The Holte Suite

[aev]

The package Saturday was I believe all you can eat and drink , for £60 . Not sure if that's always going to be the price but if it is for some of the heavy drinkers this would actually be decent value as say 5 pints pre game 1 at half time and 3 after the game is about £50 plus whatever food is on it becomes cost neutral for them

So basically, to get any value out this you need to get shit faced before the match, have a load more beer after and shovel as much concourse quality grub you can handle, to soak up the alcohol.

When you put it like that, I'm in.

[dave.woodhall]

I'm sure the police will allow that.

[astonvilla82]

The package Saturday was I believe all you can eat and drink , for £60 . Not sure if that's always going to be the price but if it is for some of the heavy drinkers this would actually be decent value as say 5 pints pre game 1 at half time and 3 after the game is about £50 plus whatever food is on it becomes cost neutral for them

So basically, to get any value out this you need to get shit faced before the match, have a load more beer after and shovel as much concourse quality grub you can handle, to soak up the alcohol.

When you put it like that, I'm in.

probably what the police are thinking

[chrisw1]

Those tickets in A2 and P2 now cost you £60. Bloody hell. 2 left for West Ham, so I guess A2 and P2 will be full. Tally ho!

£69 to sit on the Holte with Terrace View. 93 available for people wanting to turn left.

??  The West Ham game is £114 for Terrace View (or £45 ST bolt on) 

£45.00 for 2 free pints and the ability to have a piss is crazy.

[Clampy]

Those tickets in A2 and P2 now cost you £60. Bloody hell. 2 left for West Ham, so I guess A2 and P2 will be full. Tally ho!

£69 to sit on the Holte with Terrace View. 93 available for people wanting to turn left.

??  The West Ham game is £114 for Terrace View (or £45 ST bolt on) 

£45.00 for 2 free pints and the ability to have a piss is crazy.

You're forgetting the free programme. 😀

[Ads]

Those tickets in A2 and P2 now cost you £60. Bloody hell. 2 left for West Ham, so I guess A2 and P2 will be full. Tally ho!

£69 to sit on the Holte with Terrace View. 93 available for people wanting to turn left.

??  The West Ham game is £114 for Terrace View (or £45 ST bolt on) 

£45.00 for 2 free pints and the ability to have a piss is crazy.

That's what they're costing the ticket as when you deduct the bolt on price from the package price.

[VillaTim]

Those tickets in A2 and P2 now cost you £60. Bloody hell. 2 left for West Ham, so I guess A2 and P2 will be full. Tally ho!

£69 to sit on the Holte with Terrace View. 93 available for people wanting to turn left.

??  The West Ham game is £114 for Terrace View (or £45 ST bolt on) 

£45.00 for 2 free pints and the ability to have a piss is crazy.

Lower Grounds is all you can eat and drink

[chrisw1]

Those tickets in A2 and P2 now cost you £60. Bloody hell. 2 left for West Ham, so I guess A2 and P2 will be full. Tally ho!

£69 to sit on the Holte with Terrace View. 93 available for people wanting to turn left.

??  The West Ham game is £114 for Terrace View (or £45 ST bolt on) 

£45.00 for 2 free pints and the ability to have a piss is crazy.

That's what they're costing the ticket as when you deduct the bolt on price from the package price.

Got it, yes it's nuts.  I can see it working for one-off tourists, but for anyone with regular access to tickets the premium is crazy.

[paul_e]

From an outside-ish perspective (I have been to about 10 games since NSWE came in and I'm 20000 odd on the waiting list) I've tried to avoid this conversation in the main because I don't think it affects me as much as many of you.

Terrace View - This seems like a massive load of bollocks and is basically an option to pay a fortune to have slightly less shit service, this is on a par with the wank-y fast track passes you get in theme parks, a solution to a problem they've created and that could easily be resolved by them in better ways.
Maybe replace it with an options to pre-order drinks, food(?) and programmes for a small additional fee (like a couple of quid at most) and fulfil it with the multi-pour stations that can rush people through far quicker if they just scan their ticket and take their drink(s).

Lower Grounds - I think this is a much better idea and is something that may well work going forward but it needs a couple of changes.
Firstly it should've been a new venue, if they'd gone ahead with Villa Live and launched it as this I think the reaction would've been much better, by doing it this way they've taken something away from the general fan base to give it to hospitality, that never goes over well and I'm surprised no one saw the reaction coming, I agree with others that 'scab' is a bit extreme but I can understand the sentiment.
Secondly the quality needs to be high for this to last. The food needs to be digbeth dining club levels and the drinks need to be 'premium' offerings for this to make sense otherwise I think it'll be a novelty that gets 40-50% capacity most games, which is not only a waste but also makes the club look a bit shit.

More generally I think the biggest problem with both initiatives is that they feel like a slap in the face to people who've been complaining about poor service at the ground. If you want to do this and don't want it to create anger you start by fixing the waiting times all around the ground and by making sure the quality of food and drink everywhere is good enough for most people. Once you're not getting complaints it changes to feeling like an extra service for those that want it instead of feeling like a way to pay to get the basic services that most fans are missing. I don't think the club are trying to piss anyone off or are intentionally ignoring existing fans to chase the money from new ones, I just think they're trying to run before they walk.

[chrisw1]

More generally I think the biggest problem with both initiatives is that they feel like a slap in the face to people who've been complaining about poor service at the ground. If you want to do this and don't want it to create anger you start by fixing the waiting times all around the ground and by making sure the quality of food and drink everywhere is good enough for most people. Once you're not getting complaints it changes to feeling like an extra service for those that want it instead of feeling like a way to pay to get the basic services that most fans are missing.

This is very well put Paul.

[VillaTim]

I'm sure the police will allow that.

thats how it was v BHA . I saw one review on Twitter a fan was well happy, 8 pints of Morretti and in the food troughs as much as he wanted . He'd seen it as good value

[Gareth]

I'm sure the police will allow that.

thats how it was v BHA . I saw one review on Twitter a fan was well happy, 8 pints of Morretti and in the food troughs as much as he wanted . He'd seen it as good value

Chris.hic@avfc.co.uk :-)

[DeKuip]

More generally I think the biggest problem with both initiatives is that they feel like a slap in the face to people who've been complaining about poor service at the ground. If you want to do this and don't want it to create anger you start by fixing the waiting times all around the ground and by making sure the quality of food and drink everywhere is good enough for most people. Once you're not getting complaints it changes to feeling like an extra service for those that want it instead of feeling like a way to pay to get the basic services that most fans are missing.

This is very well put Paul.

True, but if the food/drink/service on the concourses was any good there’d be less of a market for TC & LG.

[paul_e]

More generally I think the biggest problem with both initiatives is that they feel like a slap in the face to people who've been complaining about poor service at the ground. If you want to do this and don't want it to create anger you start by fixing the waiting times all around the ground and by making sure the quality of food and drink everywhere is good enough for most people. Once you're not getting complaints it changes to feeling like an extra service for those that want it instead of feeling like a way to pay to get the basic services that most fans are missing.

This is very well put Paul.

True, but if the food/drink/service on the concourses was any good there’d be less of a market for TC & LG.

Maybe true, but at least we'd see exactly what the demand is and have proper data to use in deciding things like capacity and pricing.

[astonvilla82]

Listening to talksport early, sure some Newcastle fan said il he  paided £150 or £250 for tonight match stand to be corrected if wrong