What Aston Villa supporters learnt from Paul Faulkner this week

After Paul Lambert’s meet-and-greet with season ticket holders last week, it was the turn of Aston Villa Chief Executive Paul Faulkner to chat to supporters, this time via the web. It’s all part of good PR as we enter into a new campaign, so only certain questions would be selected and while most of what was said was pretty predictable – “Christian [Benteke] loves it at Villa” – all such endeavours to have communication with supporters is to be encouraged. We take a look at some of the key Villa and football issues that were discussed.

Early transfer activity

As Faulkner said himself, the focus this term was to do the Villa transfer business, as early as possible in the summer. “New arrivals could settle in properly ahead of the season and there wouldn’t be question marks over other players possibly leaving, and also so the Manager had as much time as possible to plan fully for the season ahead,” Faulkner told supporters. The likes of Okore were no doubt identified as far back as January, explaining why Lambert did get a centre-back in during that window, as he only had eyes for Okore, who wasn’t available then.

Likelihood of more signings?

It’s no secret that Lambert has his eyes on an attacking midfielder. The potential of Tonev growing into the role may lessen the need, but as Faulkner said, “There are still 3 weeks left in the window, so at this stage it’s still a case of wait and see.”

Do Villa view Lambert’s policy of youth as a risk at all?

Faulkner may have had a different answer, if the question was asked last Christmas, but any such risk element would have passed, with the experience they gained and the mettle they showed in the second half of the season. “I don’t think that the Manager really considers any of our new signings as risks,” Faulkner told supporters.

“He has faith in all of the players he has brought to the club and I think that has been justified. Don’t forget that he made his professional debut as a 15-year-old, so he knows himself what it is like to be a young player playing at the top-level”

Safe standing

MOMS attended the Parliamentary debate on the issue back in November (Faulkner actually pulled out as one of the panelists at the last-minute). When we asked the panel about a time-frame, the answer seemed to be ‘How long is a piece of string’. As Faulkner declared, “I do fundamentally think it would be a good thing if done in the right way, and so we’ll continue to support the campaign. Watch this space…”.

It’s a shame other Premiership clubs haven’t been as upfront and public as Villa on the issue, to help it gather some momentum.