FFP

[AlexAlexCropley]

What is stopping me paying £25m for a pie and a pint ? Would this alleviate the bottom line? Hypothetically that is.

[London Villan]

What is stopping me paying £25m for a pie and a pint ? Would this alleviate the bottom line? Hypothetically that is.

I doubt they'd discount the prices that much.

[curiousorange]

What is stopping me paying £25m for a pie and a pint ? Would this alleviate the bottom line? Hypothetically that is.

I doubt they'd discount the prices that much.

Nice

[paul_e]

What is stopping me paying £25m for a pie and a pint ? Would this alleviate the bottom line? Hypothetically that is.

Sadly that's effectively the loophole that Man City used (but with massively overvalued sponsorship deals) and it led to a 'fair market value' clause that covers anything that could be seen as a donation rather than a payment for a service.

[curiousorange]

I'd love to be able to say none of this matters, that we've got generous owners and great lawyers, and while those last points are true, an 89% ratio of turnover to wages and a £120 million loss are not healthy no matter how optimistic you are.

[pauliewalnuts]

What is stopping me paying £25m for a pie and a pint ? Would this alleviate the bottom line? Hypothetically that is.

The insanely long queue of people in front of you waiting to pay a fiver and the glacial slow movement of the people behind the bar, which closes on kick off.

[Drummond]

I went to a networking event a couple of weeks ago at Villa and the speaker was the club's new head of Strategy and Analytics. This role is looking at the non-playing-side data, amongst other things, doing what supermarkets do with your data through loyalty cards and how they profile your habits).

Anyway... he made some interesting points about measuring the average spend of supporters in the ground, what they spend on merch and food, the different trends and patterns. But importantly about whether the figures stacked up for the new stand - based on the spending power of current fans that this (alongside 1/3 of the ground being affected, transport etc) was one of the reasons it was stopped. Basically, there isn't enough demand (atm) to justify an increase of 2000-3000 premium seats.

Just adds to the challenge we face.

I also think it was/is the underlying reason why we didn;t prioritise the FA Cup and LEague cups - The Champions League position is obviously first, but even the Conference league - despite it being a lesser trophy, would generate £25m for the club if we won it. Could be very important for next season's accounts...

The average fucking spend would be so much more if they could only sort the fucking service out.

Pay staff triple what the current lot are on and you'll attract way better staff. They will more than triple the spend and the club would be quids in without even upping prices.

[itbrvilla]

I went to a networking event a couple of weeks ago at Villa and the speaker was the club's new head of Strategy and Analytics. This role is looking at the non-playing-side data, amongst other things, doing what supermarkets do with your data through loyalty cards and how they profile your habits).

Anyway... he made some interesting points about measuring the average spend of supporters in the ground, what they spend on merch and food, the different trends and patterns. But importantly about whether the figures stacked up for the new stand - based on the spending power of current fans that this (alongside 1/3 of the ground being affected, transport etc) was one of the reasons it was stopped. Basically, there isn't enough demand (atm) to justify an increase of 2000-3000 premium seats.

Just adds to the challenge we face.

I also think it was/is the underlying reason why we didn;t prioritise the FA Cup and LEague cups - The Champions League position is obviously first, but even the Conference league - despite it being a lesser trophy, would generate £25m for the club if we won it. Could be very important for next season's accounts...

The average fucking spend would be so much more if they could only sort the fucking service out.

Pay staff triple what the current lot are on and you'll attract way better staff. They will more than triple the spend and the club would be quids in without even upping prices.

Spot on. Last few games I've been to I've wanted to grab a bottle of Purity Pale but the queue literally stays stationary for 5-10 mins. Ridiculous situation.

[London Villan]

Again from the networking, but there is a massive turnover of untrained staff each match. Rarely the same staff each match…

[AV82EC]

I went to a networking event a couple of weeks ago at Villa and the speaker was the club's new head of Strategy and Analytics. This role is looking at the non-playing-side data, amongst other things, doing what supermarkets do with your data through loyalty cards and how they profile your habits).

Anyway... he made some interesting points about measuring the average spend of supporters in the ground, what they spend on merch and food, the different trends and patterns. But importantly about whether the figures stacked up for the new stand - based on the spending power of current fans that this (alongside 1/3 of the ground being affected, transport etc) was one of the reasons it was stopped. Basically, there isn't enough demand (atm) to justify an increase of 2000-3000 premium seats.

Just adds to the challenge we face.

I also think it was/is the underlying reason why we didn;t prioritise the FA Cup and LEague cups - The Champions League position is obviously first, but even the Conference league - despite it being a lesser trophy, would generate £25m for the club if we won it. Could be very important for next season's accounts...

There’s just one problem with his assumptions there, which is the totally inadequate facilities and service which massively depress the spend per customer. I’m sure they probably factor this in but still, I’m slightly sceptical that the current numbers are in anyway reflective of what could be spent if they sorted the decades long underinvestment in supporter facilities. I might have been attracted to a GA+ type offer if they’d built the new stand but for the moment my money stays in my pocket as the UG and TV for me don’t seem worth it.

[chrisw1]

I went to a networking event a couple of weeks ago at Villa and the speaker was the club's new head of Strategy and Analytics. This role is looking at the non-playing-side data, amongst other things, doing what supermarkets do with your data through loyalty cards and how they profile your habits).

Anyway... he made some interesting points about measuring the average spend of supporters in the ground, what they spend on merch and food, the different trends and patterns. But importantly about whether the figures stacked up for the new stand - based on the spending power of current fans that this (alongside 1/3 of the ground being affected, transport etc) was one of the reasons it was stopped. Basically, there isn't enough demand (atm) to justify an increase of 2000-3000 premium seats.

Just adds to the challenge we face.

I also think it was/is the underlying reason why we didn;t prioritise the FA Cup and LEague cups - The Champions League position is obviously first, but even the Conference league - despite it being a lesser trophy, would generate £25m for the club if we won it. Could be very important for next season's accounts...

There’s just one problem with his assumptions there, which is the totally inadequate facilities and service which massively depress the spend per customer. I’m sure they probably factor this in but still, I’m slightly sceptical that the current numbers are in anyway reflective of what could be spent if they sorted the decades long underinvestment in supporter facilities. I might have been attracted to a GA+ type offer if they’d built the new stand but for the moment my money stays in my pocket as the UG and TV for me don’t seem worth it.

Agreed, it seems very short sighted to judge the appetite for this by two poorly executed red-herrings in the Holte End.  Do they actually ever speak to fans?

[Dogtanian]

They want to sell extras to people they’re attracting in to see a match. But the only way you can make sure you can purchase those extras is to miss a chunk of the match you actually came to see.

It’s not that we won’t spend, they’re just making it as difficult as possible.

[Baldy]

I went to a networking event a couple of weeks ago at Villa and the speaker was the club's new head of Strategy and Analytics. This role is looking at the non-playing-side data, amongst other things, doing what supermarkets do with your data through loyalty cards and how they profile your habits).

Anyway... he made some interesting points about measuring the average spend of supporters in the ground, what they spend on merch and food, the different trends and patterns. But importantly about whether the figures stacked up for the new stand - based on the spending power of current fans that this (alongside 1/3 of the ground being affected, transport etc) was one of the reasons it was stopped. Basically, there isn't enough demand (atm) to justify an increase of 2000-3000 premium seats.

Just adds to the challenge we face.

I also think it was/is the underlying reason why we didn;t prioritise the FA Cup and LEague cups - The Champions League position is obviously first, but even the Conference league - despite it being a lesser trophy, would generate £25m for the club if we won it. Could be very important for next season's accounts...

The average fucking spend would be so much more if they could only sort the fucking service out.

Pay staff triple what the current lot are on and you'll attract way better staff. They will more than triple the spend and the club would be quids in without even upping prices.

Spot on. Last few games I've been to I've wanted to grab a bottle of Purity Pale but the queue literally stays stationary for 5-10 mins. Ridiculous situation.

AlexAlexCropley was probably paying in cash,

[AV82EC]

They want to sell extras to people they’re attracting in to see a match. But the only way you can make sure you can purchase those extras is to miss a chunk of the match you actually came to see.

It’s not that we won’t spend, they’re just making it as difficult as possible.

Yep spot on.

[danno]

Again from the networking, but there is a massive turnover of untrained staff each match. Rarely the same staff each match…

Understandably so, given that in a bad season it’s potentially only 19 days a year. Even getting them in at 9am, they only have a few hours to practice before there’s a group of frustrated, sighing, eye rolling, swearing, middle aged baldies, passive aggressively tapping cards on counters, and complaining about the plastic pint glasses.

Anyone who does that job and comes back for the second game, should seriously look into refereeing.