AVST will be attending the Fans’ Consultation Group next week on Wednesday 28th June. Below is the provisional agenda.
Catering
- With the promised Capital investment from Compass, what is planned to improve the infrastructure to ensure staffing is more efficient, in-order to avoid pinch points on match day?
- The club announced Heineken as their new beer partner last year. However, with the changing culture of beer drinking in Britain with a focus now on craft and local beers, what is being done to address this?
- To improve the match day experience around Villa Park and catering offering would the club consider holding a trial street food event?
Match Day
- There is a lack of half-time entertainment. What is being done to re-introduce fan competitions?
- There has been positive move by changing the music building up to the start of kick-off. For example, Hi Ho Silver. Is this going to continue and what will be the entrance music for the forthcoming season?
- What is the likelihood of the Lions Club re-opening in the Doug Ellis Stand?
- To support the Project B6 fan funded flags initiative; can the club please provide concourse signs on the exit of the Lower Holte & North for the return of flags to a designated drop off point in addition to a stadium announcement pre/post match?
- With heightened security levels due to terrorism, what is the club doing to improve security when supporters have been able to smuggle in flares which have then been set off in the ground?
- At the Leeds United away game last season there was overcrowding and altercations with the police as well as stewards after a flare had been released as supporters tried to exit via the emergency exits. The overcrowding and handling of supporters created a safety hazard. Can the club please request a report from Leeds United of what happened that evening?
Ticketing
- Print at home tickets attract an admin fee. Considering the cost of printing the ticket is at the expense of the supporter, can the club please explain the basis of this fee?
- Supporters continue to experience problems accessing the online ticketing website. What is being done to address the server capacity to cope with the extra traffic?
- Not all ticketing requests can be serviced by Ticketmaster and some supporters have to be re-directed to the club. Can the club please be transparent on the ticket service offering as this isn’t clear when dialling in?
- When away tickets are released on-line the qualifying criteria does not feed through in a timely manner to supporters’ accounts. As a result supporters often experience delays in being able to purchase tickets contrary to the criteria advertised.
Supporter Engagement & Welfare
- Following the introduction of Villa Support Twitter account, what other channels is the club considering in order to drive effective supporter communication? For example, has it considered a Facebook Q&A or an enterprise live chat solution?
- What progress has the club made in transmitting live feeds of games (U23s) from Facebook to AVTV for those that do not have social media accounts?
- Can the club please provide supporters with an update on the forthcoming new loyalty program?
- What is the club’s alternative to the EFL’s iFollow?
- What is the club doing to support fans with autism? For example, Middlesbrough have set-up a special sensory room so that children with autism can attend matches.
Other
- When can supporters expect the club to reveal the new shirt sponsor?
- When will supporters be able to purchase the 2017/18 kit and how will prices compare to last season?
- What’s the update on safe standing?
- Where is the club at in terms of increasing the provisions for disabled fans?
- Is it adhering to the deadline of Aug that was set when we were in the Premier League in 2015?
- If not, when do we expect to meet the requirements?
- Apart from the North Stand, what other areas of the ground have been identified for increasing disabled seating?
If you have any questions that you would like to be addressed at the meeting or specific issues that you would like to raise with the Club please email clubliaison@villatrust.org.uk.