Investors impossible to attract, says Aston Villa chairman

Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis says the financial prospects for football have 'made it nearly impossible to attract new institutions' to invest.

The club's interim results show its pretax losses slimming down to £2.6 million from £3.8 million last year and the dividend is maintained at 2.2p.

But this has not been enough to stop the club's shares falling by 26%, which Mr Ellis describes as 'extremely' disappointing.

He points out that both Newcastle United and Sunderland have seen their share price fall by more than 30% and says that the club's institutional shareholders are very supportive.

But, he admits, even a study by the club's own brokers reported that the deterioration in the fundamental economics of football made it hard to market its stock.

Often criticised for failing to buy new players, Mr Ellis argued that the main problem for the industry is that players' fees and salaries are increasing faster than the clubs' income.

The European Champions League is the only competition that can make a significant difference to a club's financial results, he says, and there are only two places.

The club's financial results have been hit by more games being played in December, meaning these match receipts don't feature, and by the demolition and rebuilding of the Trinity Road stand, which has been delayed by the contractor going into administration.

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Mr Hill said: "Whilst the team has in the main proved difficult to beat, our lack of goals has resulted in drawing or losing too many games that we should have won."

He predicts that games in hand will improve the club's position in the league and enable it to vie for a European place next season.