Villa Park Redevelopment

[ROBBO]

How much does it cost to see a Villa match these days? Last time I was in the Witton end was 1976.

[Des Little]

I wasn’t being a waiting list denier, I am simply questioning the numbers quoted, and the genuine intentions of many on it.

[Brazilian Villain]

How much does it cost to see a Villa match these days? Last time I was in the Witton end was 1976.

It's more expensive nowadays.

[Percy McCarthy]

I wasn’t being a waiting list denier, I am simply questioning the numbers quoted, and the genuine intentions of many on it.

Declaring as ‘utter bullshit’ doesn’t strike me as ‘simply questioning’.

How many off the waiting list do you think bought season tickets to bump London Villan’s lad up 2000 places? About 10?

[Villan82]

By my reckoning this is the third time we have planned for a new North Stand and the third time we have shelved it.

Ellis and Lerner you can understand but not these guys. Just when we need all the good vibes Heck keeps dropping the u-turns

Heck strikes me as the type who doesn't get football.

[Villan82]

I am guessing players like the idea of playing at a bigger stadium so I am not sure how players would feel about all this being stalled.

[Pat Mustard]

By my reckoning this is the third time we have planned for a new North Stand and the third time we have shelved it.

Ellis and Lerner you can understand but not these guys. Just when we need all the good vibes Heck keeps dropping the u-turns

Heck strikes me as the type who doesn't get football.

Absolutely. He doesn’t get football, he doesn’t understand our fan base and he doesn’t understand what kind of city Birmingham is. It’s like we have brought in the commercial/boardroom equivalent of Steven Gerrard.

[Risso]

Let's hope he lasts about as long then.

[Mister E]

None of this makes sense. The owners have serious ambition. We have a world class manager hear for the long run. Performances at Villa Park light years better than many of us can remember.  A 20K waiting list for season tickets. Surely the club would be mad not to expand and tap into this. What about those on the list, they must be so happy hearing the latest news.  The non sell out at the moment is because of the TV and LG. The communication and execution under Heck has been a shambles. Everything at the club seems positive apart from his actions and communication.

Why can't they be honest with us.

this needs to be fed into the next FAB meeting (for what it's worth).

[IFWaters]

I'm not jumping to Hecks defence as the communication has been underhand but I read something about the Everton 10 point deduction that referenced interest payments on their new stadium. I'm guessing but perhaps there was some aspect of funding the north stand that fell foul of FFP at this time or it could be the owners want to redirect money from stadium to squad given how fast we've progressed.

I've no doubt the owners have the money and the ambition but I think it's not as easy fitting in the FFP regulations. They probably can't be transparent about it because it tells every selling club how much money we can spend. Just a theory. Agree with the sentiments about Heck, not impressed atm.

[DB]

I heard from a reliable source that they discussed how many of the mythical waiting list had actually bought tickets within the past two years, and it was extremely low. If they aren’t buying single match tickets, they won’t be buying season tickets that’s for sure.

I am on the list, I am a Claret member so is my lad. I don’t go every game as we cannot get seats together a lot of the time. But agree they looked at the ST waiting list vs those that go to matches and don’t read much into the list against expansion.

Even if you don’t really want a ST, the stadium would sell out with 50k.

[ChicagoLion]

I'm not jumping to Hecks defence as the communication has been underhand but I read something about the Everton 10 point deduction that referenced interest payments on their new stadium. I'm guessing but perhaps there was some aspect of funding the north stand that fell foul of FFP at this time or it could be the owners want to redirect money from stadium to squad given how fast we've progressed.

I've no doubt the owners have the money and the ambition but I think it's not as easy fitting in the FFP regulations. They probably can't be transparent about it because it tells every selling club how much money we can spend. Just a theory. Agree with the sentiments about Heck, not impressed atm.

There was an anomaly with the Everton problem but the FFP rules clearly state that infrastructure development is not contributing to FFP which is purely a Profit and Loss measurement.
There are Accounting rules that determine the application of costs and expenses.
So no,FFP has nothing to do with the abandonment of the North Stand development.

[olaftab]

How much does it cost to see a Villa match these days? Last time I was in the Witton end was 1976.

It's more expensive nowadays.

But in 76 Villa to me were everything.

[Ads]

We'll pull in more commercial income than we ever have this financial year and the owners will pat him on the back for a job very well done. That's because he does understand income generation. There's an irony here that what we believe football to be post 1992 is far more inkeeping with Ellis (namely that its out of touch) than what Heck knows and can do about increasing revenues. What we believe it is, in reality is just wish fulfilment. The game was bought and sold for Sky gold over 30 years ago and strangely as a club we've never quite got to grips with that in a way much smaller entities have. He isn't going anywhere.

[Villan82]

Ads, you were like most of us super excited (Americanism used deliberately here!) about the new North Stand. What do you think is going on, it doesn't make sense to bin it.