How much will Coronavirus (COVID-19) impact Aston Villa's season?

[Nev]

I think everyone agrees that our rightful place is in the PL but if we don't come up to scratch I'll take the positives from being in the Championship. Winning regularly was one, less hype, less corporate, more games, and travelling as part of a big allocation around the country.

Given the binary choice, the top flight wins out every time because we should always aim for bigger and better but personally, looking back over the last 10 years or so I enjoyed our time in the Championship more than our time in the PL.

[Gareth]

I think everyone agrees that our rightful place is in the PL but if we don't come up to scratch I'll take the positives from being in the Championship. Winning regularly was one, less hype, less corporate, more games, and travelling as part of a big allocation around the country.

Given the binary choice, the top flight wins out every time because we should always aim for bigger and better but personally, looking back over the last 10 years or so I enjoyed our time in the Championship more than our time in the PL.

& don’t forget the real positive Nev....can enjoy a game with it being ruined by genuinely terrible refs rather than by the utterly horrible VAR

[Drummond]

Regardless, the lack of crowds will make football shit wherever we are. Which means being in the Championship will be worse next year I'd have thought.

[Nev]

Regardless, the lack of crowds will make football shit wherever we are. Which means being in the Championship will be worse next year I'd have thought.

I never though about that, good point.

[levico]

One of our biggest threats resulting from relegation will be the loss of key players and the need to restructure once again. Bouncing back after one season would probably be difficult - as we found last time but at least we have engaged and wealthy owners this time

[Drummond]

I think FFP will have to be disregarded. The matchday income from tickets, replicas, catering etc will be non-existent and clubs can't therefore be expected to reduce outgoings accordingly.

[aev]

Ryan Fraser won't be playing for Bournemouth after rejecting a contract extension.

[Gareth]

I think FFP will have to be disregarded. The matchday income from tickets, replicas, catering etc will be non-existent and clubs can't therefore be expected to reduce outgoings accordingly.

Can’t see FFP being disregarded unless Man City win their appeal against the European ban - there is no way Man United / Liverpool / Arsenal / Chelsea (who FFP was written to protect) will allow another club with wealthy owners to gatecrash their club by splashing the cash as City did.

[chrisw1]

Agree with much of what Paul says.

But personally I enjoyed some parts of the Championship.  It was a different experience, we went into every game with a good chance of winning and were competing for a huge prize that we had a realistic chance of winning.  The last half of last season was just epic and some of my best times watching Villa.

But for every year you are down there the gap to the top clubs is just widening and harder and harder to bridge.  I'm think Purslow said it would take 3 or 4 years in the PL until FFP would allow us to compete financially even with midtable midsize PL clubs.   I'm desperate for us to stay up.  I just don't want to go down, lose our best players and have to start again.

[chrisw1]

I think FFP will have to be disregarded. The matchday income from tickets, replicas, catering etc will be non-existent and clubs can't therefore be expected to reduce outgoings accordingly.

Can’t see FFP being disregarded unless Man City win their appeal against the European ban - there is no way Man United / Liverpool / Arsenal / Chelsea (who FFP was written to protect) will allow another club with wealthy owners to gatecrash their club by splashing the cash as City did.

Agree.  Particularly with us and Newcastle with new owners in the mix.  It might be tweaked to take account of reduced incomes, but not disregared.  That drawbridge is well and truly up.

[Drummond]

I think FFP will have to be disregarded. The matchday income from tickets, replicas, catering etc will be non-existent and clubs can't therefore be expected to reduce outgoings accordingly.

Can’t see FFP being disregarded unless Man City win their appeal against the European ban - there is no way Man United / Liverpool / Arsenal / Chelsea (who FFP was written to protect) will allow another club with wealthy owners to gatecrash their club by splashing the cash as City did.

Agree.  Particularly with us and Newcastle with new owners in the mix.  It might be tweaked to take account of reduced incomes, but not disregared.  That drawbridge is well and truly up.

Sorry, I wasn't specific enough. I meant in the shorter-term whilst Covid-19 is still having an effect. That could go on for some time and as a result, how can a club be penalised for breaking FFP when they've lost large amounts of income through no fault of their own?

[chrisw1]

Maybe they'll just tweak the thresholds a bit but not remove them and give clubs a temp free for all?

[Brazilian Villain]

Nice to see the Punjabi Villans featured on BBC News this morning and their experience watching the game together virtually.

[Duncan Shaw]

Apparently FFP suspended Europe wide for 12 months

[chrisw1]

Apparently FFP suspended Europe wide for 12 months

I wonder how that will work.  Does that mean any owner (eg us or Newcastle for example) could chuck in £200m without any future impact on FFP?  I very much doubt it but it would be a lovely one off loophole if we stay up.

Edit - answer is no (obviously):

To ease the strain on clubs unable to break even, Uefa announced FFP break-even assessments for 2020 will be postponed for 12 months and looked at alongside the financial year 2021. Uefa says it hopes to neutralise the impact of the pandemic by averaging the combined deficit of 2020 and 2021 and by "further allowing specific Covid-19 adjustments".