A Lesson in Foresight and Opportunism at Aston Villa

Foresight into Villa

Lets have a recap…before I do some articles on the Aston Villa financial meltdown, now that I’ve finally got some time to address it.

A couple of days ago MOMS shared on social media an article (below) that was published on the website over two years ago, that covered concerns at the time about Tony Xia and his supporting cast’s buy out of Aston Villa. Stan Collymore commented on the article’s “scarily accurate detail” and recommended every Villa fan should read it.

Another Villa supporter called it ‘prescient’.

If you haven’t read it yet, please do so below:

Lessons from the Premier League Club Tony Xia Looked at Before Aston Villa

First Word on Funds

It was looking back at the above article and to the time of when Tony Xia and Villa CEO Keith Wyness took over the running of the club, that got MOMS thinking back to when MOMS first met both Xia and Wyness, and what they said about the funding of the club at the time.

The encounter at the Fans Consultation Group meeting is documented in the below article and minutes of the meeting with Tony Xia and Wyness.

Look at the answer the number one. It only reinforced the sentiment in the above article, when Wyness implied the finances were sound for two years (that’s all they have to prove to the EFL for the ‘fit and proper’ test), then afterwards, there seemed to be a distinct cloud of uncertainly.

Full Details of Aston Villa Supporter Meeting with Dr Tony Xia and CEO Keith Wyness

Desperate Strategy

While Villa were still acting like a Premier League club off the pitch and almost assuming they would get promoted, Villa’s recruitment on the pitch screamed short-termism, with next to no eye on future seasons.

The desperation of the gamble is there for all to see in the way they spent big on loan wages, especially John Terry and Robert Snodgrass’s Premier League level wages.

The puzzlement is why with the squad they have didn’t they perform like a Premier League team on the pitch? After all, after early injury issues and bedding in new players, they still managed to find themselves in an automatic promotion spot in mid-February with the injury situation cleared up. It was time to do what Newcastle did and play as the big fish in the small pond, on the front foot. Instead, caution and conversation gripped Steve Bruce’s approach.

The strategy last season is all detailed in the below article, that we published last week, in case you missed it:

Aston Villa’s Flawed and Wasteful Championship Strategy Analysed

Madness

“Expect madness” in the upcoming two week a high profile Villa supporter told me this week. With every day that now passes, Villa Park is certainly resembling an asylum.

UTV

There will be a MOMS podcast on the recent financial core meltdown soon. Subscribe below or with the alternative via the PODCAST option on the menu bar