Tom Fox insists relegation would not plunge Aston Villa into financial meltdown

Aston Villa chief executive Tom Fox insists the club won't go into financial meltdown if relegated

 

ASTON VILLA'S chief executive insists relegation would not plunge the Premier League's bottom club into financial meltdown.

 

Tom Fox says Villa can cope if they drop into the Championship after taking precautions to prevent their finances being crippled.

The American insists the Premier League's bottom club have not given up on staying in the top flight, but players and staff including Fox have clauses in their contracts and will take huge pay cuts if the club are relegated.

"We have taken significant steps to ensure we can cope financially," said Fox. "It is certainly not what we want and it is certainly not a lesson that this club needs to learn to get better, but Aston Villa Football Club is bigger than the results in any one season. It does not go away if we are relegated.

 

"We play football next August and we hopefully do it with an organisation that is prepared to compete and to succeed and to come right back up.

"I haven't given up, the manager hasn't given up and the players haven't given up. I certainly understand why people are frustrated but there is plenty of the season left to play."

Fox and boss Remi Garde flew to America this week to meet owner Randy Lerner, and Garde says the American is hurt by Villa's position but planning for the future.

 

 

Lerner has tried and failed to sell the club and now looks set to stay as owner even if they are relegated.

"Of course he is concerned," said Garde. "He is very much concerned. He suffered a lot because of the situation of this football club.

"He is totally committed to the football club. He wants first in the short term that we try to be safe in the Premier League, but then as the owner of the club, he has a longer view, he has to."

 



Remi Garde insists Randy Lerner is 'very concerned' about Villa's current position