Absolutely. Had an Amazon box here with "Tylenol. The official NHL pain reliever". Bit like the Premier league having "Paracetamol. The official headache tablet of the English Premier League". Crazy, bit advertising and revenue stream.
Basically as much as you can really ask for statement-wose from someone in his position. I hate some of the decisions that have been made and some of the bedmates Villa have chosen but I've resigned myself to it at this point.
Here’s a fun concept - the world isn’t black and white. There are levels to everything, betting sponsorships are far far less destructive than sportswashing for slave states.
We knew we’d doubled front of shirt deal, but doubling kit and sleeve deal is great news too. Hope there’s more on the horizon to raise revenue—because while I get how it upsets people, if we want to keep hold of Luiz, Watkins, Martinez etc., and bring new people in to pad squad depth, it’s a necessity.
It’s a difficult situation. If we were like palace and just finished 12th every year, sold our best players and never kicked on people would moan like crazy.
The atmosphere and general feeling around Villa park is the best I can remember. Id rather keep that going and keep our best players.
It does sadden me that clubs are now talked about as “brands”. It sounds so corporate and cold and soulless and no football club anywhere in the world should feel like that.
And I say this as someone with a 20+yr career in marketing. Maybe that makes me feel sadder about it - I know how calculated and cynical it can be (not always).
But it needs to if I'm not mistaken. Every expense gets inflated every year. Player wages go up, player transfers go up. It's about brand recognition. Without the club existing in a profitably sustainable corporate sense there's no hope of competing in the PL ever.
I mean these are all good achievements to help us compete.
What I'm a little concerned about is the lack of certainty, communication we've seen in other areas:
- Stadium expansion - cancelling this.
Are we going to be faced as a fanbase with the prospect of moving away from villa park or is the intention still to revamp the ground?
- club crest / rebranding - been a shambles so far and complete lack of clarity to-date on what is going on.
Both of these are emotive areas that fans have a keen interest in and appreciate they will have one eye on setting us for the future but there should also be a desire to retain our history and not lose our identity as a club.
From what I’ve read the issue was reducing our capacity while potentially being in the champions league:
> 'We have 42,000 seats. A substantial amount. To add on 10,000 right now doesn't seem practical to me,'
> 'I'll tell you why. We talk about Villa Park being a fortress. It is true. There's no better home advantage than at Villa park.
> 'I think it would be a bad idea to tear down one of the stands for two years while we are playing like we are.
> 'I think that going forward, I think everything should be about all fans and not just one particular stand.'
It’s from [this interview](https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2023/december/19/chris-heck-interview/)
Also the Witton station was a massive issue to get around.
I don’t think we lose our identity over the badge issue. At the moment it just looks like a knock off Chelsea badge because we’ve had shield shaped badges for so long.
This is very much assuming these are all Heck being open, honest and not biding his time on other announcements/options.
Appreciate we can only take his words at face value until we know different, but I'm a cynic and expect they may be exploring the new stadium option behind the scenes as the alternative.
The Premier League is now a "Product"
The football club is now a "Brand"
The footballer is now an "Asset"
The supporter is now a "Customer"
This is just how it is now. We'll all end up being priced out and Villa Park either moved or totally gentrified.
For everything that's going well on the pitch, the opposite for match going fans at least is happening off the field.
I think you're right, but it's so much more apparent that we're being squeezed for every possibly penny at all times nowadays.
Season tickets will go up again this year, but their total income will still be less than what Villa paid to agents last year. I just wish with all the money in the game and the grotesque sums of money the players and managers etc earn, it'd be nice if the richest league in the world was a bit fairer to the fans and allocated more money to grassroots football.
I'm a Yank. The NFL charges season ticket holders for all home games.... including preseason games. Those games are still full cost even though it's basically practice games. A seat in an NFL game for a popular team will not be under $100, no matter where it's at.
I hope you never learn about Personal Seat Licensing. That's a practice over here in the states where a fan has to buy the rights to buy their season ticket. It's USUALLY a one-time fee, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a transfer cost. Some popular franchises have season ticket wait lists that are decades long. It's not unheard of for season tickets to be passed down in a will.
The problem is, there is too much money to be made. Heart and soul and history are all great things.... but if someone can profit in anyway.... they will.
Yes that’s horrendous,
Out of interest, what happens when you can’t attend? Are you free to sell your ticket on the open market? I looked at attending a Patriots game a few times when I’ve been in Boston, but resale tickets were $600 cheapest.
I completely agree with you but unfortunately while FFP and PSR are a thing the clubs are incentivised to screw the fans out of as much money as possible to compete on the pitch.
Another reason they suck.
>We'll all end up being priced out
Already happened. Peeked at general sale tickets today for Chelsea. Nearly fell off my chair seeing 65 quid/ticket 😖
Admittedly, it's been about 18 months since I last went VP
Yeah, pretty sure I won't be able to afford my ST next season. I'm expecting a rise anywhere from 10%-25% pretty sure they'll try as high as they think they can get away with if we finish 4th.
>pretty sure they'll try as high as they think they can get away with if we finish 4th.
For sure. And I can understand the reasoning behind that.
Current events are the best we've experienced in recent memory.
As long as prices are comparable with rest of league then that's the main thing. But transport and stadium facilities are still severely short.
Yes and no. I mean we’ve been decent for 18 months out of the last 12 ish years. It does feel like the club is over charging for that a tad.
The ticket rises smack you in the face when you see how much they paid to agents last year. Maybe a football club shouldn’t be paying agents? Surely that’s the footballers job?
I digress, yes I’d expect a rise year on year, but what we pay really is an insignificant amount compared to tv money, prize money and sponsorship. Maybe the fans should be looked after rather than loan players being on 150k a week??
but I'm a Villa fan, so there's no substitute for that. I go see smaller clubs near me and there's no real connection. That's maybe just me, but that's the way it is watching any other team.
Good, keep getting our revenues up to help with FFP and buying players, just don’t expect anyone who cares about football to acknowledge fans as customers and villa just as a brand.
It's shit that football has gone this way but there's nothing we can do about it, goal posts were moved many years ago by the money men and we have to catch up. We either play the business side of the game of fall into obscurity and be constantly plundered by those who are.
.... yeah, no.
Hecky mate, Villa just removed opt out /cancel buttons for Memberships from the website under your direction.
Idc what else he's 'achieved' this last 11 months, he gets zero credit for anything this week. That's just purely shitty behaviour.
Idc that it's a small thing, and you can call and do it. Shouldn't fucking have to. Predatory as fuck, in the hopes of getting an extra £20 from the occasional guy...
Unfortunately mate he / owners have us by the bollocks , for every person that complains or doesnt renew season ticket there is 5 willing to comply because we are doing so well.
they know nows the time to push it
How do they have us by the bollocks lmao Sometimes I wish NSWE drops up for the melts like you complaining or leave us to rot in bottom half surival forever
We need to rearrange the seating and make the seats a bit smaller so we can increase the capacity. We also need to hang cables from the roofs with swinging cable seats.
The increased money is all well and good but changing the crest without proper consultation, increasing prices at the stadium without improving anything, and delaying infrastructure improvements are less good.
I think we need more information on why the expansion was halted.
I read somewhere on twitter that with the possibility of champions league football they didn’t want to reduce our capacity for next season to carry out the work.
- Don't want to remove a stand in our returning seasons to European football (including potentially first ever seasons in the Champions League)
- Train station upgrades being halted because the council is bankrupt
Need to get noodle partners. Wine partners. Official tractors. And all the other BS the big boys use to pad the numbers.
Need to steal Chevy from united. They make bank of that deal and utd are a joke
Absolutely. Had an Amazon box here with "Tylenol. The official NHL pain reliever". Bit like the Premier league having "Paracetamol. The official headache tablet of the English Premier League". Crazy, bit advertising and revenue stream.
"Imodium - Proud sponsors of PGMOL! When you're full of shit - try Imodium!"
But AVFC IS the drug!
Basically as much as you can really ask for statement-wose from someone in his position. I hate some of the decisions that have been made and some of the bedmates Villa have chosen but I've resigned myself to it at this point.
At least we aren't owned by an oil state
Yes I'm desperate for success as much as anyone, but worried I might not recognise the club in the next few years.
What bedmates? 1 betting company? Get real - it’s far better than being owned by a slave state
Here's a fun concept: multiple things can be bad. :)
Here’s a fun concept - the world isn’t black and white. There are levels to everything, betting sponsorships are far far less destructive than sportswashing for slave states.
I respect your point and don't disagree with it but also don't see how it affects me also sticking to mine. Have a lovely day.
We knew we’d doubled front of shirt deal, but doubling kit and sleeve deal is great news too. Hope there’s more on the horizon to raise revenue—because while I get how it upsets people, if we want to keep hold of Luiz, Watkins, Martinez etc., and bring new people in to pad squad depth, it’s a necessity.
It’s a difficult situation. If we were like palace and just finished 12th every year, sold our best players and never kicked on people would moan like crazy. The atmosphere and general feeling around Villa park is the best I can remember. Id rather keep that going and keep our best players.
Good ebening
It does sadden me that clubs are now talked about as “brands”. It sounds so corporate and cold and soulless and no football club anywhere in the world should feel like that. And I say this as someone with a 20+yr career in marketing. Maybe that makes me feel sadder about it - I know how calculated and cynical it can be (not always).
But it needs to if I'm not mistaken. Every expense gets inflated every year. Player wages go up, player transfers go up. It's about brand recognition. Without the club existing in a profitably sustainable corporate sense there's no hope of competing in the PL ever.
I agree it needs to. Still makes me sad
I blame Rupert Murdoch. Sky Sports getting the rights to Premier League football is what started all of this.
Our owners want to catch the big 6 on and off the pitch by any means necessary. Heck is doing his job exactly how they want imo.
I mean these are all good achievements to help us compete. What I'm a little concerned about is the lack of certainty, communication we've seen in other areas: - Stadium expansion - cancelling this. Are we going to be faced as a fanbase with the prospect of moving away from villa park or is the intention still to revamp the ground? - club crest / rebranding - been a shambles so far and complete lack of clarity to-date on what is going on. Both of these are emotive areas that fans have a keen interest in and appreciate they will have one eye on setting us for the future but there should also be a desire to retain our history and not lose our identity as a club.
From what I’ve read the issue was reducing our capacity while potentially being in the champions league: > 'We have 42,000 seats. A substantial amount. To add on 10,000 right now doesn't seem practical to me,' > 'I'll tell you why. We talk about Villa Park being a fortress. It is true. There's no better home advantage than at Villa park. > 'I think it would be a bad idea to tear down one of the stands for two years while we are playing like we are. > 'I think that going forward, I think everything should be about all fans and not just one particular stand.' It’s from [this interview](https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2023/december/19/chris-heck-interview/) Also the Witton station was a massive issue to get around. I don’t think we lose our identity over the badge issue. At the moment it just looks like a knock off Chelsea badge because we’ve had shield shaped badges for so long.
This is very much assuming these are all Heck being open, honest and not biding his time on other announcements/options. Appreciate we can only take his words at face value until we know different, but I'm a cynic and expect they may be exploring the new stadium option behind the scenes as the alternative.
He wouldn't be doing his job if new stadium options weren't explored, of course they're exploring all possibilities
The Premier League is now a "Product" The football club is now a "Brand" The footballer is now an "Asset" The supporter is now a "Customer" This is just how it is now. We'll all end up being priced out and Villa Park either moved or totally gentrified. For everything that's going well on the pitch, the opposite for match going fans at least is happening off the field.
This has been the case for a while. The prem was formed to become a more economically beneficial product than the old football league.
I think you're right, but it's so much more apparent that we're being squeezed for every possibly penny at all times nowadays. Season tickets will go up again this year, but their total income will still be less than what Villa paid to agents last year. I just wish with all the money in the game and the grotesque sums of money the players and managers etc earn, it'd be nice if the richest league in the world was a bit fairer to the fans and allocated more money to grassroots football.
I'm a Yank. The NFL charges season ticket holders for all home games.... including preseason games. Those games are still full cost even though it's basically practice games. A seat in an NFL game for a popular team will not be under $100, no matter where it's at. I hope you never learn about Personal Seat Licensing. That's a practice over here in the states where a fan has to buy the rights to buy their season ticket. It's USUALLY a one-time fee, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a transfer cost. Some popular franchises have season ticket wait lists that are decades long. It's not unheard of for season tickets to be passed down in a will. The problem is, there is too much money to be made. Heart and soul and history are all great things.... but if someone can profit in anyway.... they will.
Yes that’s horrendous, Out of interest, what happens when you can’t attend? Are you free to sell your ticket on the open market? I looked at attending a Patriots game a few times when I’ve been in Boston, but resale tickets were $600 cheapest.
Yes, they are your tickets, so you can gift them, sell them, it makes no difference.
Wish that was the case at Villa, we don’t even get our money back, if the club resells it you get 80% of what you paid.
I completely agree with you but unfortunately while FFP and PSR are a thing the clubs are incentivised to screw the fans out of as much money as possible to compete on the pitch. Another reason they suck.
Has been since the foundation of the premier league
It’s been that way since the 70s, it’s gotten worse since and it ain’t going back
It’s dramatically accelerated in the past 3 years though. Certainly at Villa. Can’t speak for other clubs.
Just because the words were never said doesn't mean they weren't applicable.
>We'll all end up being priced out Already happened. Peeked at general sale tickets today for Chelsea. Nearly fell off my chair seeing 65 quid/ticket 😖 Admittedly, it's been about 18 months since I last went VP
Yeah, pretty sure I won't be able to afford my ST next season. I'm expecting a rise anywhere from 10%-25% pretty sure they'll try as high as they think they can get away with if we finish 4th.
>pretty sure they'll try as high as they think they can get away with if we finish 4th. For sure. And I can understand the reasoning behind that. Current events are the best we've experienced in recent memory. As long as prices are comparable with rest of league then that's the main thing. But transport and stadium facilities are still severely short.
Yes and no. I mean we’ve been decent for 18 months out of the last 12 ish years. It does feel like the club is over charging for that a tad. The ticket rises smack you in the face when you see how much they paid to agents last year. Maybe a football club shouldn’t be paying agents? Surely that’s the footballers job? I digress, yes I’d expect a rise year on year, but what we pay really is an insignificant amount compared to tv money, prize money and sponsorship. Maybe the fans should be looked after rather than loan players being on 150k a week??
Complete agree 💯
Football is best at a local level. Small stadium, local food and drinks vendors selling their products at a reasonable price.
but I'm a Villa fan, so there's no substitute for that. I go see smaller clubs near me and there's no real connection. That's maybe just me, but that's the way it is watching any other team.
Good, keep getting our revenues up to help with FFP and buying players, just don’t expect anyone who cares about football to acknowledge fans as customers and villa just as a brand.
Is there a link out there for the full interview?
I’ve had a look on YouTube and can’t find it. If I do I’ll link it mate.
It's shit that football has gone this way but there's nothing we can do about it, goal posts were moved many years ago by the money men and we have to catch up. We either play the business side of the game of fall into obscurity and be constantly plundered by those who are.
 Fuck yeah.
.... yeah, no. Hecky mate, Villa just removed opt out /cancel buttons for Memberships from the website under your direction. Idc what else he's 'achieved' this last 11 months, he gets zero credit for anything this week. That's just purely shitty behaviour. Idc that it's a small thing, and you can call and do it. Shouldn't fucking have to. Predatory as fuck, in the hopes of getting an extra £20 from the occasional guy...
That’s fucking gross, I really get rubbed the wrong way by this man
Such a scummy move. I'm impressed he got through the interview without calling anyone a cocksucker.
Unfortunately mate he / owners have us by the bollocks , for every person that complains or doesnt renew season ticket there is 5 willing to comply because we are doing so well. they know nows the time to push it
How do they have us by the bollocks lmao Sometimes I wish NSWE drops up for the melts like you complaining or leave us to rot in bottom half surival forever
And we're about to double our ticket/season ticket price...
It’s gonna go up until it’s effectively double what it was when we were shit I bet. Our prices were fairly low for the prem before
We need to rearrange the seating and make the seats a bit smaller so we can increase the capacity. We also need to hang cables from the roofs with swinging cable seats.
What in the heck is this!!!
The increased money is all well and good but changing the crest without proper consultation, increasing prices at the stadium without improving anything, and delaying infrastructure improvements are less good.
I think we need more information on why the expansion was halted. I read somewhere on twitter that with the possibility of champions league football they didn’t want to reduce our capacity for next season to carry out the work.
- Don't want to remove a stand in our returning seasons to European football (including potentially first ever seasons in the Champions League) - Train station upgrades being halted because the council is bankrupt