Struggling Villa announce record losses of £54m
ASTON VILLA risk falling foul of European Financial Fair Play rules after the Premier League side yesterday announced record annual losses of £54m.
Villa confirmed the overall loss for the year up to 31 May 2011 represents a significant increase from £37.6m, but does not incorporate the £37m the club recouped in player sales following the departures of England internationals Stewart Downing and Ashley Young in the summer.
Under the rules, to qualify for a license to play in European football for the 2014-15 season clubs must break even – within a £4.2m leeway – over rolling two-year monitoring period, the first of which runs until the end of next season.
“Our objectives are to compete strongly on the pitch and to achieve sustainability as well as compliance with Uefa’s Financial Fair Play requirements,” said Villa’s chief financial officer Robin Russell. “The actions taken since the end of the 2010-11 financial year have galvanised the sustainability of the club.”
As well as reducing the wage bill by offloading the likes of Downing and Young, Villa also curbed their transfer spend over the summer.
Charles N’Zogbia and Shay Given were the only major arrivals at a cost of just £13.5m, just over half the £24m they paid Sunderland for Darren Bent in January 2011.
Villa, who currently sit a disappointing 15th in the Premier League, recorded a minimal increase in the club’s annual income to a record £92m, which came despite attendances dropping dangerously close the 30,000 mark for some less glamorous fixtures.
Villa also announced they spent £12m in “exceptional charges” in 2010-11 relating to changing the club’s “management personnel” following the departures of Martin O’Neill and Gerard Houllier.