Aston Villa President of Business Operations, Chris Heck has finally opened up to fans and has revealed his reasoning behind waiting six months to break his silence.
In the summer, Chris Heck was announced as the Club President of Business Operations of Aston Villa but he hadn’t spoken out since.
He joined the club following his departure from the Philadelphia 76ers in June 2022. Prior to that, he had worked with New York Red Bulls and the NBA. Following his appointment he was tasked with raising Villa’s local and global profile.
On the pitch, things have gone as well as he could have asked for. With Unai Emery at the wheel Villa are on the rise as they look for Champions League qualification. With the Villans currently sat in third place in the Premier League, this is a realistic ambition for this campaign.
Despite this success, Heck hadn’t spoken to fans following his appointment, but now he has made a statement…
What has Chris Heck said?
It is clearly an ambition of Villa’s owners, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens that the club and its branding are more recognised on a global scale. This is exactly what Heck’s remit is at Villa Park moving forward.
With that being said, he had never worked with a football team, nor had he worked outside of the USA, so it was going to take some getting used to.
Speaking on the official Aston Villa website, Heck has opened up on his start to life at the club and why he remained quiet.
Discussing that, Heck said: “I wanted to give it six months [before speaking], as I thought it was a good amount of time to learn about how things work at Aston Villa and understand what is important to the supporters, listen to them and ask questions.
“I am a very curious person and I did not want to assume I knew the answers without spending a good amount of time here every day and every night living and breathing Aston Villa.”
This is exactly what fans will want to hear from a man who is going to have plenty of impact on the club moving forward. Developing his understanding of the club and its culture will put him in good stead.
Although Villa fans may have wanted to hear from him earlier about his ambitions, his interview shared all his thoughts. It is a promising time for the club on the pitch and now fans have got an insight how developments are going off the pitch.
