Tax crisis sparks meltdown at Aston Villa
Aston Villa, who were on the brink of returning to the Premier League just two weeks ago, are now on the brink of a catastrophic crisis after a dramatic day at Villa Park.
Chief executive Keith Wyness was suspended as it emerged the club had missed a £4.2m tax payment and could face the threat of a winding-up order from HMRC, although the suspension and tax bill are understood to not be directly linked.
Keith Wyness
Duff and Phelps’ Trevor Birch, who has also been chief executive at Chelsea and Leeds United, is now advising Aston Villa. He is a football insolvency expert who has worked on a number of restructurings and sales of clubs.
One potential buyer is a minority shareholder in American baseball team New York Yankees, Peter B Freund, who The Times has reported is preparing a £75m bid for Aston Villa. It follows reports of a British consortium also showing serious interest in buying the club earlier this week.
It has been a tough fortnight for the football club which has gone from being one game away from the Premier League to a financial crisis.
Promotion, and the vast revenues that the TV deals provide, would have solved the club’s financial fair play problems.
However a 1-0 defeat by Fulham in the Championship play-off final has meant it now has to find significant cost savings. Players John Terry and Gabby Agbonlahor have already departed, while its most valuable player Jack Grealish is widely expected to be sold in the weeks ahead.
Wyness will not now be part of finding the solution, despite being a central part of Villa’s management team since Dr Tony Xia’s takeover in summer 2016.
Aston Villa chairman Dr Tony Xia
Suspension is a neutral act in law, designed to enable an investigation to take place. However it would be a surprise for Wyness to return to Villa Park because, aside from the reason for the suspension, it marks a clear breakdown in the relationship between Xia and his most senior executive.
In a short statement, the club said: “Aston Villa Football Club can confirm that chief executive, Keith Wyness, has been suspended by the club with immediate effect.
“Owner and chairman, Dr Tony Xia will assume the role until further notice.”
Wyness, who was previously chief executive at Aberdeen and Everton football clubs, had maintained a busy profile on social networking platform Twitter while at Aston Villa. However he has not posted since May 26, the day of the Wembley defeat.
His last post said: “Cheers. Need all the luck we can get!!”.
