Kieran Maguire shares strong Christian Purslow claim after Aston Villa source’s £205m reveal
Christian Purslow was ‘lucky’ to have excellent owners at Aston Villa during his time as CEO of the club.
That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about the 59-year-old’s decision to step down at Villa Park.
Aston Villa confirmed on Monday (12 June) that Purslow would be leaving his role as CEO after spending five years at the club.
Purslow was appointed to the board in 2018 after Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris completed a takeover of the then Championship side.
They achieved promotion to the Premier League and have risen up the table to qualify for European football in the 2022/23 season.
However, their on-pitch success has come at a huge financial cost with Football Insider revealing that Villa recorded losses of £205million during Purslow’s time as CEO.
Maguire hailed Purslow as ‘professional’ but added that the British director was very fortunate during his time at Villa Park.
“As Napoleon once said, give me lucky generals over good generals,” Maguire told Football Insider.
“The same assessment could be made of Christian Purslow at Aston Villa.
“He joined the club at the right time in terms of the magnificent investment made by Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris.
“Villa got to the Premier League on the back of the play-offs. Had they not won that they would have had significant FFP problems given their losses in the EFL.
“They then managed to avoid relegation due to a bizarre error with VAR and that allowed the club to rebuild.
“Purslow is very professional, but he has been very fortunate to be backed by excellent owners.
“His errors in terms of manager recruitment have been swept under the carpet because of the fantastic end to his tenure with Unai Emery.“
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