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Aston Villa make top hundred

The Soccerex report on the financial firepower of football clubs continues to attract considerable interest and Aston Villa, have made the top hundred, albeit in 91st place and behind Sunderland and Brighton and Hove Albion: Aston Villa

Villa are the only West Midlands club to make the top hundred, unless one counts Stoke City which I would regard as a Potteries club. The interesting question to me is why the West Midlands punches so much below its weight in football terms. The two Manchester clubs have given the city a global profile that Birmingham lacks.

Villa have, of course, been set back by the two previous owners of the club with Randy Lerner thinking one could buy Premier League success more cheaply than in fact is the case, but I suspect there is more to it than that. Villa, meanwhile, remain a sleeping giant.

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