Let’s first just say that I’m the same as the rest of you fans and the media in general.
I just don’t know enough facts to make any 100% correct assumptions at all.
But there is one thing I do know and that is that the media are never happier than when they can create hysteria, simply because shocking news sells.
Hence I’m quite content in thinking that much of what we’re hearing/reading is no doubt rubbish.
But at the same time, there are seeming facts that we do know, which are giving fuel to the media’s fire.
First off, from what I’m seeing, Wyness was suspended because he was doing what he’s supposed to do as a diligent director, in trying to raise funds that meant Aston Villa would not be trading illegally when it knew it was insolvent.
There’s no way Xia could sack Wyness for this, as he’s done nothing wrong, simple to my mind.
And that’s why he’s been suspended pending an inquiry.
But, again from what I’m seeing, Wyness has taken advice, which would seem to have come from some administration company.
My total guess here, is that Wyness asked the administrator to put the “feelers” out.
Which would also explain why there are apparently 4 or more outfits looking at buying the club, albeit probably on the cheap.
You just don’t come out and say you want to buy a football club on a whim. It takes lots of diligence and time.
If that’s what’s happened, without proper consultation with Xia, I’d say that could be seen as undermining the owner, which is indeed a sackable offence and would also explain the suspension.
The main issue seems to have been that Xia has been pumping money into the Villa on a monthly basis, but this stopped because Xia was struggling to get money out of China.
I’ve seen that it stopped as recently as last month, which ain’t so bad.
But I’ve also seen reports that we’ve forward-sold, at a loss, any money that we’ve been due, including Vertout’s fee, as early as January.
If that’s true, that’s scarily bad.
Consider the word is that we’re trading at a deficit of £5-6 million a month and perhaps you get the idea of our predicament.
Which all in all, shows what a shocking decision Tony Xia has taken, in gambling the club’s future on a couple of seasons.
He may well have had blinding success at everything he’s done before now, but it would seem he’s come well unstuck here.
Except I’m not quite convinced this is the whole story, just yet.
There’s no doubt we have a cash-flow problem.
But it also seems Xia is insistent that he can sort things.
Just the same as I was concerned about when Xia was first announced as our new buyer and he partly convinced me when he supposedly deposited that massive cheque for £400 mill in a British bank (remember that?), so he might still be able to pull something out of a hat.
But that massive cheque doesn’t explain why he can’t put his hands on any money.
Securities, bonds and all that stuff are beyond me, I’m afraid.
Do you know what’s disappointed me most, out of all this?
I’m seeing Newcastle fans laughing at us, when it would seem we’re in serious danger of being wound up (not that I think this will happen for one minute).
Look, lads, we took the piss because you got relegated; that’s part of the banter.
Not because you might go bust.
There’s a bloody big difference.
The point is, that while it might look terrible, let’s just see how it pans out.
Just remember that the media are full of it..
Definitely worrying times. At best we can hope our bad fortune is limited to a poor start to the season which seems inevitable at this stage.
Dire Straits return to Villa Park. They will kick off with “Nothing for Money”.
i must be clairvoyants not a tart. it looks very much how i said it was going to happen. not quite how i imagined but still looks very likely that players will be sold. they will involve grealish and chester. simple reasons is they are most desirable. chester thou is a good defender i could live with leaving hes 30 and could raise 7mill maybe this season but his value will drop after this.
with all thats been happening in comedy week at vp, no other club will see villa as a club on equal terms.they will see villa as what they are desperate for cash. we will get ripped off to fuck grealish before this happened you could easy negotiate a 20 mill above figure. now clubs may even get him for below that figure. chester another one they might get cheeky offers, all the other players like davis and green i hear soton offering 3 and 4 mill.
as i said before this happened we are in the brown stuff up to our necks. the owner needs to get a grip of situation. even if we are desperate for cash we can’t look to be or we won’t av a leg to stand on and we need to control this situation better. its ok letting the fans know but in doing that your letting the scavengers know too.
i love the film predator and billy say we’re gonna die ( we’re doomed ) right thats me fully depressed again
Prince William and Tom Hanks
Should buy us with that chap at the end of the rainbow.
Badger, I love your positivity here but, according to the Times, Wyness was suspended in order to stop him putting Villa into administration.
Here’s the article and, frankly, I think we are in one hell of a mess. There is no doubt, in my mind that pretty much the whole team will be up for sale.
Very sad times (no pun intended)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/aston-villa-owe-11m-in-transfer-fees-to-rival-clubs-qkbcw5csm?shareToken=d5c5fa332dd8787acd64f6ceeeb257fc
It just gets worse…. Here was me on the way home from Wembley, thinking we may lose Grealish as he wants premiership football, but we could crack on again next season.
Now we face a club with no cash and every player who shows a glimmer of form being sold, whilst our CEO, with the most football experience on our board, thinking we would be better off in administration- what the hell have they done to our football club
” I feel like it would be best for me to write the following words when I am relatively calm.”
The opening paragraph of Dr Xia’s club statement which I thought strange at the time – he knew a storm was coming but we, the fans, didn’t.
The issue is cash flow not FFP; the former can bring a business down, the latter can’t and even if we had won promotion it would not immediately have solved our cash flow problems although short term borrowing would have been less problematic.
Now it’s all over the media, creditors including the banks will get nervous and ask for early payment with lending curtailed or revoked and sponsors will start worrying etc – it’s a vicious circle.
What options does Xia have – precious few if he can’t get money out of China to prop up the finances.
Sell – but any incoming owner would have to inject a significant amount of cash on top of the acquisition costs – will Xia take that sort of hit?
Dilute his investment by bringing in additional investors – actually this would work by issuing new share capital but there’s a big challenge around subsequent control of the club.
Sell players – usually on the never, never but we need cash now so buying clubs can drive down the price in return for more money up front – already happened with the money from Burnley for Westwood (according to reports). We’ll have to do it but more likely with the higher paid players to reduce the monthly wage bill.
FFP – a doddle by comparison
Personally I think administration is inevitable, unless we get additional investment or we are sold within a month – which would be extremely difficult.
We have players on credit who we cannot afford to pay back, we have a tax bill who we have had to get a loan to pay and in a couple of weeks we have staff wages to pay which make the tax bill small fry in comparison.
We have to sell our players just to survive and who are we going to get as replacements when they think their wages may not be paid.
Its a perfect storm !!
Never rains but pore,
Aston Villa owe £30m to other football clubs in outstanding transfer fees, figures have revealed.
Accounts show that Villa spent around £88m on signing players in the 2016/17 season but only paid cash of £58m – leaving a £30m deficit to make up.
The deals relate to installments owed to clubs as part of transfer deals and the balance is on credit to the other clubs.
Villa’s transfer obligations were revealed by football finance expert Kevin Maguire.
Hope this is true, Grealish has made a statement I’m going nowhere, Villa is my club and I’m happy to stay, that was heard on radio today.
Great to hear but the trouble is Bill, it might not be his decision.
All we can hope for now is Xia to sell. I like him and the good things he’s done for the club, but given the cashflow issues, a quick sale is best for all parties. I’m afraid if Xia stays on he’ll only weaken his and the clubs position given this weeks press.
If you have time, it’s worth reading the latest articles posted on 7500 to Holte. They have brought together all the recent media articles / club statements / tweets etc and it makes for interesting reading.
It appears probable (possible) that Wyness sought buyers for the club without Xia’s knowledge – hence his suspension. If true that’s indefensible in my view and shows a complete lack of trust between the CEO and Chairman. It also seems likely that Xia could not contemplate a loss at Wembley and buried his head in the sand (despite Wyness / Round making a presentatation to him with a plan for another year in the Championship) with the result that Villa were (are) not prepared for a further year in the Championship and are now trying to put a workable plan in place.
On one hand there seems to be a more positive outlook, on the other we (and Bruce?) seem to have been mislead into believing the club had a plan in place in the event promotion was not achieved.
Frankly, I don’t know what to believe any more.
Hitch, did you actually read the headline post?
I did suggest that I thought Wyness had sought buyers, which is why we’ve supposedly had 3 or 4 offers.
In which case, it’s been going on for months, behind Xia’s back.
Not that it matters.
What bothers me now, is that if Wyness knew what was happening re; the state of the club (and he must have), why didn’t he resign?
Another greedy snout with his nose in the trough, it would seem.
I’ll bet he won’t walk away with a loss.
Apologies Badger – I did read it when you originally posted it but didn’t read it again before posting the above.
For the record I should have said that the 7500 to Holte piece supported your original views. FWIW the 7500 articles are still worth a read.
well the news is getting more positive around villa. the statement from owner has been welcome. ok we know we are still in shit. but the rest of the world don’t have to know this. we need to try and sell the high waged players first. before the players bruce might want to use. i can’t see us keeping grealish which is a crying shame.
if villa could keep him and sell all the high earners, believe me we still could get promoted. grealish is the most important player. sell jedi, lansbury, taylor, whelan, i would try to shift them first and if we can get 10 mill for chester i would sell him and get a cheaper centre back and loan that tuanzebe again. also if they can sell hogan and get back some money, they should because villa under bruce cant seem to utilize him
these youngsters everybody raves on about, they are not ready, but they will have a big part to play so hopefully they will rise too it . with our youngsters and 5 quality incoming loans and lower waged players of our remaining squad, plus grealish. we will be up the top end of league not the bottom. as other fans and bookmakers are predicting
england are looking good. they pass and move really good. southgate has done a fine job preparing them. i still think they lack quality in last third. but the movement is 1st rate. this is mostly down to enthusiastic players. wanting to prove a point and southgate drilling them with a system they understand and not deviating for the system who ever the opposition. so who ever the player they know the roles.
I’m not going to pretend I know what’s going on behind the scenes at VP. After all we knew we were in the brown stuff when the final whistle blew at Wembley. Cash flow seems to be an issue as well as Dr Xia placing too much trust in Wyness to run things whilst in China. Whether Wyness has abused his position is anyone’s guess, but I fully believe that the media are enjoying blowing things out of proportion. When the dust eventually settles I hope we can maintain some kind of stability by keeping most of our key players. I don’t think it’s a certainty that Grealish will go. We have saved a fortune on the wage bill with Gabby, Terry, Snodgrass , Hutton and Grabban leaving. Onomah, Tuanzebe and Johnstone probably were not on much. We might see the likes of Adomah, Bjarnasson, Hogan and Chester leaving but more importantly now is for Bruce to stay to deal with the transition. If Wyness doesn’t return then it’s possible a change of manager could be on the cards. I still think when we play Kidderminster in July that we will have one of the best squads in the championship. Keep the faith. UTV
Holte66, I very much doubt Wyness has abused his position.
In fact, I’d say it’s quite the opposite, in that he’s acted exactly as he should, in trying to keep us operating as a solvent company.
That’s his prior remit and I’d suggest it’s been Xia who has tried to deviate from it.
Badger, I agree with you re: Wyness. The 7500 Holte articles suggest that Xia has been ‘burying his head in the sand’ and wouldn’t face up to reality – now he has to.
The other interesting article I read by some professor who’s an expert on China is that, whilst there are financial restrictions in China (at the moment), he didn’t consider they would overly affect Xia’s ability to move the level of money being stated in the press to finance Villa. If that’s true then it begs the question as to whether (a) Xia has the wherewithal to continue financing the club or (b) he’s had enough but in either case he has a ready made excuse! The other point this learned gentleman made was the stigma in China attached to failure. He felt Xia would not want to lose face by leaving Villa and having to take a personal loss.
Who knows?
I am hopeful that Grealish will stay. His agent is his dad and they’re both Villa through and through.
Bill, I’ve read that Grealish wants to give it another year, which I think is very fair play.
I’d suggest his old man is giving us every chance and if we still fail, then Jack could leave with our blessing.
But we may not have the choice 🙁
I’m gutted to just only thinking about it, looking at last nights England match Grealish is that player England could do with. You have to ask yourselves would you pass up a chance to be a footballing icon , I’m bloody sure I’d think twice on that..I wouldn’t blame him if push come to shove and the door opened for him, we can only blame Villa board for what’s happened in the past, and all of them greedy managers we had who robbed us under the nose of owners and so called coaching staff. Lads their sod all we can do only support our beloved Villa.
IMO we just need to keep Kodjia, Grealish, Bjarnasson or Jedi and Chester…the rest can all go. Supplement that spine with Steer in goal, Bree at RB, O’hare & Green in midfield , Davis or H- Murphy to partner Kodjia up front.. then we are only looking for a handful of loans..subs bench can be all youth maybe with 1 or 2 experienced players we cant sell this summer. For me that gives us youth, experience, pace, goals in attack and decent defense.. we can get out of this league without having to break the bank..and we may be a hell of a lot better for it!
there is no way we can keep chester and grealish. so i rather keep grealish . chester has recieved a bid of 9 million today the bulshit papers say. so if we can get 10 million for a 30 year old it has to be accepted. lansbury adomah whelen jedi taylor how much will these bring in between them.
if we can sell off big earners and rake in 20 million, then we might not need to sell grealish.
On Grealish, apparently, there are 6 clubs interested, so all the talk about having to take what we can get is BS. If the club want 30 million, then they have to hold their nerve. Clubs will have to up their bids because they know others are interested. The fact is, we have something they want. So no selling on the cheap. The man has got his whole career ahead of him and is a superb talent. The club need to think long term and I would suggest even demanding a sell-on clause is added to the deal. If Jack doesn’t want to go, and we don’t want to sell, then Spurs, United, Leicester, and anyone else who comes sniffing around can have a bidding war among themselves, while we wait for the right bid. Pardon, the turn of phrase, but if you pull your pants down, then you can’t complain when the inevitable happens! The club need to stand strong and not act like victims at this very uncertain time. He’s an Aston Villa player and regardless of the financial situation, there is no sense at all in taking half his value! Think about it, we need money. Jack is worth a lot. But we take a bit. Where’s the sense. I hope those in charge see sense and hold out for what he’s worth! UTV
i agree with the grealish stance. but we have to hope the ppl running the show at villa can haggle. because spuds levy will be out for a bargain. in fact all clubs will see villa as easy pickings. its now up to us, to show we are no muppets. if they did turn down the chester 9 mill bid today. that will show them we are not selling anybody on cheap.
I read Nath that interest on Bruce is now hitting the headline , it seems Leeds have made inquiry on him for a managerial job, it now pretty obvious the wolves are snapping at Villas door with 6 clubs after Grealish and up till yet no comments from our Dr T on whom steering the ship. I dare say he’s away on business duty in China and the club is out of control to the press to write fake news.
i just been reading villa fans still wanting brentford manager. look i think smith is a decent manager and will be a good villa manager. but why would he risk his reputation joining villa now. chances are next season we will have a transition season. he would stand a better chance of playoffs with brentford. he is a manager that builds things slowly.
i think bruce has far better contacts in the game. we need that now for quality loans he will bring. players on cheap wages but players that can improve us. bruce has the ability to steer villa through the rough waters.
grealish is key without him it really will be a long hard season. if i was the owner i would seriously do everything in my power to keep him. i honestly believe that every other player in last years squad can be replaced except grealish
as for spuds i said weeks ago they would sign him. i said they would rip us off too. if grealish does go, i only hope leicester sell mahrez .that will mean they have the money to out bid spuds and drive the price up. we should look to get rid of high wages. lower the costs first. see how we start we could always sell grealish in jan or next summer. he is aplayer that is only going to get better and better especially in championship.