Matt Maher gives his view on financial proposals that could aid Aston Villa

Matt Maher gives his take on proposals that could increase the spending power of English clubs in Europe.

Transcript

00:00 Financial issues. There is a proposal that's going in front of the Premier League. It's

00:12 come from Crystal Palace actually, that clubs that are competing in Europe will be allowed

00:17 to sort of spend more money. Obviously the PSR and the FFP is sort of well talked about

00:22 all the time in the Premier League. This could be a proposal that benefits Aston Villa, so

00:27 I'm sure it's one that they will vote for. But what's your sort of view and stance on

00:33 this Matt, and in terms of where the proposals come from in terms of Crystal Palace as well?

00:37 Well I think that Steve Parish, the Palace chairman, has been vocal about this before

00:42 and kind of the imbalance there is in terms of payments when you get into European competition

00:51 like the Champions League. There's a coefficient payment that clubs receive from UEFA, but

00:58 you get more the longer you've been in competition. So Man City got nearly £30 million I think

01:07 for this season. Newcastle who were back in the Champions League for the first time, back

01:12 in Europe for the first time in a long time, got only a fraction, I think they got about

01:17 £30 million. So with the argument again with the PSR, with FFP, and don't forget the UEFA

01:24 financial cost controls as well which clubs competing in Europe have to consider, is that

01:30 it's all about how much can you raise your revenues and clearly clubs that have been

01:34 in consistently in the Champions League every season are getting this advantage over this

01:38 coefficient payment. So the argument from Palace is that well the clubs that aren't

01:43 in there or don't get this advantage should be able to basically write that off as an

01:53 allowable debt under the PSR rules to basically give them a bit more wriggle room. So it's

02:01 definitely something that Villa will go for. Villa have also suggested at the same meeting

02:06 they're going to push for the PSR limit to be expanded from £105 million to £135 million

02:14 over three seasons. And they would do that because as we said they are one of the clubs

02:23 who are very close to the PSR limits. They have spent as much as they can within the

02:31 rules and they are going to continue to do that. But obviously they are an ambitious

02:38 club with rich owners and there has been this feeling really, this is something that Villa

02:43 have battled since Nassif Zahiris and Wes Easons came in. Are they getting a fair crack

02:50 of the whip in terms of the rules relating to everybody and does it basically maintain

02:57 the status quo? So I think the important point is that actually in terms of the here

03:06 and now and the issues for this season of getting it within PSR, if these rules get

03:13 passed then it won't make a difference immediately because it will be in the future. It doesn't

03:23 change anything immediately. The rules for this season have already been voted on previously

03:28 and so it is up to clubs to make sure that they are within the limits. Villa will not

03:34 get any Champions League money until the next financial year begins. So it's not for the

03:40 here and now in terms of this is going to make it easier this summer but it will down

03:46 the line if these motions were to be passed and agreed then it would give clubs a bit

03:53 more wiggle room and I think there is a general acceptance, or there has been for a while

03:58 hasn't there, that perhaps the profit and sustainability rules aren't quite fit for

04:05 purpose anymore. Obviously they were bought in more than a decade ago and haven't changed

04:11 that much and there is a lot more money in the ground than there was ten years ago.