Aston Villa Group End of Year Accounts - year end May 31st 2022

[pauliewalnuts]

Looking at the accounts  one figure jumps out:

Turnover: £178.4m, compare it to:

Man City £571m
Liverpool £487m
Man Utd £494m
Chelsea £481m
Spurs £442m
Arsenal £367m

Bearing in mind that you can't spend what you don't earn, on a very simplistic basis, this means the "Big 6" had between two and three times to lay out on wages and transfers than we did.

Sonething to point out to the naysayers and moaners?

Oh no, it’s a tedious naysayers and moaners retort.

[olaftab]

Give me meeting our European Cup winners any day rather than shaking hands with millionaire footballers playing for a club currently under investigation and bollocks to blue smoke.

You're obviously speaking as a Villa fan, and I assume a middle aged one at that. The (mostly younger) City fans there absolutely loved it.

We need to stop dining out on the European Cup win, too.
It was 40 years ago. Four entire decades.

Yes. I really really hope we will not celebrate 50 without any further European and Domestic trophies.

[Rory]

Give me meeting our European Cup winners any day rather than shaking hands with millionaire footballers playing for a club currently under investigation and bollocks to blue smoke.

You're obviously speaking as a Villa fan, and I assume a middle aged one at that. The (mostly younger) City fans there absolutely loved it.

We need to stop dining out on the European Cup win, too.
It was 40 years ago. Four entire decades.

Yes. I really really hope we will not celebrate 50 without any further European and Domestic trophies.

I dunno, Risso's tale of the Etihad horrified and depressed me in equal measure. Sounds like Alton Towers, not football.

If that's the way things are going (and I have no doubt it is) I suspect if we ever win anything again, I will have long since stopped bothering.

[dave.woodhall]

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to someone who said what a great ground the Nou Camp was and how Molineux was shit because his kids said the carpets in the box they were in were starting to fray. And I thought what a soulless life that must be, to bring going to the match when you're a young lad down to the level of soft furnishings.

[Rory]

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to someone who said what a great ground the Nou Camp was and how Molineux was shit because his kids said the carpets in the box they were in were starting to fray. And I thought what a soulless life that must be, to bring going to the match when you're a young lad down to the level of soft furnishings.

Tragic (it being Molineux aside...)

My first couple of games, I loved because I was there with my Dad. That was enough. Then the atmosphere got me. I always thought that when you've stood in the cold with 40-odd thousand strangers, all willing for the same thing, you can't undo that feeling of solidarity.

Yeah the ground and facilities should be as good as we can make them, but fuck me, if the next generation of football fans have so little invested in their local clubs that they are genuinely swayed by such trivial nonsense, I'm going to hate them even more than I do my own.

[RamboandBruno]

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to someone who said what a great ground the Nou Camp was and how Molineux was shit because his kids said the carpets in the box they were in were starting to fray. And I thought what a soulless life that must be, to bring going to the match when you're a young lad down to the level of soft furnishings.

Tragic (it being Molineux aside...)

My first couple of games, I loved because I was there with my Dad. That was enough. Then the atmosphere got me. I always thought that when you've stood in the cold with 40-odd thousand strangers, all willing for the same thing, you can't undo that feeling of solidarity.

Yeah the ground and facilities should be as good as we can make them, but fuck me, if the next generation of football fans have so little invested in their local clubs that they are genuinely swayed by such trivial nonsense, I'm going to hate them even more than I do my own.

Ive posted about this in the ‘what time do players arrive’ thread. I think improvements to pre match and during match facilities have to be improved upon as they have been a bit shite to be fair and we can’t pretend having a drink, food etc, shouldn’t be a painless process as it should be. Likewise, having some pre match entertainment for the kids in particular, can’t be a bad thing.
However, I completely agree that if it comes down to the sanitised corporate experience of claret and blue carpets and smoke, to engage the kids, or the kids from wealthy enough families to enter whatever exclusive fanzone thats been created, then i despair as well.
I know im a middle aged man and this clouds my perspective, but my 16 year old daughter and 13 year old lad have been coming to the villa with me for 8-10 years now. There have been some absolute shit seasons in that time and some shite matches. Im in the back of the right hand side of the lower holte, L2 and everyone stands where we are. Sometimes, the if my lads thoroughly pissed off, he’ll sit down for a bit chuntering to himself (Southampton at home this season). Surely not being entertained constantly for every second, with whirring lights and razzmatazz is part of being a football supporter. Despite all the dross of the last 10 years, the shit service behind the bar etc, my kids and my lad in particular are Villa nuts.

I hate the idea that we need exclusive fanzones and the like to engage the future generation, its not true and its more boxing the ‘product’ and selling aspects of it off to the highest bidders on a fortnightly basis, whilst sucking the soul out of the club.

Get the players to say hello in a better way, have some better pre match and during match service and something for the kids to encourage them to get down to VP earlier if they want, and thats enough for me.

[olaftab]

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to someone who said what a great ground the Nou Camp was and how Molineux was shit because his kids said the carpets in the box they were in were starting to fray. And I thought what a soulless life that must be, to bring going to the match when you're a young lad down to the level of soft furnishings.

Yes, indeed. I remember when my biggest concern was getting back to my standing position when I got pushed down about 10 steps every-time there was an attack by the Villa or a near miss.

[Rory]

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to someone who said what a great ground the Nou Camp was and how Molineux was shit because his kids said the carpets in the box they were in were starting to fray. And I thought what a soulless life that must be, to bring going to the match when you're a young lad down to the level of soft furnishings.

Yes, indeed. I remember when my biggest concern was getting back to my standing position when I got pushed down about 10 steps every-time there was an attack by the Villa or a near miss.

No way are you that senior, Aftab.

[Risso]

I dunno, Risso's tale of the Etihad horrified and depressed me in equal measure. Sounds like Alton Towers, not football.

If that's the way things are going (and I have no doubt it is) I suspect if we ever win anything again, I will have long since stopped bothering.

I think you've missed the point somewhat. The players' coach arrives, and those that want to can wait outside in a special area for the players to come out, who then sign autographs and pose for photos etc. It's obviously aimed at kids (and doesn't cost anything), and whatever you think of it, in my opinion it's a big improvement on the way our players just sort of skulk in without even bothering to acknowledge the fans. Nobody's forcing anybody to do it, and if you haven't got kids then you probably wouldn't bother. It's a nice touch for those that do though. The players then enter the building, where Man City fleece the more well-heeled Manc fans.

I can't see that this in any way detracts from the experience of people who just want to turn up, have a pint and a pie and have nothing to do with any extra razzamatazz whatsoever. It just give kids who would like to see the players a guaranteed opportunity to do so, without having to sort of guess as to whether or not the players can be arsed or not. Grumpy middle aged men are completely free to ignore it.

[pauliewalnuts]

There’s no point really complaining about it any more. Things change and so do people so what was great for a now middle age person like me (and most of us here) is not so great for the younger generation.

 “I’ll just walk away from it, it’s not the game i loved” must be one of the most frequently posted things on here but it’s really not that simple, and is why we waste thousands of hours on here talking about it in the first place.

I don’t enjoy all that modern frippery we are talking about either, but let’s be entirely honest - we eulogise a time when the match day experience was very different, but then again, the modern younger fan isn’t having to put up with being treated like an animal (by multiple sectors of society), risking their life on unsafe terraces, and running the risk of getting their head kicked in if they go to an away match.

I also reckon for all we (I include myself in this) bang on about the inauthenticity of the fan experience at clubs like Man City or Man United or whoever and how yeah but we won the European Cup and we’d much rather meet someone from that team (who the majority of fans under 30 won’t have a clue about) in an environment akin to an expensive Harvester because it’s somehow more ‘real’ - well, maybe that’s part of the problem. They’re the ones amassing money, great payers and silverware. Maybe they’re doing something right?

We also tend to complain about the stuff we don’t like in the modern game whilst glossing over the good stuff. You can quite easily watch every single minute of every Villa match now, wherever you are in the world. That ubiquity of English football is all part of the same change in the game. You can’t keep that but not have all the other stuff you don’t like because it’s not like it was 20 years ago.

It isn’t the 1980s anymore, nothing stays the same for decades, and what is happening now has itself been going on for 30 years now - the people who watch it on the telly, the people who write about it in the media, the people who own the clubs, the people who go to matches - all changed.

I am happy to moan about it as good as the next man, but pretty soon there are going to be more people who only know the post 1992 match going experience then there are those who knew ‘our’ game, so it is a losing battle.

[Simon Page]

Although I agree with the post above, I'd like to point out that only my experience of the game is the correct one. Everything else is the work of Satan.

It is very easy to ignore the showbiz element of football if you want to. Thankfully.

[kipeye]

Although I agree with the post above, I'd like to point out that only my experience of the game is the correct one. Everything else is the work of Satan.

It is very easy to ignore the showbiz element of football if you want to. Thankfully.

Yup. Credit where it's due.

[Drummond]

My first couple of games, I loved because I was there with my Dad. That was enough. Then the atmosphere got me. I always thought that when you've stood in the cold with 40-odd thousand strangers, all willing for the same thing, you can't undo that feeling of solidarity.

Yeah the ground and facilities should be as good as we can make them, but fuck me, if the next generation of football fans have so little invested in their local clubs that they are genuinely swayed by such trivial nonsense, I'm going to hate them even more than I do my own.

And I think that's why it lad loves it. He's with me.

Don't get me wrong, the celebrity things works too. He was chuffed he got to see Ronaldo play, because his Man Utd mates all went on about it. Even better, it was his last game, we made him look shit, and we beat them comprehensively.

Part of the match day is having your own ritual. Whether that's a kick about beforehand, a visit to the shop, standing at the fence trying to see the players go in or just having a tray of chips, it's all about what the Villa can do to make it better, easier, and let's be honest create some revenue whilst they're at it.

[Risso]

Exactly Drummond. Whatever the experience, the club needs to be much better at all of it.

[LeeB]

Exactly Drummond. Whatever the experience, the club needs to be much better at all of it.

Yes, I've menetioned it before but just actually getting to and from the turnstiles in the North Stand from the Trinity Rd side is an absolute ballache in itself, which just shouldn't be the case.