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Aston Villa

mpickard2087

Patient Zero
Jun 13, 2008
21,886
32,513
Yeah you'd have to be worried as a Villa fan. A few things happening currently that when added together just smack of something not being right.
 

LexingtonSpurs

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2013
13,456
39,042
Yeah you'd have to be worried as a Villa fan. A few things happening currently that when added together just smack of something not being right.
Reads to me like the out-of-country owner got a little blind-sided on the finances. Whoever was running the club locally went all in on promotion to cover the financial problems.

I think I have read the owner is looking to sell - presumably for a decent loss after he acquired the club from Lerner. So, I expect the owner to come in a clean up the finances - I still expect a number of sales this summer to help balance the books, and make the club sellable...
 

mpickard2087

Patient Zero
Jun 13, 2008
21,886
32,513
Reads to me like the out-of-country owner got a little blind-sided on the finances. Whoever was running the club locally went all in on promotion to cover the financial problems.

I think I have read the owner is looking to sell - presumably for a decent loss after he acquired the club from Lerner. So, I expect the owner to come in a clean up the finances - I still expect a number of sales this summer to help balance the books, and make the club sellable...

The good Doctor was a bit of a loudmouth and hands on at first, I very much doubt he was unaware of what would happen with the finances.

It looks to me like he came in and thought with a one off investment and the parachute payments could get them back into the PL and enjoy those revenues. That hasn't happened, and he either hasn't got any more money to spend, doesn't want to, or cant get it out of China...

Then there are the latest rumours today that the CEO was suspended for trying to find other investors on the quiet, which hardly smacks of him having confidence in the owner, and one journalist saying that Trevor Birch, the guy football clubs go to when they are really in the financial shit, is working with the club.

Even if this just a minor blip, the tax bill gets paid and there is an injection of funds, they know they still face massive cutbacks to try and meet FFP. Looks like tough times ahead unless someone comes in and works miracles.
 

LSUY

Well-Known Member
Jul 12, 2005
24,010
66,826
I would love to know what it would take to fail football's fit and proper test.
 

allatsea

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
8,865
16,053
I would love to know what it would take to fail football's fit and proper test.
Excellent question. I don’t think it is possible to fail if you just say to the FA we have lots of money ( evidence is not necessary). That is an automatic pass.
 

tiger666

Large Member
Jan 4, 2005
27,978
82,214
Some American coming in to buy them out maybe:


Peter B Freund, a minority shareholder in baseball’s New York Yankees, is preparing to make a formal offer to buy Aston Villa for £75 million as the club face up to the threat of going into administration.

Keith Wyness, the chief executive, was suspended yesterday after a disagreement with the owner Tony Xia, who is understood to have taken umbrage at his most senior employee’s advice to settle a £4.2 million tax bill owed to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to avoid a winding-up order.

Xia has been in China since Villa’s Championship play-off final defeat by Fulham ten days ago, which plunged the club into financial turmoil, but last night announced he was taking over as chief executive until further notice. The 41-year-old is understood to have been searching for new investors for several weeks as a contingency plan in case Villa failed to win promotion, and talks with Freund are expected to accelerate after Wyness’s suspension.

During initial negotiations Xia is understood to have valued Villa at £100 million, although given the club’s severe financial problems and struggles to pay creditors such as HMRC he has yet to receive an offer that matches his valuation.

The club need to make savings of about £40 million next season to avoid being fined for breaching the Football League’s Financial Fair Play rules and have had significant cash-flow problems in recent weeks, which has led to infighting, culminating in yesterday’s dramatic events.

Xia is understood to have spent £140 million on Villa, including his £76 million purchase from Randy Lerner two years ago, with his valuation of £100 million reflecting his desire to recoup the majority of that investment. Xia does not have financial problems of his own, with his net worth estimated at £1 billion, but has struggled to get money out of China recently due to stricter foreign exchange controls imposed by the government. The Times has been told that he has not provided any fresh funding to Villa for the past three months.

There are a number of parties interested in buying Villa, including at least one British group, with Freund putting together a US consortium in which he would take a majority share. The American has been looking at adding an English football club to his Trinity Sports Holdings (TSH) company for some time, a group that has a stake in the Yankees, as well as owning a number of Minor League baseball clubs. TSH have also signed an expansion agreement with the United States Soccer League to enter new club Memphis City in the league next year. Freund is the president of Trinity Packaging Corp, a plastics manufacturer, which began as a family business in New York in 1917.

Trevor Birch, the former administrator and Chelsea chief executive, has been consulted on cost-cutting, but is not involved in sale process. Xia’s cashflow problems have been compounded by Villa’s spending in attempting to return to the Premier League, with John Terry being paid a salary of £60,000 a week last season.

Wyness is understood to have held crisis talks with Xia over the HMRC issue yesterday which culminated in his suspension. There is no suggestion that Wyness has been accused of wrongdoing.

Villa are confident the tax issue will be resolved, but the club still face a summer of significant cuts. They have already reduced costs by releasing Terry and have ruled out the return of high-profile loanees including Robert Snodgrass. That could mean a promotion to the first team of several of the club’s academy graduates.

Steve Bruce has expressed a wish to remain as manager but a statement last week from Xia offered no guarantees about his future. News of Wyness’s suspension will be of concern to Bruce, who counted the chief executive among his most vocal supporters behind the scenes.
 

Dougal

Staff
Jun 4, 2004
60,345
129,920
Was really hoping they got promoted but they are just not good enough. It doesn’t seem to be more than a one season club, scrapping for a playoff spot when a club of that size should be aiming to win the league. Fulham rightly deserves to win. Villa need a huge clear out and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them spend another two seasons in the Championship at least.
 

fridgemagnet

Well-Known Member
Jan 18, 2009
2,410
2,864
I'm sorry but are my eyes playing f**king tricks on me, 60k a week for that utter arse John Terry... in the Championship... o_O that's pretty much your tax bill right there!
 

Dougal

Staff
Jun 4, 2004
60,345
129,920
I'm sorry but are my eyes playing f**king tricks on me, 60k a week for that utter arse John Terry... in the Championship... o_O that's pretty much your tax bill right there!
Aside from what they paid he was shit. Kids running past him wondering who he was and why he was there. Terrible move for Villa.
 

Chris Finch

Well-Known Member
Aug 14, 2012
1,769
7,136
Wow! How crazy its gone tits up financially so fast....Next team to have "done a Leeds" it seems
 

Marty

Audere est farce
Mar 10, 2005
39,885
62,559
Wow! How crazy its gone tits up financially so fast....Next team to have "done a Leeds" it seems
The Leeds comparison is interesting now because Leeds also *almost* made it back into the PL before plummeting further down. Ominous signs.
 

riggi

Well-Known Member
Jun 24, 2008
48,487
104,719
IMG_2338.PNG
 

tiger666

Large Member
Jan 4, 2005
27,978
82,214
Yeah, I don't want some rich foreign owner pumping money in to us anytime soon thanks:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/inside-story-behind-aston-villa-12655774

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Each month, money would arrive from China, into Villa's bank account to make good the shortfall in normal trading operations.

That has happened, without fail, for the past two years.

Only last month, it didn't. April's money was received. May's wasn't. There was no sign of it turning up. It still hasn't.

Incredibly, that is all it has taken to bring this great football club – this cornerstone of the English game - to its knees.

One missed monthly payment. It's a sizeable one. Aston Villa are running a £5-6m monthly deficit on their current outgoings
 

DJS

A hoonter must hoont
Dec 9, 2006
31,261
21,760
Aside from what they paid he was shit. Kids running past him wondering who he was and why he was there. Terrible move for Villa.

Was he that bad for them last season then?

I thought he did okay but wasn’t paying massive attention.
 

EJWTartanSpur

SC Supporter
Jan 29, 2011
4,805
10,087
I'm rooting for them to sort themselves out and get back the PL. Proper traditional big club, fantastic stadium etc etc. Did some filming there a few years back and everyone on the staff was lovely. Would be a real shame to see them plummet and disappear.
 
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