As new head coach Dean Smith was officially unveiled to the media by Aston Villa earlier this week, chief executive officer Christian Purslow naturally faced questions about our current financial state of play and whether or not the club was capable of backing the manager come the January window.
Christian Purslow says #avfc have no ‘financial worries’, thanks to NSWE, and that the club are working off a ‘clean balance sheet’. Purslow also confirms Smith will be given funds in January to strengthen the squad.
— villareport (@villareport) October 15, 2018
The reason for the questions were obvious when you consider our state over the summer and transfers were always going to rear their head in such a meet and greet given the lack of balance at centre-half at the club.
With headlines in the media recently talking of £50million Financial Fair Play holes, points deductions and a general ‘we’re doomed’ outlook, those stories had begun disappearing slowly as rumours of a player exodus subsided with the closure of the transfer window but it was bound to return.
That’s why Purslow’s words caused a bit of a stir.
Which one will play left back?
— Jacko (@Jackodotcom) October 15, 2018
@KieranMaguire Any idea how!?
— Rob Jones (@UpTheAstonVilla) October 15, 2018
So are Villa still set to fail ffp?
Or no?Very skeptical of this statement after previous owners of #avfc
— Javo (@JavvieSmalls) October 16, 2018
But like the expert on this thread said, that still does not make us FFP compliant
I know we are no longer in financial trouble, that is very clear as these guys are rich AF, what I want to know about is FFP & if we are getting deductions this season, which could affect promotion— Javo (@JavvieSmalls) October 16, 2018
Expert on this thread? Purslow helped create the rules for FFP, surely he'd know what he's talking about, he'd know loop holes etc. Fans think they know a lot on FFP but lets be honest, they really don't. He said we have a clean slate,
— Daniel O'Sullivan (@danosulli44) October 16, 2018
very interesting i'd love to know the details behind it all
— Alex Davis (@TheOriginal_Cat) October 15, 2018
Every penny spare needs to go on cb,lb and even gk
— sean kowalenko (@SeanKowalenko) October 15, 2018
Maybe this has something to do with the "statement of capital" documents which were uploaded to companies House on the 11th. #avfc
— Christopher Cheape (@C_Lioneye) October 16, 2018
How they manage that then
— Andrew Clarke (@andywayneclarke) October 15, 2018
Been saying the same thing for ages to the bluenoses who have been jumping up and down crying out we are in for FFP points deduction, can't wait to see their faces when hearing we are spending what we want????
— AVFCLlVE (@AVFCLlVE) October 15, 2018
My guess is that they gave a plan that is self sufficient and with their wealth so we won't be far past FFP
— kristian middleton (@AV_krid) October 15, 2018
I certainly don’t blame fans for being a touch confused and I’m not surprised to see a trend of ‘spend money’ come up given the wild inaccuracies suggested by some to how FFP actually works compared to normal accounts.
FFP has nothing to do with our bank balance, there are fair dealing rules in place to ensure (as one suggestion on that thread claimed) our owners can’t privately self-buy a club asset (like a piece of land) and pay 10x its price to hyperinflate our turnover.
I’ll come back to this later today looking at what Purslow actually said as people are obviously making assumptions and conflating two different things together – nobody should be expecting massive spending in January though.
