deszeppelin
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In 2016 Aston Villa, one of the few clubs to have been a constant in the Premier League since its inception were relegated to the Championship.Under the tenure of owner Randy Lerner, financial mismanagement and poor decision making led to this eventuality.
View attachment 1103678 (Randy Lerner)
In 2015 Villa recorded a total revenue of 116 Million pound, the tenth highest in the league that season. Less then Newcastle, Everton and West Ham but ahead of teams like Southampton, Leicester and Swansea. This financial position only served to make the club's relegation all that more frustrating.
The club's revenue from that year breaks down into:
£14 Million - Matchday Income
£28 Million - Commercial
£71 Million - Broadcasting
Out of context, these are healthy figures. With a 65% reliance on the league's inflated television deal, better then many other clubs and the seventh best commercial deal in the league. Yet much like Sunderland under Ellis Short, Villa have suffered from a lack of organic growth in revenue throughout the last decade. Relying heavily on their owner's investment.
As a result of this, the club failed to make a annual profit during Lerner's tenure. With a loss of £28 Million in 2015, contributing to total losses accumulated throughout the previous nine years of 250 million pounds.
Lerner's inconsistent approach to financial management was one of the reasons for the club's struggles. This manifested in periods of great expenditure followed by periods of frugal cost cutting. In Lerner's final year of ownership the club spent 52 million pounds on player transfers. Bringing in Idrissa Gueye, Jordan Ayew, Rudy Gestede, Jordan Amavi and more. Their new players helped them earn 17 points and relegation.
276 million pound was spent for transfers during Lerner's ownership. With a net spend of 123 million pounds.With hindsight it can be suggested that this had more to do with poor player purchases and low sell on values rather then a club holding on to its best players.
A frequent turnover of managers also contributed. Not just on the field but off it. Throughout Lerner's tenure. The club recorded 30 million pounds in exceptional costs. These costs included paying off fired managers and reducing the value of particular players.
Generally speaking the issue wasn't with Lerner's intent but with his ability. He bought the club for 66 million pounds in 2006 and invested around 300 million pounds. This being said he hired poorly in coaching roles and in the boardroom.
Chinese Businessman Dr. Tony Xia finally relieved Lerner of Aston Villa in 2016. Paying 52 Million Pounds for a 100% stake in the club and then paying a further 24 million pounds to clear the clubs overdraft.
View attachment 105110(Tony Xia)
Since then the new owner has invested heavily in the squad spending over 50 million pounds in the 2016 summer transfer window.
With Villa's parachute payments seeing the club earn a estimated 40 million pounds from broadcasting income this season, which is significantly more the Championship average (5 Million Pounds). Focus must now be on regaining their premier league status before the parachute payments deplete after three seasons.
Xia has said his aim is for Aston Villa to be a "Top 6 Club" within five years and one of the best three clubs in the world in the long term future.
The future appeared brighter but with two managers already been sacked this season (Roberto Di Matteo and Steve Bruce) the supporters will already be hoping this isn't just history repeating itself.
As of today's date 15th February 2017 Aston Villa find themselves in huge trouble:
Languishing in 18th position and only three points above the relegation zone. Unknown Desmond Pugh has been assigned caretaker manager until the end of the season.
His assignment is simple: Keep Aston Villa in the Championship!
