A classic quote from the Villa CEO

“We are marginally just outside and have sort of breached the financial fair play"

According to the new rules, Villa can lose up to £83m in three seasons without being penalised. Their last accounts show a deficit of £81.3m alone and it was thought that unless spending is reduced drastically, the club could be hit hard.

“It’s marginal for this year, very marginal," he explained. “But we’re not anywhere near sanctions at all.

“They ask you to put in your budget for the season and the budget we put in showed we would have breached it"

“Financial Fair Play gets more serious next year but there are ways around that with property valuations and different bits of planning"

Villa spent £72M on players last season. £40M on strikers at the cost of £850k / goal!