Robbie Savage has been forecasting on Radio 5 for some time now that Aston Villa will get relegated this season. The best one can say about that is that it is his job to generate controversy. With some defensive strengthening in the January transfer window, a young side should survive. But there is no doubt that Villa are punching below their potential weight. This afternoon’s game with perennial strugglers Wigan Athletic is a six pointer.
Robbie Savage has been forecasting on Radio 5 for some time now that Aston Villa will get relegated this season. The best one can say about that is that it is his job to generate controversy. With some defensive strengthening in the January transfer window, a young side should survive. But there is no doubt that Villa are punching below their potential weight. This afternoon’s game with perennial strugglers Wigan Athletic is a six pointer.
American owner Randy Lerner has put plenty of money into the club. The last published accounts, for the year ending May 2010, revealed record losses of £53.9m, despite another £25m cash injection from the billionaire who has invested at least £205m since his £63m acquisition of Villa in 2006. But when Manchester City’s new owners arrived on the scene, Lerner decided that he could not buy his way to the Champions League. He said last year that clubs should ‘spend what you can afford. Football is not philanthropy.’
The club’s wage bill for 2008-09 was reportedly £71m and rose to an unhealthy £80m the next year, representing 88 per cent of turnover. The aim is to spend about 65 per cent of revenue on wages, still above the 50 per cent recommended by Deloitte, but within the bounds of acceptability for a Premiership club. Cutting a number players last summer is thought to have reduced the annual wage bill by around £10m.
Paul Lambert was allowed to buy nine players last summer at a net spend of £21.7m which made Villa the fifth biggest spenders in the Premier League. Lambert would like to sell some of the older high earners if the right bids come in.
Villa’s attendances reached a peak average of 40,029 in 2007-8, their highest for over half a century. Since then attendances have fallen for four successive seasons. But it’s not just league position, but also the type of football that is played that brings in the crowds and most fans find Lambert’s style of football attractive.
The average attendance is back on the increase again to 34,339. That’s not great given the size and population of the catchment area, effectively the whole West Midlands. But then when Villa finished second in the inaugural Premier League campaign in 1992-3, they attracted just 29,594.