Dan Bardell has suggested that Aston Villa and NSWE base their progress and growth on Manchester City and their ownership group.
The work that the Villa owners have done over the past six years has been sensational going from the Championship to the Champions League.
They came in when the club was on the floor financially and mere hours away from administration where relegation could have been likely.
In terms of ripple effects, NSWE have had a massive positive effect on the fortunes of the club in recent years.
Sky Sports and talkSPORT journalist Bardell believes the work they have done is based on that of Man City and Pep Guardiola as the owners look to grow the club even further in the coming years.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, Bardell said: “A lot of what Villa do, that I don’t think people realise, is based around the kind of Manchester City model.
“This is how they’ve grown, utilised young players and got them playing for different clubs within the City Group. This has developed them and made them inflate in value which has been useful for them with PSR.
“I think Villa look at City as something to aim for, I’m not saying they’ll ever get to the level of City but look at Pep Guardiola he’s been there for a long time and I think Villa want that with Emery.
“Looking at the behind-the-scenes and infrastructure of the club, I think Villa want to be like City, that’s the ambition. They’re a brilliant club who have done things in the right way.
“Yes, they’ve spent money but they are the most switched on behind the scenes. I think City are someone who Villa can aspire to and I think a lot of what Villa do is around trying to be like that City model.”
How have Aston Villa grown under NSWE?
Villa had just lost the Play-Off final to Fulham 1-0 thanks to a goal from Tom Cairney and under Dr Tony Xia things were about to go from bad to worse.
He had taken lots of financial risks which didn’t pay off and relied entirely on promotion to the Premier League which wasn’t achieved.
NSWE took over from him and brought in some stability while also seeing over a promotion through the Play-Offs of their own.
They have put their money where their mouths are and funded the building of a fresh squad year on year which has improved each season.
It looked to be going down the pan under Steven Gerrard but they pulled off a masterstroke to bring in Unai Emery.
Now the Villans are competing in the Champions League under the Spaniard and NSWE have to take plenty of credit for that.
Although Emery has secured it with his management, the owners saved the club back in the Championship days.
In other Aston Villa news, a new signing to unravel in coming weeks with Lucas Digne exit likely due to FFP.
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