Chris Heck - President of Business Operations

[sne]

2 minutes ago, nick76 said:

This is what Heck and his back office team need to do

 

Raise the price of ice creams? Sure that's coming.

[Andy_10]

1 hour ago, TRO said:

The principles of selling like supply and demand, remain consistent, sure there are nuances from industry to industry and Tactics employed too....but there are so many colliding forces in selling despite the different scenario's.

I disagree with the loyalty bit, to a degree, consumers have huge product loyalty, to almost derisory proportions...."never buy anything but Ford Mate"....."Jaguar man myself"....."but I have a Merc, because I can", voice from the back..."always a Merc"

No,don't under estimate Brand loyalty, outside the subject matter.

I accept Football is a unique beast, maybe because, we see it that way from a fans perspective.....Maybe, just maybe, we see ourselves as indispensible, too (just being devils advocate) and we over value our presence....not saying we do, but its a thought.

Spare the odd thought, for the thousands of fans abroad, who buy the merch and follow the club as avidly as we do, and can't get to games, due to Geography....They too have their own agenda, and that's a reliable revenue source.

I accept, there is nothing like football in so many ways, but I also think, in some ways we can drift in to a territory of over stating our own importance....let me explain. I have supported Villa for over 60 years, and am loyal to the core ( so what, some could say) you have had you fun and paid for it.....If I was priced out right now, don't kid yourself, some new fan of any age, could replace me, and fulfil my loyalty, equally as well, the only thing I would have over them is longevity, which counts for what, exactly, other than my own self indulgence.

What I am trying to do is engage in perspective....New fans can sing as loud and as fervently as me and too, might give the club 60 odd years of their enhanced entrance fee's.

Personally I don't give much time to Badges, programmes etc, I just see it as the clubs business to get right, and I just dutifully accept it. I think the more one tries to involve themselves in to certain things, the more likely a lack of communication can be derived, and it getting disappointing. Don't donstrue that as defending Heck on Communication, because, I agree, he is poor or dismissive.....but maybe that's the way he wants it.

I try to be careful on not trying to tell the club how to runs its business, that is not the same of course, of legitimate complaints like Stadium Hygiene etc...buts it's easy to drift in to blurring the lines.

Chris Heck, is maybe like many of us, good at some things and not so good at others, that has crossed my mind too. I am also aware he has become, not very popular, very quickly, despite having recent praise, for the sponsorship deals, which most are pleased with. For me I am cautious of not letting that questionable reputation of late, deviate from the central issues, he is embroiled in...perspective.

I don't doubt he could have done some things differently, Unai could quietly admit that too, despite getting all the significant things right. The owners could say the same, despite my huge faith in them.

I would also like to remind you, that the owners will want all senior staff, in particular, to get things right, not just Unai, and that if CH gets it right Unai will have more money to improve his squad, something pretty important to all of us.

Any product "brand loyalty" is purely down the reliability & trust of a product when it comes to selling something like a hoover. It's simple logic, if it works well, then it's worth a purchase. Vehicle brand loyalty is 50/50. Some people do have a favourite vehicle for reasons from reliability, cost efficiency & aesthetics. I think Tesla currently have the highest brand loyalty & thats probably because they are reliable, energy efficient & aesthetically pleasing.

But it's nothing like football, because the emotive tribal nature of a football fan will create loyalty within the majority of the fanbase as soon as the individual is brought to the club by their dad (or whoever). And that core customer base SHOULD be seen as indispensable by the club because if there is no success to sell, you then have to rely on that core customer base to keep the lights on, as lack of success will also depreciate the value of sponsors & investors that a club can attract.

Which is why it's branding 101 that you keep your core customer base happy before anybody else.

And if someone like Heck has come in, riding the crest of the relative success from Emery & the players, & like a bull in a China shop, instantly misunderstood, discounted & alienated a lot of the core customer base by shooting for the moon with overly ambitious targeting of a global fanbase that isn't currently there despite the recent relative successes, then any short term positives the club have gained from his actions that hurt the core customer base, 'COULD' be lost when we inevitably have a downturn on the footballing side.

How you see yourself & your value to the club is your right & I respect that. But Im not talking about you as an individual. Im talking about fans as a customer base from a branding perspective. Because that is part of Hecks remit.

I don't agree with you about just accepting the badge as part of the clubs business. The crest is the business of any fan who takes interest in it. And from a brand/marketing perspective, it's the first impression for businesses for our whole brand. It's far more important than some fans probably realise. It's also seen by the FA as part of the clubs heritage to be protected, which is why they created rules about changing it without taking fans opinions into consideration. Mostly due to what Vincent Tan did at Cardiff City. So it's not just me who sees it as something quite important to the fans. I am also a qualified graphic designer with a couple decades under my belt who has worked with Nike, adidas, Puma, etc. So from a career perspective it interests me too. What I saw with the way Heck dealt with the crest was an absolute debacle. I have explained a few pages back a small part of my issues with how he went about it, but I could go even deeper if pressed. But that was his introduction to the fans. Using a sledgehammer to an element of the club that was part fan led & such an important element of a club that there are rules about changing it.

I like to keep my toes dipped in the water of most of the clubs business. The good will obviously keep me happy & the bad not. I think I have been fair & balanced with the owners & Heck with both my praise & criticism. I always say that not everything has to be all lollipop trees & candy-floss grass & not everything has to all doom & gloom, because there are always grey areas. Its difficult to know where the truth lays with Heck though because of some of the, for want of a better word, 'distrustful' things he has said about certain things he has done.

And I have often said that if he was just honest about things, even the negative stuff, then most Villa fans will accept being treated like an adult & being given an adult explanation. I think we have proven that when the owners came out & explained the PSR reasons for selling Douglas Luiz & Diaby, we were all pretty on board with the way the club handled themselves navigating the PSR issue.

[nick76]

23 minutes ago, sne said:

Raise the price of ice creams? Sure that's coming.

That was a bit of a vanilla response mate…with Heck we are on a rocky road ahead, he thinks we are all worth a mint.  

[Tomaszk]

5 hours ago, Steero113 said:

Villa need more revenue. S**t loags more revenue, in order to compete sustainably at the top table. 

This is what football, and the PL in particular has become. A pure money game where every £ counts. It's sad, really.

~£1m extra a game he's making for those UCL prices. That's not shit loads.

3 hours ago, icouldtelltheworld said:

If we price out our core fanbase, there is the very real risk that younger people are unable to attend Villa Park and ultimately become armchair fans of the established 'big clubs'.

A good point. These are the sorts of things Heck should be thinking about, not just whacking prices up because a spreadsheet says to.

[Andy_10]

Just now, Tomaszk said:

A good point. These are the sorts of things Heck should be thinking about, not just whacking prices up because a spreadsheet says to.

Reminds me of someone I used to know who owned an engineering business. Inherited.

He could not get his head around the fact that even though his computer told him that he could get 10 cutouts from a sheet of metal, when they laid them out for the machine to cut them, they could only lay out & cut 9 items.

His brain just could not grasp that the shape of the cutout created scrap metal after the 9 items had been punched out & if you created a new sheet with that scrap metal, it could create the 10th cutout. But altogether, it just wouldn't fit.

His business went out of business not long after he took over from his dad.

[thunderball]

....Good thread this, well done everyone, some really good points from all perspectives 

[Mic09]

1 hour ago, Tomaszk said:

~£1m extra a game he's making for those UCL prices. That's not shit loads.

It's a new contract for Martinez and some spare change, so yeah, I'd say that's a lot. 

[Rob182]

6 hours ago, Steero113 said:

Your analogy conveniently sidesteps the fact that Villa need more revenue. S**t loags more revenue, in order to compete sustainably at the top table. 

This is what football, and the PL in particular has become. A pure money game where every £ counts. It's sad, really. 

Oasis don't need more revenue, they are just being greedy c**ts. 

If Villa needed more revenue to pay the bills or cover the various league requirements, then there are plenty of other options that, presumably, could have been attempted before the fans picked up the tab.

- Various sponsorships in the ground or training ground.

- All those ‘official water partner’ type deals.

- Deciding not to offer Martinez & co extended deals, or giving them extended deals but on longer contracts and a slightly lower wage, if that would make a difference.

- Signing a leftback for, say, £33m instead of £37m (or even not signing a leftback for that amount when we already have one!)

- Throwing a fringe or youth player into one of the deals to knock a million or two off the price.

- The naming of stands

Etc etc!

As others have said, football is different to a normal corporation where you can raise prices, rely on the richer ‘consumers’ and know you can just lower the prices if the good times end.

If you piss off a portion of a loyal football fanbase, you could be in for trouble.

Imagine if we hit some hard times and end up battling relegation in a few years again. People won’t just come running back to support their team when they feel they’ve been treated unfairly. The day trippers wouldn’t be there as there’s no CL on offer. That “30,000 waiting list” will likely not be there. It’s an extreme example, I know.

Even my personal situation. Season ticket holder since the O’Neill years. I have young kids I’d love to take the the Villa to experience the atmosphere and their first European game, but I can’t afford it. So no magic moment. Maybe they’ll enjoy Wycombe…

[Vive_La_Villa]

I think the club seriously needs a CEO or at least someone that communicates a little bit more. I didn't like Purslow but at least it wasn't shit decisions or walking in piss and then silence. Or was it?

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

4 hours ago, MrBlack said:

Chris heck people, not the club, tickets, or seats. 

I blame Heck for this. This is what he does to us. Turns us into a miserable unorganised rabble.

When he's spotted at VP...

[Tomaszk]

1 hour ago, Mic09 said:

It's a new contract for Martinez and some spare change, so yeah, I'd say that's a lot. 

We'll have to agree to disagree that £4-7m gouged from the fanbase, turning them against the club, is money that will make a difference to Aston Villa.

Edited September 11 by Tomaszk

[CVByrne]

6 hours ago, Andy_10 said:

Im not sure that is completely fair. My issues with Heck have to do with things that Heck has done. As do the positive things I have to say about him.

Granted, the owners sign off on the majority of this stuff, & some of us have acknowledged that, but at the same time, it has to be Heck selling the ideas to them to be able to make money for the club, as that is literally his job. He has to have some autonomy, as well as responsibility.

If he doesn't, then why is he at the club? And why are we paying him when it's all the owners doing the work?

His wages could go to PSR, as after all, according to some, every penny helps.

I don't particularly agree that every penny or pound helps, as goodwill & clever marketing are far more valuable to looking after the core customer base, even if it shaves a mil or two off the bottom line, because it can pay dividends further down the line.

It's part of branding 101 by understanding & looking after your core customer base first & foremost, BEFORE the ambitious task of targeting a global fanbase.

Something that I feel Heck has been wilfully ignorant to. If it's not wilful ignorance, then it's incompetence. Im not sure which scares me the most. 

But what you attribute to Heck really is The Club. The Owners. Yes Heck has put his ideas to NSWE, he has to as he was hired by them and NS has to sign off on big decisions as he is Executive Chairman. The point people miss is the owners went out to hire a high calibre person with a proven track record specifically to do this. If it wasn't Heck it would be somebody else. 

Our owners have other clubs in the League as examples. They will have specifically targeted Villa Park and match day revenue as a key performance metric for Heck. 

I do understand the ire with rising prices for tickets (it was the costs of Sky Sports and BT before that) but that is a football wide and Premier League wide issue. 

At the end of the day. NSWE have specifically identified our underperforming commercial side both match day and sponsorship. They has specifically head hunted an experienced hire with the remit to resolve this. 

They are behind the wheel on this. 100% Heck is a hired gun. 

[Mic09]

12 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

We'll have to agree to disagree that £4-7m gouged from the fanbase, turning them against the club, is money that will make a difference to Aston Villa.

Or not making that 4-7m extra means we don't give Martinez a new contract, he goes in Jan, we miss out on CL football next season and lose out on 50m, and the fan base is also pissed off. 

Listen, I get your argument and sympathise with it. But £1m here and £2m there is very important in the current PSR FFP climate. It really is. 

Edited September 11 by Mic09

[thabucks]

So the glazers were allowed to write off almost £30mill of losses relating to them selling a stake to INEOS which should’ve been theirs to bear - this is what Heck and NSWE are up against - games rigged ans that’s why we have to rinse every single penny not some evil ploy to alienate the fanbase by some crooked American handpicked by Wes Edens 

[Tomaszk]

10 minutes ago, Mic09 said:

Or not making that 4-7m extra means we don't give Martinez a new contract, he goes in Jan, we miss out on CL football next season and lose out on 50m, and the fan base is also pissed off. 

Listen, I get your argument and sympathise with it. But £1m here and £2m there is very important in the current PSR FFP climate. It really is. 

If Heck can crack on and arrange some sponsors who will give us tens of multiples of that we can keep the fanbase on side. Win-win.

[nick76]

6 minutes ago, Mic09 said:

Or not making that 4-7m extra means we don't give Martinez a new contract, he goes in Jan, we miss out on CL football next season and lose out on 50m, and the fan base is also pissed off. 

Listen, I get your argument and sympathise with it. But £1m here and £2m there is very important in the current PSR FFP climate. It really is. 

So why did Heck change the badge from the shield version of 22/23 because while it wasn’t the full rebranding of the round badge it still needed a lot of cost because it meant every element from social media to physical signs, to advising all the media entities, legal fees, cost of his internal branding team that could’ve been working on something else yet as many have said it’s not a massive change but it is a change and thus the cost of changing it.  Changing the players tunnel would’ve cost a fair amount, renting that space in the NY Times Square is incredibly expensive, then costs of changing the club shop which while needed could’ve waited another year….then not to mentioned the €60k fine for late financial submissions to UEFA.  

Just seems there is plenty of spare cash that soon adds up that Heck spends on things that aren’t urgent or necessary.

[Vive_La_Villa]

29 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

We'll have to agree to disagree that £4-7m gouged from the fanbase, turning them against the club, is money that will make a difference to Aston Villa.

Thing is when you're doing well a lot more fans want to be involved. Some that are more than happy to pay the new prices. So whilst a whole lot of fans will be turned against the club there will be many that take their place. 
 

That's why the club won't care. Fans a fan.

Edited September 11 by Vive_La_Villa

[nick76]

3 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Very important they do isn't it.

Or Villa could suddenly be in a lot of trouble.

It will happen because football goes in cycles and Villa will likely have a shit period and then the previous fans will be begged to come back by the likes of Heck, although he will have been sacked or moved on by then.

[Colin79]

I’ve said before and I’ll repeat again that during the championship years the whole of the upper trinity was closed for all but a few games. The size of our fanbase is greatly overestimated. 
 

It’s ok for people that rarely go to games saying ‘I’d happily pay x to watch us play Bayern’ it’s very for different for fans that already spend a couple of grand a year on the club, and have done for decades. 
 

Heck needs to hope he doesn’t alienate the regular punters, because should we end up struggling again, it isn’t the day trippers buying tickets to watch us play Rotherham on a Tuesday night. 
 

When the times comes that I’m priced out of my ST (and I fear it’s only a couple of seasons away) I’ll be done completely, and I suspect it will be the same for many. 

[Vive_La_Villa]

7 minutes ago, Colin79 said:

I’ve said before and I’ll repeat again that during the championship years the whole of the upper trinity was closed for all but a few games. The size of our fanbase is greatly overestimated. 
 

It’s ok for people that rarely go to games saying ‘I’d happily pay x to watch us play Bayern’ it’s very for different for fans that already spend a couple of grand a year on the club, and have done for decades. 
 

Heck needs to hope he doesn’t alienate the regular punters, because should we end up struggling again, it isn’t the day trippers buying tickets to watch us play Rotherham on a Tuesday night. 
 

When the times comes that I’m priced out of my ST (and I fear it’s only a couple of seasons away) I’ll be done completely, and I suspect it will be the same for many. 

Agee but the club are banking on us staying a top 6 club. When that no longer happens it will be interesting times.

Having said that Lerner and co never alienated the fans with ticket prices and look where that got us.

Edited September 11 by Vive_La_Villa