Aston Villa’s President of Business Operations, Chris Heck, has delivered fascinating insight into the club’s strategy and plans moving forward off the pitch.
Since Unai Emery was appointed in October 2022, Villa have been on an incredible upward trajectory in terms of sporting performance, and it culminated in qualification for the Champions League in the upcoming campaign.
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As we look to solidify our place in the top four and challenge for major honours as well as compete in Europe’s premier club competition, it’s imperative that we continue to match that with progression and evolution in our off-the-pitch dealings to strengthen our financial position.
Amid ongoing speculation that we might sell players before the end of June to comply with PSR, and having had a Premier League vote go against our proposal to raise the accepted losses over a three-year period from £105m to £135m, it feels as though the current system isn’t open to competitiveness or allowing ambitious and successful clubs to be able to build a foundation and challenge the elite or already well-established sides.
Villa owner Nassef Sawiris spoke about it earlier this week, as he criticised PSR and suggested he could take legal action, and although Heck has refrained from being critical himself, it has undoubtedly influenced and forced him and his department to be more creative in trying to raise our revenue levels.
Naturally, not every decision he makes will be a popular one amongst the Villa fanbase, but he is very clear in what the club is trying to achieve and why, and it’s hoped that he can keep up the pace set by Emery and the playing side, as we look to establish ourselves as a real force on and off the pitch.
“There has been such a gap between the [Premier League] big six and everyone else,” he told The Telegraph. “What is it going to take for one or two clubs to enter into that realm? We have a plan to get there. We think we will be there in the next three years.
“We have the infrastructure with an incredible fanbase in the Midlands. A brand that is being globalised and owners that are smart and capable to get us there. This is pretty exciting. Not many clubs have that opportunity and we are one of probably two. Our owners are very engaged on this as well as Unai.
“It’s a harder path than the big six. We have to be more creative and think differently, while they have sustainable businesses that they can just keep going. We think it will take us another three years to build that sustainable business.
“The first year we were successful. We generated £50m more and that’s our plan to generate £50m more each year. That has never been done before and we are doing it. We are already well on our way. We were on £219m annual turnover so what is the magic number to get to? We think it’s £400m to get into the game of sustainability. We have a path to get there.”
One of the major decisions that Heck made in recent months was to scrap plans to demolish the North Stand at Villa Park, as he ultimately presses ahead with increasing hospitality options, upgrading the existing infrastructure and facilities, and providing fans with a more well-rounded match-day experience that maximises our commercial opportunities.
Heck also went on to dismiss the idea of the club leaving Villa Park, and so it’s hoped that although it has led to problems with the moving of supporters from their usual seats and the disruption that comes with that, the evolution of our stadium will be one of many fundamental factors that helps us continue to get closer to being a sustainable and highly-competitive club.
“How do you use what money you have best for the club? We could knock down a stand, add seats and take 17 years to pay it off. That was the math. I thought this didn’t make very much sense. We don’t have the infrastructure to add 10,000 seats in the blink of an eye. We were also playing extremely well and had this vision in November we could be in the Champions League. Would we want to knock down a quarter of the stadium and then have this small venue of 36,000 seats to watch a Champions League club?
“First, it costs a lot of money [moving stadium]. Second, it takes a lot of time. We are striking when the iron is hot. Not many people can start a project while you are playing well. You start the project and then expect to play well six to eight years later. We are playing well now. OK, how fast can we catch that train? We are saying we will catch that train, we have three more years. We are on the right pace after year one.”
Meanwhile, Villa’s President of Business Operations was also highly complimentary of Emery and his staff, and rightly so given what they’ve achieved over the last season and a half at the helm.
The challenge for them will be to sustain and continue to improve on what we’ve achieved thus far, and hopefully that will continue to strengthen our position on the pitch, and help Heck maximise our opportunities off it, as he notes it’s imperative that the two aspects keep a similar pace.
We’ve already seen some major moves in terms of sponsorship deals as we switch to Adidas and Betano next season, and hopefully we continue to build on that and our progression from a sporting perspective to put ourselves in a position to compete at the top level moving forward.
“He [Emery] is truly our manager. It means that there is stability, that we have trust in Unai and we are working in conjunction with Unai.
“We have the same vision but he is leading this club to a place that we haven’t seen. You cannot overestimate this. He is a remarkable individual. Not only in how he works with players individually and as a team but also his support group with the coaches. We are running something that is transformational for the club. It really is.
“It is not easy and it is not for the faint of heart but this has the makings of an incredible story happening in front of our eyes. Why should everyone care? The big six is going to make room for one or two more clubs and we are going to be one of them. We are in a really interesting time for English football right now. It has been a good decade of big six stability, meaning they have kept everyone out. Newcastle last year, us this year, I think it is changing and I wouldn’t bet against us.”