Aston Villa’s former CEO, Christian Purslow, has revealed the best way for the club to close the revenue gap with the Premier League’s “big six”.
Last week, Villa announced their accounts for the 2024/25 season. Their overall revenue was at a record high of £387.1 million, and for the first time in years, they achieved a profit of £17 million.
Despite these great figures, the main driver was their participation in the Champions League. After reaching the quarter-finals, the Villans received approximately £74 million in prize money, which accounted for around 20% of their total income.
Qualifying for Europe’s elite competition next season is paramount for Villa’s ability to spend money in the transfer window. However, it doesn’t necessarily fix the problems they have with the financial rules.
The rapid growth of the club has meant their revenue hasn’t been able to keep up with their progress on the pitch. As the opportunity to sign a higher calibre of players has become available to them, it means it comes at a cost of high wages.
Villa’s wage bill is rather high in proportion to their revenue. UEFA’s squad cost rules state that a club cannot spend more than 70% of their total revenue on players’ and coaches’ wages, transfer amortisation and agent fees. This means that, as Villa’s revenue isn’t as large as other clubs, the amount they can spend on wages and transfers is considerably less.
For example, in Europe’s top 25 clubs for revenue, there is more than a £300 million gap between Manchester United in 8th place and Villa in 14th.
This enabled United to spend over £200 million on Bryan Mbuemo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko last summer.
Purslow’s take on how Villa can close the gap
Speaking on The Football Boardroom podcast, the former CEO explained what Villa needs to do to close the revenue gap.
“Newcastle and Villa have really made huge strides in the last two or three years on the field, and most specifically, they have both got into the Champions League, and yet at the same time, they have also found navigating PSR very challenging.
“Just this week, we saw Newcastle have had really significant growth in turnover, now the biggest turnover outside the ‘big six’, but only half of those top clubs. As we’ve repeatedly explained, that means, in essence, they can spend about half on wages.
“How do you fix that challenge? You grow your revenues. Apart from being in the Champions League and getting those lucrative prize cheques, the way to grow revenue is by growing commercial revenue.
“It has become obvious to the fans at Villa and Newcastle that this is easier said than done. Why is that? It is simple.
“Arriving in the Champions League, of course, increases visibility, and you might imagine that overnight it makes you a Champions League club that can suddenly say, instead of asking for £10 or £15 million for a front-of-shirt sponsor, we want the £55 million or £60 million that Manchester United gets. It does not work like that.
“Visibility is not the same as established global brand recognition. That’s what these brands are paying for. You need a long-standing, demonstrable track record of year-in, year-out success in football, globally, at the top levels of Europe and Premier League football, before brands are willing to pay you the same as Liverpool or Man United
“It’s very frustrating, but very practical. Just look at Villa penetrating the Champions League, but the following year they’re not in. Same for Newcastle. Brands are signing up for three, four, five-year agreements. They can’t take the risk that they sign up for top dollar, and the next year, you drop straight out.
“That means there is a huge lag of commercial revenue to on-pitch improvement. Imagine how frustrating that is for Villa and Newcastle fans. It is nobody’s fault, it’s a fact.”
Effectively, for Villa, it will take a lot of time to continually build up their revenue, which will allow them to become consistently competitive at the top.
It goes to show the miracles that Unai Emery has been working with the significant challenges they constantly face.
If he can extract the maximum potential out of every player and maintain the level of the squad by bringing in quality players on lower wages, then Villa have the platform to remain at the peak of English and European football for years to come.
But as proven, it’s no easy task.
