Former Aston Villa CEO Christian Purslow has outlined the challenges the club faces in closing the revenue gap with the Premier League's 'big six'
Former Aston Villa CEO Christian Purslow
Former Aston Villa CEO Christian Purslow(Image: PA)
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Christian Purslow admits there is no quick fix for Aston Villa to bridge the revenue gap to the six biggest commercial clubs in the Premier League.
Villa’s overall revenue last season was around £387 million, up from £282 million the year before, making them one of six clubs in the top 25 revenue earners to post increases of more than £100 million.
However, revenue among Europe’s top 25 clubs remains heavily polarised, with a £307 million gap between the eighth-placed Manchester United and Villa in 13th.
That disparity helps explain why United were able to spend around £200 million on players such as Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko in the summer - despite a poor season without European qualification - while Villa were unable to spend anywhere near as heavily.
Villa’s revenue from UEFA prize money accounted for around 20 per cent of their total income after reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, where they were eliminated by eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain.
The club earned approximately £74 million from UEFA competitions last season, a significant increase from £14 million the previous year, receiving the 13th-highest UEFA prize payment in the campaign.
Villa currently have a strong chance of returning to the Champions League, sitting fourth in the league with seven matches remaining, and they have also reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League.
Qualifying for UEFA’s elite competition would give Villa more flexibility in the transfer market. However, they would still be constrained by UEFA's squad cost rules, which limit spending as a proportion of revenue.
Speaking on The Football Boardroom podcast, Purslow explained how his former club can begin to close the gap.
“Newcastle and Villa have really made huge strides in the last two or three years on the field. They have both got into the Champions League, but have also found navigating PSR very challenging.
“Just this week we saw Newcastle have had really significant growth in turnover, now the biggest outside the big six, but only half of those top clubs. As we repeatedly explain, they can spend on half of their [big six] wages.
“What do you do? You grow your revenues. Apart from being in the Champions League and getting those 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.
“You might imagine that overnight it makes you a Champions League club that can suddenly say, instead of asking for £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 playing 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.
“Villa entered the Champions League, but the following year they weren’t 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.
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“In plain English, this means that 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 is just a fact."
Asked if it helps that Villa have won the European Cup, Purslow said: “It is helpful, but utterly irrelevant to the cold, hard business decision of ‘how much will I pay in 2026 to be on the front of Aston Villa’s shirt’.
“That is a live, competitive, market-based decision, where you have comparable shirts in the space. You look at Liverpool and Manchester United, and United haven’t been ripping it up on the field, but their global recognition and fanbase - that’s what drives the value of those sponsorship deals.
“When Villa moved to adidas and Manchester United renewed with adidas, I think United’s adidas deal is 10 times larger than Villa’s. It’s the same broad deal because they are paying for years and years of United’s visibility.
"It’s very frustrating if you’re a Villa or Newcastle fan. It is going to take time to break through in meaningful and massive uplifts in revenue, which are required to be properly competitive. It means you have to do it the hard way, beating those teams while employing footballers on half the wages. That is not easy, year in, year out."