INTERESTING MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT DOUG ELLIS

INTERESTING MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT DOUG ELLIS

You may still believe the myths and think that Doug Ellis is doing a good job for Aston Villa. If so, perhaps you would care to take a few moments to read the truth about our chairman, rather than the distortions he feeds the press.

MYTH	"He saved the club in 1968"
REALITY	Ellis was just one member of a consortium. In any case the finance was done by Pat Matthews, whose importance has been played down ever since."

MYTH	"He's put money into the club"
REALITY	Since paying Ron Bendall for a controlling interest, Doug Ellis has not put one penny into Aston Villa.

MYTH	"He's built a good ground".
REALITY	Villa Park is a good ground. Then again, it always has been. In any case, the redevelopment of Villa Park has been aided by millions of pounds in grants from the Football Trust.

MYTH	"When he took over in 1982 we were £1.8 million in debt and trading insolvently"
REALITY	So was just about every other football club. The game was at its lowest financial ebb ever. But take that £1.8 million debt. At today's rates it would be the equivalent of around £20 million. Would anyone taking over the European Champions and finding that they were £20 million in debt regard this as such a worry that he would have to sell off virtually the whole the team?

MYTH	"He's done superbly well in making the Villa wealthy"
REALITY	Thank Sky for putting billions into football and making it attractive to sponsors. In 1982 Villa were no worse off than most clubs. Now we're no better off than most. Ellis has ridden the wave others generated.

MYTH	"It's because of Doug Ellis that we're not as bad off as Blues, Wolves and the Albion."
REALITY	So he ruined them did he? And why should we be comparing ourselves to local clubs? We used to compare favourably with any club in the world.

MYTH	"Other clubs are spending fortunes and getting into debt. When football has a downturn they'll be in trouble".
REALITY	They might be, they might not. The truth is that nobody knows. In any case, shouldn't we be looking to the future with a bit more of an idea than hoping the opposition fails? Remember also that this forecast came from a man who described Villa shares at £11 as a good bet for the long, medium and short term Less than five years later, they trade at around £1.60.

Do you still think Doug Ellis is doing a good job?

Thanks to Ian Robinson of AVISA.

INTERESTING MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT DOUG ELLIS

Last updated : 26 February 2002 By