Next FAB meeting

[Sexual Ealing]

Whatever they do to add these extra seats, please, please don’t disfigure the ground in doing it. No tatty cramming in like wolves did.

Stamford Bridge!

[Witton Warrior]

I just feel myself getting further and further away from modern football. I just want to go and watch the Villa not have to take part in some continual IT transaction fleecing operation. "Bowl optimisation stud" - Oh do FRO

[Witton Warrior]

I just feel myself getting further and further away from modern football. I just want to go and watch the Villa not have to take part in some continual IT transaction fleecing operation. "Bowl optimisation study" - Oh do FRO

[Nii Lamptey]

I saw a post on Twatter the other day where some Villa 'influencer' or whatever they call themselves these days, was asking what game had the best atmosphere they'd seen at Villa Park. So many just reeling off recent games, such as the Everton game when we came back up, and thinking, you poor sods, you haven't lived.

I started properly going in the 90s, and games like the Inter Milan penalty win and Tranmere before it would annihilate anything that has come since, and I'm assuming these weren't as big as the highs of years prior to that.

What I'm trying to say, is that the soul of what makes English football special is literally being priced out of the game. Home atmospheres are crippled, and away fans almost always create more noise than the home crowd. PROPER die hard, mainly working class Villa fans are being replaced with day trippers with more money than sense, fumbling around blocking turnstiles, more interested in taking selfies to post on Instagram, than singing their heart out, supporting their team and going home sounding like Sean Dyche.

Personally, I think Heck has dropped a major bollock here. They should have aimed to increase the capacity to bursting with the North Stand development (and following that, Witton Lane), keep prices low, get the REAL fans back in and turn Villa Park into a cauldron. Match days feel more like luke warm bowls of porridge these days, and our manager and current squad deserve so much better than what they're currently getting.

[Villan82]

Personally, I think Heck has dropped a major bollock here. They should have aimed to increase the capacity to bursting with the North Stand development (and following that, Witton Lane), keep prices low, get the REAL fans back in and turn Villa Park into a cauldron. Match days feel more like luke warm bowls of porridge these days, and our manager and current squad deserve so much better than what they're currently getting.

The best section of a fantastic post. The biggest error NSWE have made. It is simply astonishing to plan for a new stand, that could cater to out GA + needs, get us back among the big boys, and then jettison the project in favour of butchering what is there in the existing stands.

The North Stand needed replacing 20 years ago.

[dalians umbrella]

The supporters sat in those blocks of the Lower Trinity are exactly the type of fans the club doesn't want.

ETC

Have I missed something? Was there an announcement about reseating in the TR? Or rumours of?

This was first announced back in 2022 as part of the North Stand redevelopment:

"As for the Trinity Road Stand, Villa CEO Christian Purslow pointed out that “significant upgrades” will be made to hospitality and corporate offerings. And according to the plans, blocks C4 and C5 will make way for a new, pitchside "General Admission Plus" hospitality area. These blocks currently accommodate 440 supporters, with some seats used as overspill for opposition squads, match officials and medical staff."

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-stadium-plan-purslow-25139143

[Gareth]

bowl optimisation study , can't get much more American than that 
does this study extend to the Witton Rd aswell

It mentions optimisation so I don’t think we need worry in Witton Upper…it would be the first optimisation since it was thrown up originally

[aj2k77]

There's no such thing as a bowl optimisation study.

[Villafirst]

Whatever they do to add these extra seats, please, please don’t disfigure the ground in doing it. No tatty cramming in like wolves did.

Agree, Wolves Molineux looks shite the way they've gone about their extra seating.

[Richard E]

Whatever they do to add these extra seats, please, please don’t disfigure the ground in doing it. No tatty cramming in like wolves did.

Agree, Wolves Molineux looks shite the way they've gone about their extra seating.

Molineux is starting to look really shabby on the outside.

[dave.woodhall]

To catch up on his one, what the 'influencer' (and if they do influence anyone it's more than I ever have) said, is right for someone their age. Everton Friday was one of my Great Villa Park Nights and if the atmosphere wasn't as good as Tranmere, Inter II or Atletico Madrid, I daresay those of a certain age would say those in turn weren't as good as the Liverpool 5-1, Manchester United League Cup semi or Bournemouth. We all make our own memories.

I'm confident that redevelopment will be up to the mark because I don't think NSWE would want to be associated with anything that looks shoddy (Terrace View and Lower Grounds look okay if you want to spend daft money).

And to touch on what I said last night, speaking to a couple of people today re-emphasised that I'm sure about 88 sets of supporters would look at us open-gobbed and wonder what the hell we're complaining about.

[Villan82]

I'm confident that redevelopment will be up to the mark because I don't think NSWE would want to be associated with anything that looks shoddy (Terrace View and Lower Grounds look okay if you want to spend daft money).

You are right in what you say about atmosphere and about where we are in the grand scheme of things.

I hope you are right on the redevelopment also. I guess the deferred redevelopment is unsettling though because the decision to defer/cancel is so at odds with everything else NSWE have done. They have been fantastic in terms of growing the club in a way that is in keeping with our traditions. Cancelling the new stand raises fears they will turn the existing into GA+ or worse move us out altogether to a new soulless new build

[pauliewalnuts]

Whenever anyone mentions Inter they invariably talk about the 1994 match, I always think I preferred the 1990 one.

I remember them running out - Matthaus, Brehme (RIP), Klinsmann who had just won the World Cup, plus Berti, Walter Zenga and Bergomi who had featured for Italy (the latter a legend) and as they ran out, I remember the chorus of “who the fucking hell are you?” 

Also remember Trappatoni smacked his head on the dugout roof and was sporting a massive lump.

34 years ago, Jesus.

[Nii Lamptey]

I'm confident that redevelopment will be up to the mark because I don't think NSWE would want to be associated with anything that looks shoddy (Terrace View and Lower Grounds look okay if you want to spend daft money).

And to touch on what I said last night, speaking to a couple of people today re-emphasised that I'm sure about 88 sets of supporters would look at us open-gobbed and wonder what the hell we're complaining about.

I generally agree with you most of the time Dave, but I honestly think this is blinkered optimism in this instance, hoodwinked by how good the footballing side of things has been.

On the non-footballing side, I’m interested to know why you’re so confident they’ll ’get it right’?
What have they done so far on that front to give you such confidence?

Re. Terrace View and Lower Grounds - They may be filling up and making a few extra quid, but they’ve stuck two fingers up at lifelong fans, displacing people who have sat there for years alongside friends and family. Season ticket holders can no longer meet up with mates in the holte suite unless they pay through the nose…. Looks like those of us in the Trinity are next in line!

And the tone of those minutes only emphasises their feelings towards the fan base.

If showing a total lack of respect and compassion for our fans is what must be done to be successful, do we really want to be ‘that club’?

WE’RE Aston Villa. Not the manager, not the players, not the owners and their hangers on, not the bricks and mortar.

https://youtu.be/uAY54jvd8Eg?si=olF1zliC7P7NBi76

[dave.woodhall]

I'm confident that redevelopment will be up to the mark because I don't think NSWE would want to be associated with anything that looks shoddy (Terrace View and Lower Grounds look okay if you want to spend daft money).

And to touch on what I said last night, speaking to a couple of people today re-emphasised that I'm sure about 88 sets of supporters would look at us open-gobbed and wonder what the hell we're complaining about.

I generally agree with you most of the time Dave, but I honestly think this is blinkered optimism in this instance, hoodwinked by how good the footballing side of things has been.

On the non-footballing side, I’m interested to know why you’re so confident they’ll ’get it right’?
What have they done so far on that front to give you such confidence?

Re. Terrace View and Lower Grounds - They may be filling up and making a few extra quid, but they’ve stuck two fingers up at lifelong fans, displacing people who have sat there for years alongside friends and family. Season ticket holders can no longer meet up with mates in the holte suite unless they pay through the nose…. Looks like those of us in the Trinity are next in line!

And the tone of those minutes only emphasises their feelings towards the fan base.

If showing a total lack of respect and compassion for our fans is what must be done to be successful, do we really want to be ‘that club’?

WE’RE Aston Villa. Not the manager, not the players, not the owners and their hangers on, not the bricks and mortar.

https://youtu.be/uAY54jvd8Eg?si=olF1zliC7P7NBi76

I don't agree with what they've done with the Holte and I know full well their attitude towards supporters, but ultimately it doesn't really matter. As someone put it, they're here to make money, not friends, because that's the only way to success. If you support a Premier League club you have to leave your principles at the turnstile and accept that it isn't your club and in reality it hasn't been for a long time.