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Villa Object To New Prem Financial Rules. Why?

Given all of the recent wage cuts and the selling of players combined with the managerial disaster that was McLeish the board and Randy have come in for a fair amount of stick, but I wonder if things are about to change.

At a recent meeting of premiership clubs to vote on stricter financial controls Man City where one of three teams who voted against as you would expect, but far more surprising was the vote of our very own Aston Villa. Rather than joining in the throng of those asking for parity and sanctions to prevent big spending we voted against the proposed measures. This surprising turn of events got me thinking, why on earth would the Villa management oppose such a move?

I can only think of two reasons, either Randy is planning to invest or he is planning to sell to a party that would like to invest. As everyone knows Randy recently brought an end to his association with the Browns, receiving a nice amount of money in the process. It could well be that Randy now has plans to offload Villa in a similar fashion and I know many would welcome the investment of a sheikh or oligarch.

Given the turbulent recent times it would be hard to blame Randy if he had decided to depart the world of sports ownership altogether but whilst this turn of events might see untold riches ploughed into our mighty club I suspect it is unlikely as Randy has said time and again that he is committed to the Villa. I'm not as convinced by PL as many are, or as willing to buy into the hype around certain players after just a few games but it is fair to say that he has definitely done the job he was brought in to do so far. The wage bill is lower, the playing staff are younger and his signings are showing potential whilst the football on the pitch is still developing with signs of promise. Randy probably feels as comfortable with his manager as he ever has and I would imagine is pretty happy with the way things have been shaping up.

When Randy first arrived he backed MON to the hilt and I have a suspicion that now he finally has a man in place who he can trust and who is delivering on his side of the bargain, that he is getting ready to make the same level of funding available to PL over the course of the next few years.

It could be interesting and exciting times ahead if this truly is the start of a new four year plan.

AVbornandbred

See forum thread for more: More Premiership Financial Plans

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Writer: AVbornandbred

Date:Thursday December 20 2012

Time: 10:12AM

Your Comments

Or it could just be that, as a business man, he does not believe in strict financial controls of a business sector by another body which will restrict how a club/business can operate...

Pundit101

think it is more likely that they can see this will strengthen the top 4-5 clubs even more and make it even harder for the rest.

The Fear

Good points AVbab and Pundit101..... suppose it's a case of wait and see. Interesting though.

Pride of Lions

Good points AVbab and Pundit101..... suppose it's a case of wait and see. Interesting though.

Pride of Lions

Or even that Villa do not feel that the controls suggested go far enough. He is a business man, and under ONeill I suspect he came to realise that it was going to be impossible to buy success, as others had bigger pots of money. It would seem that we have a far more sensible business model in place, and probably a much better manager. As for not getting into the hype regarding certain players, the only player being hyped is Benteke. He has 15 goals in all this season already (Villa, Genk, and Belgium), and he is probably the best signing we have made since the scottish Andy Gray. So join the half-full club, and leave the half-empty gang behind. I look forward to what he does to Terry in the final. UTV.

2big4seatswannastand

I'd suggest it will be a combination of all of those things. The ew financial regulations can adversely affect you in seasons where things aren't going so well, so for example, you couldn't just go and sign a Darren Bent-type player in January to help keep you up, as Houllier did a couple of years ago. I think Randy has learned some tough lessons in owning Villa, and he needs to maintain as much flexibility as possible in his ownership, hence the negative vote.

SilkyVillan

Oh and when we do win the Capital One Cup, (and we will), we should immediately shove an extended contract in front of Benteke, while he is still celebrating the win.

2big4seatswannastand

Amen to that 2b4s

SilkyVillan

I reckon it's because we are still losing money all over the shop and need to get rid of a few more of the big earners. I mean, Given, Dunne, Ireland, Bent and N'Zogbia are arguably are 5 highest earners and hardly any of them are getting a game. That could easily save £300k+ a week. In principle we need to agree and accept the new financial rules, it is the only way it can be a more level playing field across the league.

calavfc

good post by Paul J on facebook
I feel that this could be a little simpler than conspiracy theorists think. The first thing is that part of the proposal is that wages increase by no more than 5%. That's 5% for the club not per player. So, if the Villa are getting their house in order to a wage bill of, say, £40m then 5% of that would be £2m which as we know is far less than a top players wage. This means that in order to bring in a £4m wage player we would need to sell a £2m wage player and that's the most we could do. But here's the rub, if Man City's wage bill is currently £150m then 5% of that is £7.5m and because the wage bill is already higher we know that players must be on higher wages (Balotelli at City is on £170k a week as his 2 week fine yesterday was £340k). So, if Balotelli leaves they have his wage (£9m) plus the 5% club increase £7.5m (£16.5m in total) to spend on new players wages compared to the Villa who would have £4m. As far as I can see there is no suggestion of capping transfer fees, just wages. So, the proposed system would benefit those teams who currently have a bigger wage bill and penalize those with a smaller wage bill who wish to build up the wage bill as performance improves. Clubs who feel they are currently at their limit would support the proposal and clubs who want to spend more than 5% in the future would be against the proposal.

The Fear

Not so sure that PL would benefit from a blank cheque book anyway. A couple of stars sure, but reckon he prefers and would stick with the young, hungry, something to prove types.

Villan444

I think Villa will struggle with the financial controls, because even with the careful pruning of salaries we do not generate enough money through the turnstiles to compete. Maybe Randy has seen that even with some of the lowest prices in the land, not enough Villa fans get off their backside to fill the ground. Unless we start backing PL and our young and improving squad it may be that the rubbish amount generated through the turnstiles may mean even further curbs on spending and Randolph is opposed to that.

voiceoftheholte

Just to throw in a few thoughts. The Fear I like that explanation taken from facebook makes a lot of sense. Randy inherited Cleveland Browns from his father he did not have the same attachment hence the sale.Buying Villa was his choice does he still love Villa? not seen or heard anything to say he doesnt from Randy himself lots of folk guessing but no meat!. My own thoughts are Randy wishes to run Villa as a business unless someone makes an offer who he thinks will improve on what he is doing.If after all the wage cuttiing he voted against the proposals you can bet they are not in Villas best interests.Even if it proves true that RL has lost interest he is not going to cut his nose off to spite his face by letting Villa suffer under the new regulations he is a successfull businessman.Do not think a large investment in players is comming according to bbc gossip we are looking at Crystal Palaces young striker for 1 mill in january.so looks like pl is still looking for hidden gems.

Merlin128777

The Fear, I totally agree. The Financial Fair Play Rules will only benefit the top 4/5 clubs and it is the same with the European Rules. These rules actually hinder clubs attempting to get into the Champions League for the first time because they prevent teams from making that jump like City and Chelsea before them did.

notthedougellisstand

folks there seems to be some confusion. The proposal was a set of financial rules proposed by the premier league over and abovethe Eufa financial fair play rules that are more stringent

AVbornandbred

Paul J is 100% right and Iv been arguing this on the forum but some people just dont want to listen...

CDX_EIRE

Fear, thanks for the example on wages. I is kind of where my logic came from. If we are going to continue culling the high earners and replacing them with youngsters and championship players then we would have no reason to oppose the constraint. It only really becomes an issue if we are going to try and bring in higher earning players.

AVbornandbred

The new rules state that clubs will have to break even and have limited debt. As it stands, the bulk of the debt is to Reform Aquisitions (set up to purchase the club), with the club repaying this with interest - again highlighting Randy is a businessman rather than benefactor. If we accept the rules Villa will immediately be in breach. The two ways to prevent being in breach would be.......a) Randy swallowing the debt himself (this is what Man City's owners will do, will Randy?)........or.........b) Villa repaying the loans straight away. This would put Randy in a rather invidious position as he would need to decide whether to enforce the full interest amount (which would benefit the Lerner Family Trust), while simultaneously weakening the clubs financial footing and risking the clubs future. Looking at the varied theories in the comments above, it again highlights the lack of interaction and communication the club has with the fans. Clear communication would show fans that they are valued, and people who feel valued may be more inclined to invest their time and money, and get their bums through the turnstiles. This current 'trust us, we know what we are doing' approach has left a lot of fans I talk to feel detached from the club, and these aren't fairweather fans either! And although there has been an improvement on last year, it's hard not to feel that another foot in mouth moment (a-la Faulker "We are still aiming for Europe" under McLeish) is only round the corner.

heavy d

AVbornandbred: Not just bring in higher earners, but keep the cheaper ones that are improving - Benteke, westwood, lowton, we will need to increase their wages no end to keep them!

d8ost

Randy may very well be looking at things differently after selling the Browns. This is the first time that Villa are the one and only thing that he has to deal with. He's flushed with cash and has no other business considerations. Let's hope he's thinking of settling down and wants to watch his favorite football club challenge for top honors and thought "hey now, if I want to see Villa grow and dominate I have the power to do just that!"

JWiLs2315

Fear, You are dead right. The way these propose are written is bad from a business point of view. Whenever % are mentioned in some kind of cap then its badly worded. - a cap should be that - any team cannot pay more than X amount of pounds on salary per year.

Lost_In_Ca

To simplify Paul J's explanation - clubs who have done their best to comply with the FFP rules (Villa) will be punished by these new rules and clubs which have made no attempt to comply will be rewarded. Clubs which have made the biggest cuts in wages, like Villa, will be punished the most as they are trapped at the level of their latest wage spend. The rules would turn Villa into a much smaller club overnight.

OnMeHeadFred

Relax Lions!!! The mad Russian has done for Chelsea and Arsenal are in decline. The two Manchester clubs rule the roost in England. That means that there are two Champions League places up for grabs. The fans won't tolerate football -- domestic or otherwise -- in which there isn't the potential for upsets of genuine competition. The so-called supporters of 'big' clubs are included in that assessment. The worst case scenario of FFP is that footie turns in American wrestling.

VillaWillRiseAgain

* Turns into

VillaWillRiseAgain

who was the 3rd team to vote against it?

macca1087

It's so we can sell the top teams our best players, put a cap on that and we can't sell them all to one club, he's not stupid!

eltoro

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