Tony’s Statement.

[ChicagoLion]

It’s all well and good saying we need a different strategy that encourages scouting and player development.
This football philosophy has to be led from the top of the playing side of the club and Steve Bruce is about as poor a choice as you could make in this regard.

[Risso]

It’s all well and good saying we need a different strategy that encourages scouting and player development.
This football philosophy has to be led from the top of the playing side of the club and Steve Bruce is about as poor a choice as you could make in this regard.

Agreed.  His approach for us has been mainly tried and tested old stalwarts, young loanees from clubs he's friendly with, and a scatter gun approach to lifting the seemingly better players from other clubs at our level, without much of a clue as to how to use them or whether they fit the style we're trying to play.

[paul_e]

It’s all well and good saying we need a different strategy that encourages scouting and player development.
This football philosophy has to be led from the top of the playing side of the club and Steve Bruce is about as poor a choice as you could make in this regard.

Agreed.  His approach for us has been mainly tried and tested old stalwarts, young loanees from clubs he's friendly with, and a scatter gun approach to lifting the seemingly better players from other clubs at our level, without much of a clue as to how to use them or whether they fit the style we're trying to play.

It's typical Bruce, he just brings in as many players as can and then works out what to do with them later. If you go through his record the number of players he's signed only to abandon them after 6 months or so is incredible.

Doing that when you're skint and don't have a huge amount of expectation is one thing, doing it at a club which has more money than it's competitors and who expected to win the league has shown it up for the brainless strategy it really is. It feeds into the idea that he never even considers anything after the next game or 2, young players are used where he has to but never nurtured into the side, injured players that he can't live without are rushed back and overplayed and often end up with further issues, backup players can go months without a look in. These are all things he did last season but that my Sunderland supporting family warned me of when he arrived.

[Boz]

They never have any problem convincing their signings to join them as they're exempt from tax so have a massive unfair advantage over the rest of the league.

True, but I'm not convinced tax bills are a huge factor for teenagers when deciding what club to join. The club's focus on bringing through young talent is hugely attractive. They also bought a feeder club which has now just been promoted to the Belgian top flight. The whole setup is sensible, notwithstanding the tax advantages.

Also, the actual location is attractive, not exactly B6 

[cdbearsfan]

I can pretty much guarantee that zero Villa players live in the B6 postal region.

[kippaxvilla2]

Mirror again.

Aston Villa need to find £9MILLION by end of this month to stave off another cash crisis

More huge bills are hurtling towards the Birmingham club – and officials are working frantically behind the scenes

Aston Villa will have to find over £9m by the end of the month to stave off another cash crisis at Villa Park.

More huge bills are hurtling towards the Birmingham club – and officials are working frantically behind the scenes to ensure they are met.

Wage payments to staff, tax commitments and money owed to other clubs for transfers have all contributed to the latest call on owner Dr Tony Xia.

And that means all avenues are currently being explored to ensure that Villa are not facing cashflow problems once more.

It is just two months since the problem first surfaced.


Villa are facing another cash crisis - unless they can find £9million (Image: REUTERS)
But no long-term solutions have been found and Xia appears unwilling to relinquish control with the latest £9m a minor inconvenience compared to the £75m black hole that needs filling during the next 12 months.

It appears that one route down which Villa are to progress is to raise money via mortgages secured against an estimated 25 acres of freehold property the club owns.

One of those sites is near Villa Park at Brookvale.

It is understood that Sir John Beckwith is the man who has handed over the money to set a charge against a piece of land that is used as the staff's matchday car park.

The seasoned property specialist is a former employer of Villa's chief commercial officer Luke Organ and has provided the funding.


Villa chairman Dr Tony Xia (Image: Birmingham Mail)
Beckwith has stepped in and now has legal right to around half of the land Villa own on the 12-acre site around the corner from Villa Park.

However, according to one insider that might not be the end of Beckwith's dealings with the club.

He said: “It's unlikely that it would just be one deal over the car park – there is other land which he will also take an interest in.”

Beckwith, a property mogul who is the father of socialite Tamara, knows Organ after he employed the former Wasps commercial director ten years ago.

Organ worked for a company called Frontiers that was owned by Beckwith and it was to him that he turned to raise cash.


Villa lost the Championship Play-Off final to Fulham (Image: Action Images via Reuters)
The 32-year-old is working to keep the wolves from the door and appears to be managing this in the first instance by mortgaging the club's land bank.

Xia has returned to the UK from China – and remains determined not to lose faith and see this out to the end, despite interest from potential purchasers.

One was for a minority shareholding - £30m for a 30 per cent stake – that would have almost certainly involved a right-to-buy if Xia hit further problems.

But Xia, in a statement to supporters, remains insistent that he does not want to sell the club, although with financial problems that continue to blight his running of Villa has his work cut out to keep the ship afloat financially.

[Des Little]

Better sell up quick to someone who knows what they're doing then Tone?

[mr underhill]

The Dr's intransigence is steering us onto the rocks of administration. Sell up Tone or the good ship  Villa's going under.

[Clampy]

Why is the money we supposedly need to find more this month than it was last time?

[kippaxvilla2]

Don’t know but I read somewhere they need to pay outstanding transfer fees for McCormack and Chester.

[Lsvilla]

Why is the money we supposedly need to find more this month than it was last time?

If the article has any basis in fact it seems that this month as well as wages and tax / ni we also have to find money to cover instalments due on transfer fees.

[pauliewalnuts]

Why is the money we supposedly need to find more this month than it was last time?

The shortfall last time might have not represented 100% of what was payable (ie we might have paid some of it). Or it might be something which is due quarterly. Lots of possible reasons.

[PaulWinch again]

I mean it’s very apparent that we desperately need him to sell.

[Damo70]

Why is the money we supposedly need to find more this month than it was last time?

The shortfall last time might have not represented 100% of what was payable (ie we might have paid some of it). Or it might be something which is due quarterly. Lots of possible reasons.

I was going to simply equate it with household bills. If I currently owe a thousand quid in mortgage, gas, electric, water, telephone etc. and pay little or none of it off then I will owe more than a grand next month.

[VinnieChase84]

I’d take admin now if it meant we get rid of this utter fraud