Aston Villa CEO Keith Wyness has revealed that the Villains are on the right side of the Financial Fair Play regulations but just barely.

In an interview with the club website, Wyness talked about Villa’s finances and his working relationship with Dr. Tony Xia, the Chinese businessman whose company the Recon Group owns Aston Villa.

Wyness spoke at length about Dr. Xia’s love for football and his burning ambition to see Villa reach great heights.

“I got to know Dr Tony during the transaction and he’s a very quick judge of people. He decided he wanted me and liked me and here I am today,” he said.

“Dr Tony is the brightest man I have ever met and dealt with in business. His academic record shows you that.

“He has a wicked sense of humour and he loves his football without shadow of doubt. He is always looking to the future and can always analyse issues with a speed that is very rare.

“He has a huge talent for that. But he’s always looking at the vision, we are constantly talking about that. He’s at least two or three years ahead.

“But he also lives in the present and he’s backed us as we look to get back to the Premier League.”

When asked about Financial Fair Play rules, Wyness confirmed that despite some clubs seemingly spending more than they bring in through revenue, the regulations exist and clubs have to go through a good deal of paperwork to avoid risking any breaches.

“There are FFP limits. I know some fans think that doesn’t exist. But I can assure them, it exists very, very clearly. We have to submit papers to the Football League every year and we are very clear of the sanctions if we were to breach FFP.

“There are limits. We have adhered to them. We are right on the red line with them but we will be okay,” he said.

Villa have not had the greatest of starts to the new Championship season. They sit at 18th on the table having won just one of their opening five league games.