Aston Villa speaks. Taxes will be paid and a plan is NOW being put into place

Aston Villa have come to an agreement to pay its tax bill (and there was much rejoicing).

After a wild few days of speculation, rumors, a CEO suspension, and a fair bit of worry — the club spoke to the public — with the latest, and aptly named, Club Statement.

Aston Villa Football Club can confirm that an agreement has been reached with HMRC and the club will continue to fulfil its obligations.

The club can also announce that there are no insolvency practitioners or administration advisors working with the club.

Owner and Chairman Dr Tony Xia would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank supporters during this difficult and unsettling time and reassure them plans are now being put in place to move the club forward.

Dr. Tony Xia tweeted minutes before the Club Statement was released.

First of all — the statement is important because it calms some of the immediate worries. The club is talking with HMRC and have a payment plan. To everyone thinking/tweeting/mocking — you are correct a club the size of Aston Villa should not have to send out a press release for paying the bills. But after this week of reporting and leaks from the club — it had to be done. The first hurdle cleared.

Now how about the next dozen or so that lay in front of the club? Let’s dig into the statement

“No insolvency practitioners or administration advisors” — translation — we as a club do not believe administration is going to be the result of these issues.

“Reassure them [supporters] plans are now being put in place to move the club forward.” — translation — We have a plan. We promise. Really we do. Ignore the Express and Star reporting that it was promotion or bust and the owner didn’t even want to hear about not being in the Premier League. Don’t believe all the reports of cash drying up. A plan is NOW being put in place.

Now?!

There was no plan. Think about the irresponsibility of that (or don’t if you want to remain happy). The Club is putting one in place and details are likely to come out over the next few days -- once the people in charge, you know, come up the plan and the details.

Xia’s tweet is a bunch of words meaning nothing. Some fans have supported him, some have blamed him, and almost all have been crying out for him to say something. So he did in conjunction with the Club Statement. The “almost heartbroken by something” is likely a hint to Wyness trying to sell the club. Or maybe it is about getting cash out of China. Some people are reading the tense of the words as evidence of him being willing to sell the club. We have no idea.

To be clear -- I’m not doubting the emotion toll on him after the loss in any way. The Fulham game may have broken him — it certainly broke some of the supporters — but it should not have been allowed to break Aston Villa Football Club.

And it might have. But at least we now have a plan.