At the start of the year there were reports of proposed investment by Aston Villa in Danish side Lyngby Boldklub. It was seen by the club as a chance to have a feeder club and also have a loan outlet for academy players to gain vital competitive experience.
When an update was requested at the Villa Fan Consultation Group (FCG) meeting on Tuesday 20th February 2018, the then Villa CEO, Keith Wyness, was seemingly excited by the prospect and added there were also talks with a second European club.
At the time, Wyness seemed confident that both deals would be tied up and announced by the end of the season/start of the summer.
It was pitched to the assembled Villa supporters as exciting times for Villa, even though in the background there was an incoming financial permafrost for the club, if Villa failed to gain promotion that season.
The FCG Meeting notes from 20th February read of the potential Lyngby deal :
Discussions are ongoing and at a commercially sensitive time. If it works it would be a feeder club and also where we can give our young talent greater experience. Lyngby is recognised as having an excellent Academy system.
During the final months of the 2017/18 season and ever since, nothing has been heard of the proposed link-up(s).
Complete radio silence.
MOMS had requested an update on the European feeder club situation at the first FCG meeting of this season with Christian Purslow, but it wasn’t covered due to time.
However, at the latest meeting this week, Paul Tyrell, Villa’s Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, suggested all such deals with dead, as they weren’t the kind of direction the club would now go in.
The worth and merit of such link-ups was also questioned from a Villa POV and they weren’t considered a constructive option moving forward at the moment.
As you will recall, as well as Europe, Tony Xia and his team were publicly seen spreading the club’s outreach to countries like India and Indonesia too.
The worth in terms of football reasons seemed a bit questionable when there was talk of forming ‘overseas academies’, but perhaps there were more long-term commercial aspects in play?
In conclusion, there seems to be a more practical approach by the club now, in short, the dealing with of the important task directly in front of our nose – promotion.
Global expansion and world domination can wait…for now.
UTV
Check out the notes from last week’s Villa FCG meeting
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