Fan Advisory Board

[VinnieChase84]

At current rates can easily see ST being over a grand inside next 2 seasons. Regrettably that will be my limit and will walk away. All this corporate stuff is fine in london etc where its prawn sandwich. The Holte is not about commercial/corporate world and never will be. They are completely out of touch

One thing we can be certain of too is them ripping up the current kit deal and sponsor. Heck has given it such the biggun that he knows he shit - the deal we have on those two things won't touch the sides of what he's after

This waiting list on ST has given them complete license to basically not give a single shit about us current ST holders. Sad reality also is im almost 40 and i am not their target market anymore for most things

[exigo]

To put corporate into the Holte once is a disgrace. To do it twice is unforgiveable.

[Somniloquism]

Sorry for not writing it up sooner. There were no minutes taken and the release of what happened was as half-cock as the meeting itself. As Scott put it, there was no real agenda - Heck gave us his vision of competing with the nig boys, Hatton introduced himself. They know current facilities aren't good enough, they know transport is appaling and they know corporate is the way forward. You can be sure that one of these three points will be their top priority.

I know they are American but no need for him to come out with that language.........

[LeeB]

The 'corpoarte hospitality' thing is an absolute abomination too, in the wider society sense. It exists as a way to spunk on piss ups money instead of paying tax, fundamentally.

It doesn't mate, because entertaining clients isn't tax deductible. Happy to put your mind at ease!

'Staff Entertainment'

[Risso]

To put corporate into the Holte once is a disgrace. To do it twice is unforgiveable.

As I keep saying though, it's not corporate, it's just much more expensive tickets with the ability to actually get served. Nobody's going to take a work client they want to impress to sit in the Holte. If you go to the similar type of areas at Spurs or Arsenal, it's just full of fans who can afford to have a nicer experience than people who can't afford it, and the club are banking on there being enough Villa fans who want to do similar.

[olaftab]

What is their opinion of the Castore playing shirts?  It seems clear that they're not fit for purpose.

Only at Newcastle and Liverpool, other matches they were OK?

[aev]

To put corporate into the Holte once is a disgrace. To do it twice is unforgiveable.

As I keep saying though, it's not corporate, it's just much more expensive tickets with the ability to actually get served. Nobody's going to take a work client they want to impress to sit in the Holte. If you go to the similar type of areas at Spurs or Arsenal, it's just full of fans who can afford to have a nicer experience than people who can't afford it, and the club are banking on there being enough Villa fans who want to do similar.

Yep, Villa's problem is that they are trying to do this in a stadium that isn't really able to offer this, in an area that is pretty difficult to get to and from for many people.

[aev]

I wonder how many corporate season tickets the club sells?

Most of the London clubs have loads of corporates buying season tickets, with various forms of added "entertainment".

The bank I work for had Arsenal season tickets for years, with most banks having tickets at one of the clubs. Add in Brokerage firms, Law, Accountancy etc means there is a steady demand for this type of stuff.

I know Deutsche and GS both have large Birmingham offices - do either of these have corporate tickets at VP?

[Risso]

The 'corpoarte hospitality' thing is an absolute abomination too, in the wider society sense. It exists as a way to spunk on piss ups money instead of paying tax, fundamentally.

It doesn't mate, because entertaining clients isn't tax deductible. Happy to put your mind at ease!

'Staff Entertainment'

Again, probably not. Staff entertainment is mostly allowable in certain circumstances (subject to an annual cap of £150 I think) but then after that the benefit of the expenditure is taxable on the employee and so it can open a whole can of worms. Honestly it's not worth the aggro.

[AV82EC]

To put corporate into the Holte once is a disgrace. To do it twice is unforgiveable.

As I keep saying though, it's not corporate, it's just much more expensive tickets with the ability to actually get served. Nobody's going to take a work client they want to impress to sit in the Holte. If you go to the similar type of areas at Spurs or Arsenal, it's just full of fans who can afford to have a nicer experience than people who can't afford it, and the club are banking on there being enough Villa fans who want to do similar.

Yep, Villa's problem is that they are trying to do this in a stadium that isn't really able to offer this, in an area that is pretty difficult to get to and from for many people.

This is spot on. It strikes me as running before you’re able to walk. I don’t think there’s many people that would say we don’t want to try and improve our commercial performance, as ever it’s the way it’s being done seemingly without any thought for the consequences.

I must admit I moved out of the Holte about 6 years ago and stopped using the Holte Suite as the service was quite frankly appalling so I’m fairly ambivalent about these changes but quite understand why others are fuming.

I spent about an extra £30 on my trip to Brum on Saturday for drinks and food and not a penny of it was inside Villa Park.

Oh and on a positive note I thought the trains did seem to be better on Saturday.

[LeeB]

The 'corpoarte hospitality' thing is an absolute abomination too, in the wider society sense. It exists as a way to spunk on piss ups money instead of paying tax, fundamentally.

It doesn't mate, because entertaining clients isn't tax deductible. Happy to put your mind at ease!

'Staff Entertainment'

Again, probably not. Staff entertainment is mostly allowable in certain circumstances (subject to an annual cap of £150 I think) but then after that the benefit of the expenditure is taxable on the employee and so it can open a whole can of worms. Honestly it's not worth the aggro.

Well, on this issue and this issue alone, I will defer to your greater knowledge.

Just this issue though, let me make that clear.

And it's still an absolute scam in some way shape or form.

[usav]

To put corporate into the Holte once is a disgrace. To do it twice is unforgiveable.

As I keep saying though, it's not corporate, it's just much more expensive tickets with the ability to actually get served. Nobody's going to take a work client they want to impress to sit in the Holte. If you go to the similar type of areas at Spurs or Arsenal, it's just full of fans who can afford to have a nicer experience than people who can't afford it, and the club are banking on there being enough Villa fans who want to do similar.

Yep, Villa's problem is that they are trying to do this in a stadium that isn't really able to offer this, in an area that is pretty difficult to get to and from for many people.

So they shouldn't try?  I get your point, but without a complete rebuild they are trying to do something for the fans as Risso puts it, that want a nicer experience.  Maybe it will backfire and they will realise that this isn't London/Dallas/New York.

[aev]

To put corporate into the Holte once is a disgrace. To do it twice is unforgiveable.

As I keep saying though, it's not corporate, it's just much more expensive tickets with the ability to actually get served. Nobody's going to take a work client they want to impress to sit in the Holte. If you go to the similar type of areas at Spurs or Arsenal, it's just full of fans who can afford to have a nicer experience than people who can't afford it, and the club are banking on there being enough Villa fans who want to do similar.

Yep, Villa's problem is that they are trying to do this in a stadium that isn't really able to offer this, in an area that is pretty difficult to get to and from for many people.

So they shouldn't try?  I get your point, but without a complete rebuild they are trying to do something for the fans as Risso puts it, that want a nicer experience.  Maybe it will backfire and they will realise that this isn't London/Dallas/New York.

No issue with trying, but our location (especially) and transport issues make it a difficult proposition to get to the ground early and stay around after to spend more money.

[London Villan]

We used to have around 1500 "corporate" seats - ie hot food, lounge access and padded seat (either in a box or in a section of the stand). What we are doing (like a lot of other entertainment venues, is offer more and more subtle options/differences. So you get everything from sitting with the Directors, in a very exclusive 16-seat dining room with a 5 course meal, through the experience on the Holte, where you get a lanyard and access to a bar, where you can buy food if you want.  So we are probably well over 2500 "corporate" now and that will double again with the new stand.

What this gives the club is increments in pricing from £45ish a match for the full pleb experience, through to £500 per person a match where you can sit next to the owners. They are hoping there will be enough people willing to pay at each price point to see us play... there probably will be when we are doing well on the pitch and playing one of the Sky 6. It's a tougher sell vs a Palace or Luton. Let alone what the implications are if we have another spell similar to 2012-2017... whcih let's be honest is just as likely as us getting into the Champions League.

[aev]

We used to have around 1500 "corporate" seats - ie hot food, lounge access and padded seat (either in a box or in a section of the stand). What we are doing (like a lot of other entertainment venues, is offer more and more subtle options/differences. So you get everything from sitting with the Directors, in a very exclusive 16-seat dining room with a 5 course meal, through the experience on the Holte, where you get a lanyard and access to a bar, where you can buy food if you want.  So we are probably well over 2500 "corporate" now and that will double again with the new stand.

What this gives the club is increments in pricing from £45ish a match for the full pleb experience, through to £500 per person a match where you can sit next to the owners. They are hoping there will be enough people willing to pay at each price point to see us play... there probably will be when we are doing well on the pitch and playing one of the Sky 6. It's a tougher sell vs a Palace or Luton. Let alone what the implications are if we have another spell similar to 2012-2017... whcih let's be honest is just as likely as us getting into the Champions League.

5,000 seams like a good number in a ground of our size, but I have no idea if that would be in line with Spurs, or Newcastle.