Express & Star

Blog: Is financial management higher on Aston Villa's strategy than footballing management?

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After several weeks of poor results, Aston Villa are in need of improvement. Matt Turvey asks if lack of expenditure is the true reason behind the club's poor football.

In a week where recently appointed coach Pepe Mel has been hitting the headlines as one of the favourites in the sack race, Aston Villa fans may well be pleased that the board are far more patient at Villa Park.

Well, that or they may well be wanting changes of their own.

Villa's recent issues in terms of poor league placings are nothing new for fans of the club. Since the acrimonious exit of Martin O'Neill, Villa have struggled to reach previous heights with financial management seemingly higher on the club's strategy than footballing management.

In some senses, the board were totally correct in their desire to rectify a wage bill that had blown up to unsustainable levels in the O'Neill era, though there has to be serious doubt as to whether the club's current outlay - at a far more meagre level - is sufficient to achieve Villa's goals.

It is no secret that most of the players signed in the Paul Lambert era have been paid £10-15k or less per week, a far cry from the almost standard £40k that was handed out when O'Neill was in charge.

Ask any fan whether Villa were overpaying the likes of Richard Dunne, Habib Beye, James Collins, or Curtis Davies, and most would agree. However, Villa's problems are slightly different nowadays.

The main issue for Villa in February 2014 is that £10-15k a week only gets you so much. As a comparative, there are many teams in the Championship with higher wage policies than Villa, a statistic which some fans could well argue is the reason why the club is struggling at present - you can't pay cheap wages and expected massive, or even moderate, success.

Villa, however, will have you believe that the often-mentioned "young and hungry" policy for the club is a positive thing, pointing as they do to the success of other teams that have rebuilt with youth as a key part of them - the early Premier League era Manchester United for instance, or Germany's national team.

However, using such examples are a tad disingenuous. Whilst United were criticised on opening day by Alan Hansen with his famous "you'll never win anything with kids" statement, the truth is that Alex Ferguson had a strong backbone of experience in that squad, coupled with a significantly higher quality level of young player.

After all, in the early Premier League era, United still had the likes of Peter Schmeichel, Gary Pallister, Dennis Irwin, Bryan Robson, and Bryan McClair. Yes, Villa have (comparatively) older players in the form of Ron Vlaar, Karim-El Ahmadi, and Brad Guzan, but the truth is that this is still a team lacking in real experience, as well as lacking in true quality.

As stated above, paying cheap wages can only take a club so far. Much anger is currently being directed at Lambert, though the truth is that he is merely the executioner of the board's wishes, even going so far as to say that Alan Hutton was being frozen out simply because his wages were too high for Villa to afford, a logic that most certainly would also apply to both Shay Given and Darren Bent.

Now whilst, as a fan, I can wholly understand the need to save money - and to know that the likes of Hutton, Given and Bent are still costing the club money in wages - there has to be some balance struck. The TV revenue gained by the club this season has, according to the board, been sufficient to balance recent losses suffered. As a result, there has to be some argument to say that Villa could be spending more on players.

Which is why, in a sense, the summer is a key time for the club. Should Villa avoid the drop - and I still believe they will - money must be spent. The truth of the matter is that Villa are unlikely to develop much beyond mid-table with the level of player currently at the club. Yes, Villa needed to save money after years of over-spending, but the club can not afford to go too far in the opposite direction.

Should Villa fail to invest in the summer, the club will be left with a ticking time bomb meaning it will be a case of when, not if, relegation eventually catches up with the Midlands' oldest and most successful team.

You can follow Matt Turvey's regular opinions at his own site, Aston Villa Life at www.astonvillalife.com, via the site's Twitter account @astonvillalife, or via his own Twitter account @mturvey_star.