Chris Heck - President of Business Operations

[chrisw1]

I can't be arsed to go to the meetings either tbh.  So if any of you minions who do go could tell Christopher that all I really want is to be able to buy a decent pint and quality pie without a 20 minute queue, that would be great.  Oh, it would be nice if they didn't halve the available w/c provisions in the Holte Upper too.  If he can get that right I'm not too bothered about what he does with the badge.

I'll let you know if there's anything else I want you to tell him. 

Cheers.

[Drummond]

Maybe he's ditching Villa Live so we can have tailgate parties instead...

[cdward]

The thing is, we are not the target audience that a new badge, crest or Villa Live experience is aiming at.
The appointment of Chris Heck is to increase the commercial revenue being brought in, as compared to other PL clubs we are way below them.
Watching Chris Heck talking about 76ers and how he turned a $300million turnover into a $3Billion turnover, it was all about attracting new fans and new investors through new ideas.
For me a new badge will be nice, and somewhere to get a pint and something to eat will be nice, but i wont change my support or following of the club, it's the new supporters and commercial interest that this is all geared towards.
I don't know anybody who will stop going to VP because the badge is shit, or the "experience" is shit, but a lot of the new people/companies will not be attracted to the brand if it's not right.
I'm far more interested in what Unai is doing, don't get me wrong, i understand we need to improve in this area, and ultimately if we do, we can then spend more on better players.
But i'm happy to let Heck do his thing, if it's a new badge or experience i like, then great. If not, not to worry, i'll still keep going and supporting my club.
 

[Dogtanian]

The thing is, we are not the target audience that a new badge, crest or Villa Live experience is aiming at.
The appointment of Chris Heck is to increase the commercial revenue being brought in, as compared to other PL clubs we are way below them.
Watching Chris Heck talking about 76ers and how he turned a $300million turnover into a $3Billion turnover, it was all about attracting new fans and new investors through new ideas.
For me a new badge will be nice, and somewhere to get a pint and something to eat will be nice, but i wont change my support or following of the club, it's the new supporters and commercial interest that this is all geared towards.
I don't know anybody who will stop going to VP because the badge is shit, or the "experience" is shit, but a lot of the new people/companies will not be attracted to the brand if it's not right.
I'm far more interested in what Unai is doing, don't get me wrong, i understand we need to improve in this area, and ultimately if we do, we can then spend more on better players.
But i'm happy to let Heck do his thing, if it's a new badge or experience i like, then great. If not, not to worry, i'll still keep going and supporting my club.

Absolutely, well said.

[Nii Lamptey]

As mentioned, the big projects are the branding and stadium expansion, but possibly the highest priority issue is half time food/drink service.

The club are pissing money away when it takes 25-30mins to get a beer during a 15min half time break. Fix this, and everything else will follow.

[Dogtanian]

As mentioned, the big projects are the branding and stadium expansion, but possibly the highest priority issue is half time food/drink service.

The club are pissing money away when it takes 25-30mins to get a beer during a 15min half time break. Fix this, and everything else will follow.

For some reason this made me think of self-serve beer stations above the piss troughs, so you only need to queue once for two needs. That would be some sort of progress, if we could just teach some more of our number to aim properly...

[LeeB]

Maybe he's ditching Villa Live so we can have tailgate parties instead...

Fuck yeah, though the reality of that would be Ford Focus with the boot jammed with cases of lager, grime played at ear splitting levels and a few moody looking lads standing around smoking weed

[chrisw1]

Yep, well said cdward.

[pablo_picasso]

The thing is, we are not the target audience that a new badge, crest or Villa Live experience is aiming at.

But we should be.

Which is why we have to be consulted about any changes to things like the crest.

Otherwise we might end up playing in red, being called Aston United, in the Budweiser Stadium with an overly simplified MLS/NFL style devil as the crest.

Don't get me wrong, having him drum up business is all well & good, & that is his job, but I don't want the identity & legacy of the club to be diluted so we can go chasing the short attention span of the likes of American day-trippers, bringing their vuvuzelas & happy clapper toy things, until something else shiny grabs their attention.

[Dogtanian]

The thing is, we are not the target audience that a new badge, crest or Villa Live experience is aiming at.

But we should be.

Which is why we have to be consulted about any changes to things like the crest.

Otherwise we might end up playing in red, being called Aston United, in the Budweiser Stadium with an overly simplified MLS/NFL style devil as the crest.

Don't get me wrong, having him drum up business is all well & good, & that is his job, but I don't want the identity & legacy of the club to be diluted so we can go chasing the short attention span of the likes of American day-trippers, bringing their vuvuzelas & happy clapper toy things, until something else shiny grabs their attention.

But the reality is that no matter what they do to the badge, we will still be Aston Villa fans for life. Those who go to games and support the club will keep going regardless.

His job is to make us attractive to everyone else.

[Flin5tone]

I suppose you're right us paying fools are just there to make an atmosphere and to make it look good on TV.

BUT when a vote with the fan base was carried out and now they have gone back on it , is in my opinion unacceptable.

If they want to look good/attractive why would you use that obscene shield even for this season on TV/socials/meetings etc it looks absolutely embarrassing

[Drummond]

Why weren't you this angry about it before?

[pablo_picasso]

The thing is, we are not the target audience that a new badge, crest or Villa Live experience is aiming at.

But we should be.

Which is why we have to be consulted about any changes to things like the crest.

Otherwise we might end up playing in red, being called Aston United, in the Budweiser Stadium with an overly simplified MLS/NFL style devil as the crest.

Don't get me wrong, having him drum up business is all well & good, & that is his job, but I don't want the identity & legacy of the club to be diluted so we can go chasing the short attention span of the likes of American day-trippers, bringing their vuvuzelas & happy clapper toy things, until something else shiny grabs their attention.

But the reality is that no matter what they do to the badge, we will still be Aston Villa fans for life. Those who go to games and support the club will keep going regardless.

His job is to make us attractive to everyone else.

Which is proven as we have visited Villa Park in a dark decade all the while with Lerners MS Paint jobby.

But not many of us liked it & there were a lot of calls to change it...

Like I have said, we have to wait to see what happens now, but I don't want the overall feel of our brand to be geared towards happy clapping day trippers.

[chrisw1]

I suppose you're right us paying fools are just there to make an atmosphere and to make it look good on TV.

BUT when a vote with the fan base was carried out and now they have gone back on it , is in my opinion unacceptable.

If they want to look good/attractive why would you use that obscene shield even for this season on TV/socials/meetings etc it looks absolutely embarrassing

What don't you get about it being a vote with only one tangible option?  Putting a pile of turd vs the round badge made the vote a forgon conclusion.  How is that fans choice?

Where was the fans choice on the way the lion faced?  The stupid fucking star or the stand-alone lion?

It wasn't fans choice, it was a stitch up.

[Goldenballs]

How do you let all fans choose though, send out a set of crayons to everyone and let them have a stab at designing one?

And they say they're going to consult the fans next time, but what if Heck or whoever doesn't like the result of it? Keep asking until he gets the answer he wants?  It'll be interesting how they go about it next time.