Aston Villa have rejoined the top 20 list of the world’s richest clubs after a six year absence in figures released on Deloitte’s Football Money League. Villa slot in at 20th on the list for the season of 2009/10 having brought in a revenue of £89.6m. The news signals a significant step forward for the club who are England’s seventh richest side behind Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and Tottenham Hotspur. The monetary issues at the club have been questioned after Martin O’Neill left last summer but Randy Lerner should be praised and recent efforts in slashing the wage bill will help the club. However, expenditure of almost £30m last month will be detrimental and as the report warns, “After a second successive early exit from the Europa League and a disappointing first half of the domestic league season Aston Villa must turn things around in the second half of 2010/11 if they are to remain in the Money League`s top 20 next year.” I must stress that this near £90m figure is not a profit margin so don’t get too excited, but it is a good sign that the club are back to bringing in higher revenues.
