Aston Villa FC Society II

It won't happen, but imagine the uproar if Villa are in the Championship and Birmingham come up...

Reply 1222

Aston Villa announce £53.9m loss for 2010-11 financial year

Aston Villa bosses insist they are satisfied with the club's financial position despite announcing annual losses of almost £54m.

It does not include money raised from the sales of England wingers Ashley Young and Stewart Downing last June.
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“We are confident the actions taken since the end of the 2010-11 financial year have galvanised the long-term sustainability of the club ”

Robin Russell Aston Villa chief financial officer

Villa revealed total income had increased by 1.3% to a record £92m.

Chief financial officer Robin Russell said: "Given the challenging economic environment we're pleased with positive trends in our financial performance."

Villa confirmed the overall loss for the year up to 31 May 2011 represents an increase from £37.6m.

The figure includes the record £24m transfer fee spent to bring England striker Darren Bent to Villa Park in January last year.

The financial statement also showed Villa's commercial income had increased by 15.9% year on year.

The Birmingham club spent £12m on changes in the football management staff, while American owner Randy Lerner invested £25m. There was an £8.3m reduction in bank borrowings.

Russell added: "The board of Aston Villa are confident that the actions taken since the end of the 2010-11 financial year have galvanised the long-term sustainability of the club and have also given us a better financial platform on which to build for future success.

"Our objectives are to compete strongly on the pitch and to achieve sustainability as well as compliance with Uefa's Financial Fair Play requirements."

Meanwhile, former Villa loanee Robbie Keane has said the club's players are firmly behind manager Alex McLeish.

LA Galaxy striker Keane has returned to the United States after his seven-match spell ended with Saturday's 0-0 Premier League draw at Wigan.

The 31-year-old said he enjoyed working with the Scot, who has received a frosty reception from Villa fans since his summer switch from rivals Birmingham City.

"I know at the moment it's not going as well as probably he [McLeish] would like, and the club certainly," added Keane.

"But all you want in a manager when you work with someone is someone who is honest with you, and they don't come any more honest than him.

"He is desperate for the team to do well. At this time he has been getting a little bit of flack from the fans, but that doesn't reflect on how good a manager is.

"The only thing I could say is the players are 100% behind him. They really enjoy working with him.

"It's a transition period for Aston Villa and I am sure next season it will be completely different."

How can you have recorded losses of £54mil? I could understand if your debts were £54mil now (or is that what they meant?) :s-smilie:

Reply 1223

OP

Original post by Zerforax

How can you have recorded losses of £54mil? I could understand if your debts were £54mil now (or is that what they meant?) :s-smilie:

I guess it puts the sales of Young and Downing into even more context. If I was posting record losses I'd probably be inclined to shift £40m worth of assets as well... And when it says that Lerner invested £25m, is that counted as a debt? The way it's worded seems to suggest so. £12m on managers is quite frankly ludicrous in a year.

Ho hum. We were always a profitable side under Doug Ellis...

Reply 1224

Original post by Phalanges

I guess it puts the sales of Young and Downing into even more context. If I was posting record losses I'd probably be inclined to shift £40m worth of assets as well... And when it says that Lerner invested £25m, is that counted as a debt? The way it's worded seems to suggest so. £12m on managers is quite frankly ludicrous in a year.

Ho hum. We were always a profitable side under Doug Ellis...

I guess once that's taken into account it's more like 10-15mil in losses.

£25mil to buy Bent perhaps? Think it counts as debt, unless he converts to equity.

Reply 1225

hogso

1

Original post by Zerforax

How can you have recorded losses of £54mil? I could understand if your debts were £54mil now (or is that what they meant?) :s-smilie:

Since Lerner took over;

06/07 - £xx loss
07/08 - £31m loss
08/09 - £44m loss
09/10 - £38m loss
10/11 - £54m loss

The increase in loss this year can be attributed to a number of things; purchase of Bent considering the sales of both Downing and Young and not included in these figures, also the payments made to MON, Houllier, and McLeish will make a big dent and could not reasonsably been expected to happen. Although McLeish joined after the end of the financial year it is quite likely the accountants would have made an accrual for compensation for the next manager, as it was known we needed one as Houllier had gone by then.

Next years should be better, money in from sales of players, not much spent coming in, vastly reduced wage bill (Young, Downing, Beye (shame we have to wait till the next year to see the exclusion of Heskey though)). Revenue has continued to increase year on year and we've got a better deal with Macron (at least in financial terms) than with Nike starting at the end of this season too. We hold up pretty well in regards to other teams' revenue

Man Utd - £331m
Arsenal - £256m
Chelsea - £215m*
Liverpool - £190m*
Spurs - £164m
Man City - £153m
ASTON VILLA - £92m
Everton - £82m
Newcastle - £80m*
Fulham - £79m*
Sunderland - £70m
Bolton - £68m
Stoke - £60m*

*estimated

- figures courtesy of VT

ps. I am taking a hardhat with me to Blackburn on sat, pretty sure it's going to get ugly. We were alright for a draw against Wigan, as they can't score, but Blackburn have quite a potent front line...DOOMED :colondollar:

Reply 1226

OP

There's no way we can have a higher revenue than Newcastle, is there? That strikes me as incredibly dubious...

Reply 1227

Original post by hogso

Since Lerner took over;

06/07 - £xx loss
07/08 - £31m loss
08/09 - £44m loss
09/10 - £38m loss
10/11 - £54m loss

The increase in loss this year can be attributed to a number of things; purchase of Bent considering the sales of both Downing and Young and not included in these figures, also the payments made to MON, Houllier, and McLeish will make a big dent and could not reasonsably been expected to happen. Although McLeish joined after the end of the financial year it is quite likely the accountants would have made an accrual for compensation for the next manager, as it was known we needed one as Houllier had gone by then.

Next years should be better, money in from sales of players, not much spent coming in, vastly reduced wage bill (Young, Downing, Beye (shame we have to wait till the next year to see the exclusion of Heskey though)). Revenue has continued to increase year on year and we've got a better deal with Macron (at least in financial terms) than with Nike starting at the end of this season too. We hold up pretty well in regards to other teams' revenue

Man Utd - £331m
Arsenal - £256m
Chelsea - £215m*
Liverpool - £190m*
Spurs - £164m
Man City - £153m
ASTON VILLA - £92m
Everton - £82m
Newcastle - £80m*
Fulham - £79m*
Sunderland - £70m
Bolton - £68m
Stoke - £60m*

*estimated

- figures courtesy of VT

ps. I am taking a hardhat with me to Blackburn on sat, pretty sure it's going to get ugly. We were alright for a draw against Wigan, as they can't score, but Blackburn have quite a potent front line...DOOMED :colondollar:

How can you be spending so much? I mean you peaked until MON but I didn't think your squad was that big or you were paying your players ridiculous wages. So if Lerner buggers off, the club is screwed?

Reply 1228

Original post by hogso

Since Lerner took over;

06/07 - £xx loss
07/08 - £31m loss
08/09 - £44m loss
09/10 - £38m loss
10/11 - £54m loss

The increase in loss this year can be attributed to a number of things; purchase of Bent considering the sales of both Downing and Young and not included in these figures, also the payments made to MON, Houllier, and McLeish will make a big dent and could not reasonsably been expected to happen. Although McLeish joined after the end of the financial year it is quite likely the accountants would have made an accrual for compensation for the next manager, as it was known we needed one as Houllier had gone by then.

Next years should be better, money in from sales of players, not much spent coming in, vastly reduced wage bill (Young, Downing, Beye (shame we have to wait till the next year to see the exclusion of Heskey though)). Revenue has continued to increase year on year and we've got a better deal with Macron (at least in financial terms) than with Nike starting at the end of this season too. We hold up pretty well in regards to other teams' revenue

Man Utd - £331m
Arsenal - £256m
Chelsea - £215m*
Liverpool - £190m*
Spurs - £164m
Man City - £153m
ASTON VILLA - £92m
Everton - £82m
Newcastle - £80m*
Fulham - £79m*
Sunderland - £70m
Bolton - £68m
Stoke - £60m*

*estimated

- figures courtesy of VT

ps. I am taking a hardhat with me to Blackburn on sat, pretty sure it's going to get ugly. We were alright for a draw against Wigan, as they can't score, but Blackburn have quite a potent front line...DOOMED :colondollar:

How can you be spending so much? I mean you peaked until MON but I didn't think your squad was that big or you were paying your players ridiculous wages. So if Lerner buggers off, the club is screwed?

Reply 1229

OP

Original post by Zerforax

How can you be spending so much? I mean you peaked until MON but I didn't think your squad was that big or you were paying your players ridiculous wages. So if Lerner buggers off, the club is screwed?

Player wages are ridiculously high. Habib Beye earned £42k a week, and including transfer fees cost us around £9m for 15 starts. Stephen Ireland earns £65k a week, and since 2010 has played 20 games.. And there's a lot more like it. At some point down the road everyone forgot about trying to be a sustainable club and went stupid.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 1230

username220598

14

Blackburn fans are preparing the biggest demonstration in their history this weekend against the owners and Steve Kean with three different groups marching to the stadium before they play us. Any chance of a joint show of no faith from both sets of fans inside the ground. What a ridiculous sight sight that would be ffs :sogood:

Reply 1231

Mess.

20

I don't understand why Houllier and O'Neil were paid off. One had to leave and the other left so why were you paying anything in compensation?

Reply 1232

OP

Original post by Mess.

I don't understand why Houllier and O'Neil were paid off. One had to leave and the other left so why were you paying anything in compensation?

It was reported that Houllier left by mutual consent and got severance pay of ~£5m, but I have no idea why such a large sum of money would be paid to a man who was physically incapable of continuing his job. As for Martin O'Neill, I guess his lawyers and the LMA caused enough of a fuss at his tribunal for Lerner to pay them off over something...

Reply 1233

Original post by Phalanges

It was reported that Houllier left by mutual consent and got severance pay of ~£5m, but I have no idea why such a large sum of money would be paid to a man who was physically incapable of continuing his job. As for Martin O'Neill, I guess his lawyers and the LMA caused enough of a fuss at his tribunal for Lerner to pay them off over something...

You need better lawyers drafting the contracts if someone is getting severance pay after becoming physically unable to do the job due to their health.

Reply 1234

little_wizard123

Original post by Zerforax

You need better lawyers drafting the contracts if someone is getting severance pay after becoming physically unable to do the job due to their health.

I'm sure they argued that managing Villa caused the deterioration in health :lol:

Reply 1235

hogso

1

It wasnt just Houllier we had to pay off though - bare in mind his 'world class' backroom staff went aswell.

Original post by Zerforax

How can you be spending so much? I mean you peaked until MON but I didn't think your squad was that big or you were paying your players ridiculous wages. So if Lerner buggers off, the club is screwed?

As Flange said, alot of the contracts players signed while MON was in charge were horribly inflated in terms of wages. Faulkner (our chief exec) appears to be a bit of a moron though, if you can point the finger of blame in regard to contracts that are signed, and fees that are paid, it has to be at him.

As for the club being screwed if Lerner leaves, well, you could say that about most clubs if their owner left really.

There were renewed rumours of a takeover recently though, after Qatari businessmen were spotted at Bodymoor, and this picture started doing the rounds on twitter

Blatently just two blokes having a picture with Tayls, Spinksy, and McNaught, but it gave the rumour mill some extra vigor for a while :colondollar:

Reply 1236

Cll_ws

Oh ffs. Such a good first half performance ruined by our second-half.
It's becoming far too predictable, Mcleish and his ****ing defend the lead, hoof-ball tactics. ********

What does he say to them at half-time for christs sake?!

Reply 1237

Cll_ws

Original post by Zerforax

How can you be spending so much? I mean you peaked until MON but I didn't think your squad was that big or you were paying your players ridiculous wages. So if Lerner buggers off, the club is screwed?

We were losing money each year because of O'Neill's stupid spending and the ridiculously high wages he gave to players that he barely ever played.

(and these are just the ones he never played)
Zat Knight - 3.5m
Marlon Harewood - 3.5m
Nigel Reo-Coker - 3.5m
Wayne Routledge - 1.5m
Curtis Davies - 10m!
Steve Sidwell - 5.5m
Nicky Shorey - 4m
Luke Young - 5m
Habib Beye - 2m
- All of these players left for free, or for less than we bought them

Obviously then you've got the signings made during his time that were actually decent, like Milner, Young etc.

Everyone taking massive wages, whether they play or not.

During his time at Villa, he spent £120 million on players, and sold £40 million worth.
And what have we got to show for it now? We're left with a few players, all of which are most likely of very little value and on high wages compared to the rest of the team
Dunne, Warnock and Collins, not exactly the most reliable defense the last couple of seasons, in fact totally awful at times.
Heskey.....not sure I need to say anything.
Petrov and Cuellar, both of which i like. Petrov is pretty consistent And i'm glad Cuellar's finally getting a chance because of Dunne's injury.
Then we've got Delph and Guzan, who don't play much.
...that's about it

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 1238