Chris Heck - President of Business Operations

[Toronto Villa]

Encouraging stuff in the interview. I do wish there was a question about future plans for the North which I am sure will need to be expanded at some point. But it’s great to see investment across the ground.

[London Villan]

Yes, forget all that... have they fixed the toilets in the Trinity in the "Off Season".

[Border villan]

Watched it just and it had an overwhelming smell of bullshit.

[rob_bridge]

Pretty encouraging stuff. Let's see how it pans out.

Interesting to see what this kid's zone will be like.

Wonder if they will sell the 'hospitality packages' cheaper for some of the less attractive games?

[Gareth]

Be interesting to see how the GA experience measures up around the ground on Saturday…how many of the concourses will have been improved? How many concourses will have better catering offerings? how many of the concourses will have better quality servers? How many of the toilets will have been fixed / updated?

Won’t hold my breath :-) can’t wait tho :-)

[PeterWithe]

Its something of a quandry for us as a club, we recognise that the home form is at least some way influenced by the fans, and that posh people will pay more to watch games with a great atmosphere, and the Club clearly want more and more of them paying, but without upping the capacity the people who are generating the atmosphere are or will be slowly forced out, making the posh seats less attractive.

[Dogtanian]

I still don't know what these new LEDs are... I couldn't see anything new in the background.

[Toronto Villa]

Watched it just and it had an overwhelming smell of bullshit.

Why is it bullshit? Are the things he said not true? There are loads of fans who envy what we have at Villa Park. It’s not perfect and some things need to improve. We all know that and I imagine he does too. But most fans would say that about their clubs and ground.

I don’t understand this need by some to hate everything Heck says or does. He’s made mistakes, or things he could have done better. But commercially we are absolutely miles better off than when he started. 

[LeeB]

I still don't know what these new LEDs are... I couldn't see anything new in the background.

They're 'light emitting diodes', as I understand it.

[Somniloquism]

I still don't know what these new LEDs are... I couldn't see anything new in the background.

I'm assuming the advertising hoardings are all LED now as he mentioned all around the ground AND you can see it curves at the far corner. I wonder what they have changed for the tunnel?

[AV82EC]

Heck isn’t the most confident or natural
Communicator, he lacks Purslows unctuous political charm but he’s doing some half decent stuff. Ultimately to get to the £400m turnover figure he’s going to sweat the existing asset until the pips squeak and he and the owners may then consider some ground changes.

[Bad English]

No mention of burnt chips from Pravda. And, of course she didn't ask him if the cheapo riff-raff will be able to get a pint without missing half of the second half.

[Tuscans]

I still don't know what these new LEDs are... I couldn't see anything new in the background.

They're 'light emitting diodes', as I understand it.

I thought they were magic mushrooms. I thought they installed them because we're all going on one big trip under Unai.

[Billy Walker]

The "Aston Villa" sign with the ornate swirls on the Trinity, Villla-nerd that I am, is incredibly pleasing to me and makes me think Heck genuinely gets the Club and its traditions (see also the mosiac and red brick lion in the club store).  It's a great detail, a part of our visual identity that has been underplayed for decades.   When the new North is built, I feel more confident that Heck and his team might look to build something with more of a traditional Villa feel, something to mirror the Holte, with brickwork, stained glass and mosaics.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Watched it just and it had an overwhelming smell of bullshit.

Why is it bullshit? Are the things he said not true?

The Lower Grounds were "wildly successful"? News to me. If they were wildly successful I'd imagine it's because with such high demand for tickets, many fans were left with the choice of either miss the game or buy a Lower grounds package. It's easy to sell ice cream on a hot summer day.