It looks like Championship side Aston Villa have managed to avoid entering administration for the time being, with Sky Sports reporting that an agreement has been reached with the tax authorities.
Sky are reporting that HMRC are content with an arrangement whereby Aston Villa will pay £1.2m by the end of this week, roughly half of the money it owes in unpaid tax, after an immediate payment of £500,000 was made earlier today.
As a result HMRC has scotched its plans to issue legal proceedings against Villa, via a winding up order in the High Court.
The club have given assurances that a further £700,000 will be paid to HMRC before the weekend, and are working on a short-term solution to their cash flow issues, so that the remaining £1.2m bill can be paid as soon as possible.
Part of the cash flow issues the club are facing are due to the fact that Villa are not currently earning any matchday revenue in the close season, despite already selling 17,000 season tickets.
Sky Sports are also reporting that owner Tony Xia is willing to sell his stake club, or preferably find new investors to work alongside him.
Villa's financial struggles have come after of their failure to attain promotion to the Premier League this season, with club chairman Tony Xia feeling the sting of investing heavily in the squad only to see his side lose to Fulham in the Championship play-off final two weeks ago.
Following their recent financial struggles the West Midlands club are expected to sell their most valuable players with John Terry already leaving the side following the expiration of his contract.
