Chris Heck - President of Business Operations

[paul_e]

"Just don't go" is about the only thing you can actually do though. If the response to price increases was a drop in attendance that left us with 80% occupancy and no increase in turnover then the club would be forced to reconsider.

From the perspective of Heck/the club they'll have 5-6 initiatives (pricing, GA+, the fanzone, new shop, the warehouse thing to come later and maybe others) which individually might be worth a relative pittance but if between them it adds up to £25-30m a season that's a big percentage of the 'gap' between where we are and the targeted £400m. Have the same (or more) from sponsors and then add in the CL money and it all adds up to a big jump in revenue that they'll see as us giving Emery the funds he needs to take another big step forward.

We'll then be looking to take yet another big step forward with finances (and is when I suspect the big stadium changes would come in) because £500m gets us in the same area as the London clubs from the 'big 6'.

Sponsors is where the big increase in income should be coming from.  I've stated before, if ManU can partner up with pressure washing and compressor companies why can't we do similar?  Okay, it needs sustained achievements to become interesting to these organisations as our global reach becomes bigger but we can start with more of them on a smaller scale.  It will take a lot of effort and hard work but it's what we should be aiming at.  Heck wants to use the low hanging fruit to get almost instant gratification in an effort to get his bonus.

but I literally said that, if you'd just included the start of the sentence you added a bold bit to. Yes we need to get more money from sponsorship but it's just silly to ignore matchday revenue as a stream. From the last set of published accounts gate receipts were less than 19m, commercial was a little over 30m and sponsors were a shockingly low 16m for a total about 55m. In context in that same year Arsenal and Chelsea made over 300m each and the other 'big 6' were all over 400m.

To compete in the long term we need to improve on all 3 measures. GA+, hospitality, better merchandising and improved concession sales are where I'd have liked the club to focus but I'm not surprised that they've pushed on the gate receipts as well because there are only so many levers they can shift and the longer we take in closing that gap the harder it will become.

I'm not a Heck apologist (whatever the fuck that even means) but I think "he's just trying to earn his bonus" completely ignores the fact that if he has a bonus set at us hitting £400m t/o then getting to that figure is important to the owners and there's every chance that they have set the timescale.

[VillaTim]

Robbing the loyal fanbase is the lazy, easy and pathetic option. What Heck should be focusing on is driving up the commercial sponsor revenue streams , that's where the big untapped opportunities lie.

[Sexual Ealing]

The way I see it is that fans are the football equivalent of the Bank of Mom & Dad. It's easy to ask supporters for more money because we love the club almost unconditionally, and we expect very little in return.

Getting more money from owners is limited by rules...
Getting more money from competitions requires more money spent...
Getting more money from sponsors requires more success which requires more money spent...

So unfortunately, it ends up with us mugs putting our hands in our pockets again because we're the soft touch.

But the extra amount added by the fans, is a relative pittance in the grand scheme of things in terms of the club's income. Of course it all adds up, but then you think what we're paying a player like Dobbin, and his amortisation in a year, for someone who I'd be surprised if he ever plays a single minute for us. The amounts being charged are huge for the supporters though, and while people may well suck it up for our first ever Champions League game, long term it's not a sustainable position.

This is the problem with the way these people work. Heavy incentives are great, but they can be contrary to the long-term health of the institution, as we saw with the banks when it all came crashing down.

If Heck is as good as the owners think he is, his incentive should be a fat salary on a (say) ten year contract.

I thought Purslow was a dick, but he rarely gave the impression that he was only after a quick buck in the shortest of terms. If he hadn't appointed Gerrard he might still be here now. But he did, so fuck him!

[paul_e]

Robbing the loyal fanbase is the lazy, easy and pathetic option. What Heck should be focusing on is driving up the commercial sponsor revenue streams , that's where the big untapped opportunities lie.

in 22/23 (the last accounts before he arrived) sponsorship was a little over £16m. Our current shirt deal and main sponsor are both, individually, worth more than that (according to reports at least, we won't know the exact values for a while), so he's clearly been successful in focusing on commercial sponsorship revenue.

[VillaTim]

Robbing the loyal fanbase is the lazy, easy and pathetic option. What Heck should be focusing on is driving up the commercial sponsor revenue streams , that's where the big untapped opportunities lie.

in 22/23 (the last accounts before he arrived) sponsorship was a little over £16m. Our current shirt deal and main sponsor are both, individually, worth more than that (according to reports at least, we won't know the exact values for a while), so he's clearly been successful in focusing on commercial sponsorship revenue.

Absolute tap-in deals that any of us could have pulled off on the back of the sterling work of Emery & Co.

[rougegorge]

"Just don't go" is about the only thing you can actually do though. If the response to price increases was a drop in attendance that left us with 80% occupancy and no increase in turnover then the club would be forced to reconsider.

From the perspective of Heck/the club they'll have 5-6 initiatives (pricing, GA+, the fanzone, new shop, the warehouse thing to come later and maybe others) which individually might be worth a relative pittance but if between them it adds up to £25-30m a season that's a big percentage of the 'gap' between where we are and the targeted £400m. Have the same (or more) from sponsors and then add in the CL money and it all adds up to a big jump in revenue that they'll see as us giving Emery the funds he needs to take another big step forward.

We'll then be looking to take yet another big step forward with finances (and is when I suspect the big stadium changes would come in) because £500m gets us in the same area as the London clubs from the 'big 6'.

But matchday ticket prices are just a small percentage of actual revenue. There was no need to hit loyal supporters so hard. Other clubs have continually raised revenues without resorting to hammering loyal supporters in the pocket.

You think?

Have you seen match-day prices at Arsenal and Spurs?  Their cheapest ST is well over a grand and their CAT A prices are higher than ours.  And that's with Spurs adding over 26k to their capacity in one fell swoop.

I agree that Arsenal and Spurs are very expensive, though I would expect tickets to be more than ours given that the cost of living is higher and salaries are generally much higher as well. However Arsenal season ticket holders do at least get the four league stage European games included and the ground is more modern.

[paul_e]

Robbing the loyal fanbase is the lazy, easy and pathetic option. What Heck should be focusing on is driving up the commercial sponsor revenue streams , that's where the big untapped opportunities lie.

in 22/23 (the last accounts before he arrived) sponsorship was a little over £16m. Our current shirt deal and main sponsor are both, individually, worth more than that (according to reports at least, we won't know the exact values for a while), so he's clearly been successful in focusing on commercial sponsorship revenue.

Absolute tap-in deals that any of us could have pulled off on the back of the sterling work of Emery & Co.

Yeah, we should just sack all the commercial staff and have a few fan volunteers handle it, fucking simple.

[VillaTim]

Robbing the loyal fanbase is the lazy, easy and pathetic option. What Heck should be focusing on is driving up the commercial sponsor revenue streams , that's where the big untapped opportunities lie.

in 22/23 (the last accounts before he arrived) sponsorship was a little over £16m. Our current shirt deal and main sponsor are both, individually, worth more than that (according to reports at least, we won't know the exact values for a while), so he's clearly been successful in focusing on commercial sponsorship revenue.

Absolute tap-in deals that any of us could have pulled off on the back of the sterling work of Emery & Co.

Yeah, we should just sack all the commercial staff and have a few fan volunteers handle it, fucking simple.

My point was the on-field success has put it on a plate to get better commercial deals. Anyone could have done it off the back of Emery's magic.

[algy]

I think what they have underestimated is how many of us were already feeling we were paying too much, already actually were paying too much against our incomes.

That pricing just finally told a huge chunk of people that it’s time to stop trying to keep up.

That’s the problem they won’t see just yet, but there’ll be more than just those who didn’t buy for this game, that are thinking this season might be their last as a regular.

Agree totally, Amfy.  I think the big impact will be in 20-25 years.  At the moment ... a bit like that analogy of a frog in boiling water vs slowly increasing the temperature ... they're increasing the temperature and whilst the frogs in the pot don't like it, they're hooked enough that they'll withstand the unreasonable price hikes.

The problem is that there's a whole group of people who are on the outside and don't want to jump in to the clearly boiling water.  I'm a bit of a shit example, but I'm also not the worst.  I'll typically go to 6-8 games a season now.  When the kids leave home in ~10 years, I would be inclined to get a season ticket, or at least go more.  However, those 6-8 games a season are looking increasingly like it might be 2-3 games a season now.  I can't afford to go to more than 1 or 2 Champions League games (and timings mean the most likely are the last 2 - Juventus and Celtic), and I'll almost certainly go to a league or FA cup game in December with all my cousins/uncles/... cos otherwise we never see eachother.

But then, are my kids going to want to go and watch the Villa when they've barely ever been?  And it's not because I don't want to take them, or even that it's that problematic to take them (Saturday 3pms are fine and in a few years time they'll be OK with the late nights involved in later kickoffs) ... it's that I can't afford to take them.  But if they're not hooked, then they're no longer that frog that you can keep turning up the temperature on.  That loyal fanbase will be lost, replaced with people who expect some level of customer service for their £94.  Cos honestly, they can charge me £50 and I don't give a shit about if I'm served or if the toilet's overflowing, cos I'll go anyway.  But someone looking for an 'experience' and willing to pay 3 figures for it ... they are absolutely going to be bothered about the rivers of piss, atrocious service, and seats built for people the height of Bilbo fucking Baggins.

[Risso]

At least at Spurs and Arsenal, in return for getting fleeced you get two modern stadiums with facilities fit for watching football in the 21st century. And with Arsenal, it's a piece of piss to both get to, and away from.

[simboy]

Heck’s time in charge so far reminds me of Ellis, he knows the price of everything but the value of f*ck all.

Sorting the “customer experience” of the “GA” muppets might get one time attendees going again.

[paul_e]

My point was the on-field success has put it on a plate to get better commercial deals. Anyone could have done it off the back of Emery's magic.

and your point is largely wrong, aside from anything else we had to negotiate exits from our existing deals which were both supposed to run for this season before we even started talks with replacements, that's not easy and should be shrugged away as something anyone could do.

After that, and given the time involved, the deals will also have been in talks since last Autumn (with Adidas almost certainly signed by about November at the latest) when all we had was a good start the season (with a couple of heavy defeats mixed in).

Is it really so hard for you to accept that there are things that Heck has done well since he arrived?

[paul_e]

Heck’s time in charge so far reminds me of Ellis, he knows the price of everything but the value of f*ck all.

Sorting the “customer experience” of the “GA” muppets might get one time attendees going again.

Maybe, but the problems at the Arsenal game were clearly unintented and resulted from the work during the summer not being completed in time or to the standard required. That's worthy of criticism and wasn't good enough but we only need to wait 2 more games to see if he's done anything about it and then we can revisit this, I think the fanzone thing is a clear attempt to improve the customer experience as is the work being done on the warehouse fan park thing.

[john e]

"Just don't go" is about the only thing you can actually do though. If the response to price increases was a drop in attendance that left us with 80% occupancy and no increase in turnover then the club would be forced to reconsider.

From the perspective of Heck/the club they'll have 5-6 initiatives (pricing, GA+, the fanzone, new shop, the warehouse thing to come later and maybe others) which individually might be worth a relative pittance but if between them it adds up to £25-30m a season that's a big percentage of the 'gap' between where we are and the targeted £400m. Have the same (or more) from sponsors and then add in the CL money and it all adds up to a big jump in revenue that they'll see as us giving Emery the funds he needs to take another big step forward.

We'll then be looking to take yet another big step forward with finances (and is when I suspect the big stadium changes would come in) because £500m gets us in the same area as the London clubs from the 'big 6'.

Sponsors is where the big increase in income should be coming from.  I've stated before, if ManU can partner up with pressure washing and compressor companies why can't we do similar?  Okay, it needs sustained achievements to become interesting to these organisations as our global reach becomes bigger but we can start with more of them on a smaller scale.  It will take a lot of effort and hard work but it's what we should be aiming at.  Heck wants to use the low hanging fruit to get almost instant gratification in an effort to get his bonus.

but I literally said that, if you'd just included the start of the sentence you added a bold bit to. Yes we need to get more money from sponsorship but it's just silly to ignore matchday revenue as a stream. From the last set of published accounts gate receipts were less than 19m, commercial was a little over 30m and sponsors were a shockingly low 16m for a total about 55m. In context in that same year Arsenal and Chelsea made over 300m each and the other 'big 6' were all over 400m.

To compete in the long term we need to improve on all 3 measures. GA+, hospitality, better merchandising and improved concession sales are where I'd have liked the club to focus but I'm not surprised that they've pushed on the gate receipts as well because there are only so many levers they can shift and the longer we take in closing that gap the harder it will become.

I'm not a Heck apologist (whatever the fuck that even means) but I think "he's just trying to earn his bonus" completely ignores the fact that if he has a bonus set at us hitting £400m t/o then getting to that figure is important to the owners and there's every chance that they have set the timescale.

[London Villan]

I'm not sure any work was scheduled on the GA facilities - the uproar following the game has prompted that.

The fact the concourse areas and toilets hadn't even been cleaned (let alone refurbed) prior to the first game of the season shows the lack of focus on the facilities for the 35,000 general admission fans. There was a reference to the owners getting involved in sorting that.

Be interesting to see the improvements on Saturday - a simple one would be opening the gates 2hrs before kick off.