Why we need to stand by the Club, the Chairman, the Team.

[griffter1982]

Back in 1992, who would have envisaged that £50 million, £20, £10 million would be what a football player was worth. And a salary of a footballer would rival our top minds and be vastly less than honourable in this country? That being said, it is what it is.
 
Chairman’s and football teams and players since have come and gone in vast amounts. Now the topic all real football fans care to delve into is the debt. There’s debt all across the world, some didn’t invest heavily into stocks and shares until the time was right, and had enough assets to keep a certain amount of wealth within its means. The same will happen in football. I firmly believe that riding the tide but keeping your head well above water in the next few years is extremely important. Knowing family members and family friends at the top end of their own business, the ‘saving for a rainy day’ policy is integral to deal with any circumstances that arise. As we all know, there’s major circumstances other teams are having to deal with.

Look 3 miles down the road.
 
What does every business need? The tools, the assets, the infrastructure. Football teams in general are different to other business’s granted, but the basics are important.
 
In recent weeks we’ve seen a lot of business go threw the Premier League, Liverpool for example. Last season they didn’t manage to clinch a European spot for the first time in years, the new owner has taken the risk, the gamble in investing a lot not only into signings but more wages. Here’s some figures.
 
TOP PREMIER LEAGUE WAGE BILLS 2009-10
Chelsea - £174m (£167m)
Man City - £133m (£83m)
Man Utd - £132m (£123m)
Liverpool - £121m (£107m)
Arsenal - £111m (£104m)
 
In brackets was previous amounts, the other being estimated amount. Aston Villa’s wage bill stood in between £70-£80 million. This is a staggering amount for a team that’s not in Europe. Some might say ‘all the more reason to invest so we can be a part of the elite’. To me that makes no sense because Aston Villa is a business as well as an institution. We’ve seen English car companies do the same in the past 40-50 years and we’re left with only a few. My point being that making sure your making a net profit you are always able to invest brick by brick.
 
With FIFA’s new financial fair play regulation coming through next season I think this is the only way forward until we break into Europe. I think everybody has to look at the future of the football club and not look for quick fix answers which are what a lot of the premier league does to no avail. The reason I am making this post is response to all the comments I’ve seen all week, actually all month. People’s impatience, people’s failure to reason and most importantly, the fact the great deal are pessimistic.
 
Let’s look at the infrastructure of Aston Villa. We have an amazing training ground and academy facilities, and is one of the best in the country to get the best out of the players, currently one of, if not thee, best youth in the country. We have a great, big stadium that can get a lot of revenue. As a football club we have a lot in place where it looks positive. Our first team has been slashed since the end of the season, we’ve lost a few players who have been major to us for the last few seasons but something we haven’t had in years upon years we finally have, A goalscorer, and a vast amount of ‘youth’ coming through that need their time on the big stage, to prove how good they, and our academy is, as well as a few players that’s will hopefully be like new signings to us. This looking over the fence at other teams mentality and constant fear we’ll be outdone is something I cant stand. ‘Proven’ players was once youth and got their chance, we have at least 5 we can all name straight away that we want to see.
 
All week I’ve seen impatient comments all over the internet, facebook, twitter, villa forums, sky sports…with “sort it out” “put your hand in your pocket Randy” “the boards gotta go” “we’re goanna go down” “that ginger bastard needs to pull his finger out his arse”. I get that people question, I get people are anxious, I get that people are nervous. But whatever happened to controlling yourself and logically thinking about a situation. I think a lot of us get Randy's thinking, that its vital we get the wages down in order to maintain a profitable business in order to progress from year to year. Holding your nerve and not splashing out in the long term WILL pay off. Aston Villa Football Club is not a business to be gambled away like the rest of the premier league (with the exception of Arsenal). We will reap the rewards in years to come when teams are going bankrupt and not being able to get into the precious European spots. One year before the implements its imperative you get your business in order for the long run, others (like Liverpool) are gambling. Maybe it'll pay off, but imagine if it doesn't? My point being please sit tight.
 
Now a lot has been said about the chairman. But in Randy I trust. Since his take over he has made profit’s go up £50 million, the only thing letting us down was the ridiculous wage bill. Not to mention his investments into the club since 2006 stands at £200 million. In the coming years when certain teams are breaking their necks to get into Europe but cant when because they cant balance the books, we’ll be able to pick threw the bones and find gold! Its all about holding your nerve and having faith. He may not be born into the club and have claret and blue blood, but I think its good he’s not because blind faith is disastrous. I am more than happy we have a successful businessman at the helm, running Aston Villa the way it should, and not like some toy.
 
I recently read a long post saying that over the years its been disappointment after disappointment which your entitled to think but going forward to have that pessimistic outlook then we are gonna be doomed. This is a time to unite! If we want to see good things for the Villa, for the youth and for the young fans coming threw we must all adopt the positive attitude, where if a player tries something and it doesn’t come off you say 'unlucky' rather than “that’s shit”.

If your reading this and your one of those people who constantly moan, constantly have your negative pennyworth on forums, think of the effect it has.. Have faith! Give Alex time, give it all time. Because of the way the premier league actually is, we’ll be reaping the rewards soon enough. That’s for sure.

[Salsa Party Animal]

I think we should keep youth development and bring in one big signing every year as it is sensible way, like Real Madrid in Ronaldo, Beckham, Figo, Zidane days. As it can't be good for the club to spend 40 millions pounds on players every season. We don't need expensive journeymen benchsitters on long contract with high wages.

I think Barcelona current system is a excellent way to follow but not with their high wages.

[mozza]

I like to moan and groan but tomorrow night I will be watching the claret & blue shirts at Chasetown -

Keep The Faith -

[nigel]

Great post.
I've been saying this on other forums elsewhere, you get these doom and gloom merchants who have us relegated before a ball's been kicked. Then there're the ones who say Randy's spent no money, yes, unbelievable, you can't get your hat on at some comments. You begin to wonder what these people really want.
Agree with post 2. One big signing a season and maybe a couple of minor ones and develop the younger guys.

[Slaphead]

When I was young, I had a dream, to watch the greatest football team
Now here we are, we believe, in Randy Lerner and Alex McLeish....

and Alex McLeish, and Alex McLeish, and Alex McLeish

[hawkeye]

Nice sentiments, but if your theory hangs on the fair play rules coming into being then sadly this is naive in the extreme. these are the people who sold the World Cup to Qatar. Citeh have no chance of meeting the criteria but I dont see them holding back, they will fiddle the numbers as will Real Madrid Barcelona and countless others. They are going to say you can not enter the CL, yeh right

[hilts_coolerking]

So to sum up: think happy thoughts and it's jam tomorrow.  Gah.

[Salsa Party Animal]

Would UEFA stop giants from entering Champions League due to unfair finanical stuff. Would Michel Platini say to Real Madrid  no you can't enter or tell Sky and co Real Madrid is not entering.

I don't think so.

[Risso]

6 years ago it "at least we're not Leeds".  Now it's "we have to obey the UEFA financial rules".  Like they're going to matter to us.

[john e]

I'm sorry but that post is just to long to read on my little iPhone, so I shan't be bothering

[KevinGage]

I'm sure I watched us playing a UEFA Cup qualifier against Rapid Vienna in 2010, maybe I was sleep watching again.  Or maybe it was just deja vu.

I disagree with villadawg on many, many things. But in one key respect, I think he has a point: RL took the club on in 2006 at a good price. He knew also that to close the gap on the sides above us he'd need to spend considerably to grow the business.   This would also mean making up for the shortfall in revenue that we receive, compared to the clubs we were competing with.

Any arguments past that point generally centre on how this money was spent, was it maximised to it's full potential? Did we get the full benefit of it? I'd say no. Others would still have you believe that a certain curly haired Ulsterman actually had us punching above our weight.

In most businesses, staying in the black and turning a profit -even a small one is- clearly the way to go. But football isn't like most businesses. A big lump sum spent at a critical juncture can have far more benefit than modest, sensible spending on a consistent basis.

None of us can honestly say we're certain of what RL's plans are from this point onwards. Whenever this site has gone into meltdown previously, with our imminent doom being being forecast on various transfer and manager related threads, RL has come through. I don't agree with some of the recent decisions, but -on balance- there has still been far more good than bad.   If RL is cutting back his level of investment, so be it. As a football fan I'd be disappointed, but we have no divine right to expect the club to skittle the Lerner family trust.  The wage bill was also something that clearly needed to addressed, as it was bloated to dangerous levels.

I don't see turning a small net profit year by year as anything to truly aspire to though, if I'm honest. Not if it means consistently selling our best players and being permanently marooned somewhere between 6th-16th. You don't put balance sheets in the trophy cabinet.

[willywombat]

I'm sorry but that post is just to long to read on my little iPhone, so I shan't be bothering

that's a pity as it was a pretty good post

[Nelly]

I hate the idea of waiting for other clubs to go to pot in order for us to become competitive again. Plus we seem to have been saying that for a long, long time.

[pig]

If you want to make money, don't buy a football club or an airline. Eventually it will all end in tears.

But hey someone has to do it and I think Doug Ellis is still doing a good job as the chairman.

[pooligan]

That remark made me laugh Pig, a fellow Villa fan i know has been saying for the last 3 or 4 years that Doug was still in charge.I use to laugh at him but now i am not so sure!