Aston Villa Supporters Consultation Group Meeting,möte 2
I lördags innan matchen mot Bolton så hade Aston Villa ett möte med supporterklubbarna. Nästa möte är om ca 3 mån.
Steve Trueman var vår talesman på detta möte. Och han fick chansen att ställa några frågor. Här följer Steve's mötesrapport:
The Meeting
The meeting went really well. There was some support in the room from Steve Mat from Belgium so i think that we will get a fair hearing to our questions from the club.
1st question was about ticket allocation for Villa away games. I explained that London games were popular with Northern European supporters due to cheap flights or ease of crossing the channel. What i requested was that If supporters from Europe wanted to travel to away games they would need to book flights, hotels etc, and may not be able to get a ticket for the game.
I have requested that the club allocate 10 tickets for every away game to every supporters club outside England and Wales. The supporters club must then inform the club 6 weeks (tickets go on sale 4 weeks before a game)before the game how many of the 10 tickets they require and for which members of the supporters club. If you fail to inform the club of
how many tickets you require (10 max) then the tickets go on general sale.
Note: - This would only apply to Premiership games not Cup games.
The club and other supporters around the room were in agreement with the request and i think we may be able to set up a scheme where away tickets will be more accessible.
2nd Question was the one about the museum. Lee Preece and Russel Jones indicated that there was going to be a museum.
Before the meeting Bob Kain (i think) was talking to the group. Bob told us about the expansion of the training ground to include a indoor training pitch, facilities for fans to view the team training and the sort of "state of the art" medical and training equipment that was to be purchased. The total cost of the training ground is expected to be around £15m and is being paid for by Randy Lerner not the club.
Bob also told us that the Aston Hotel was about 60% ready to start restoration, Randy Lerner wants the Hotel to be restored to as it was in 1897, i think that Lerner is very
traditional and respects the club history, "remember the past but build for the future" the club web site will be showing photographs every 2 weeks of up-dates to the training ground as well as the hotel. The hotel will have a bar, and will be available for weddings etc. The club will not be opening it as a hotel for guests to sleep in. Lerner is paying for the hotel himself at a cost of about £2-3 million
3rd Question was about per-season tours.
I have requested that when the club tour Germany, Sweden, Holland, USA etc that the club arrange a "meet the players day" on the tour. (If the club were touring Denmark then Supporters clubs from Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Norway etc be invited to meet the players and view training. This would possibly increase the supporters clubs numbers as well as forgenig stronger links with the club
Finally the Music.
We were all requested to submit a song for the team to enter the pitch to.
The 5 best tunes will be put onto Voice in the crowd for supporters to vote on in the new year but the most popular were
1. The old Butler music called Theme from a silent movie
2. Ghost riders in the sky (with Ozzie singing)
3. Hi Ho Silver Lining (This is shit a Wolves song, any person voting for this should do the decent thing and go behind a rock with a pistol and blow their heads off).
This has caused either a great debate or a non-comment from supporters clubs but 5-4-3-2-1 is crap and needs to be changed.
There were some really good ideas around the table the best was a "loyalty scheme" for supporters clubs.
The idea was that if a club member purchases an item from the club shop, pavilions, or on-line, then their supporters club would be given loyalty points towards discount tickets, or items in the club shop.
The next meeting is in 3 months if any of you are over you are welcome to attend the meeting.
Regards
Steve
