Can Aston Villa afford to stay in the Championship?

As one of the most storied teams in the English game, Aston Villa are a huge club. Under the right direction, they’d easily be contesting the top five to six places in the Premier League. However, the Randy Lerner years proved that, for Villa, breaking into the glass ceiling above their heads was a major challenge. The ownership from Dr Tony Xia led to a high-risk, low-reward strategy that has seen the club accumulate players with little to no positive response.

When he was manager, Steve Bruce warned in 2018 that Aston Villa probably needed promotion then. Sitting down in 11th this year under Dean Smith, they are a worrying six points off the final play-off spot. While the squad is probably nowhere near Premier League quality at present, the recent releasing of the Villa accounts shows one thing: Steve Bruce was right.

Aston Villa need promotion. If they don’t get it this year, even with impressive backing from their new ownership, they’ll have to cut their cloth accordingly. This will likely mean that any hope of keeping the likes of Tammy Abraham will vanish. Homegrown hero Jack Grealish might not stick around for another year in the second tier, either.

While their last two games – a 4-0 leathering of Derby County followed by a 1-0 victory over local rivals Birmingham  – were impressive, are they really enough to turn the tide?

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That was, after all, their first win in some time. Outside of the aforementioned duo of Grealish and Abraham, too, quality is somewhat thin on the ground. Scottish midfielder John McGinn has been a decent signing, as has Tommy Elphick at the back. Outside of these two, though, it’s hard to really dispute with any guarantee that Villa have what it takes to earn a promotion.

And that’s a problem – because their accounts demand an influx of Premier League cash.

Why do Aston Villa need promotion in 2018-19?

If they don’t go up now, they’ll face another year of daunting Financial Fair Play rulings in the Championship. They will need to sell and reduce squad depth – and with so little top quality as it is, making a push next season would be even harder.

The clubs recent accounts were, frankly, a terrifying wake-up call. A loss of £36.1m was made public, with the club needing to move much faster with their financial problems now public knowledge. The Premier League trough would keep them well-fed enough to survive and built something decent, provided they get a plan in place.

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However, if they don’t go up, big sales without any real returns would be the order of the day. This would likely mean more years in the second tier, followed by more years of selling to buy and loss-making. That would eventually push the club into a dangerous position. A club that was for so long built to be in the Premier League is struggling to get back up.

If they take much longer, who knows when we’ll next see them again?