The compensation owed if David O'Leary is sacked has forced Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis to think twice.
The Evening Mail says Ellis is making cuts throughout the club having budgeted for 10th place this season and a pay-out to O'Leary will not be made lightly.
He knows it will take £1.7million to sack O'Leary, which equates to a year's salary, and then he would have to make a decision over the futures of assistant manager Roy Aitken and fitness coach Steve MacGregor.
A further £500,000 is written into O'Leary's contract in bonus payments but they are minimal after a disastrous season which sees Villa on fewer points after 36 games than at any time since Jo Venglos' one season in charge in 1991.
The Evening Mail says Ellis is making cuts throughout the club having budgeted for 10th place this season and a pay-out to O'Leary will not be made lightly.
He knows it will take £1.7million to sack O'Leary, which equates to a year's salary, and then he would have to make a decision over the futures of assistant manager Roy Aitken and fitness coach Steve MacGregor.
A further £500,000 is written into O'Leary's contract in bonus payments but they are minimal after a disastrous season which sees Villa on fewer points after 36 games than at any time since Jo Venglos' one season in charge in 1991.
