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Premier League basement club Aston Villa are preparing for big cut-backs if they go down and have warned staff of likely redundancies.

Villa have never been relegated from the Premier League, but the ailing Midlands club are now readying themselves for the worst as they continue to prop up the table, eight points adrift of safety, with just 13 games left.

The American-owned Villans did not spend any money or bring in a single new player in the January transfer window.

And now MirrorSport understands the embattled club has called in an independent financial firefighter to assess their whole business.

An email was sent to all staff last week, informing them of likely cut-backs in the event of relegation to the Championship.

(Image: Action Images via Reuters / Andrew Boyers)

All the club’s operations are now being studied with a view to potential savings being made next season.

Spending is expected to be slashed across commercial, academy and community departments, while in recent weeks Villa have already started to lay off match-day stewards and corporate hospitality staff because attendances at home games have fallen.

Just 23,636 attended the FA Cup fourth round loss to Manchester City — when the visitors brought a large following.

A 2-0 win over Norwich on Saturday has temporarily eased the gloom, but among the more drastic contingencies under consideration for next season is potentially closing the top half of the Trinity Road Stand.

Villa’s emergency plans place more question marks around the club, where boss Remi Garde has admitted he will consider his future in the summer.

US-based owner Randy Lerner recently stepped down as chairman, naming Birmingham businessman Steve Hollis as his replacement on January 14.

In pictures — Aston Villa 2-0 Norwich:

Hollis is the former Midlands chairman of auditors KPMG, hired by Lerner to tackle the club’s “deeply serious predicament” after working previously with “troubled organisations” and “embattled executives”.

The club shop at Villa Park is set to be hit hard by any future cuts, with claims up to half the back-office staff will have to go.

The shop has already started a large sale to try to shift stock, with the club’s training wear discounted to half-price.

Among other heavily reduced items are 2016 calendars on sale for £1 and DVD reviews of last season — when the club came 17th but also reached the FA Cup final — reduced from £18 to just a pound.

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