Villa chairman Steve Hollis: We do not fear relegation

Hollis, who is replacing owner Randy Lerner as chairman, reckons the club would return on a "stronger footing" if they fall out of the Premier League at the end of this season.

Tuesday's 1-0 win over Crystal Palace was just Villa's second victory of the season and they are bottom of the table, eight points adrift of safety, with 17 games to go.

Relegation would mean them missing out on the Premier League's new £5.1billion TV rights deal, which begins next season.

But Hollis, who has admitted the club needs "shaking up", said: "If we unfortunately have to go through a relegation phase, we have no fear of that.

"Randy Lerner is committed and is going to support the board and executive team to take the actions we need to put us in the best possible position so we can come up as quickly as possible.

"This club will be here and we will be on a stronger footing."

The appointment of Birmingham-based Hollis, a former deputy chair of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership, ended a long search by Lerner to find his replacement as chairman.

Lerner, who remains owner, has described Hollis as "someone with a "proven track record for getting into the thick of troubled organisations".

The new man will work with chief executive Tom Fox in reforming the club's structure. Fox described the club's football setup as "fundamentally broken".

"There is something not right with our football set-up at Bodymoor Heath," admitted Fox, who was appointed in the summer of 2014.

"When we talk about it, we say that it is fundamentally broken and has been for a while.

"The results speak for themselves. When a great club like this, with its history and heritage and success it has had in the past, finds itself in a relegation battle for five seasons in a row, despite spending money to bring players in and changing managers, you have to ask yourself 'what is fundamentally wrong?'

"The principles Steve talks about are the ones we need to bring to our football set-up so that when we got to our board and ask them to spend money on acquiring players or coaches, we have a good sense for how that investment is going to pay off for the owner and how it is ultimately going to deliver results on the pitch."