I’m keeping it short, as I’m still on my phone.
First, thoughts on the “no bank loan’ statement.
I think this is strictly speaking, a true statement.
While it’s true that we’ve taken money from Macquarie, I think it’s more of a forward sell, as opposed to a typical bank loan. The difference is subtle, but I believe it’s there.
Next is the statement that Xia has converted his loans to equity.
I don’t understand this one.
Yes, we’ve see a share allotment, but there’s been no value attached to them. It’s purely to improve the balance sheet, to suit FFP requirements,imo, which is good.
So if we’ve taken £40 odd million off the books, how much FFP trouble are we still in?
This is not made clear at all and it troubles me.
Do we really still need to sell Grealish?
I’m now not convinced, although it seems to me the Birmingham Mail are more than telling us that he actually wants to go, which is disappointing.
My stance would be that he’s going nowhere unless we get the right price.
There’s no doubt, we have to cut costs though.
Another one I have doubts about is the fact that any other shareholding won’t make a difference to FFP.
As has been explained, new owners would be given another chance to improve things.
The big impression I get is that the club isn’t in as bad a state as was implied by the media.
Or at least it’s not going bust.
But we are of course being set up for a period of severe austerity, which means playing more kids.
Given that we can expect no more than mid table at best, imo, I wonder if Bruce is now the right manager for us?
I predict that if we’re struggling, his contract will be allowed to expire.
Good luck England!
Upbeat and downbeat at the same time, if you like.
i am feeling lost in the supermarket lol clash
we need to build and with kids, probably not ready for first team. so having the correct system that suits them is vital. if we have a team of novices and lightweights, we are going to need to keep the ball longer than without, can bruce be trusted to blood the youth ? will he be able to find the right system to suit the kids ? bruce has build his teams around experience and strongly build players. i personally think he cant and maybe its time to give mccdonald the top job. he knows the strengths of the kids better than anybody,
No, not McDonald Nath.
He’s not the man at all, imo.
He’s even said so himself.
The kids are a totally different entity, as you suggest.
i dont have the answers like everybody believes i think i do. lmao
i just don’t believe bruce will not be the best for the kids. i saw a bit of them last year. they are slight and good technical players. but they are not suited to bruce type football in my opinions. mcdonald i suggested just because i suspect he will know how best to use the kids, another reason is we cant afford to pay compo to get smith
its a dead horse any ways cause drx will keep bruce
Badger, I’m as confused as you, one thing I’ll say is don’t take any notice of the Birmingham mail, Xia made a statement we are not for sale that alone made me relax a little, if we are now at the stage that we are starting again then it’s all down to Xia. He will know by 6-8 games what he’s let himself into, Grealish is in Portugal with the squad it seems to me nothing’s moving in a sale, Birmingham mail also said Grealish has asked for a move ? I don’t think he has, all fake news imo, we will soon be enlightened on what’s what in a few days time.
Bill, there was no staff photographer picture of Grealish, Hogan or mcgate in training.
Read into that what you will.
Nath, I totally agree with you.
The kids will not be the solution, on their own.
Can Bruce blend them with the older pros?
I doubt it, myself.
Here’s the answer to that Badger,
Midfielders
Conor Hourihane appeared to be in good spirits as Villa’s players trained in Portugal on Friday. The Irishman will face competition from compatriot Glenn Whelan and Henri Lansbury, both of whom have made the trip, for a spot in midfield next season.
Youngsters Jordan Lyden, Jake Doyle-Hayes and Jack Clarke have been given opportunities to impress. Both Lyden and Doyle-Hayes were involved in the pre-season last year but this is Clarke’s maiden first team trip.
Local lad Andre Green took pre-season by storm last year and he’ll hope to use this training camp to catapult himself back into Bruce’s thinking.
Star man Grealish is involved, although he hasn’t been snapped by the club’s photographer.
It’s not known whether returning midfield man Gary Gardner is involved.
Last season’s top scorer Albert Adomah will fly out on Sunday to join up with the squad. The winger has been given an extra few days off following his international commitments with Ghana
I know it strange but if he was about to end his stay in Villa why take him, I can only imagine its a cat and mouse trying to get what they can.
Sigh, nowt worse than being stuck in a bar, where people only want to see the headline score, without wanting to watch the bloody game!
That wouldn’t do for me, I’d get that alters by giving the bar staff a drink.
Well, I think we pissed that.
And others should look at us as contenders.
We have weaknesses though.
i cant believe we have not been taken to the cleaners. we have massive weaknesses. but the opponents seem unable to exploit um. hold on the front page badger we might win this. hang on too much beer too early.
i think france look the class team. they will rip us a new arse hole if we managed to reach them. but hats off to the england team they have exceeded my expectations. now win it lol
Southgate. The FA’s lacky? What utter, utter horseshit. Shame on the detractors.
COME ON ENGLAND!!!!!!!
OK – best performance by England I have seen in a long time given the situation – fair play to Southgate; keep on proving the doubters wrong as Ramsey’s wingless wonders did in 1966. What a lot of people forget is that we were totally unfancied in 1966 – ring any bells.
last order bells all ready lol
what are your opinions on ali ?? i thought he was pants again but popped up with the second,
Badger, I’m probably not as sanguine as you over Xia’s letter.
To me it’s more about absolving himself from any blame and then crying ‘crisis what crisis’ – Supertramp 1974 and the Sun’s description of the UK government 1979,
We haven’t taken £40m off the books – all Xia has allegedly done is swopped derby for equity which, as I said previously, is tax beneficial and cleans the business up for sale (no debt!)
On Bruce; actually Bruce does use a mixture of youth and experience; the problem seems to be has limited(no) trust in our homegrown younger players.
Whilst I agree that the media may have overstated the position the club are in financially, we are still in a shedload of trouble financially but Xia, sadly, seems to believe in his own PR.
As you can tell I’m not convinced by this letter nor by someone who is utterly incapable of recognising his own mistakes.
Only time will tell
*debt not derby LOL
Thank goodness for England taking my mind off all the doom and gloom that surrounds AVFC although the majority of it is media driven. I for one refuse to take their bait. History proves that nearly every time they get it wrong. If anything official is announced then we will know for sure. The news that Grealish wants to leave is an ideaolgy created by the media, and is complete crap IMO. He might end up leaving but I don’t think we are having a fire sale anytime soon. The kids will need to step up because I can’t see any incomings and possibly no loans if they overload our wage bill. Bruce needs to stay for stability although I’m not sure he will be best option for kids. Xia has played down any optimism for the season ahead which is probably wise, after all its working really well for England.
Side topic: Does anyone roughly know how much the club needs to save to meet FFP?
After the lost it was reported the club needed to cut 40-45m by next summer. So please correct me if I’m wrong because I’m having a hard time remembering – after cutting all of our loan players from last season and offloading the wages of Gabby, Terry, etc. I would like to assume the club has saved at least 10-12m. Add to that the sales of Gollini, Gil, etc., roughly 5m? Staff, 1-2m? World Cup and sell on fees for past payers, 1-2m? Wyness, assuming he settles, let’s say he costs the club -3m? Now I personally can’t understand all the debt reshuffling, but say the club is able to save 3-5m somewhere as a result.
So… all together is it safe to assume Villa still need to cut close to 20m to meet FFP?
i think the 40 to 45 mill you mentioned is the figure we need to cut, thats ontop of cuts already made by loans leaving and the transfers income owed,thats why they say grealish will almost cover the amount if sold for 30 mill
the truth is i dont know i am guessing and so will everybody unless we can look in the accounts
Aren’t there 3 issues, FFP, working capital, expense and cash flow ?
To meet FFP we have to cut our expense to meet the FFP ratio, that means shedding lots of salaries (players and staff) to support our income (from ticket sales, EFL/TV income, sponsorship and others). This means more cost effective player loans and our own youth with the best of what we can retain, trying to sell the expensive salaried underperforming players to lower player expense.
Some working capital may come from player sales but most will be used to pay interest, player buys outstanding and tax etc. Dr Tony is restricted from injecting fresh capital due to currency outflow restrictions in China and FFP, the debt for equity swap helps a little. A minority new shareholder would also help and not be subject to the China rules.
Cash flow is a major risk and challenge for any business and during the close season we have no ticket sales/TV revenue, once the season restarts the fans will be key to keeping the club afloat as every ticket sale will be key especially with a falling parachute payment.
Team needs to be rebuilt with youth and it could be several years doing that, teams of ‘non-stars’ haven risen to greatness before, patience is needed.
The Birmingham live are now releasing pictures of Villa in Portugal, and who are training and whoes not, Grealish is pictured in training , a mentioning of Grabban thanking Villa for they did.
What.
well this season is almost upon us, we are still in a right mess off field. the grealish saga will drag on until the window closes, as spuds will continue to take the piss. lowering the overall wages, will also drag on as other clubs try to play the waiting game. we can’t demand the going fees for players we cant afford their wages and buying clubs know this very fact.
on the playing side. the manager needs to ready the players he will be using the whole season. this task is made harder, because he won’t know which players he will have at his disposal =. for example grealish is most likely to leave, so time will be wasted readying him for the season. kodjia and chester two next desirable players also will leave. then wages will still need to reduce further even thou the ffp should be sorted by the three mentioned being sold.
come the closing of the transfer window we might lose 5 or 6 or worse more players than the 3 mentioned. all of which would have been in the managers ideas to use this season. we definitely won’t be buying. free transfers will be hard as our wage structure will be reduced. so loans and our youth will be our replacements.
its gonna be very tough season, but one which will be good for those you wanted the youth last season. this season we have no options but to use them.
we are still being linked with huth. who was on 30 plus k. now he has no pace hes not played for yonks hes pension aged and we cant afford his wages. so can the club rubbish this story. makes us fans worry another dads army will be recruited.
was a good last swing last season to use experience. but no fans knew they couldn’t afford the experience and mortgaged our futures on the last roll of dice. players recruited over the years have been given too long of contracts on too high weekly outlay.
whelan i think was a decent buy if he was given just the 12 months, same goes for jedi, who handed these contracts out, did they not know we could fail to win promotion and then we would be lumbered with hight wages and no parachutes payments.
best business was richards free, but given 10 year contracts on 100 k a week great bit of business. mccormack hogan kodjia three top championship players. did we really need all three, was we buying the opposition best players, just to weaken them and hope we could gel a team some how.
i hope we finally start to run, a well run club now. where wages don’t exceed our income, where we are looked at with envious eye by other clubs. as the model club to follow. but currently we are being looked at now as laughing stock.
The letter is yet again an example of the dictator, burying his head in the sand, just like when he was told we may not go up and just like the time his chief exec told him how much shit we were in – he’s clueless !!!
I see the media, getting bored with the £45m we have to find have now increased it to £75m and the B. Mail to have confirmed this through their own research. Not surprisingly the article fails to explain exactly what this research was or how they arrive at £75m, it’s a good basis upon which to claim that (a) any player with any real value will be sold and (b) another American group has offered to buy the club for £1 and cover the £75m liability.
It must just be a coincidence that £75m is what Xia paid for the club if you include the level of indebtedness he had to cover on top of the purchase price.
These are just clickbait stories to further torture the Villa fans and, yes me included – no more though.
Agreed Hitch.
They’re making it up as they go along.
Never really rated the Mail, as it’s been blue for years, imo, but it’s an easy way of getting the headline quickly, for me sometimes.
Crap paper Hitch and always will be, full of advertisement and fake news. It’s got to a stage now that I’ll just go along with the flow and take up fishing, if they want my money Villa will have to show willing and meaning in sport..
Great sport fishing – my son is a real expert carp fisherman. I was the Frank Spencer of the river bank but I did at least buy my son his first rod!