Chris Heck - President of Business Operations

[ChicagoLion]

What the Heck apologists seem to miss , is that making money and pissing everybody off at the same time is not inextricably linked.
Of course some would moan if it was a minimal increase in ticket prices but most would expect a significant increase. It’s the way he goes about it, the marginal gains for an extra £10 a ticket say is just not worth the negativity.
It’s that he appears to have  a Japanese prisoner of war officer attitude towards the majority of the fan base by his many other antics.
He has put himself in a situation where nobody believes a word that he says and that he has painted himself into a corner as the scourge of the Villa supporters.
In any walk of life that shows him up to be culturally deaf and really not very bright.

[PeterWithesShin]

Who are the Heck apologists? I can't remember a post on here saying they like what's going at the club. Just that he's doing the job he was brought in to do.

[tony scott]

I would have thought when the present owners brought the club, their ultimate goal was to grow the club/brand. Liverpool Man U haven’t always been great clubs, just maybe ms Swaris an Eden, think they can find a way, regardless of perceived negatives of our geographical location, to make Aston Villa a team at the very top in World Football and Chris Heck is part of this journey.

[john e]

I don’t like him

I don’t like his methods, I don’t like the way he treats supporters, I don’t like the way he views the game and the supporter’s of this club and the changes he’s bringing in to increase revenues, I don’t like the shambles of the Arsenal game after so much hype about the fan experience, I don’t like the way he’s been lauded by fellow Villa fans for selling out the game against Bayern Munich with a rip-off prices

I don’t think his plans are good for the long-term, I don’t think they’ll work long-term, and I don’t think he’ll be here long-term, but he’s managed to alienate most of the fan base apart from those that think he’s been vindicated,
I don’t think he’ll be vindicated I think he’ll be a massive failure because he doesn’t understand the Villa fan base,

I’ve been in sales all my life and the best bit of advice that was given to me was
‘Sixpence twice is better than ninepence once’  the Bayern game and the Champions League games are the ninepence games which he has grabbed, but he will lose out on a lot of sixpenses because he doesn’t know what he’s doing

In my humble opinion his overall plan won’t work, and I don’t like him

The only plan I've seen from him anywhere is to get the turnover up to £400m and it's too early to say how that's going but I wouldn't be shocked if we are well over £300m in this seasons accounts, which will be well over halfway there.

You don't have to like him and doubt he cares if most of the fans think he's an arsehole right now, if the turnover keeps going in the right direction he'll be happy.

Turnover will be up because we’re in the champions league
it would be virtually impossible for revenue to fall this season that’s down to Unai Emery not Heck

It will also be up because of massive improved sponsorship deals and increased ticket prices. Getting into the champions league will obviously be a massive plus but dismissing everything else (or making up other reasons like Sawiris doing the Adidas deal) is just letting your dislike of the guy trick you into thinking he's incompetent at the job he's actually here to do (despite plenty of evidence from before he was hired and with us that he's actually pretty good at it).

I think he is incompetent
He’s turfed out long-standing season-ticket holders some into non-existing seats to turn into hospitality areas which haven’t sold out for one single game yet

Let me say that again for you and your Heck apologists, his new hospitality areas have not sold out in any single game yet, not one
But you reckon he’s doing the job he came to do ha

He’s got the best year for 40 years to raise ticket prices and sponsorship it have to be a complete moron not to be successful this year.
But because he is a twat he’s alienated the fan base like we were back in the Doug days, in fairness Doug always had his apologists as well

The most damning thing for me is supporters saying stuff like PWS just said
When they say he’s doing his job whether it will backfires in the long run is a different matter

It’s not a different matter, it’s the most important matter it is the only fucking matter
That Matter is Aston Villa football club and its fan base not fucking Chris heck

[ChicagoLion]

Who are the Heck apologists? I can't remember a post on here saying they like what's going at the club. Just that he's doing the job he was brought in to do.

There have been a few posts over the last few days that have been of that nature.
I do not go with the idea that , doing the job means piss as many people off as possible.

[Chip Butty 111]

I don’t like him

I don’t like his methods, I don’t like the way he treats supporters, I don’t like the way he views the game and the supporter’s of this club and the changes he’s bringing in to increase revenues, I don’t like the shambles of the Arsenal game after so much hype about the fan experience, I don’t like the way he’s been lauded by fellow Villa fans for selling out the game against Bayern Munich with a rip-off prices

I don’t think his plans are good for the long-term, I don’t think they’ll work long-term, and I don’t think he’ll be here long-term, but he’s managed to alienate most of the fan base apart from those that think he’s been vindicated,
I don’t think he’ll be vindicated I think he’ll be a massive failure because he doesn’t understand the Villa fan base,

I’ve been in sales all my life and the best bit of advice that was given to me was
‘Sixpence twice is better than ninepence once’  the Bayern game and the Champions League games are the ninepence games which he has grabbed, but he will lose out on a lot of sixpenses because he doesn’t know what he’s doing

In my humble opinion his overall plan won’t work, and I don’t like him

The only plan I've seen from him anywhere is to get the turnover up to £400m and it's too early to say how that's going but I wouldn't be shocked if we are well over £300m in this seasons accounts, which will be well over halfway there.

You don't have to like him and doubt he cares if most of the fans think he's an arsehole right now, if the turnover keeps going in the right direction he'll be happy.

Turnover will be up because we’re in the champions league
it would be virtually impossible for revenue to fall this season that’s down to Unai Emery not Heck

It will also be up because of massive improved sponsorship deals and increased ticket prices. Getting into the champions league will obviously be a massive plus but dismissing everything else (or making up other reasons like Sawiris doing the Adidas deal) is just letting your dislike of the guy trick you into thinking he's incompetent at the job he's actually here to do (despite plenty of evidence from before he was hired and with us that he's actually pretty good at it).

The most Important person at the club is Emery. By a million miles. It's his genius that has us top four and CL. With half of Dean's team. Everything and everyone rides on his wave. His decisions will dictate where we go as a club. Heck is a sideshow, and the only reason his name crops up is because he's fu##ed up again. We shouldn't be hearing about the guy.
He was bombed out of Red Bulls after just over a year after ' alienating some of the clubs most ardent fans'.
At Philadelphia, he oversaw a period of massive growth in turnover. Unfortunately if you dig a bit deeper, you'll find out most of the Basketball teams at that time also saw a similar growth, not dissimilar to what happened with the Premier League in the period around the millennium.
If he was anything to do with the disabled parking he should have been sacked on the spot.
His divide and conquer approach will kill the club and everything we stand for.
I couldn't care how much he raises revenue wise, he's bad for Aston Villa.

[john e]

Anyone coming out supporting him is a Chris heck apologist and should be hung out to dry

[PeterWithesShin]

He's doing what he's done at previous clubs. Raising the 'brand', increasing income, pissing off the fans. The owners hired him because of his track record.

[PeterWithesShin]

Anyone coming out supporting him is a Chris heck apologist and should be hung out to dry

To support him you'd have to agree with what he's doing. No one is. It really isn't difficult to differentiate between not liking what he's doing, but pointing what he's doing is exactly what he was hired to do. And being an 'apologist'.

[ChicagoLion]

Anyone coming out supporting him is a Chris heck apologist and should be hung out to dry

To support him you'd have to agree with what he's doing. No one is. It really isn't difficult to differentiate between not liking what he's doing, but pointing what he's doing is exactly what he was hired to do.

I think the difference in opinion here is that many believe it is not necessary to go about his job in the way he has chosen.
The Nuremberg Trial defence is not a validation.

[Gareth]

Anyone coming out supporting him is a Chris heck apologist and should be hung out to dry

To support him you'd have to agree with what he's doing. No one is. It really isn't difficult to differentiate between not liking what he's doing, but pointing what he's doing is exactly what he was hired to do. And being an 'apologist'.

Spot on PWS…it’s a blatantly easy and obvious differentiation to make.

[PeterWithesShin]

Again, no one is saying they like or agree with it. He is though doing what the owners hired him to do. It's what he's done before and they hired him based on what he's done before. Maybe some ire should be aimed at them for hiring him to do this instead of trotting out dumb shit like " Heck apologists" when people point out they hired him to do this.

[jon collett]

Yep not sure what it is about the internet that makes people paint everything as black and white.

Pointing out something is a logical approach for a ruthless revenue chaser is hardly the same as being a cheer leader or apologist.

[Chip Butty 111]

As a fan base are we really 'walk on by' ?
Because we'll go to hell in a hand cart at some stage.

[Clampy]

I have hardly seen any defence of the price rises.