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Aston Villa are absolutely dominating the market in terms of who’ll be relegated from the Championship.

Worryingly, Villa have attracted 97% of bets to be relegated, one of the most popular bets on Oddschecker.

They’ve been cut from 25/1 yesterday, into just 8/1 today with some bookmakers.

One punter from Chad Valley has placed £55 on Villa being relegated in the 18/19 season.

It is the most popular bet outside the Premier League.

Villa's crisis worsened on Tuesday evening as the club confirmed the suspension of the chief executive.

The club's cashflow problems are well-documented, but Villans were dealt the double blow of Keith Wyness' suspension and a missed tax payment all in the same afternoon.

Ex-captain's thoughts

Aston Villa European Cup winner Dennis Mortimer thinks his former club should sell Jack Grealish - but not just because of their delicate financial situation.

Villa are expected to cash in on some of their most valuable assets this summer as they look to get in line with Financial Fair Play regulations - and Grealish , 22, would command the biggest fee.

Several Premier League sides have already been linked with the attacking midfielder who has been at Villa since he was six but the club insist they won't sell him on the cheap.

Mortimer, who captained the claret and blues to their 1982 triumph over Bayern Munich in Rotterdam, thinks Villa should allow Grealish to leave as they need to focus on discovering more creative talents going forward amid their financial uncertainty.

"If you think of it from the point of view of the money problem they've got, I don't see how they can (keep Grealish)," Mortimer said. "They're going to need to get rid.

"But the other thing is that I don't think they should keep Jack. I think they need to move him on because they need four or five creative players not just one.

"What they have got to be looking for now are players that if they lose one, they have still got three left. And if they lost two, they have still got two left."

Grealish, who enjoyed an excellent season despite the ultimate disappointment of missing out on promotion, has been linked with Newcastle United, West Ham United, Manchester United and Leicester City.

Due to Grealish climbing through the ranks at Villa, any fee they receive for the 22-year-old will count entirely as profit in their bid to stay within the confines of FFP.

He scored three times and grabbed six assists after recovering from a freak kidney injury to spearhead Villa's promotion charge in the second half of the campaign.

More Villa news

Aston Villa have confirmed their immediate tax issues have been resolved - and that they have no plans to go into administration.

Villa announced the news in a statement on the club website as part of the fast-moving situation at Villa Park.

“Aston Villa Football Club can confirm that an agreement has been reached with HMRC and the club will continue to fulfil its obligations.

“The club can also announce that there are no insolvency practitioners or administration advisors working with the club.

“Owner and Chairman Dr Tony Xia would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank supporters during this difficult and unsettling time and reassure them plans are now being put in place to move the club forward.”

The news will come as a huge relief to supporters and shortly after Xia took to Twitter to reveal his latest thoughts on the current situation.

The Villa owner broke his silence after the club's financial situation was laid bare.

Xia communicated with fans a week after releasing an official statement in the wake of the Championship play-off final defeat to Fulham.

The worrying state of Villa's finances has been revealed in the weeks since that loss at Wembley which denied the club a return to the Premier League.

Xia is facing major cashflow problems and is expected to listen to offers for Villa's top assets during the window in order to ease their Financial Fair Play concerns.

He has managed to source £2m from China and borrowed a further £4m to help cover the costs in the weeks ahead.

The owner said today he had tried his best to keep the club moving forward in a brief but sobering tweet.

Xia admitted: "It has been very difficult two weeks as I hinted earlier I was almost heartbroken by something.

"Tried my best to keep beloved AV move forward.

"Thanks for all ppl standing together going through the difficult time. It was all supporters’ encouraging words to keep me/us stronger. #UTV."

It’s understood that Xia is doing everything possible to keep hold of the club he purchased in 2016 having invested over £150m.

Ron's take

Former Aston Villa manager Ron Atkinson has dismissed the chance of the club sinking into administration and suggested such rumours are ‘a bit dramatic’.

While the 79-year-old accepts Villa will have to sell players to balance the books, he said key now is how well the club can recruit for next season.

But he admits that with their current structure missing out on promotion has had a massive effect.

“I think they are at a crossroads Villa,” Atkinson said.

“I thought it was all important they went up this season, now we are hearing about Financial Fair Play coming into being.

“Whether they do have to sell players, there will certainly be players that will be released because they have got to trim the wage bill now to fit in with Financial Fair Play.

“Obviously John Terry has left, which takes a chunk out of the wage bill and reduces the age of the team as well.

“But there are others, if they get decent offers for one or two of their players I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them sell.

“I think next season now is a very, very vital year for the Villa.”

Asked about the prospect of administration he played down the prospect.

“I think that’s a frightener. I don’t think there’s a cat in hell’s chance of the Villa.

“We are conflicting stories where there’s a £5m deficit on an unpaid tax bill but I think that’s something that will be overcome.

“I think that’s people being a bit dramatic on that. I wouldn’t see that as a major problem, they will come through that.

“It depends now on the recruitment for next season.”

And the major priority for Atkinson comes in the middles of the park.

“Whether they can get some hungry players, whether they can get some energetic midfield players.

“I think they need more energy in midfield, more dynamic players in there.

“They have got some decent experienced players in there but I think they need really top energy players who can dominate and dictate games.”