FRANCESCO Calvo says he will be the ‘director of an orchestra’ at Aston Villa.
Calvo has taken over from Chris Heck as Villa’s president of business operations.
He has previously worked at Juventus and Barcelona, as well as with Villa’s president of football operations, Monchi, at Roma.
Calvo steps into a position that has often seen the club and supporters at odds with what is best for the fans.
But he says he will address supporters’ concerns, even if they do not always agree.
In an interview with Villa TV, Calvo said: I can tell you the way I see myself and then we will have to double-check with the staff and the fans in a year’s time. I try to be open and transparent because I think that’s key to working properly with people. It’s not going to be a one-man show with me – I’m a director of an orchestra.
“My ultimate responsibility is to put everybody in the best possible position to deliver. I will try to support the others and dialogue, for me, will be extremely important.
“I know very well that in English football, the clubs are deeply connected with their communities and with their fans. That’s extremely important for me, for all the club and also for the owners – they’re fully aware of that. An open and transparent approach, for me, will be key, and I know very well what the fans represent to the club and what the club represents to them. We’ll do our best to develop the club and to build a strong and further relationship with the fans.
“I know, probably, we will not always agree or they will not always agree with us, but if we’re able to explain and be open, transparent and explain our decisions, that will be very useful to build a long-lasting relationship with them.”
“Like everybody working in football, we have a lot of tasks to do and it’s not easy to define the priorities. At the moment, in the short-term, I’m very excited and very determined to understand the club, the people and the fans. That’s important for me because understanding them will allow me to set up the priorities and understand what the club needs from me and where I can add value.
“The longer-term goal is to make the club successful 360 degrees. On the pitch, we have the right people to make it successful. Off the pitch, for me, is building on the foundations of the club and the hard work that has been done over the past seven years. The club has been growing a lot and now it’s about consolidating and optimising everything on the job in order to build something which is sustainable and solid for the long-term.”
Calvo says his experiences of working with some of Europe’s top clubs should stand him in good stead at Villa Park.
He added: “I think I’ve been lucky enough to work for different clubs and, as you said, big clubs. They are very different from one another. Juventus has an ownership which has lasted for more than a hundred years, with a big family in Italy, Barcelona doesn’t have any ownership other than its 155,000 members, and Roma had foreign owners, so I think I will try to take the best out of each club and try to adapt my knowledge to Aston Villa.
“I worked with Monchi for a short stint at Roma and we enjoyed working together a lot. I think that there isn’t a leading department at the club – we need to work together, helping one another. It’s very important that we work as one club because Aston Villa is more important than any of us. How Aston Villa has been developing on and off the pitch, on the pitch under the leadership of Unai, Monchi and Damian, what has been achieved so far is quite unbelievable given the short amount of time.
“My focus will be to support the three of them and support the football department of Aston Villa in order to make it an even more successful club.
“The owners have a very clear ambition to build the club every day, to make the club sustainable and lasting for the long-term. It’s admirable how determined they are to improve the club every day. That’s what I’ve been asked to do and what I will try to do every single day.”
