Hello everyone. We hope you are enjoying the weather. It has been two weeks since we last posted anything so thought we should keep you up to date.
The AVST board met earlier this week and still have grave misgivings about our current situation. We have asked questions and demanded an urgent meeting but it has fallen on deaf ears. So we now write an open letter to the owner seeking urgent clarification on where we stand.
Dear Tony,
We are writing to you to voice the concerns of our members and of many of our supporters. None of us foresaw the financial meltdown and subsequent fallout a failure to gain promotion has brought. This leaves us with fears over our future, of whether Administration is a real possibility and what that means on the pitch in the rapidly approaching season. With that in mind, we need urgent answers to the following before we consider what further action we should take:
• Can you confirm who is the Senior Executive running the club day to day? We asked this two weeks ago and have still not been given a reply. We also note that our request for a meeting with this person has not been responded to either. If it is you, then we question how this can be done adequately from China. Our supporters are still scarred by the problems brought about by the previous absentee owner. If someone else has stepped temporarily into the shoes of the now departed CEO then this needs to be made known and they also need to make themselves available for an urgent meeting with the AVST board.
• Whilst the last statement issued by the club was welcome it didn’t really tell us too much. We want a clear and agreed communications strategy to make sure that all supporters are regularly kept up to date on what is happening at Villa Park. The occasional statement or tweet from you is nowhere near enough given the grave situation the club finds itself in.
• The most pressing matter though is that we need clarity on the financial position of the club both short and medium term. We have received lots of questions from members that are impossible for us to answer. Such as whether we can remain solvent? For how long can we sustain ourselves financially given current outgoings? What plans are in place to plug the current deficit and are they sustainable? We want it made clear exactly what action are being undertaken to ensure our immediate financial security and also to ensure that we do not end up in a similar situation in the future.
We must be clear though that our supporters are far beyond being “a bit concerned” about what is going on and the above therefore needs addressing with great haste. There are plenty of other things on our agenda (such as the changes to the away scheme) but this is the most critical starting point in order that supporters have a true picture of what is happening to their club and can have confidence in its security in the future. We repeat our request for a meeting in the next few days to discuss our concerns in greater depth.
Yours
AVST Executive Board
