The Holte Suite

[LeonW]

I have to say, i find it baffling logic to believe that by treating supporters terribly it will suddenly mean that we’ll be in the champions league in the future so it’s a price worth paying.

Or what could also happen is the club could treat it’s supporters terribly and we get no closer to anything except you p*ss off those that you need most when things are sh*t.

[exigo]

But in this regard, Villa are simply following the playbook set by their peers - am not saying that’s right but go to Chelsea, Utd, City etc - I have a close mate who is a Spurs fan and the sentiment they express is similar to that on here - the game is moving away from the average fan and it’s been happening for years now.

Wages, costs, have been spiralling for over a decade - someone has to pay if we want the club to compete as I think we all do - so where do we draw the line? When is enough, enough?

While I hear a lot of frustration and anger, I don’t see a lot of alternate solutions being proffered. If the argument is that this is a loss maker, we will know soon enough because they won’t persist with it. If it is seen to boost revenue, it will continue regardless fan sentiment. That sucks but welcome to the Premier League.

And where is it headed? Try buying tickets to a regular Yankees game. For me and my two boys, good luck getting change out of £400 which is insane. And the stadium is rarely at capacity. That tells you all you need to know.

Few years back, we were in New York. The only tickets we could get at Yankee Stadium were best part of £200 each. Yankees hit the ball four times all night.

[artvandelay]

But in this regard, Villa are simply following the playbook set by their peers - am not saying that’s right but go to Chelsea, Utd, City etc - I have a close mate who is a Spurs fan and the sentiment they express is similar to that on here - the game is moving away from the average fan and it’s been happening for years now.

Wages, costs, have been spiralling for over a decade - someone has to pay if we want the club to compete as I think we all do - so where do we draw the line? When is enough, enough?

While I hear a lot of frustration and anger, I don’t see a lot of alternate solutions being proffered. If the argument is that this is a loss maker, we will know soon enough because they won’t persist with it. If it is seen to boost revenue, it will continue regardless fan sentiment. That sucks but welcome to the Premier League.

And where is it headed? Try buying tickets to a regular Yankees game. For me and my two boys, good luck getting change out of £400 which is insane. And the stadium is rarely at capacity. That tells you all you need to know.

What tickets are you buying??? They've been $9 on Stubhub for all of September

[Ads]

I understand that we need to increase corporate hospitality. But surely the first question should have been how to fill the existing corporate capacity in either the Trinity or North Stand, that is under capacity.

There's no corporate capacity in the Trinity, big waiting list for all the packages. Don't know about the North Stand. The boxes there look properly shit behind glass, must be a hard sell.

When I went on a tour in August 2020, they'd done the general corporate foyer area up, so I assumed the boxes were quite fancy.

[rob_bridge]

I think it's a good offering in itself. I see the appeal of being able to upgrade your day for yourself and some family or friends at pretty short notice without having to stump up for full-blown hospitality. What's not sitting right is taking away existing facilities to enable it. And I'd place a sizeable bet that whatever happens in the new Witton end, said facilities won't be returning from whence they came.

These are in essence test cases for probably a much more extensive plan for North Stand replacement.

As an old fashioned fan it is painful as there are 'losers' where normal fee payers are penalised by having worse facilities.

That said if we want to compete we need to increase match day revenues and that come from existing and  new 'fans'.

Nothing stands still sport is monumentally big business nowadays, the Premier League is a Global Product.

In 20 years time when each team is playing 2 or 3 home games in Shanghai, Melbourne and Dubai etc..., this initiative may seem less important

[john2710]

Heck has come in with the objective of increasing revenues, which we need to have any chance of being able to compete. Whatever he does, within the limited scope we currently have, someone will be upset.

Villa Live when it arrives won't be free or cheap either.

[tomd2103]

But in this regard, Villa are simply following the playbook set by their peers - am not saying that’s right but go to Chelsea, Utd, City etc - I have a close mate who is a Spurs fan and the sentiment they express is similar to that on here - the game is moving away from the average fan and it’s been happening for years now.

Wages, costs, have been spiralling for over a decade - someone has to pay if we want the club to compete as I think we all do - so where do we draw the line? When is enough, enough?

While I hear a lot of frustration and anger, I don’t see a lot of alternate solutions being proffered. If the argument is that this is a loss maker, we will know soon enough because they won’t persist with it. If it is seen to boost revenue, it will continue regardless fan sentiment. That sucks but welcome to the Premier League.

And where is it headed? Try buying tickets to a regular Yankees game. For me and my two boys, good luck getting change out of £400 which is insane. And the stadium is rarely at capacity. That tells you all you need to know.

Many on here, myself included, having being saying for years about the club needing to improve it's commercial performance.  Despite calling for this, the nagging feeling was what that would look like and we are seeing it now.

As well as success on the field, a lot of the teams with large commercial earnings have either moved to new grounds or had new stands built fairly recently.  That means they have been able to incorporate that side of things.  Trinity Road stand aside, our stands were built in the last century and didn't have that in mind as much.  That means we have very limited options.

What annoyed me most about it on Saturday was the blocks of empty seats in the Trinity Road and Doug Ellis and the reduced attendance as a result.  Those seats would have been filled by fans who instead missed out on one of the great performances of recent times.  I still remember as a kid watching us putting 5 past Plymouth in the old 2nd division and 6 past Everton a couple of seasons later.  The fact that supporters (young kids especially) have been denied watching such a memorable performance while those seats remained empty is a bit shameful really.

If it is to be continued and still doesn't sell, then wouldn't it be better to.do it like they have with season ticket holders and just have it as an add on when you buy a match ticket? 

[Des Little]

With every new bad idea we launch, the purchase and refurb of the Witton Arms looks like the business initiative of the century, particularly with more midweek games.  It couldn’t have played out better for those guys and hats off to them.

[PGW]

With every new bad idea we launch, the purchase and refurb of the Witton Arms looks like the business initiative of the century, particularly with more midweek games.  It couldn’t have played out better for those guys and hats off to them.

As a regular user of Holte Suite which has now been denied me i've been to Witton Arms and it's absolutely bang on. In the bars wall to wall TV screens and outside is probably the best quality screen i think i've ever seen, and maybe the biggest. Watched the Ryder Cup in there Saturday for nearly 3 hours.
Plenty of food options as well.
Music pumping out the back as well.
Certainly fair play to em!!!

[dave.woodhall]

You do wonder if someone,  somewhere got wind of what was going to happen with the Holte and thought the Witton Arms was worth a punt. 

[algy]

When people were asked to answer the fan's questionaire no way I imagine did we think they meant we would be charged for it

There was one along the lines of "general admittance plus" and asking if people would be willing to pay for that. Presumably enough people said they were interested in it, and so that's what they've gone for with the Terrace View / Holte Suite.

I guess the warehouse thing will probably be along similar lines with the new North stand - proper corporate facilities in the stand itself, or you can pay £60 on top of the ticket to sit in stumps and have some free chips.

[VillaTim]

You do wonder if someone,  somewhere got wind of what was going to happen with the Holte and thought the Witton Arms was worth a punt.

Do they do any trade on none Villa days ? I'd imagine not much , which means they have to take some serious money on the match days to make any return on the investment ?

[London Villan]

I bet they only open the front bar on a non-match day.

[Drummond]

I think it will be more popular for games against some of the more "glamorous" sides but those blocks of empty seats looked terrible today. I don't think it will put the likes of Heck off from his brief though. There will be more of this sort of thing to come.

So it will be full of London Reds then.

[VILLA MOLE]

With every new bad idea we launch, the purchase and refurb of the Witton Arms looks like the business initiative of the century, particularly with more midweek games.  It couldn’t have played out better for those guys and hats off to them.

As a regular user of Holte Suite which has now been denied me i've been to Witton Arms and it's absolutely bang on. In the bars wall to wall TV screens and outside is probably the best quality screen i think i've ever seen, and maybe the biggest. Watched the Ryder Cup in there Saturday for nearly 3 hours.
Plenty of food options as well.
Music pumping out the back as well.
Certainly fair play to em!!!

Maybe someone should advise Mr Heck should pop over and have a butchers !!