Chris Heck - President of Business Operations

[Brazilian Villain]

I'm guessing Risso doesn't listen to 'Fighting Talk'.

I'd honestly rather listen to Jazz FM.

Sounds like a suitable topic for Defend the Indefensible.

[pauliewalnuts]

I just remembered Buzz FM.

[SaddVillan]

Let's cut the crap about Chris Heck and his role and accept the brutal truth.

Heck's here to put more bums on more seats and get them to spend more money, whilst at the same time bringing in as much as possible from reputable commercial sources.

Football's always been about money. William McGregor set up the Football League to provide clubs with "a fixity of fuxtures". Hitherto games were played as and when and he wanted to regularise and increase the income flow.

To Heck, history, tradition and heritage count for fuck all unless they can be monetised.

Painful for some to accept, but we're not going to become a top club without the appropriate financial muscle and that won't happen if we stick what we've done up until now.

Don't forget, he's been head hunted by Wes and Naseef and must, therefore have their support and they've already put over half a billion into the club - no wonder they're looking to bring in money from other sources.

For the future of Villa, it's crucial that Heck succeeds - there will be missteps for sure, but let's give the bloke a chance.

[Villan82]

We know he is here to put bums on seats and make more money. That's why some of us are confused as to why he cancelled our plans for more seats, more business/revenue raising potential and has mucked around so much with our brand we have two if not three different badges (or logos if we want to go all out corporate).

Not really logical with his brief now is it?

[Steve67]

There is a logic to what he said though.  Put a few thousand on the current gate, rather than lose around 7 thousand whilst the ground is being addressed.  Ok, so it's very 'live for today' but I can get why he's making hay whilst the sun shines.

[Sexual Ealing]

There is a logic to what he said though.  Put a few thousand on the current gate, rather than lose around 7 thousand whilst the ground is being addressed.  Ok, so it's very 'live for today' but I can get why he's making hay whilst the sun shines.

There was a conversation on here semi-recently about average indie bands. I can't say I care for much of their output, but Catatonia had a great lyric in one of their songs that went, "make hay not war". I'm all for it.

[Risso]

There is a logic to what he said though.  Put a few thousand on the current gate, rather than lose around 7 thousand whilst the ground is being addressed.  Ok, so it's very 'live for today' but I can get why he's making hay whilst the sun shines.

He hasn't said the ground is being addressed though. He's just cancelled the expansion.

[Steve67]

I get that Risso, what he’s failed to tell us is what is the actual longer term plan is. But he’s still going to make us a bit more money with the extra seats. Strange not giving us the whole story.

[Risso]

What extra seats though? Where are they going to go, and why's there no planning permission in?

[Villan82]

Heck has communicated with us in a way that suggests he assumes we are thick and has no respect for us.

I might, at a push, agree with you on getting an extra 2-3k seats in, and then reassessing, if I had an idea where they would go and I saw planning permission. But the North is just increasingly a relic of a different era that needs replacing asap

But as of now, like the decision on the round badge, it just looks to me like he wants to rip up what his predecessor did so he can look all decisive, promise a few unicorns, tick a few boxes and move on to his next job.

[Chris Smith]

The more I have thought about this then next season with centenary celebrations and potential CL football against a backdrop of a building site at one end of the ground makes no sense to me.

[pauliewalnuts]

The more I have thought about this then next season with centenary celebrations and potential CL football against a backdrop of a building site at one end of the ground makes no sense to me.

That's totally fine and understandable.

But he hasn't said what we're going to do instead, other than some flannel about 2 or 3,000 extra seats shoe-horned in, which doesn't stand up to the slightest bit of scrutiny.

[Villan82]

The more I have thought about this then next season with centenary celebrations and potential CL football against a backdrop of a building site at one end of the ground makes no sense to me.

The Holte was a building site for the Inter-Milan game, it was about half built. The Trinity side was a building site for half the 2000-01 season, the Luc Nillis stunner against Chelsea!

I don't see any of that as an argument for delaying/ceasing. it just goes to show we should have done it years ago so it would be ready for when we got back to the upper echelons. In fact, having the new stand rising up majestically as we progress through our 150th season would be a signal that we are here to stay and are, once again, at the vanguard within the game and with an evolving Villa Park fit for the future.

[PeterWithesShin]

We had no choice with The Holte though.

And in 00/01 it wasn't hard to get into VP, even after the Trinty was done the attendances were often 10-12k below capacity.

[Drummond]

Not this argument, again.