Are you taking the piss?

[simon ward 50]

Leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. Not the beer, as I don't drink it anyway!

[Clive W]

Excellent article - so sad it had to be written

I’ve supported us for over 60 years and have accepted having the piss taken out of me for decades for supporting a (usually) shite team (unfortunately two of the worst culprits are my Liverpool supporting sons!!)

I’ve always countered this with “yes, but unlike your team, Villa is a proper football club with a great tradition and has always conducted itself with dignity and is admired throughout the football world accordingly”

I am now, sadly, rapidly losing faith, not just in Villa but the game in general.

[London Villan]

Dave - a question for you really. Over the years you seem to have had good relations with some "insiders" in the club. Have you heard from any of them about how the club is reacting to the uproar this has caused?

Great piece, as always.

[Hookeysmith]

Let me start by saying i think the price hike for these games are awful and so disproportionate to the regular pricing levels. It is commercial opportunisticly charged and i feel really bad for those that will be priced out.

But for balance it is more a condemnation of the modern commercial society we live in rather than, as some think, Heck's personal attack on the lower classes.

Look at the profiteering on the ticket prices for the gobby two from Manchester - i know folk who have paid £600 for a ticket as the hype means they "have to have them".
There are 2 choices pay it or dont go - harsh but true.

Supply and demand will always dictate what prices organisations think they can get away with.
I saw lots of complaints over the prices of shirts yet i would imagine the same folk also spend a fortune on designer gear and £200 trainers etc.

I would imagine a younger person would actually get more wear out of a £90 Villa shirt than a Hugo Boss / Stone Island T shirt yet no one complains about clothes made in a sweatshop - they still buy them.

It is sad but the lower turnout for the Everton cup game last year actually got them to think about the following early rounds of the cup pricing and they made a change.

Rather than negative chanting at the Everton game maybe banners could be arranged to get the message over?

We have so much catching up to do on the corrupt teams ahead of us commercially i cannot see anything changing.

Get to cup finals (and we know how Wembley is a rip off) and Champions league is a cash cow for teams so can we really blame them for milking it when they can?

[Chico Hamilton III]

Yep, it’s the fans’ fault. Again. Bet they all spend their Universal Credit on satellite dishes and vapes and don’t budget sufficiently to have enough left for a £90 Villa ticket

[brontebilly]

Boycott of cup games isn't a bad shout actually. The mainstream media might see it as just another example of how fickle Villa fans are, playing CL football and still whinging etc, but hitting match day revenue and negative PR is the only thing that worm Heck will understand.

I was watching that Burnley documentary last night, and there was a surreal scene where the Heck types were bemoaning the poor atmosphere in the ground, as their team was getting spanked on a weekly basis. One of the Hecks pushed for getting a drum in. Did any of you see it? No staff willing to challenge what was a clearly very bad idea and hence the drums stayed. That's what seems to be happening at Villa, skip having functioning technology, toilets and other basics and instead focus on some other drum like nonsense.

[German James]

Unfortunately the normal rules of supply and demand don't apply to football.
Much like China's growth is based on slave labour pretending to be a market economy, clubs know that they have a captive consumer base. The prices are obscene, but they'll still be confident of filling the stadium and then some.

[Brend'Watkins]

You would think or hope that Wes and Naz would be a little embarrassed by this reaction and would quickly get a club statement sent out pronto telling us about the re-think. Perhaps they won't as they've employed Heck on the basis that he will increase commercial income.  He's complying with his remit so he's done nothing wrong. Maybe they should reword the remit to include "don't take the fans for mugs"

If there is no statement and rethink it will be very telling.

[danno]

Boycott of cup games isn't a bad shout actually. The mainstream media might see it as just another example of how fickle Villa fans are, playing CL football and still whinging etc, but hitting match day revenue and negative PR is the only thing that worm Heck will understand.

I was watching that Burnley documentary last night, and there was a surreal scene where the Heck types were bemoaning the poor atmosphere in the ground, as their team was getting spanked on a weekly basis. One of the Hecks pushed for getting a drum in. Did any of you see it? No staff willing to challenge what was a clearly very bad idea and hence the drums stayed. That's what seems to be happening at Villa, skip having functioning technology, toilets and other basics and instead focus on some other drum like nonsense.

You chose (by your own free will) to watch a documentary on Burnley? Look I don’t want this to get too personal, but I’m worried about you.

[rob_bridge]

You would think or hope that Wes and Naz would be a little embarrassed by this reaction and would quickly get a club statement sent out pronto telling us about the re-think. Perhaps they won't as they've employed Heck on the basis that he will increase commercial income.  He's complying with his remit so he's done nothing wrong. Maybe they should reword the remit to include "don't take the fans for mugs"

If there is no statement and rethink it will be very telling.

Heck's major remit is to increase revenue. He is doing a very good job of it.

Revenue comes from TV, 'Partners', Fans (tickets and merchandise) and on field success. There are inter-relationships. Purslow hiring Emery is Heck's biggest fortune.
On the back of this he is generating even more money than otherwise would have been the case from the other streams - which includes fans.

He thinks, probably correctly, that a premium price point is +£20 quid on a regular game for the premium international club competition in the world. This has not been played at Villa Park for 4decades+.

If we ever get to a point when we qualify regularly for CL then this wouldn't be sustained - see Cit-eh and the Emptiad. This this season is a novelty and Villa can charge fans Arsenalesque prices.

[nick harper]

Unfortunately the normal rules of supply and demand don't apply to football.
Much like China's growth is based on slave labour pretending to be a market economy, clubs know that they have a captive consumer base. The prices are obscene, but they'll still be confident of filling the stadium and then some.

Maybe so, but Villa have only been selling out for the last 4 years. Prior to that, they have not had sustained demand over supply, probably since the war.

Everything looks very rosy on the pitch, but things can change quickly. At the moment only Emery’s genius is enabling us to get close to the current glass ceiling.

Once fans are priced out and lost, it’s hard to get them back.

[DerbyVillian]

Great read as always, thanks.

You are quite right, there a line has definitely been crossed  now.

The Rubicon, has been crossed; things are going to be different now. Even if the club changes its mind and alters the prices, I will always see the club differently now.

Its one thing supporting the club, through the hard times. Like most of us have; but it feels like we are just customers at the moment ( Bank accounts ).

I have definitely lost the connection with the club, at the moment.

We have done a lot right recently, but when we get it wrong; it's a shocker.


 

[Risso]

This will probably be my last year with a season ticket. I still like going down, but with the journey, and the traffic afterwards, it's the best part of a whole day gone, and I don't enjoy it enough to compensate for missing out on family life and other stuff I'd rather be doing.

[LeeB]

This will probably be my last year with a season ticket. I still like going down, but with the journey, and the traffic afterwards, it's the best part of a whole day gone, and I don't enjoy it enough to compensate for missing out on family life and other stuff I'd rather be doing.

Feels like I'm rapidly coming to the same conclusion, I was finding midweek games an absolute chore last season to be honest and the robdog pricing this time is not going to ease that feeling at all.

[ROBBO]

From what i'm reading little has changed from when i used to slide down the bank at the Witton end. Toilet floor full of piss, queing til after the game has re-started trying to get a bovril. The problem is no action will be taken unless it starts to hurt revenue.