It's been a disastrous time for Aston Villa since they failed to beat Fulham in the play-off final back in May, a result that plunged the club into financial crisis.

Their issues have been well-documented with owner Tony Xia desperately trying to find investment as Villa have struggled to meet payment deadlines.

Further challenges are ahead with the club unable to comply with FFP regulations unless they sell players and it means the star men from Steve Bruce's squad are sure to be cherry-picked by rivals.

Even though fans know how grave the situation is, they will still expect a competitive Villa side when the season kicks-off and the unpredictable nature of the Championship means anything can happen - as Cardiff showed last season.

However, here we outline four reasons why the West Midlands side won't be in the promotion shake-up...

Everyone at Villa is resigned to losing Grealish and whilst they were by no means a one man team last season, he was easily their best player towards the end of the campaign.

As an academy player and local lad he has a real affection with the fans so this would have a big impact on the whole club.

As well as that, the likes of James Chester, Jonathan Kodjia and Albert Adomah are expected to leave.

It's worth remembering that Villa only finished fourth last season and with virtually all their best players from that campaign leaving, it's unrealistic to expect the side to get near that level again.

The financial situation means that Bruce can't bring in replacements and will have to turn to academy players and bargain buys.

The level of quality won't be the same and the reality is that Villa need investment into the squad once these players have left but it's not there.

Finally, with uncertainty surrounding the very future of Villa, there is a lot more for everyone concerned with the club to be worried about.

That's obviously going to impact the mood around the place and with no clarity from the top of Villa it could spread and cause a negative atmosphere, which would be understandable.

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