Chris Heck - President of Business Operations

[Villan82]

I don’t see anywhere that the North Stand being replaced has been scrapped altogether. Did I miss something? I’m sure the board, investors all look at it as a huge opportunity to elevate the club and add capacity. Just because it isn’t happened immediately doesn’t mean it is happening at all.

Was due to start this June.

In December Heck was asked by Villa TV and said 'we aren't doing that anymore'.

[Toronto Villa]

I don’t see anywhere that the North Stand being replaced has been scrapped altogether. Did I miss something? I’m sure the board, investors all look at it as a huge opportunity to elevate the club and add capacity. Just because it isn’t happened immediately doesn’t mean it is happening at all.

Was due to start this June.

In December Heck was asked by Villa TV and said 'we aren't doing that anymore'.

They paused on the original plans. We now have new investors so will likely have a longer term vision for the entire area. I doubt plans to improve upon the North has been scrapped for good.

[Stu82]

Sounds like we are going to have Trevor Burton concerts in the North stand car park.

Fine by me.

Seen him a few times, great musician.

[algy]

I don’t see anywhere that the North Stand being replaced has been scrapped altogether. Did I miss something? I’m sure the board, investors all look at it as a huge opportunity to elevate the club and add capacity. Just because it isn’t happened immediately doesn’t mean it is happening at all.

Was due to start this June.

In December Heck was asked by Villa TV and said 'we aren't doing that anymore'.

They paused on the original plans. We now have new investors so will likely have a longer term vision for the entire area. I doubt plans to improve upon the North has been scrapped for good.

I agree, TV. I'd suspect it's something closer to a pause. It really doesn't make sense to be playing in the middle of a building site for our 150th anniversary season.

Suspect we can get an awful lot done next season - e.g. Villa Live replacement, rail seating, etc - to get the infrastructure to cope with 50k crowds in place. Maybe a bit of the groundwork for the stand too.

[Risso]

I think the North Stand is dead as a plan to do it by itself. It might be part of a wider "knock the whole lot down and start again" project sometime in the future, but I reckon that'd be next decade at the earliest. Clearly the plan as it stands is just to squeeze as much revenue as possible from the existing infrastructure.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

Sounds like we are going to have Trevor Burton concerts in the North stand car park.

Fine by me.

Seen him a few times, great musician.

Get Steve Gibbons on as well and I might actually turn up for a game.

[chrisw1]

I think the North Stand is dead as a plan to do it by itself. It might be part of a wider "knock the whole lot down and start again" project sometime in the future, but I reckon that'd be next decade at the earliest. Clearly the plan as it stands is just to squeeze as much revenue as possible from the existing infrastructure.

Yep.

You will recall the post about the reason the stand development was called off was because of their lack of confidence in demand for GA+ tickets.  It seems that that was right all along and the new investment was just a red herring.

This way they will force the sale of those premium seats as there won't be anything else available.

[The Man With A Stick]

Selling GA+ tickets to those desperate to get in next season is all well and good but what's their plan for when the current bubble bursts, as we all know it will at some point as we've seen it a dozen times before.  There's no way Chelsea and ManUre will be basket cases for ever, so you'll have us, Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Spurs, ManUre, Chelsea and potentially Newcastle, West Ham, Brighton and anyone else who fancies getting their shit together all vying for European/CL places.

It all just seems a little short-termist to me.

[Villan82]

It's alarmingly short-termist and when placed alongside the handling of the club's branding over the past year, would make you conclude we have made a mistake on the business leadership side of it

[chrisw1]

I guess when that bubble bursts we won't need more than 40k seats.

I think cancelling it with no alternative plan is daft, but it is the owner's money, not mine.

I think maybe they feel a few thousand extra standard-priced seats just don't add that much income.  Where I think it's short-sighted is that if people can't get standard-priced seats due to demand, how do we hook the next generation of fans?

[Sexual Ealing]

He's just posted this on Twitter. No idea of its significance beyond the Adidas logo.
https://twitter.com/chrisheck76/status/1788954469083791774

[Dogtanian]

They haven't had actually announced the Adidas deal yet, have they?

[Villan82]

He's just posted this on Twitter. No idea of its significance beyond the Adidas logo.
https://twitter.com/chrisheck76/status/1788954469083791774

He does like an out of context tweet doesn't he.

[chrisw1]

They haven't had actually announced the Adidas deal yet, have they?

I think he just has!

[dave.woodhall]

It doesn't exactly leave much room for doubt.