Aston Villa look to trim wage bill after £37.6m losses

Aston Villa are looking to reduce their wage bill after revealing losses of £37.6m for the year ending 31 May 2010.

Wages at the club increased by £9m to almost £80m and now account for 88% of Villa’s £90m turnover, which actually increased last season by £6m.

This included £52m from television revenue while matchday turnover was £24m and commercial income £14.4m.

The rise in turnover lifted Villa into Europe’s top 20 earning clubs for the first time.

The loss last season was £9m less than the previous campaign but owner Randy Lerner provided £12.5m during the campaign from a new share issue and a further £12.5m in loan notes.

He also funded the £23.5m purchase of Darren Bent during the January 2011 transfer window.

The American has invested more than £200m in equity and loan notes since taking charge at Villa Park in 2006 – and the club will need to reduce its reliance on Lerner if they are to comply with Uefa’s financial fair play regulations.

The rules, which come into force in 2012-2013, mean teams in European competitions must break even over a rolling three-year period.

Those clubs will only be allowed to incur losses of around £39m over any three-season period.

The losses for last season came during Martin O’Neill’s final campaign in charge at the club, with the Northern Irishman resigning as manager in August.

His replacement Gerard Houllier is understood to have have prioritised cutting the size of the Villa squad without reducing its quality.

Bent, Kyle Walker and Michael Bradley arrived in January, while high-profile quartet John Carew, Steve Sidwell, Stephen Ireland and Curtis Davies left the club the same month.

Carew and Ireland made temporary moves to Stoke and Newcastle while Sidwell and Davies were sold to Fulham and Birmingham respectively.