Fan Advisory Board meeting minutes

[dave.woodhall]

Supporter representatives of the Fan Advisory Board attended their first meeting at Villa Park on Thursday, 20th April, called at short notice on Monday, 17th, for the Club to present season ticket plans and details from the recent Holte End Survey.

These are the matters discussed and confirmation of the attendees.

Fan Representatives

Scott Jones, Villa Talk; Mo Razzaq, AV Supporters Trust; Sarah Breslin, Villa Bellas; Stephen Gough,AV Independent Supporters Clubs; Joanne McKibbens, Aston Villa Disabled Supporters Association; Nilesh Chauhan, Villans Together; John Gillett, Lions Clubs; Dave Woodhall, Heroes & Villains; Ian Stokes, Vital Villa; Lena Curran, Fan Representative; Connor Smith, Fan Representative; David Aston, Guest Fan Representative; Alan O’Neill, Guest Fan Representative.

Virtual attendance

David Michael, My Old Man Said; Harjit Badesha, Punjabi Villans; Nick Sanders, avillafan.com.

Apologies         

Sam Timms, Villa & Proud.

Club Representatives

Christian Purslow, Chief Executive Officer; Paul Tyrrell, Chief Operating Officer; Nicola Ibbetson, Chief Commercial Officer; Tommy Jordan,  Communications Director; Adam Lowe, Head of Marketing; Lynne O’Reardon, Head of Ticketing Operations; Susannah Barnes, Commercial Manager; Lee Preece, Supporter Liaison Manager.

A general discussion took place on subjects including:

The New Holte Experience, Rail Seating & Season Ticket Pricing.

Fan Advisory Board Minutes

Holte End Survey

The club provided an update on the results of the recent Holte End survey which was conducted by YouGov. Just over 3,500 responses. Key themes were matchday experience, new fan experiences and safe standing.

As a result of the survey findings, work is already underway to create and invest in new experiences for fans.

The was a clear majority who believed that Food & Beverage was in need of more improvement. The new facilities which have been added to Lower Holte (self-serve, tap & go, pour your own pint) scored highly. Connectivity and post-match entertainment were also highlighted with the club looking at various solutions and initiatives to improve the fan experience.

Almost half of fans stated that they would be interested in a new enhanced GA+ style experience within the Holte End as a bolt-on to their ticket. Key inclusions fans would like to see are:

a social bar area with good food & drink options and views
wifi access
good quality street-style food
other entertainment (villatv/legends visits/post-match access etc)
The Club presented plans of work to upgrade the Ramsey’s Bar space on the middle floor of the Holte End to meet these requirements of supporters. This would have no impact on existing fans seats/season ticket pricing and would be available as a seasonal bolt-on or a match-by-match basis.

Accessible Seating

Following the successful introduction of accessible seating in the away section of Lower Doug Ellis this season, 8 additional accessible seating spaces will be created within the Holte End as part of a long-term plan to introduce accessible seating within multiple stands and to become compliant with the Accessible Stadia legislation. The creation of 8 wheelchair and 8 companion seats within The Holte on a new accessible platform impacts more than 100 season ticket holders who will be prioritised for relocation.

Safe Standing / Rail Seating

The Holte End survey showed that three quarters of fans were supportive of safe standing, with two thirds happy to have their seat updated to safe standing.

The Club has been monitoring trials of safe standing at other PL clubs and been in regular contact with the Sports Grounds Safety Authority. The SGSA has advised us that as persistent standing in areas of Villa Park continues to give them cause for concern, the Club should introduce rail seating during the 23/24 season if it wishes to avoid the prospect of stadium capacity being reduced.

Therefore, rail seating will be introduced on a gradual basis at the back of Upper Holte (approximately 2500 seats). Anyone currently occupying standard seats in the back of Upper Holte who doesn’t wish to have a rail seat will be provided with the option to relocate. Approx 1,000 rail seats will also be introduced to the away section in Upper Doug Ellis.

It is important to note that current legislation compels clubs to introduce rail seats on a “1 for 1” basis with standard seats rather than as in other European countries where the ratio of rail seat/ standard seat can be as high as 2:1. Therefore installing rail seats is a costly process which results in no extra revenue for the club.

More details on the rail seating arrangements will be provided in the coming weeks.

Season Tickets

The club presented some of the findings of extensive analysis and benchmarking carried out to compare against our Premier League competitors. Our analysis demonstrated we are towards the lower end of Premier League when comparing the price of an Adult Season Ticket.

Increasing Season Ticket prices will enable us to continue aligning our pricing more closely with our Premier League competitors and to help bring our revenues more in line with the costs of competing in the upper reaches of The Premier League, while remaining compliant with all the required financial regulations.

The meeting was informed that the Club intends for the majority of Adult season ticket prices to increase by 15% and our 23/24 season ticket prices will move us into the top 8 of the Premier League benchmarking.

Christian Purslow explained to the meeting that he is acutely aware of how everybody is experiencing the effects of the cost of living and inflation increases, however the Club itself is not immune to those economic pressures.

He said our brilliant owners have supported Aston Villa with over £400m of their own money, but football finance rules only permit them to do so much. Now we have an elite manager who has already made incredible progress in such a short time, the Board’s desire is to give Unai the best opportunity to continue his work.

He said the Club’s strategy is to make Aston Villa competitive with the very best teams in the country, on the field and off the field and to do that we have to try to balance our revenues with our ever-growing costs.

Other ticketing

Stadium bowl analysis reveals an imbalance between pricing of the Holte End and the North Stand.  Many Premier League Clubs operate consistent pricing behind each goal. Consequently, T2, T3 and T4 will move from Price Zone 4 to Price Zone 3 to reflect pricing in the Holte End and remain consistent with our pricing across the stadium – continuing our fair approach across all fans. The view from the Upper North is significantly better than the view from other Price Zone 4 blocks around Villa Park.

As discussed with the previous FCG in April 2022, the Club continues to reduce concessional discounts across all categories in line with wider Premier League benchmarking. Current concessional Season Ticket Holders in Price Zone 4 will enjoy a greater discount to protect our entry price points for fans. Current U14 Season Ticket Holders in Price Zone 4 will still be able to watch a game of live Premier League football for c.£8 a match – ranking as one of the lowest prices on our benchmarking of other Birmingham-based leisure activities including other local teams.

Cup Tickets

Aston Villa are one of the only clubs in the Premier League to include free domestic home cup games within their season ticket product offering. The Club believes it is reasonable to remove this benefit from next season whilst ensuring all of our loyal season ticket holders continue to have priority access to Cup games.

North Stand Redevelopment

Mr Purslow told the meeting that the club remains in dialogue with all external stakeholders regarding the plans to redevelop Villa Park and the Board was delighted that we were selected as a host stadium in the UK & Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2028 Bid.

He said a timetable for demolition and rebuilding work will be announced soon following full consideration of logistical and economic factors.

Our new Inner-City Academy in Brookvale is scheduled for opening in time for the start of the next season.

[wittonwarrior]

I 'm all in favour of the  Fan Advisory Board - what I am not happy about however is the way they have to sit and be told what is happening rather than having any real say or forcing a further review of issues which the FAB think may need further debate.

[LeonW]

Thank you for sharing that, Dave

[Steve67]

Thanks Dave. Lots of positive news there.

[eamonn]

The rescinding of the free Cup games seems unnecessarily attention-grabbing (for the wrong reasons). When was the last time we went on a cup-run with more than one game at VP?!

[Jon Crofts]

The rescinding of the free Cup games seems unnecessarily attention-grabbing (for the wrong reasons). When was the last time we went on a cup-run with more than one game at VP?!

19/20 Caraboa Cup, so not that long ago.

[eamonn]

I guess not but it's still only 1/8 of the number of domestic competitions in that time.

[Des Little]

Dave, did you have to pay to go? With the option of upgrading to a seat closer to Purslow?

[dave.woodhall]

Dave, did you have to pay to go? With the option of upgrading to a seat closer to Purslow?

Did I have to WHAT???

[Des Little]

Apologies for the profanity!

[dave.woodhall]

I should think so too. The very idea.

[DeKuip]

Other than “a discussion took place” the minutes make no mention of the response from those representing the fans.
Was it just a case of the club coming out with all their marketing speak bullshit and everyone just sitting there listening to it and agreeing or was there any argument against the price rises or the plans to put in what will eventually become a corporate area in the Holte End. I would like to think Purslow at the very least was booed out of the meeting.
Please tell me someone stood up and politely said: “Mr Purslow, you and your bosses really are taking the piss here aren’t you.” … or something stronger.

[dave.woodhall]

Other than “a discussion took place” the minutes make no mention of the response from those representing the fans.
Was it just a case of the club coming out with all their marketing speak bullshit and everyone just sitting there listening to it and agreeing or was there any argument against the price rises or the plans to put in what will eventually become a corporate area in the Holte End. I would like to think Purslow at the very least was booed out of the meeting.
Please tell me someone stood up and politely said: “Mr Purslow, you and your bosses really are taking the piss here aren’t you.” … or something stronger.

It was pointed out that the North Stand price rise was a piss take but there's not much point arguing with "Take it or leave it". There was no mention of the cost of the Holte thing; to be honest it came as such a surprise that I think everyone was a bit taken aback.

[DeKuip]

Thanks for your reply Dave. You’ve said many times over the years that Doug Ellis ran the Villa like a corner shop and held us back, and I agree with you, but I’ve also always hated the bully boy developers who come along with big ideas and flatten those corner shops.

[Drummond]

Is it now FAB because we're all puppets on strings?