It is becoming increasingly clear that money was a big factor in Martin O’Neill’s surprise departure from Aston Villa. Randy Lerner has been seeking to control Villa’s spiralling running costs. Their wage bill shot up by 42 per cent last year. General Charles C. Crulack, a non-executive director at the club commented, ‘The reality is that the wage-to-revenue issue was not addressed and Martin was apparently unwilling to address it.’
It is becoming increasingly clear that money was a big factor in Martin O’Neill’s surprise departure from Aston Villa. Randy Lerner has been seeking to control Villa’s spiralling running costs. Their wage bill shot up by 42 per cent last year. General Charles C. Crulack, a non-executive director at the club commented, ‘The reality is that the wage-to-revenue issue was not addressed and Martin was apparently unwilling to address it.’
Each season Villa bump up against a glass ceiling which stops them breaking into the top six. They have become the nearly men of English football. Yet it is surprising that the top clubs are all from London and the north-west. The Midlands conurbation has a large population and is at least as prosperous as Manchester or Liverpool even though manufacturing has taken a hit. Villa are the only club that have a substantial support base across the region.
The question now is what kind of manager can take the club forward if they are going to be a sell-to-buy club? Randy Lerner has been regarded as one of the better foreign owners in the Premiership, although tensions in his relationship with O’Neill have been evident for some time. After the Ellis years, Villa fans welcomed a change of ownership. How will they feel now?