Champions League Pot 4 Hopes, Double Decker Reasons & Prison Term Update

AVWTF13

Greetings,

I trust you’re good.

What a week this is going to be. After a title six-pointer with Arsenal in Villa’s first home game, we’re then only a few days away from the genuine excitement of the Champions League draw. The fact Villa will face eight unique opponents - instead of playing three teams twice - offers a great way for Villa to return to Europe’s top-tier competition.

Pot 4 Hopes

While the 36-team league stage may feel like the European Super League in disguise, if we had to again wait another 42 years to participate, this new format makes for a more intriguing European adventure to embrace.

If you look at the chart below, created by Charles from MOMS Match Club, he has used last year's group stage results to generate a large group table. He has also highlighted the pots the clubs came from, giving you a rough idea of what to expect from Pot 4, which Villa will be placed in.

With eight group games this year, rather than the previous six, Villa will have the advantage of facing two teams from Pot 4. In theory, this should increase their chances of gaining some extra points.

Last year, Pot 4's Real Sociedad managed to finish in the top eight, which in this year’s tournament would allow them to skip the play-off knockout stage that the teams finishing 9th to 24th would enter. Similarly, Newcastle United, who narrowly missed qualifying from last year's 'Group of Death' with PSG, Dortmund, and AC Milan, might have progressed under the new group format.

1. Green = Pot 1, Yellow = Pot 2, Orange = Pot 3, Purple = Pot 4

In short, with the addition of two extra games, three wins out of eight should be enough to secure a spot in the knockout round. Given Villa's experience in Europe last season, they should be well positioned to navigate this expanded group stage successfully.

Why there’s a Double Decker Lounge

This season, the AV82 shuttle bus won’t be the only double-decker experience at Villa Park. At the last Fan Advisory Board meeting in May, details were shared of a new temporary drinks and catering structure to be housed in the North Stand carpark on the Trinity Road side (old player’s car park).

Since then, the club sought planning permission for two-year period for this temporary structure, which they announced this week to supporters.

The reason for ‘The Lounge’ - the temporary structure - is that ‘The Warehouse’ project has been delayed and will not be opening at the start of this season, and possibly not even the next. So, ‘the Lounge’ will serve as a stopgap solution.

The Spacecube structure for Villa Park

In addition to offering pre-match catering and drinks for supporters, the club hopes to attract fans arriving early for the increasingly popular player coach welcoming ritual on Trinity Road. The Lounge will be constructed by Spacecube, a company originally founded in Melbourne, Australia. Spacecube specializes in modular building systems designed for temporary and semi-permanent infrastructures. They have previously provided structures for Silverstone, the Australian Grand Prix, the Australian Open, and the Women's World Cup in Sydney.

Chinese Prison Update & Villa Park Chef Fraud

“What ever happened to that guy?” This used to be the common retort from former Villa CEO Christian Purslow, whenever ex-owner Tony Xia was mentioned in Fan Consultation Group meetings.

In a recent talk to Sports Business students, former Villa CEO Keith Wyness, who worked alongside Xia, reflected on his time as a footballing CEO, covering his time at Villa, before he provided an update on Mr Xia.

Wyness discussed the challenges of taking over from Randy Lerner and the state of the club at the time. One thing key issue he quickly identified was the fraud within the club’s catering operations.

“The head chef had brought some allotments about the size of a football pitch. He had grown vegetables there and resold them to the club at inflated prices,” Wyness explained. “Every pint of milk that was coming into the club had his tax, his surcharge on it. In the end, we counted £10m had been defrauded through the club by the chef and his little game.”

“That should have been spotted long before, but because I knew the numbers of what things really should be in a budget, I was able to spot it quickly. It was very scary,” he added. “It was almost like organised crime, and you were up against some pretty unsavoury characters.”

“At that time, Aston Villa had become a catering club that played football, rather than a football club that did catering.”

Speaking of fraudsters, when Wyness reached the part of his story where Tony Xia’s financial troubles came to light, essentially when the sh*t hit the fan for the Chinese owners, he concluded bluntly:

“Our China man had run out of money completely. He was a complete fraud. He’s still in jail for another three or fours years and we were left with a mess.”

£20 Shirts

In a world where a new football shirt can hit you with three figures, a heads-up to a retro bargain.

Restocked with more sizes for Aston Villa’s 1957 FA Cup winning shirt (see below) and the home and away 1980/81 shirts. There’s still some sizes left, but we quick.

You can also use the code ‘GOAL’ to get free UK postage.

Check out the retro range here

Eddie Munster or Kosta Nedeljković?

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