Aston Villa did not end up in the Championship because they were getting it right. The same as any Premier League team, really. Poor recruitment, poor managerial choices, poor executive decisions; there are many reasons for relegation and few signpost administrative excellence.

Incompetence: that is the common denominator. That is why fortunes are often spent and wasted scrambling to survive. Queens Park Rangers had one final, costly splurge before disappearing below the surface. Sunderland bought 80 players during Ellis Short's time as chairman and could sell only six of them for a profit.

Aston Villa are no different. In the season they went down, they sold Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph for good money — which might explain it — but frittered away those proceeds on players who disappointed or were powerless to arrest the decline.

Just within the grasp of the Premier League, haven't Aston Villa been punished enough?

Jordan Amavi, Idrissa Gueye, Jordan Ayew, Rudy Gestede, Jordan Veretout and Adama Traore cost a combined total of £47.5million. Not one was sold on beneficially after relegation.

That is what demotion does. It makes a player damaged goods and ruins his asking price.

The seller begins with grandiose claims — Stoke want £30m for goalkeeper Jack Butland, it is reported — but then reality sets in and they take what the market dictates.

Relegation in 2016 destroyed Villa's finances. Their most recently reported figures confirm that. A loss of £29.6m was posted in the relegation season.

Then turnover dropped by £35.6m in 2016-17 as all commercial revenues fell, including £2.9m in gate receipts, £17m in broadcast rights, £9.1m in sponsorship and £6.4m in merchandise, royalties and corporate entertainment. Villa shed 122 full-time staff and 539 personnel in total.

Villa frittered away income on players powerless to arrest relegation, such as Rudy Gestede

Despite the signing of John Terry, the last two Championship years have been austere

Despite the acquisition of a stellar name in John Terry, the last two Championship years have been austere. Finishing 13th in the first season inspired the determination to recruit a player of Terry's stature and experience but, in reality, times are hard. Steve Bruce, the manager, spent only £2.5m last summer, while raising £18m in player sales.

Villa missed out on promotion to the Premier League in the play-off final against Fulham and now the vultures are descending. For there is nothing the Football League enjoys more than tearing through the carcass of a Premier League club that has stuffed up.

Villa still have an estimated £40m hole in their finances, left over from trying to compete in an elite division, and the Football League will not rest until it is plugged.

If Villa have to give up everything that is good about the club, if they have to surrender players, prospects and facilities, if they have to embrace the mediocre, join a race to the bottom, that is fine. The Football League are only too willing to embrace mundanity. It's ambition that terrifies them.

Item number one: Jack Grealish. A tiny flicker of hope for Villa fans these last two seasons that they might have a young player at last emerging as a significant performer. Grealish has had his disciplinary issues but this season, in particular, he appears to have grown up and grown comfortable with his ability, accepting responsibility as a key member of the team.

Jack Grealish has been the highlight of a tough few years but naturally, he has to be sold

He is a Villa supporter, Solihull-born, and has been around the club since he was six. At the age of 16 he was named on the bench for a Premier League match against Chelsea and now he has made more than 100 appearances.

There hasn't been much for Villa fans to get excited about of late, but Grealish is the best of it. Naturally, he has to be sold.

So, what is the purpose of that? What is the purpose of a rulebook that punishes a club for its past mistakes, that strips away the best of it, the promise of it just at the time when it could most do with support?

There is even talk of Villa having to sell their Recon Training Complex, formerly known as Bodymoor Heath, one of the most advanced facilities of its kind in the Championship. This is where the next generation of Villa stars learn their trade.

The League are not making Villa economically viable. They are forcing them to cash in on their only assets. If Villa were becoming streamlined by shedding waste, that would be different but this is a yard sale of the family silver.

How does it benefit Villa to lose Grealish and the facility that helped produce him. How is that beneficial or healthy?

From the going to the already gone: Terry, the man Grealish credits with encouraging his new professionalism and a player Bruce says has been inspirational in his influence, was not even offered a new contract. Villa cannot afford a second season of that positivity, so he has already said farewell.

James Chester and Robert Snodgrass are also likely to leave the struggling Championship side

Other loan players, such as Robert Snodgrass, a Scotland international, are expected to follow.

Quality is in short supply where Villa are heading. James Chester is another likely to be sold. Villa took him from West Brom in 2016 for around £8m and would have expected to turn a profit, but can they now, in the circumstances?

As this is a very public fire sale, clubs will try to force the price down — particularly with the transfer window closing earlier than ever, another bright idea. Take it or leave it will be the option in the knowledge that leaving could result in drastic FFP fines, and further ruination.

The old cliche is that Financial Fair Play prevents another crash like the ones at Portsmouth or Leeds, but Villa were not about to go skint. Owner Tony Xia has not been able to turn them back into a Premier League club but the sustainable future that he spoke of this week did not have to be reached in a state of panic.

Villa have suffered losses and setbacks, but the signs are Xia was beginning to bring that under control. To then have to lose his best players, maybe a good manager and a prime club facility to avoid further unjust financial punishment is a savage penalty in itself.

Tony Xia on Wednesday evening said that Villa 'will face severe FFP challenges next season'

As ever, FFP causes measures to be undertaken in a mood of haste or anxiety. Wolves bet the farm on winning promotion this season, knowing if they failed the Football League would be after them. Villa fell short, so now it is their turn.

Far from achieving financial security, does anyone seriously believe Villa will be better off for losing their best players, including one — Grealish — who is the greatest beacon of hope?

In its current form, the Football League's financial rules are not fair but spiteful and potentially devastating.

Just by being within the grasp of the League's executives, haven't Villa been punished enough?

THE PULL OF PEP IS PRICELESS

Neymar announcing that he 'really wants to work with Pep Guardiola' proved one thing: no matter who Manchester City end up recruiting this summer, they did their best bit of business when the coach signed a contract through to 2021.

The same could be said of Tottenham and Mauricio Pochettino — unless his five-year deal proves to be just a way of extracting more money from Real Madrid.

Brazil star Neymar announced that he 'really wants to work with Pep Guardiola'

IF SPURS' GROUND ISN'T READY... TITLE BID COULD BE OVER BEFORE IT STARTS

Tottenham get very upset at suggestions that White Hart Lane will not be ready for next season. So would you if you had sold 40,000 season tickets for a ground that might not exist. That's 40,000 very unhappy customers on line one.

The important date is Saturday, September 15 — the weekend after England play Switzerland on September 11. The Premier League can follow precedent and give Tottenham their first three fixtures away from home, everything before the international break on September 3. After that, it becomes problematic. Not least because Premier League rules state that wherever a club plays its first designated home match must remain its home until the end of the season.

If there is a chance White Hart Lane might be unfinished in mid-September, Tottenham's options are limited and mostly disadvantageous.

If they go to Wembley, they potentially make it their home for another year, unless Tottenham can persuade the Premier League board to grant special dispensation allowing them to switch mid-way. Daniel Levy is lucky his fate is not in the hands of fellow chairmen, given how few friends he will have made in boardrooms with his hard-nosed transfer dealing. There is also the matter of six elite clubs chasing four Champions League places. Why would Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool, for instance, wish to help Tottenham? 'The only place to watch the Champions League in London', smirked an advertisement for Tottenham's new ground.

Tottenham face a race against time to get their stadium ready for the start of the new season

So while the Premier League as a body might be sympathetic to an extra game or two at Wembley — after all, the new White Hart Lane is a fabulous facility, and investment of that nature should be nurtured and encouraged — Levy must hope the owners of his rivals in the capital don't spend much time reading the hoardings from limousine windows. And, if they do, they don't bear grudges and start applying pressure upstairs.

The alternative would be to ask for a longer run of away matches, but how many can be granted before it affects the dynamic of the league? Blackpool were given permission to start with two away games in 2010-11, but were at home to Fulham on August 28. Liverpool played three games away at the start of 2016-17, while work on the new stand at Anfield was completed, but hosted Leicester on September 10. West Ham began last season with a trio of away fixtures while the London Stadium was converted after the athletics World Championships. Again, though, they were in after the international break for a September 11 game against Huddersfield.

So three is the maximum until now and there is no guarantee Tottenham would be well-received if asking for more. Half the league has to play two of their first three matches away, so an extra trip is not seen as greatly disruptive. But stretch that to four, or five or more and it could play havoc with the schedule. The Premier League product exists on very precise lines. Even if they were successful, what effect might there be on Tottenham's season? In April, Mauricio Pochettino admitted finally what others had suggested for several seasons: that Tottenham's slow start to the campaign had cost them.

If Tottenham's new ground isn't ready in time, Mauricio Pochettino's title bid may be over early

He said next year must be different. But how difficult will it be if Tottenham have to play three away games, maybe more?

West Ham struggled to recover from three straight defeats by Manchester United, Southampton and Newcastle, while Liverpool's away fixtures were against Arsenal, Burnley and Tottenham, and delivered four points from nine.

Pochettino's point was that by the time Tottenham stabilised this season, Manchester City were as good as over the horizon, and there is no reason they won't start that way again.

With three matches now looking the minimum absence, and the Premier League's fixtures announced on June 14, time is not on Tottenham's side.

Neither is next season's schedule, unless Pochettino can reverse the habits of old.

NOW THERE'S NO REASON FOR BALE TO QUIT REAL

Gareth Bale does not really want to come back to the Premier League. Everybody knows that. He wants to play for Real Madrid — and who wouldn't?

Bale's problem was that Zinedine Zidane did not trust him to do that, week in week out. He didn't trust him to start the Champions League final, either, which for Bale was the tipping point.

So, in Kiev, despite winning the game for his team, Bale as good as announced he wanted out. He said he had to be playing every week, knowing Zidane wouldn't grant that wish. Zidane confirmed as much after the game.

Now Zidane is gone, however, Bale's circumstances have surely changed, too. The player who scored arguably the greatest goal in a Champions League final must fancy his chances of winning over Zidane's successor. Unless he is told otherwise, Bale will believe he can be a vital member of Real Madrid's first XI again. If so, why would he go to a troubled Manchester United, or Chelsea, who are directionless and offer only Europa League football next season?

Bale couldn't win a battle against the coach who landed three straight Champions League titles, but next season is a clean slate.

He should give it a last try, at least.

Now Zinedine Zidane is gone, Gareth Bale's Real Madrid circumstances have surely changed

LALLANA SHOWS SOUTHGATE BIG GUNS CARE, TOO

A common misconception about players at elite clubs is that they do not care enough for international football.

Gareth Southgate would get greater levels of commitment, we are told, if he selected his players from smaller concerns, primarily those in the bottom half of the table.

Yet this week, James Tarkowski of Burnley withdrew from Southgate's standby list to have hernia surgery, while Adam Lallana of Liverpool reported early for duty in the hope of proving his World Cup fitness, in case of an injury.

Nothing against Tarkowski. No doubt his operation was necessary and no one would blame him for prioritising his club career over the off-chance of a late call-up.

He might even think the nagging hernia would have prevented him performing to his best had the opportunity arisen. That is his choice.

But it does rather challenge the idea that players at unsung clubs would run through brick walls to represent England, while the elite would cry off with a hangnail. Liverpool players involved in the Champions League final were not expected on England duty until after Saturday's game with Nigeria. Lallana reported to St George's Park on Wednesday. It's the person, not the club, that is important.