Chris Heck - President of Business Operations

[Captain_Townsend]

13 minutes ago, thabucks said:

Purslow had the history and recent success of those two clubs  to fall back on to secure those record deals whereas heck has championship football 5 years ago … 

Priceless.

Purslow joined us as a championship club and left us as a top 7 club. Heck joined us as as we embarked on our first European campaign in 14 years.

[ender4]

2 hours ago, Czarnikjak said:

We get that nswe saved the club and people are reluctant to put any blame on them. But this ticket strategy is squarely on them, Heck is just an executor.

Even if they don't sign off on every individual pricing decision directly, they knew exactly who they hired in Heck and what his track record was.

They're surely aware now of the noise it caused. If they don't approve of his decision, they could simply tell him to lower the pricing. They did not, cause they're fully behind it.

I think you are over-estimating NWSE's involvement in Villa. We make up such a small part of their business portfolio, we are probably 2% of their combined businesses. They will have a million things going on in all these businesses which is why they hire a Heck figure to look after Villa and other similar people in each one of their businesses. 

How much does Joe Lewis gets involved in Spurs pricing and commercial decisions? He leaves everything to Levy.

How much did the Glazers get involved in Man Utd commercial affairs? They left it to Ed Woodward and his replacement.

Stan Kroenke at Arsenal? John Henry at Liverpool? PIF at Newcastle? 

All the best owners of teams leave everything to the CEO (or equivalent). They only get involved if things go wrong or for a major decision such as moving stadium.

The ones where the owners get involved are usually the crazier teams - Boehly at Chelsea comes to mind.

Edited September 13 by ender4

[thabucks]

16 minutes ago, Captain_Townsend said:

Priceless.

Purslow joined us as a championship club and left us as a top 7 club. Heck joined us as as we embarked on our first European campaign in 14 years.

And you cannot take away anything from Purlsow’s achievements.

If you’d bothered to read back. My point was in response to someone brought up the commercial deals he secured achieved at bigger clubs with a history of recent success, so it was easy for him to achieve these record deals - if you apply the same logic some have applied to Heck whose signed commercial deals are on the back of Emery’s success only so easy for him. 
 

 

[Made In Aston]

13 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

The increases will come from the stuff that Heck is good at - that's why he's here.

We made something like £20m in sponsorships last season, we're probably looking at about double that this season, to reach £450m we'll need that number to be more than £150m.

Our future might well be dependent on us finding some companies that want to pay for it.

If we don't get regular champion's league football then large sponsorship deals won't be forthcoming. There is also a ceiling to how much we can get and I think 150m is unrealistic. How much do Liverpool Arsenal and Man city draw in? Can't be much more than that. 

The only way to increase revenue to the figures we need is to massively grow the fan base. Every other revenue stream increases, like sponsorship, flow from there. That is what Heck should be  actively focusing on, not passively hoping it increases through onfield success. 

[Dale]

18 minutes ago, thabucks said:

And you cannot take away anything from Purlsow’s achievements.

If you’d bothered to read back. My point was in response to someone brought up the commercial deals he secured achieved at bigger clubs with a history of recent success, so it was easy for him to achieve these record deals - if you apply the same logic some have applied to Heck whose signed commercial deals are on the back of Emery’s success only so easy for him. 
 

 

Someone was me. The point I was making, was that as we become more successful we had someone who'd demonstrated great success in leveraging that success to gain great commercial deals. The Liverpool one in 2009, equalled Utd, Utd were regularly winning the league at that point. Liverpool hadn't for two decades. Likewise Chelsea, getting either of those clubs deals equivalent/better than Utd was an incredible achievement. Man Utd undoubtedly the biggest club in the country at the time. 

Heck has publicly dumped on Purslow as if he was working from the same base, he isn't.

I doubt Heck has achieved any more than another competent administrator could, and has done so in an arrogant and out of touch manner. 

The guy is a cock. Who I also imagine is an awful boss. 

[ender4]

9 minutes ago, Made In Aston said:

If we don't get regular champion's league football then large sponsorship deals won't be forthcoming. There is also a ceiling to how much we can get and I think 150m is unrealistic. How much do Liverpool Arsenal and Man city draw in? Can't be much more than that. 

The only way to increase revenue to the figures we need is to massively grow the fan base. Every other revenue stream increases, like sponsorship, flow from there. That is what Heck should be  actively focusing on, not passively hoping it increases through onfield success. 

Yes agreed. This is Heck's main job - increase commercial revenue to £150m in 3 years. It's hard to do and that's what he is being paid big bucks for. This is what he should be judged on.

Anyone can increase matchday income by a few million £'s by just increasing ticket prices. That's a 12 year old playing at being a commercial director.

[TRO]

39 minutes ago, ender4 said:

I think you are over-estimating NWSE's involvement in Villa. We make up such a small part of their business portfolio, we are probably 2% of their combined businesses. They will have a million things going on in all these businesses which is why they hire a Heck figure to look after Villa and other similar people in each one of their businesses. 

How much does Joe Lewis gets involved in Spurs pricing and commercial decisions? He leaves everything to Levy.

How much did the Glazers get involved in Man Utd commercial affairs? They left it to Ed Woodward and his replacement.

Stan Kroenke at Arsenal? John Henry at Liverpool? PIF at Newcastle? 

All the best owners of teams leave everything to the CEO (or equivalent). They only get involved if things go wrong or a major major decision such as moving stadium.

The ones where the owners get involved are usually the crazier teams - Boehly at Chelsea comes to mind.

I think you make a fair supposition....but that's all it is, you simply don't know, any more than any of us.

I accept you don't buy a dog and bark yourself, but the things NWSE get involved with and don't get involved with is murky territory for us.

I am not in favour of Character assassination of anyone, without any substantiated evidence......and I think that is in short supply here.

That is not to be construed as me being happy with the price increases.

 

[OutByEaster?]

1 hour ago, Made In Aston said:

If we don't get regular champion's league football then large sponsorship deals won't be forthcoming. There is also a ceiling to how much we can get and I think 150m is unrealistic. How much do Liverpool Arsenal and Man city draw in? Can't be much more than that.  

Liverpool £298m, Arsenal £195m, Man City £399m.

It's the biggest income line and it's what he specialises in - that's why he's here.

In terms of the £450m target for our income, it'd be really interesting to hear their individual targets for the three sectors - TV, Sponsorship and Matchday.

[The Fun Factory]

9 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

Liverpool £298m, Arsenal £195m, Man City £399m.

In terms of the £450m target for our income, it'd be really interesting to hear their individual targets for the three sectors - TV, Sponsorship and Matchday.

Sponsorship will probably be the hardest to catch up. It will be very hard for us to brand ourselves as a 'big' team and seemingly the big six now seem to be set in stone. Look at all of the crap that has being going on at Chelsea, they still get far more coverage than us even though they have outside the top 6 for  a couple of seasons now. To change these perceptions will need consistent success to break in. United top the sponsorship even though they haven't won the league for 11 years.  Matchday we can control and TV for now is still largely based on  your success on the pitch.

Edited September 13 by The Fun Factory

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

I think eventually Heck might be moved into the main " V Sports " global umbrella after hopefully achieving revenue targets and then someone more " Likeable " and in tune with the English/European Football scene will probably come in.

Or a higher profile CEO. I would assume that getting someone who fits all the top criteria for a club with our ambitions isn't easy to find. 

They are usually already at the highest profile clubs or being sought by them.

Only way we get there is with continual progress, this is the same both on and off the pitch imo.

Edited September 13 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[blandy]

Please stay on topic. There are threads for increasing commercial revenue and for Purslow and for ticketing and for Chelsea and Leicester…etc.

[OutByEaster?]

24 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

Sponsorship will probably be the hardest to catch up.

Indeed, and that's why we have Heck. The ownership will have been well aware that he's a controversial and divisive figure, that he perhaps doesn't have the rounded skill set of a more polished CEO - but he sells sponsorships - that's what he does, that's why you live with the rest. He is, by reputation a genius in this area; he now needs to walk that talk.

[CVByrne]

18 hours ago, TRO said:

Is this your concoction, based on experience, or do you have some ITK source of how the club is run?

In my experience, companies, vary in how they are management structured, sure many sticking to core principles of tried and tested practices, but emphasis on certain criteria, vary from business to business and Industry to Industry.

Personally, I am uncomfortable in speculation and supposition.

You may well cover, the basis of  the fundamental of many companies.....but the majority of us have no idea, how Villa is run, from the inside, just bits and pieces of what they want us to know...Its hard to judge Chris Heck on that.

No ITK knowledge, just I've worked in large organisations and specifically on large Projects. You've to report to ExCo the Executive Committee on how your business plan is progressing. There are KPIs, key performance indicators. You set out plans of where you will be in x months and after year 1, 2 etc. what the return on investment is etc..

I am sure something similar is happening with Aston Villa. There's no way it's just hiring Heck and that's the end of the owners involvement. They've got Atarios on board now so there are multiple investors and a proper board of directors now. 

Heck has a key role, growing the commercial revenue which is a hugely important thing for a business in terms of the companies valuation. 

[CVByrne]

14 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

Indeed, and that's why we have Heck. The ownership will have been well aware that he's a controversial and divisive figure, that he perhaps doesn't have the rounded skill set of a more polished CEO - but he sells sponsorships - that's what he does, that's why you live with the rest. He is, by reputation a genius in this area; he now needs to walk that talk.

That's why Nassef is Executive Chairman and Heck is not CEO. Heck has a clear remit which he has a proven track record at. Nassef is chairman of the board of directors and Chief Executive. It's clear since the moment he sacked Gerrard after the Fulham game he's been hands on and Purslow was effectively sidelined before leaving the club months later. 

[TRO]

7 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

No ITK knowledge, just I've worked in large organisations and specifically on large Projects. You've to report to ExCo the Executive Committee on how your business plan is progressing. There are KPIs, key performance indicators. You set out plans of where you will be in x months and after year 1, 2 etc. what the return on investment is etc..

I am sure something similar is happening with Aston Villa. There's no way it's just hiring Heck and that's the end of the owners involvement. They've got Atarios on board now so there are multiple investors and a proper board of directors now. 

Heck has a key role, growing the commercial revenue which is a hugely important thing for a business in terms of the companies valuation. 

Your working experience is similar to mine.....I was in a business to business, business development manager, a posh word for a Salesman .....I was involved face to face with CEO's and had the ear of the CEO of a Multi- national company, I had direct involvement with.

My point is.....While I can speculate, about what happens at AVFC, based on my experience, like yours......It doesn't make me privvy to what REALLY goes on at AVFC. I can speculate all day long on what I think happens, but folk can take it with a pinch of salt.

I just find it uncomfortable, when a man is character assassinated, and the critics, don't know the nuts and bolts....only the outcome.

I am as eager as anyone, to know, why in fact he chose to raid the fans.i.e was in necessary, was it fait accompli due to other pressures, was it just vindictive, There is surely a motive for implementing was going to be an unpopular move...even he would know that.

As I write this, all the staff at the club, in every capacity, is well aware of the media backlash and disquiet amongst the fans....and unless, actions are taken to the contrary, the club as a whole must condone it.

As far as I aware, and I say this guardedly, because, who can believe anything these days....my understanding is from some reports, Chris Heck was not happy, in implementing these price increases.....Folk can take that ,anyway they see fit.

[Made In Aston]

5 hours ago, ender4 said:

I think you are over-estimating NWSE's involvement in Villa. We make up such a small part of their business portfolio, we are probably 2% of their combined businesses. They will have a million things going on in all these businesses which is why they hire a Heck figure to look after Villa and other similar people in each one of their businesses. 

How much does Joe Lewis gets involved in Spurs pricing and commercial decisions? He leaves everything to Levy.

How much did the Glazers get involved in Man Utd commercial affairs? They left it to Ed Woodward and his replacement.

Stan Kroenke at Arsenal? John Henry at Liverpool? PIF at Newcastle? 

All the best owners of teams leave everything to the CEO (or equivalent). They only get involved if things go wrong or for a major decision such as moving stadium.

The ones where the owners get involved are usually the crazier teams - Boehly at Chelsea comes to mind.

Emery, Monchi and Damian said that they have a good relationship with the owners and speak with them every day. 

[ender4]

2 hours ago, TRO said:

As far as I aware, and I say this guardedly, because, who can believe anything these days....my understanding is from some reports, Chris Heck was not happy, in implementing these price increases.....Folk can take that ,anyway they see fit.

Firstly that sounds like Heck was forced to increase prices. Has this leaked from somewhere?

Secondly, i think Heck is his own worst enemy. He could have done everything he has done to date, but if he had approached fans and the media differently, i think most fans would have been more accepting of the things he has done. It's terrible communication that anyone in a senior position should know that it's not what you do but how you do it that makes a difference.

[Captain_Townsend]

8 hours ago, thabucks said:

And you cannot take away anything from Purlsow’s achievements.

If you’d bothered to read back. My point was in response to someone brought up the commercial deals he secured achieved at bigger clubs with a history of recent success, so it was easy for him to achieve these record deals - if you apply the same logic some have applied to Heck whose signed commercial deals are on the back of Emery’s success only so easy for him. 
 

 

I did read your post and used your own logic to illustrate how skewed your logic was against Purslow while he was here. His Successor walked into a far, far better environment. 

 

Edited Friday at 18:34 by Captain_Townsend

[DakotaVilla]

6 hours ago, TRO said:

Your working experience is similar to mine.....I was in a business to business, business development manager, a posh word for a Salesman .....I was involved face to face with CEO's and had the ear of the CEO of a Multi- national company, I had direct involvement with.

My point is.....While I can speculate, about what happens at AVFC, based on my experience, like yours......It doesn't make me privvy to what REALLY goes on at AVFC. I can speculate all day long on what I think happens, but folk can take it with a pinch of salt.

I just find it uncomfortable, when a man is character assassinated, and the critics, don't know the nuts and bolts....only the outcome.

I am as eager as anyone, to know, why in fact he chose to raid the fans.i.e was in necessary, was it fait accompli due to other pressures, was it just vindictive, There is surely a motive for implementing was going to be an unpopular move...even he would know that.

As I write this, all the staff at the club, in every capacity, is well aware of the media backlash and disquiet amongst the fans....and unless, actions are taken to the contrary, the club as a whole must condone it.

As far as I aware, and I say this guardedly, because, who can believe anything these days....my understanding is from some reports, Chris Heck was not happy, in implementing these price increases.....Folk can take that ,anyway they see fit.

Do you actually believe what you just wrote? I mean, just stand back and look at what he has done his entire career. 
 

 

 

[Woody1000]

44 minutes ago, DakotaVilla said:

Do you actually believe what you just wrote? I mean, just stand back and look at what he has done his entire career. 
 

 

 

I think what TRO is trying to say is that just because Heck is prepared to fire the gun, as he has done in the past, it doesn’t mean he enjoys firing the gun. Apologies for speaking on your behalf @TRO!