Stan Collymore fumes at Aston Villa antics amid ‘ridiculous’ big six development
Stan Collymore is far from impressed with his former side, Aston Villa.
The Villans have been on an upward trajectory in recent years under Unai Emery, so much so that finishing sixth felt like an underachievement.
To lose to Manchester United on the final day to finish outside the Champions League qualification places did represent a massive blow both on and off the pitch.
This saw the Villa Park club be forced to make some big decisions, choices that haven’t been looked upon favourably by Collymore.
Collymore unimpressed by Aston Villa
With the riches that a top-five finish would have secured for Villa, it did feel like a need rather than a want to finish within the elite group of teams.
That wasn’t the case and ultimately resulted in a number of star names being linked with a move away, none more so than Emi Martinez.
This was ultimately negated by Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens’ move to sell the Women’s team to a sister company at the end of the PSR period.
It is fair to say that this method is controversial, but it had previously been used to help Chelsea continue their squad-building process in recent years.
This is what former Villa striker Collymore took issue with in his Caught Offside column on Sunday (13 July).
He said: “I’m disappointed that Aston Villa sold their women’s team to themselves, but from a business perspective, I understand it.
“But what it says to me is that we now need to reassess PSR and acknowledge that there’s a group of clubs, including Aston Villa, Newcastle, West Ham, Forest, Brighton and Bournemouth that want to get into the big six, and they’ve got owners that are prepared to do it.
“We want strict rules that say clubs can spend a certain amount, this is the reason why they can spend that much, and everybody knows where they stand. And it would just avoid a ridiculous situation whereby teams are having to sell their women’s teams or sell their best young prospects to each other to balance the PSR books.
“So, something needs to happen because the current PSR rules are simply not fit for purpose.”
Aston Villa did what was needed to negate PSR
Unfortunately, with the way football is right now, it is all about pushing the rules to the limit and taking advantage of these loopholes.
This is exactly what Villa have done, a risk which ultimately didn’t pay off as a sixth place finish was secured in the end.
| Position | Club | Goal difference | Points |
| 1. | Liverpool | +45 | 84 |
| 2. | Arsenal | +35 | 74 |
| 3. | Manchester City | +28 | 71 |
| 4. | Chelsea | +21 | 69 |
| 5. | Newcastle United | +21 | 66 |
| 6. | Aston Villa | +7 | 66 |
The risk came with the loan signings of Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio, who came in on sizable wages, but did have an immediate impact.
If it weren’t for this duo, it is unlikely that success would have been so close in both the Premier League and Champions League last campaign.
This chance was taken and ended up with the Women’s team sale being necessary in the hope of having a positive season next time around.
Collymore’s feelings are completely fair, but frustratingly, that is how football is in the Premier League and beyond right now.
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