Chris Heck - President of Business Operations

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Or a more simple "I'd turn around if I was you, you really don't want to go out there".

Realistically it's probably in glass where you can see fans tucking into there all you can eat plastic hot dogs and greasy burgers, blood (ketchup) dripping from their mouths, banging on the window, giving the players slit throat gestures whilst crushing empty cans of Carling on their heads.

Either that or suited and booted noshing on a well grilled T bone and a glass of South African Shiraz.

[pauliewalnuts]

Two things. One, it is highly unlikely any new stand will go up so long as Heck is here. Pulling the plans for 2024 has surely set that back by at least 5 years if not more.

Two, I am frustrated beyond belief at this guy. In December he dropped the biggest bombshell of the NSWE era- the expansion of Villa Park is not going ahead and was a 'bad idea' he said. No further explanation was offered.

Now, this announcement caused a right shitshow as it brought into question our commitment to the current stadium, the mid- to long-term aims of NSWE and it reeked of the kind of decision that has seen us spurn opportunity after opportunity over the past 40 years.

Yet, any chance Heck has had to clear things up he just completely ignores it. He talks about everything except proper stadium expansion, even when he is stood in the god damn stand that would be rubble today but for this unexplained u-turn. Whatever we thought about Purslow he was usually clear about the overall direction.

Whilst I agree with you by and large, please FOR THE LOVE OF GOD start to post stuff that isn't just about Heck and the North Stand.

Please.

You're spending so much time banging on about it, I am starting to think I love the guy.

[garyellis]

Does anyone really think Heck pulled the North Stand redevelopment on his own?
No way.
So far he has substantially improved commercial and match day income.

It looks very much like there was a time imperative to improve revenue given the rules we are operating within.

Ps I would love a new shiny North Stand, a 50,000 plus capacity and a cheaper ST but that des not seem to add up to where we need to be over the next 3 plus years unfortunately.

[Risso]

Have we installed rail-seats?

Yep.

[AV82EC]

He's made it quite clear what his focus is, getting to £400m turnover as quickly as possible within the stadium footprint we currently have. I'm struggling why people are finding this hard to understand.

Is it disappointing we aren't doing the North? Yes.
Is it short term? Yes
Is it aligned to the rapid advancement on the pitch? Yes

I'm disappointed they didn't go with Purslows plan but getting to the sustainable PSR position at £400m Turnover seems to be the priority. And lest we forget because we're not at £400m we had to sell Luiz and Diaby this summer. I think they've taken a short term view that as things have gone off the scale on the pitch, they need to do rapid catch up off it and the new stand wasn't seen as viable use of capital in the short term to bridge the gap. Its shit but I can see the logic. 

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Watched it just and it had an overwhelming smell of bullshit.

Why is it bullshit? Are the things he said not true?

The Lower Grounds were "wildly successful"? News to me. If they were wildly successful I'd imagine it's because with such high demand for tickets, many fans were left with the choice of either miss the game or buy a Lower grounds package. It's easy to sell ice cream on a hot summer day.

It’s nitpicking. The statement about bullshit was made about the entire interview not specific to a certain aspect of it.  It’s ok to say that you or anyone doesn’t like him or that some things he says don’t sit right. He called it wildly successful. So what? It’s probably a bit of a stretch but hardly bullshit. It’s been successful and they have done similar things elsewhere. As we become better on the pitch those venues will sell out to wider audiences than regular fans. And I would say given where our revenues were and now are, he has been by any definition wildly successful in his first year or so in the job .

Nitpicking? You asked 'Are the things he said not true?'. Not the whole interview, 'things'. Nitpick away. As I've said before he's a numbers man and has delivered seemingly ignoring the impact it's had on fans. Desperate times call for desperate measures but I don't expect him to gloat on it especially when it appears he cares more about his own reputation. I'd respect him far more if he's gone along the line of 'some seriously tough decisions had to be made'.

As somebody else mentioned, he's not a great communicator. Maybe what you see is what you get. Hopefully when we finally redevelop the stadium and increase capacity these short term measures can be readdressed.

[astonvilla82]

Before we had people complaining that enough finance was not being brought into the club, well now he's doing

[eamonn]

Have we installed rail-seats?

Yep.

Cheers - do we know where/how many?

[Rodders]

I thought he explained quite clearly?

"... we talk about Villa Park being a fortress. It is true. There is no better home advantage than at Villa Park and I think it would be a bad idea to tear down one of the stands for a two year period while we are playing like we are. I think that going forward, everything should be about all fans and not just one particular stand."

[Chico Hamilton III]

It wasn’t an interview, it was an advert. Which is fair enough, the club are allowed to market themselves and promote their services but this looked like an a plug for GA and other corporate stuff. Chucked us a bone by telling us how special the Holte is and that was that. I’m assuming all these improvements mean I’ll get served sharpish in the lower Holte at half time tomorrow.

[Chris Smith]

Have we installed rail-seats?

Yep.

Cheers - do we know where/how many?

Not sure how many but my seat in the back section of the Lower Holte has been converted.

[pauliewalnuts]

I thought he explained quite clearly?

"... we talk about Villa Park being a fortress. It is true. There is no better home advantage than at Villa Park and I think it would be a bad idea to tear down one of the stands for a two year period while we are playing like we are. I think that going forward, everything should be about all fans and not just one particular stand."

To be fair, yes, he did say that, and I don't have a massive problem with that being the thinking.

However, the bit in bold, in that case, hopefully everyone can look forward tomorrow to toilets that aren't rivers of piss, and an ability to spend money on food and drink at half time.

We've heard plenty about the new GA+ and corporate offers, but absolutely nothing about improvements for the ordinary fan.

[AV82EC]

Come on Paulie, you know it will be as appalling as its always been. Without major investment in the ground it won't change for the average fan, I've personally made my peace with it and spend my money elsewhere, it saves me getting angry about it. It shouldn't be that way but until the owners and Heck sort it out my one man boycott of all concession stands at VP remains.

[Nev]

I never buy food but I will buy a pint tomorrow because we're aiming to get there early due to the potential for large queues in light of the new entry system.

We'll be in Town before and I'm generally happy to get in just before KO. Getting a pint pre match was a lot easier in the UH last season due to the repositioning of the toilets, but then the queue for those was much longer because the size was reduced.

GA will never improve significantly because it's not an area of focus and the potential increase in revenue is small when you look at the GA+ prices.

[Chris Smith]

We’ll have a drink in the Tavern but head up a bit earlier and if queues aren’t too bad have one at the bar on the Holte End car park otherwise go straight in.