Since their defeat in the Championship playoff final to Fulham, it has become public knowledge that Aston Villa are facing a financial crisis. Some reports have suggested that owner Tony Xia is merely experiencing a cash-flow problem, while others have indicated that only the fire sale of the club's star men and biggest earners will give the West Midlands outfit a chance of avoiding administration which in today's climate would be considered catastrophic. The rules and regulations are in place where teams in English football should no longer be in a position where they can get themselves into extreme debt, but Villa instead opted to roll the dice over the course of two seasons and have come up with a one and a two on both occasions. What is next for Villa remains to be seen but Xia does have options.
Help in the way of Payday loans UK may be able to act many people in the United Kingdom but that is not to say that the same method will suit Villa. It has been claimed that Xia has secured a loan of £6m to fulfil obligations with HMRC and to pay the club's staff but that will no doubts have to be repaid by the Chinese businessman at a later date and it only increases the uncertainty surrounding his future at Villa Park. That said, before Villa find themselves dealing with the EFL, they have to get their house in order with HMRC in an attempt to avoid a winding-up order and a short-term loan buys them a few weeks to put together a solution that can ease their struggles ahead of the next campaign.
Villa's next goal will then be to try to avoid sanctions with the EFL, who are permitted to enforce a transfer embargo, hand out fines or deduct points if they feel that Villa deserve a hefty punishment. From the outside and reading between the lines of what has emerged in the media, it would appear that some sort of sanctions are likely if Villa do not reduce their arrears and that can only come from getting numerous players out of the club. Jack Grealish will command a transfer fee of anything up to £30m and although the winger would be open to remaining at his boyhood club, a sale appears inevitable. Parting ways with Grealish would make up some of the shortfall but the real damage at Villa is coming from the wage bill and Grealish is not necessarily one of the biggest earners.
The exit of John Terry will save money - as will Alan Hutton taking a pay cut, which he is allegedly willing to do - but Villa need to get rid of Micah Richards, Mile Jedinak and Ross McCormack to start making cuts to their expenses. The trio command a combined total of around £6m per season but Villa will likely have to forget about any transfer fees just to encourage clubs to take over the responsibility of spending big money on their contracts. Villa could also benefit from Ahmed Elmohamady and Birkir Bjarnason having good World Cups with Egypt and Iceland respectively.
The final plan of action comes with deciding how Steve Bruce will have to handle his first-team squad next season. Many players will leave but Bruce will want at least three or four experienced heads to help the younger players which will inevitably have a bigger part to play. There is little option but to use the likes of Jed Steer, Andre Green, Keinan Davis, Rushian Hepburn-Murphy and Callum O'Hare in the first-team picture, as well as a couple of defensive players who have impressed in the academy. Villa have always prided themselves on their youth setup and that now needs to be used to its full if Xia is to use a short-term loan and minimise the damage when it comes to making repayments.
