Chris Heck - President of Business Operations

[allani]

As long as the actual kit launch is made through the club's official channels, I'm really not too fussed about where "pre-release" information comes from.  Indeed in some ways it not "muddying the water" by using the official club channels for actual news / updates rather than build up information, more speculative "news", etc is a bit neater.  It does slightly feel that whatever Heck does at the moment some people are intent on looking for and finding fault.  It is slightly ironic that not long ago Heck (rather than Villa) was being criticised for not providing updates on certain matters impacting the club and now he's being criticised for providing updates.

[Captain_Townsend]

14 minutes ago, allani said:

As long as the actual kit launch is made through the club's official channels, I'm really not too fussed about where "pre-release" information comes from.  Indeed in some ways it not "muddying the water" by using the official club channels for actual news / updates rather than build up information, more speculative "news", etc is a bit neater.  It does slightly feel that whatever Heck does at the moment some people are intent on looking for and finding fault.  It is slightly ironic that not long ago Heck (rather than Villa) was being criticised for not providing updates on certain matters impacting the club and now he's being criticised for providing updates.

Hang on. Very disingenuous. 

For a start, before his fans get on my back, I have zero problem with him announcing the new kit. Fair dues to him for clarifying.

But I can see why some do. It feels like the Chris Heck show right now.

And the issue people have had is him making massive decisions: ditching our 2022 rebrand and cancelling the Villa Park redevelopment and not explaining why/ telling clear fibs about what went on.

There is a track record now of things being promised: new badge, new stand, imminent new kit, and it either not happening or happening much later.

Excitement about new plans will inevitably turn to frustration/confusion when they get ditched.

Edited July 18 by Captain_Townsend

[Tomaszk]

7 hours ago, The Fun Factory said:

You can criticise Heck on a lot of things but a social media comment that the kit will be launched next week isn't one of them.

Villa still haven't announced when the kit is out. Fans want to know when it is so they can give the club money.

[MrBlack]

11 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

A few pages back he was getting slagged off for " lying " about the kit announcement/launch ( Among all his other lies )... As he said it would be " A few days after the Euros ".

Edit: He was also getting slagged off over a post someone made up...

Now it's been announced ( A few days after the Euros )... He's getting slagged off for announcing it, how he's announced it... And for not announcing it properly simultaneously

You genuinely can't make this sh*t up.

So has the kit launch been made a few days after the Euros as he said?

He's announced something on his personal twitter to his 13.6k followers that suggests it will be launched on the 23rd July.  So i'd suggest that was a lie from him,  or at best a delay he didn't expect and hadn't prepared for.

Along with his lies about us "playing in a stadium that was built in 1897", and how he didn't know about the new badge when he joined, and how we were keeping ticket price rises to 5%, and all the other things he likes to make up about discovering a derelict unused Holte Suite and repurposing it.

He does a lot to make himself look better than he is,  and seemingly this is more of him pushing brand Heck.

Agree the made up post got some unwarranted criticism, although kind of speaks volumes about the opinion people have of him from the actions he's done that it was immensely believable. 

 

Classic example of Heck making his role look more difficult than it is,  and having done more than he has:

CH: "we play in a stadium that was built in 1897 right so think about that a little bit. Yeah and so that comes with a lot of charm but it comes with some headaches as well"

Well the fact is we dont. Our stadium has been in the same place since 1987, and yes parts of it are very old, but don't try and make it sound like you're doing more than you are with something you claim is older than it is. The Holte was built in 1940 but is actually one of the bigger more spacious stands we have.   The North Stand built in 1977 and should be replaced as its neither large nor fit for purpose (but he cancelled the replacement of that one). The Witton Lane/Doug was built in 1994 and the Trinity was built in 2001.

 

Just for balance and to prove I'm not completely filled with hate,  I did find this more positive comment from him, but he probably needs to start demonstrating that he believes this more:

CH: "it's part of the culture where everything is so critically important to them. Everything. Philly I think is the best sports town in the U.S. It's not even close to (the Premier League), the scrutiny that goes on with the clubs here. And to be fair to (supporters), they don't have four other sports to dive into. They don't have college sports. This (American setup) doesn't exist. There's only one thing that matters. It's European football, and that's it. That's what matters. It really is part of their life, their lifestyle, it's family, it's generational."

[allani]

2 hours ago, Captain_Townsend said:

Hang on. Very disingenuous. 

For a start, before his fans get on my back, I have zero problem with him announcing the new kit. Fair dues to him for clarifying.

But I can see why some do. It feels like the Chris Heck show right now.

And the issue people have had is him making massive decisions: ditching our 2022 rebrand and cancelling the Villa Park redevelopment and not explaining why/ telling clear fibs about what went on.

There is a track record now of things being promised: new badge, new stand, imminent new kit, and it either not happening or happening much later.

Excitement about new plans will inevitably turn to frustration/confusion when they get ditched.

Sorry CT but this exactly proves my point.  You could have just said "Great.  Fair dues for clarifying the dates."  Instead you've chosen to bring up again the fact that you don't like his decisions on the badge and the NS redevelopment.  I respect your viewpoint on those points.  I disagree with you on both.  But you've chosen to take something he has just done to bring up "faults" in decisions made months ago.

[Tomaszk]

18 minutes ago, allani said:

Sorry CT but this exactly proves my point.  You could have just said "Great.  Fair dues for clarifying the dates."  Instead you've chosen to bring up again the fact that you don't like his decisions on the badge and the NS redevelopment.  I respect your viewpoint on those points.  I disagree with you on both.  But you've chosen to take something he has just done to bring up "faults" in decisions made months ago.

What is your point sorry? Heck is president so he can do what he likes? It seems to be.

Villa still haven't announced when the kits are out by the way.

[villa89]

4 hours ago, allani said:

As long as the actual kit launch is made through the club's official channels, I'm really not too fussed about where "pre-release" information comes from. 

I am. If it's not on a pallet I don't want to know. 

[villabromsgrove]

If our 'President of Business Operations' was well liked and popular then I would question whether he was doing the kind of aggressive, elbows out, pushing and shoving job that we actually need right now.

Heck has been brought in with a specific remit to dramatically raise AVFC's income, using the recently acquired high profile that NSWE, Emery and Monchi et al have provided him with as an essential tool to do his job to the maximum.

No more 'cosy Villa', no more Mister nice guy.

Heck may be ruthless, but he's our Mister ruthless and we need him to carry on kicking a*s and ruffling as many feathers as necessary in order to sky rocket our operating income, so that we can begin to trade on a more equitable and sustainable level going forward.

It may be an unpopular opinion, but Aston Villa are currently way behind our main competitors because we've been a nice friendly community club for too many decades, and CH has the job of dragging us kicking and screaming into the ruthless world of big international business.

We need Chris Heck.

[allani]

3 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

What is your point sorry? Heck is president so he can do what he likes? It seems to be.

Villa still haven't announced when the kits are out by the way.

My point?  I thought it was clear:

"It does slightly feel that whatever Heck does at the moment some people are intent on looking for and finding fault.  It is slightly ironic that not long ago Heck (rather than Villa) was being criticised for not providing updates on certain matters impacting the club and now he's being criticised for providing updates."

I'm not quite sure how that translates into "Heck is president so he can do what he likes".

[The Fun Factory]

11 minutes ago, villabromsgrove said:

 

It may be an unpopular opinion, but Aston Villa are currently way behind our main competitors because we've been a nice friendly community club for too many decades, and CH has the job of dragging us kicking and screaming into the ruthless world of big international business.

We need Chris Heck.

.... Or that we have been largely shite for the last 25 years is the reason we are miles behind our competitors, bar Emery coming to us and 3 years under O'Neill?

I understand his remit but I am in the case of show me don't tell me. Let's see how much our commercial revenue has increased compared to our rivals in the next couple of years. 

So far he has said a lot of things but so far it is quick cosmetic changes to the ground and a new shirt and club sponsor.  

Edited July 18 by The Fun Factory

[allani]

2 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

.... Or that we have been largely shite for the last 25 years is the reason we are miles behind our competitors, bar Emery coming to us and 3 years under O'Neill?

I understand his remit but I am in the case of show me don't tell me. Let's see how much our commercial revenue has increased compared to our rivals in the next couple of years. 

So far he has said a lot of things but so far it is quick cosmetic changes to the ground and a new shirt and club sponsor.  

To be fair our revenue has increased by £50m within 12 months.  That's quite a good "show me". Obviously that's not all down to Heck on his own.  He (almost) certainly couldn't have done it had we finished 14th.  There's little to no chance of us hitting the £400m target in 5 years unless Emery is delivering continued success on the pitch across that period and 0 chance of hitting it whilst battling relegation.  However, we need to exploit this on field success as quickly and as effectively as possible so that we get the extra revenue in the bank and can use it to help develop and strengthen the team.  In that regard we've done a decent job picking some of the low-hanging fruit.  The challenge will be to keep that pace of revenue increase happening consistently when future projects will cost more time and effort to implement.  I think we'll start to see what those bigger plans are and how they might happen in the next few months - after all the newly announced directors appear to have expertise in areas well outside cosmetic changes to the ground and new sponsorship deals.

[sidcow]

2 hours ago, alreadyexists said:

Such a good point… why on earth isn’t the club making this announcement!?

The more I see from Heck the more I feel like he’s just using all of this as a soapbox to get his name out there… I hope I’m wrong.

 

16 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

Chris Heck fans can prepare for the kit launch.

Hopefully Villa will announce something too.

I preferred when the club was bigger than its President - ah, simpler days.

It's funny. Purslow used to get LOADS of stick, people saying he's too much in the press and whatnot and shouldn't really be seen or heard from,that he was desperate for publicity. 

Heck is TWICE as bad, seems to always put himself at the center of every announcement, yet until now hasn't been picked up much on it. 

[Tomaszk]

1 hour ago, allani said:

My point?  I thought it was clear:

"It does slightly feel that whatever Heck does at the moment some people are intent on looking for and finding fault.  It is slightly ironic that not long ago Heck (rather than Villa) was being criticised for not providing updates on certain matters impacting the club and now he's being criticised for providing updates."

I'm not quite sure how that translates into "Heck is president so he can do what he likes".

So your point is people are intent finding fault in Heck and you think it's unfair/incorrect?

If he did less daft things, there wouldn't be anything to criticise.

• Decided he didn't like the badge change - lied and said fans weren't consulted on the new design, then just made his own shit one and hid it away because he realised it was shit. Didn't properly announce it ever did we?
• Took an designated area off season ticket holders without warning or announcement - lied and said he discovered a derelict part of Villa Park and turned it into a bar
• Cancelled north stand rebuild - no announcement. Talked about in a club video.
• Puts club messages on his own personal social media - defending still no club announcement when the president of business has stuck a branded thing on his own less followed account is very interesting.

These aren't routine actions.

They are BS actions.

It isn't finding fault in tiny nothings. It's major football club updates.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

3 hours ago, allani said:

Sorry CT but this exactly proves my point.  You could have just said "Great.  Fair dues for clarifying the dates."  Instead you've chosen to bring up again the fact that you don't like his decisions on the badge and the NS redevelopment.  I respect your viewpoint on those points.  I disagree with you on both.  But you've chosen to take something he has just done to bring up "faults" in decisions made months ago.

You already know where it's going when people start trying to slide in categorisation or being derogatory in an attempt to shame people into not sharing their opinions.

" His fans "

" Chris Heck fans "  

I see it in all walks of life, across various topics/media and across this board as well lol

The attempt to pretend as if their is no sort of level headed in between of extreme opinions is akin to throwing childish tantrums

Gonna try my absolute best to not.comment on this thread any further

File under " People don't want to hear your opinion... They want to hear their opinion coming out of their mouths " lol

 

Edited July 18 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[allani]

1 minute ago, Tomaszk said:

So your point is people are intent finding fault in Heck and you think it's unfair/incorrect?

If he did less daft things, there wouldn't be anything to criticise.

• Decided he didn't like the badge change - lied and said fans weren't consulted on the new design, then just made his own shit one and hid it away because he realised it was shit. Didn't properly announce it ever did we?
• Took an designated area off season ticket holders without warning or announcement - lied and said he discovered a derelict part of Villa Park and turned it into a bar
• Cancelled north stand rebuild - no announcement. Talked about in a club video.
• Puts club messages on his own personal social media - defending still no club announcement when the president of business has stuck a branded thing on his own less followed account is very interesting.

These aren't routine actions.

They are BS actions.

It isn't finding fault in tiny nothings. It's major football club updates.

My point is that even when Heck does something good, some people seem to try to find something to fault or pick at or use it as an excuse to talk about other decisions that they didn't like.  I'm not saying that we should accept and love everything that he does.  I'm definitely not saying we shouldn't find fault and / or flag our concerns or things that we think have been done badly.  What I am saying is that some people seem to want to find fault in everything he does (or doesn't do).  That's different.  That's not about holding him or his decisions up for scrutiny, debate or discussion.  That's bordering on a witchhunt.

You list four things that you describe as "daft" but without going over old ground again: I think the round badge was completely unfit for purpose on many levels and ditching it was the right thing to do (and whilst I don't like elements of the new badge I do like the unique shape of the crest and some of the branding concepts attached to it); I think the decision to change the work on the NS was probably correct (at least in the short term) and I'm intrigued by the people who've joined the board because they don't appear to make sense unless there is a plan to eventually do something much bigger and bolder; the new bar seems to be part of a drive to get people to arrive at VP earlier, leave later and to provide a better experience whilst they are here - I don't think that's a bad strategy at all; and the pre-announcement messaging I am ambivalent about (it's not the approach that I take - I prefer to make announcements through my business SM accounts and then share relevant ones on my personal accounts).  

They could have been handled better for sure (but without knowing all the contractual and legal details it is hard to know what could have been said and when it could have been said without other repurcussions) and I respect that other people have different views on some or all of them.  I try to explain why I have a different view but I try not to say that those views are wrong (unless there is actual evidence that categorically proves otherwise).  I'm not saying that people aren't allowed to find fault and / or outline why they think something is wrong and I'm not saying that anyone at the club should be above scrutiny and criticism.  And again I'm certainly not saying that everything that Heck has done has been perfect.  It hasn't and some parts of his approach have rubbed me the wrong way.  Despite how it might seem I'm probably still pretty "on the fence" about him.  There's a lot I like.  There's a lot I don't like as much.  And there's a lot that I doubt in terms of whether we (he) can actually achieve our aims.  However, I do think that what I think is pretty much irrelevant.  Ultimately all that should matter is whether he delivers off the field what NSWE, Emery and Monchi need in order for Villa to be successful on the field.

If Heck said today is Thursday then it feels like someone would say "well it's Friday in Brisbane so that's another example of him lying" or "yeah well it might be Thursday ... but still the badge".  That's basically all I was saying.

[It's Your Round]

53 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

You already know where it's going when people start trying to slide in categorisation or being derogatory in an attempt to shame people into not sharing their opinions.

" His fans "

" Chris Heck fans "  

I see it in all walks of life, across various topics/media and across this board as well lol

The attempt to pretend as if their is no sort of level headed in between of extreme opinions is akin to throwing childish tantrums

Gonna try my absolute best to not.comment on this thread any further

File under " People don't want to hear your opinion... They want to hear their opinion coming out of their mouths " lol

 

Sounds like something a cocksucka would say  

 

You're right though JV, it’s boring now. 

[allani]

Just now, It's Your Round said:

Sounds like something a cocksucka would say  

 

You're right though JV, it’s boring now. 

I've just spilled hot tea down my T-shirt.  ********  Comedy gold mate.  Perfect. 

[ender4]

1 hour ago, Tomaszk said:

 

• Decided he didn't like the badge change - lied and said fans weren't consulted on the new design, then just made his own shit one and hid it away because he realised it was shit. Didn't properly announce it ever did we?

I still don't think Aston Villa have actually announced a badge change from the round badge to the Heck badge have they?

[MrBlack]

29 minutes ago, ender4 said:

I still don't think Aston Villa have actually announced a badge change from the round badge to the Heck badge have they?

Nothing on the official site as we seem to be moving away from putting detailed articles on there. Can't say I blame them as the official site still has our redeveloped north stand article on there despite it no longer being a thing. Probably too difficult to administer it in a way it stays accurate. 

 

We did post this on twitter though:

 

 

Edited July 18 by MrBlack

[ender4]

14 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

Nothing on the official site as we seem to be moving away from putting detailed articles on there. Can't say I blame them as the official site still has our redeveloped north stand article on there despite it no longer being a thing. Probably too difficult to administer it in a way it stays accurate. 

 

We did post this on twitter though:

Oh yeah, the A.H.V video!  
 

Did anyone figure out what the H stood for (except for ‘Heck’).