons for halting it, I kind of get it. I'd have liked them to have gone ahead with though personally.

That's about where I am.

There's never an ideal time. But all those grounds with much bigger capacities than ours aren't regretting the decision to build their stands now the increased income is coming in. A football stand in the Premier League is about as guaranteed to give you a return on your investment as it's possible to get. They'll happily spend £50m and £10m a year on wages for a player who might turn out to be shit and worth fuck all in three years, but add thouands of seats on that's going to increase revenue every year for the rest of time, no we won't bother with that. It's madness.

[langleylions]

I find it baffling that people are questioning wether we would fill 50k , are everton fans worrying about wether they will sell 55k

[usav]

It's not a meltdown, it's concern regarding the damage one individual, with no experience in English sport, appears to want to do to our club.  It's short term thinking, and there's no good reason that's been presented for it. We need a bigger ground, and he's been one of the main individuals trumpeting the 30,000 person waiting list since he's been here. His communication is woeful, and so far absolutely nothing he's done could be said to have gone well.

Your first sentence right there seems so OTT to me, I don't even know where to begin with it.  However, I am sure the overall reaction will filter back to the owners somehow and will lead to either a more prepared statement or comment with regards to the reasoning and the vision.   I 100% agree that they do owe us that.

[Toronto Villa]

C’mon now Risso. You don’t honestly believe Chris Heck actually wants to do damage to our club. Which means the guys he works for also want to do damage to our club.

[pauliewalnuts]

There's also a question of prestige.

All of our peers are going to have bigger, more modern grounds than we have.

We can't live on the atmosphere (which most of the time isn't even there) and history alone.

[Risso]

You just seem intent on defending Heck, with no reasoning or knowledge whatsoever behind it, so I'll leave you to that.

[usav]

I wonder if part of the decision might be based on how few of the mythical thirty thousand have bought tickets since joining the queue.

I said something similar earlier, I would hope his decision was somewhat data driven.

[IFWaters]

Without knowing all the ins and outs I think the way it's been done stinks. It really is not beyond the capability of a senior manager like him in a customer focused role to explain where we're going and how were going to get there. The owners have had enough time to work that out

Personally if we're not at Villa Park then we're not really Aston Villa but if you were going to pick one location for a new stadium that would work it would be built on top of new street as a massive sphere covered in a billion pixels with the words to My Old Man.

[usav]

C’mon now Risso. You don’t honestly believe Chris Heck actually wants to do damage to our club. Which means the guys he works for also want to do damage to our club.

Exactly.  NSWE are not going to let that happen - everyone here agrees with that.

[Villan82]

Ok, deep breath. From day one I have been a major supporter and defender of the current regime at Villa. However, the red flags have been mounting since Heck arrived. On the pitch is amazing, off the pitch its a bit of a mess.

1. We have 149 years of history and 125 years of that has been at Villa Park. Villa park, for 90% of its history (until the 2010s) has always been considered a special place. A place apart. A ground among the first rank in England. It has hosted a record number of  cup semi finals etc. All owners of the club are, in the first instance, custodians of the club. In the 1920s it was trend-setting with bars and restaurants in the old trinity. In the 1970s the current North was a trend setter for the goal post roof and the executive boxed. A succession of owners since the 2000s have now allowed Villa Park to slip behind many other clubs. Lerner, Xia and now NSWE have allowed this to happen.

2. We have been talking about a new North Stand since about 1999. Wasn't it meant to happen after the new Trinity? It has been past its sell-by-date a long time. The facilities there are a joke and it is an eyesore  from every direction. It is also the end with most space to do truly amazing things architecturally and restore the stadium to its place among the greatest. We have had record crowds since 2019 - if we can't bite the bullet now, and do it we never will. If we are thinking corporate What sort of business defers a key infrastructural investment at a time when business is booming???

3. Sorry, for me, the point about not wanting to play in front of three stands is a joke. If that's a legitimate reason for delaying nothing should ever be done! We have redeveloped the other three stands since 1994 and in  Sept 1994 had one of the best atmospheres I can remember in front of a half built Holte End.

4. Communications. I am sorry, but the communications have been really poor since Hack arrived. The badge situation, the corporate in the Holte and now this. All very secretive, all very sudden and all quite perplexing. Tell us what is going on and why.

5. If they hadn't deferred it last year, and had gone ahead as planned it would probably be ready in time for Champions League in Sept 2024. Ooops!

6. They previously said they had considered moving and decided against it. If this is truly back to the drawing board they had better be careful what they wish for as a new stadium project would sap resources, energy and could really derail us while at the same time taking something special away from us.

7. Heck. hmmmm. Jury well and truly out, especially after seeing that clip art job he put on twitter earlier. We have seen before how one bad appointment (Tom Fox for example) can just sour things and I hope this isn't what we will be saying about Heck in years to come.

edit, nice to be aligned with Risso for once!

[Clampy]

Yeah, suggesting he's causing damage is a little OTT.

[The Moose]

That is spot on Villan82.

[LeeB]

I bet he likes fancy crisps, or 'chips' as he would call them.

The ******.