Aston Villa have reportedly axed chocolate digestive biscuits for corporate hospitality customers as part of financial cutbacks.

The Midlands side have endured a torrid season on and off the pitch and are on course for relegation to the Championship, sitting eight points adrift at the bottom of the Premier League with just 12 games of the season to play.

Speaking to the Birmingham Mail, former matchday hospitality host Elaine Rose, who resigned earlier this week, revealed that the club has made cutbacks to the service offered to its corporate clients and hired teenagers to replace disgruntled staff.

"It's like working in Beirut now, to be honest," she said. "Tom Fox, the chief executive, has two bodyguards. The others who now have a bodyguard include Paddy Riley (director of recruitment), Charlie Wijeratna (chief commercial officer), Hendrik Almstadt (sporting director) and Nicola Keye (head of sales).

"Players now have to stay behind for an hour after matches in case they get attacked.

"If it wasn't so sad, it would be funny. We all had to re-apply for our jobs. One woman had to leave after 40 years' service because she was told she 'couldn't do her job'. We had a great bunch of people, now it's two-thirds agency staff, many of them teenagers. I thought if I do leave this place I am not leaving quietly. I decided last weekend, after we had lost 0-6 to Liverpool, that enough was enough."

Villa are next back in action when they travel to Stoke City next Saturday.