The club appealed because it wasn't black and white.
There was clearly communication / correspondence going on between City and Villa, and also with the EFL during this whole episode.
Yes, the club should have known better, and someone (or more) within the club should be responsible for understanding the rules and warning the owner accordingly (maybe there is and they did, but possibly not).
The Villa CFO didn't change his tune until the end of June. If there had been previous warnings they would have appeared in the document we've all just been reading (I assume others have bothered to actually read it all). There wasn't, so we can take it that Villa were fine with the situation up until late June when it sounds like we were trying to sign Barry permanently and so the landscape changed. The debts were then paid within days.
The EFL have to follow their written rules and as a result we've been hammered.
The club has been very naive and amatureish for sure. I don't think I've ever disputed that. The owner and relevant 'officers' of the club should never have allowed the club to get into this situation.
What I have disputed all along, and continue to dispute is the BS that's been posted on here and elsewhere like:
- the owner has lost all interest (wrong)
- the owner is skint (wrong)
- the club is about to go bust / into administration (wrong)
- we are about to be sold (wrong)
- etc etc
I have been proved correct on all the above; the drama comments by some of you have been shown to be utter BS.
The cash flow planning for the football club has been lacking. That doesn't mean the owner is skint nor does it mean the club is bust. The proof of my views is that debts have been paid, the players continue to be paid, there's no fire sale, new players (some on big wages) continue to be recruited, money is spent on the ground, we continue to invest in the academy, etc etc.
As someone else posted above, it's imperative that the owner learns from this, makes sure he has the right people in the right roles to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. I think he will ensure all that is the case; I hope to hell that time shows I am right on that too.