And while I had serious doubts that it was going to happen, I at least called it correctly in saying it wouldn’t be the Rui Kang Group, but would be a third party that we knew nothing about.
Facts that must have really wound the media up, as not one of them called the outcome correctly.
Indeed, if you read Lerner’s farewell note, it seems he’s taken great delight out of saying how far off the mark the media has been.
Even though many fans have been doing some digging into our new owner’s background, not a lot of useful information has been found. Not the sort of information that us fans are most interested in, anyway.
Hence it’s difficult to really make a judgement on what to think.
The main questions I’m asking are quite simply “how much money is the bloke actually worth?” and more importantly, “how much is he willing to invest?”
Now earlier reports that I read were suggesting that Dr Tony Jiantong Xia was the CEO of the Recon group, which had me wondering how any company CEO could front up £62 million and promise investment?
Granted, CEO’s of big companies earn mega money, but on this scale?
I was immediately suspicious.
So imagine my delight when I discovered that he’s not only the CEO, but he actually owns the Recon group.
Look at the wording below;
“Recon Group is a privately owned holding company that owns the controlling interest in five publicly listed companies on the Hong Kong and Chinese stock exchanges and many other private companies employing 35,000 people in 75 countries…..
Dr. Tony Jiantong Xia is the Chairman/CEO and owner of Recon Group.”
This casts an entirely different light on the matter, as the actual owner of a group that has controlling interests in any number of companies that employ 35,000 surely has to be seriously rich?
I had to look up the word “Glutamic” (mentioned in the link) to see what it meant, but I should have been able to work it out.
It’s related to Monosodium Glutamate, a flavour enhancer that’s frowned upon in the west, but no doubt very popular in China.
And any company that’s the biggest in it’s field in China has to be worth serious money simply because the market is so large.
And that’s before we look at Recon’s other areas.
All of which raises another question.
No doubt we’ve all heard that China, led by massive footy fan and President, Xi Jinping, are looking to make a major push into turning the country into a footy superpower.
And given that it seems Dr Xia was fast-tracked/sponsored/favoured by the Chinese government, where you would expect that he sort of owes them, does that mean he might have bought the club under “guidance” from the government?
That’s very speculative on my part, but we all know how these things work.
What I’m getting at is, I’m wondering if we have another “Roman Abramovich” class owner on our hands?
Not that I’m for one minute suggesting that the source of his money is dubious, a la Abramovich.
But it seems that Dr Xia was fast-tracked into heading companies involved in urbanising Chinese people, something which was necessary for China’s economic growth and pretty much a guaranteed money-spinner.
Hence what I mean is Dr Xia might have comparable wealth to Abramovich.
Imagine a massively wealthy owner, that has the “unofficial” backing of the Chinese government.
That can only be seriously good news, if my guesswork is anywhere near the mark.
Of course, I might be miles off the mark and the simple fact is that buying an asset outside China makes very good business sense, in that the Chinese economy could seriously explode in a bad way.
See here if you’re remotely interested in business talk. The article even hints that things are being driven “from the top”, which goes back to what I was suggesting.
Anyway, Dr Xia is apparently a massive Villa fan and has been for years.
Hmm, so was Lerner, wasn’t he?.
Would a fan of the club really walk away for years and leave us in this state though? Not a chance.
So while I’m very dubious about that sort of talk, it’s good that Xia does have a genuine liking for the game, with him having been a pretty useful striker in his day.
Apparently.
That said, I’m happy to feel optimistic about this deal, as there is plenty of upside.
At the end of the day, Lerner has gone and that alone has to be a good thing, as we were on a serious path of decline under his tenure.
But the proof will be in the pudding.
While I love all the talk about infrastructure and turning us into the biggest club in China (the thought of that latter point is mouth-watering in itself), at the moment I’m not in the slightest bit interested.
A genuine investor will have a strong belief in what he’s doing and will pump money in, where it’s needed.
And we all know the utmost priority has to be the squad. Everything else can wait, in my opinion.
We have to concentrate on getting the Villa back into the Premier league and back on the world stage as quickly as is possible.
And if Dr Xia is as good a businessman as is suggested, he’ll know this.
Which is where I’d expect a serious spending spree in this coming window.
If it doesn’t come, it won’t take me long to conclude any bright future will have truly gone out of the er, window.
And then we have all the manager, player and board member type subjects to talk about!
There was I thinking it was going to be a boring summer, Villa-wise.
Oops, I nearly forgot the poll.
Here you go;
At last something meaty to talk about. I love it.
And Welcome back Langford, nice to hear from you again!
I’m excited, intrigued and relieved that idiot has gone. His farewell speech has echoes of Ed Milliband’s when he screwed up the last election, sort of “Oh well, not the end of the world is it”. Tosser.
We can only wait and see what the future holds, but I think things will move pretty rapidly behind the scenes. Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thus article states the Rui Kang Group did buy us…I’m confused now…
http://www.china.org.cn/sports/2016-05/19/content_38486638.htm
When I clicked the link Bum Bum it did not mention Rui Kang, perhaps it has been corrected to the same info the club official site had.
I will keep a track of it, I have links to info on any traded company on the Shanghai or HK stock exchanges. All the companies mentioned so far are losing money, but that does not matter if they are fronts for shifting cash out of China getting round the $50000 limit per person.
3rd paragraph down after the intro in grey…
I think this a a hearing error, Recon being heard as RuiKang. Tony Xia is in no way connected with Rui Kang, who have not mentioned a deal on their stock exchange info listing as they would have to do.
I’m confused too.
Which is what adds to the downside, where we don’t have a clue who’s actually bought us.
But as you say Badger, that if this is essentially a Chinese government/group of influential and politically connected people’s takeover, does the vehicle used to front it matter?
I agree with you in hoping that this could be a serious Abramovich type owner with very deep pockets. If this is a cultural statement from a government of unrivalled wealth that has been strategically investing in the UK recently, maybe, just maybe we could have won the jackpot?
No, it doesn’t matter at all mate.
And I’m minded to concur with your conclusions.
This is not a Carson Yeung type takeover, imo.
But I’m trying to keep an open mind.
As Villa fans we’ve hard earned our scepticism mate! If this is a government sponsored purchase, what a statement they’ll want to make.
I’ve just had another thought, no more Paddy Riley!!!
True.
But I’ve just had another thought, to keep myself balanced.
If this is a covert takeover by the Chinese government, so they’ll just as quickly slip away if it goes tits up.
As for Reilly, we don’t know do we?
Or do we? I’m behind the loop there.
It’ll be interesting to see who comes and goes.
And my guess is Xia will go with the manager that’s been suggested to him by what was our board.
It’s about time we’re done with the naysayers and the “this was only to get season ticket sales” going.
People need to remember though that while money can be pumped in, FFP is huge in the Championship and teams like Fulham are just getting over transfer embargoes.
I’d imagine were going to get a few tasty sponsorship deals to help with that. If we wanted to overspend on FFP, we could just sign all the players we need in the summer and take the embargo over the winter window. Bournemouth seemed to getaway with it with a small fine and QPR & Leicester don’t seem too troubled by their massive outlays and dodgy sponsorships.
Andrew, I was one of those who had the ST thing at the back of my thoughts.
Let’s face it, it’s happened before.
As for FFP, look at the size of the company we’re talking about, if what we’re being told is correct.
“Sponsorship” could be on a par with any middle east company.
They get away with it, so why couldn’t we?
And I’ve previously said that embargoes might not matter, in the right circumstances.
Weren’t Real embargoed until recently? Or was it Barce?
I worry about my memory these days, but I’m sure you know what I mean.
When? When Lerner announced it. Lets be honest, no one at the club ever said they were in talks with selling the club until Hollis did it. The fact people bought into what the media said isn’t the clubs problem.
Barcelona were embargoed because of their dealings with signing foreign youth players. But Fulham and I believe a couple other clubs have been hit by FFP. I guess we could go that way of Sponsorship’s ala City.
regarding Ffp can they prove we didn’t sell 70 million shirts in china
Holtender, you beat me to it.
But it’s agreed on our part, FFP is a joke.
I really hope you’re right about listening to our old board Badger, General Krulak was a genius! 😉
Seriously though, King, Bernstein & Little must be involved somehow, who else can pinpoint our many failings? It could take a new board many months to understand what’s happened. The last thing we need now is to give everyone a clean slate, very few deserve it, in my opinion. I assume we’ll be going on Chinese preseason tour, maybe Gabby, Lescott & co. could spend some time in one of those reeducation centres?!
I’m sure you know what I meant 🙂
I suspect the Chinese know exactly what’s happened.
I even suspect this deal has been going on for a lot longer than any of us realise.
I go back to what Randy hinted at, for that point,
The Chinese aren’t mugs and they’ll have done their homework, imo.
Which is why I guess they’ll go with what the footballing people we called in, recommended.
Thinking about it, it makes even more sense.
The chinese say they’re interested, but they want other appointed people to give an independent review.
It would certainly explain why they came and went so quickly.
It’s all speculation on my part, of course.
Fair point, and since we’re speculating, even if it wasn’t this group that appointed them for the review, they’d be remiss not to at least consult with them now.
It was another very bizarre statement by Lerner again, you relegate one of the largest teams in history, and you refer to a mosaic! Says it all really.
I glossed over Lerner’s comments, as I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about!
I suspect the sentiment’s there, but jeez, where are his advisors in letting this crap go online?
He probably doesn’t have any, in this area. Which explains a lot.
I think Lerner played this as a personal game and the trust really didn’t want to know, so won’t help him.
All imo.
Has Lerner pocketed last seasons TV money??? Just a thought
Lerner it seems to me was just a bad businessman, he tried his best it just wasn’t good enough. The only reason he finished up with a small fortune was because he started off with a big one!
If the new owner is Chinese government sponsored, happy days. They have a way of getting what they want. I only hope they install a board of football people, preferably British. UTV
I wonder where the team will be going for pre season training / friendlies??????
Badger, I totally agree with your view that this is a ‘strategic’ aquisition that fits with the Chinese Presidents drive to put China firmly on the world football map. The Chinese already own interests in a number of other clubs in Europe.
What is interesting is that they have chosen to acquire a relegated club rather than say Everton or look for a premier league club at least.
This tends to support reports which say Lerner was in discussions with the same group last year but pulled out when the Chinese stock market crashed. It also suggests that Tony Xia has automony in his decision making and he may well be a fan of the club. Of course dropping the price to circa £60m helps!
According to reports, whilst Xia appears to have personally acquired Villa, it will sit within his sports, tourism and entertainment group – make of that what you will.
And last but not least we shouldn’t overlook the potentially massive revenue streams that could be generated within China – that would be helpful when it comes to FFP rules.
Interesting times ahead
Over the moon Lerner has gone and know why the Villa is such a mess, the poor bugger has totally lost the plot, that statement …. wow.
My main concern is Dr Xia pulled out a while ago due to the Chinese market crash, what happens if they have another crash – Like Lerner did with his Bank of America shares ??
Saddened – I think it was Lerner who pulled the plug not Dr Xia but you are right and I suppose it’s true in one way or another that all clubs now owned by wealthy individuals / family’s are vulnerable.
German model of ownership looks the most sustainable
So true, everyone has their own risk – I am getting quietly optimistic though, he seems extremely focused and if we become the biggest supported club in China then it will be amazing – so many clubs have tried to capture a decent fanbase in China !!
New manager
Won some lose sum
New players
Clean sheets
Wang one in
Bugger off. That’s my joke!!!!
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-tony-xia-takeover-11354446
Rembering his shaky start this guy is deserving of our gratitude
I agree hitch I had my doubts about him,question being will he remain at the club?? as the jobs almost done now.
Not according to the Brum Mail Giddy – Will leave club once takeover is completed, approved by PL etc. and new board in place.
I’m trying not to get too carried away with this. The guy is such an unknown quantity. I am relieved that Lerner has gone and at least we should have an interested owner again. There again, how often will he be there if his main interests are in Hong Kong and/or China? It’s going to come down to the level of funding he can provide, and appointing the right people to run the club. Same as ever.
I do think congratulations are in order for Hollis. Whatever your thoughts about him he came in a did a job. Fair play to the fella.
“I searched this person (“Dr. Tony Xia”, real name Xia Jiantong). Beware, he seems to be a known fraud. He claims to be a Harvard PhD and even “professor”, and used that to obtain a lot of funding for his company. But actually he just obtained Master’s degree there. His PhD career is on a permanent leave. He also claimed to be hired into a world-class company as vice president early in his career, which is nonsense (he registered the company himself). Also he’s known to cheat and lie a lot to everybody around him, e.g. constantly betraying his ex wife who “cut relation with parents, had 4 abortions, and worked illegally when still a student” to support his Master’s career, promising great compensations for people he hired and never fulfilling them etc. ”
Detailed information(widely reported circa 2009) is available at http://www.xys.org/dajia/xiajt.html, for anybody who can read Chinese.”
Don’t shoot the meesenger…I’m just pasting what I’ve found…
The link here will run through google translate very well if using Chrome…haven’t used firefox or IE for some years but I imagine there’s an equivalent translation tool,
Aren’t most highly successful individuals subject to egotistical behavior? It’s what drives them…Funny this info is available in China considering how close they hold the cards…I sincerely hope this article is just trolling…
I’m sure Hollis has done his homework thoroughly as it’s easy to check those sort of facts with Harvard – but if not then he’ll fail the ‘right and proper person test’ like Carson Yeung!
I read that Chinese media is not reliable insofar as it’s easily hacked but that’s just what I read.
Lerner was rolled over by so many people and look at us now (or 24 hours ago), If th Dr is a calculating schemer who wants Villa to be up there with the best, I dont give a damn… I don’t think you are successful in football being Mr Nice.
If he wants us to be up there with the best he wouldn’t be considering Roberto thee potato or Camolli. Both crap
Nice to see you haven’t lost your touch OohAh!
We now have to wait and see what the new owner actually does before we can even begin to know whether this sale is ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
Besides appointing however many directors to executive and non-exec posts [& I hope that Hollis remains on the board in some meaningful capacity], the really big test will be who is appointed as manager – and that will have to happen quickly.
There is so much crap to be sorted-out on the playing side and it has to start immediately – the “Championship” season fixtures will be released on 22nd June, and the first games are scheduled for 6th August.
Presumably a new manager will want/need his own coaching team [etc.] or will we end up with another variation on the “KMac & Sid” show running again throughout the summer?
Prediction: We will keep Amavi, Ayew, Veretout, Gana, Grealish, Okora, Westwood, Clarke. The rest will go, paid to leave or sold cheap.
We’ll give jobs to Sid and Kev, maintain Little on the board for continuity and a connection with the past.
New Manager. New backroom team. New CEO and board, perhaps the return of Dave and Merv.
Ten new players with a mix of EPL quality and Championship experience.
With Lerner gone, it will be like a breath of fresh air and the cobwebs and losing habits will be blown away. The money all players will prove their worth after all.
We will be back first time of asking. Maybe second, but definitely back where we belong (terrible song) this time next year.
If we manage to get rid of that many players, we’d be golden. However unlikely. No one ever has that kind of sale when going down. Especially depending on the new manager.
And of course Tony is a very popular name in China, along with Barry, Clive, Trevor, Rodney & Del boy. Come back Randy, the Villa is yours!!
£30-£40m is apparently the transfer budget for the new manager.
Comolli’s held no talks with the owner and while Di Matteo is the front runner, he’s not the only one we’re looking at. Dyche, Moyes, Rogers and Pearson are all thought to be topping a list of managers. (Sky Sports).
“£30-£40m” doesn’t sound like much when so much re-building needs to happen – but I suppose that since most of the present wasters have no resale value, and at least some of them will probably have to be paid-off just to get shot of them – there’s bound to be a fairly tight limit on new cash spending.
£30-£40m is more than enough. We don’t need this complete overhaul people claim we do. We solely need to get rid of the “generals” of the locker-room that can persuade others to do what they want. No that doesn’t take a general of a manager who’s going to kick their ass either.
£30-£40m is going to be a lot for the Championship. Possibly a net spend as well, who knows?
BBC’s claiming upwards of 50m to spend. Then again they think he’s richer than the richest man in China. Though his entire group maybe.
Andrew, I generally agree with much of what you say, but I disagree about the extent of the rebuild required: we were SO much worse than either Newcastle or Norwich, let alone the rest of the PL, that I really don’t see it just as a ‘management’ issue, or a few bad apples in the dressing room; the present squad is simply hopeless.
This wasn’t just a freak bad-season; Villa have been sinking for 4-5 years now, and only just managed to avoid the drop a couple of times, regardless of who’s been in charge [& maybe now McLeish and Lambert might even get some credit for having kept us up while they were there?].
There may be one or two players who could be useful in the Championship, but I believe the squad needs major surgery, regardless of whichever manager is in charge.
Having said that, if the ‘£30/£40/£50m’ is really going to be a net spend, then no arguments, a decent manager should be able to build a reasonably competitive team for the very competitive division in which they’ll be playing in just a couple of months.
£40m is the exact amount of the parachute payment so without meaning to piss on anyone’s chips that adds up to a net spend of 0.
Figuring in wages and agent fees, the net spend is never just how much in transfers.
Don’t see it’s relevant where the “£40m” comes from in relation to the club’s total income: surely the point is that if they spend that much more on transfers ‘in’ against ‘out’ they should be able to get some decent players suited for life in the Championship.
If the net spend is more than the parachute receipts, then great, someone’s pumping more money into the club; if it’s less, then OK, let’s worry about where the money’s going…
Well it sort a does if the motivation is to create the perception that this money is coming directly out of they pocket as opposed to the reality of it being the parachute payment and also on the SKY interview didn’t he say £30m?
So where’s the other £10m going?
*their *
If anyone claiming to be a business ‘tycoon’ actually goes on the public record with exactly how much they’ve got in the transfer kitty, just a week or two before the window opens, they really don’t deserve to be running any business!!
Spot on, why would you? That could Potentially (and probably will) jack up the price of any player you’re interested in.
Crazy.
I think the prices would be jacked up anyway as it’s villa with a new owner with ambition so any sort of figures he’s spouting mean nowt.
He said basically 20-50m, depending on what the manager wants/needs, when we get in the manager he’ll talk to him, basically.
Woukd like Rogers out of that lot. Not a great manager but best of a bad bunch
I believe Rogers had talks with Celtic. Rogers, Pearson or Moyes I would be happy with.
Why Rodgers? I really don’t get him and I detest his Tiki-taka style of football. Hopefully Leicester with their average 30 odd percent possession have but the final nail in the coffin of the total football myth. It’s boring.
Rodgers doesn’t do tiki-taki the way Pep does it. His style is pass and move with pace to attack, not every goal has to be beautiful. Did you watch him at Swansea? Or his first two seasons at Liverpool? How they attacked with brutality and took out opponents with goals?
If you want someone with Championship experience he has a bit. And we’re not going to be like Leicester. People hated us like that under O’Neill.
Spot on andrew
Swansea bored me to tears, I suppose it’s just what you’re used to and brought up on, I like my Football a bit more direct.
Perhaps not Wimbledon of Stoke that’s a bit to much the other way but what I can’t hack is seeing the ball played back to half way line from a corner or forty needless passes across the back into the midfield and across back again or this trying to walk everything into the net, I’d rather watch paint dry.
Admittedly there’s a time to retain the ball and a time to play a fast tempo but given the choice of any watching any Fergy Man U team or Borealona I’d take Fergy’s Man U all day and every day (and to admit that pains me).
It’s going to be interesting next season to see just how well Mr Guardiola does in EPL without a ready made already dominant team at his disposal.
Rodgers was a bit lucky in his first couple of seasons at Liverpool – he had Luis Suarez, along with Sterling and Sturridge there – not to mention the likes of Gerrard, and Johnson, who were still OK at the time.
Things weren’t so bright in 2014/15: Suarez gone, Gerrard retired: wonder who decided to bring in Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli?
Not knocking Rodgers, or his style of play – I think Villa could count themselves lucky if he was actually interested in the job – but maybe his record in the Championship at Reading and Swansea is more relevant than anything he did at Anfield?
Guardiola won’t have any trouble at City.
Reading was a problem you could argue, but at Watford and Swansea he did well in the Championship. He wanted none of the strikers brought in to replace Suarez. Suarez fit his side perfectly in how he plays. Much like if he came here, I’d be shocked if Gestede was the starting striker.
Gerrard also claimed his one on one management is the best he’s seen. Something our team probably needs.
I thought he did ok at Liverpool. The season they nearly won the keague they just blew teams away good teams too. Yes he had Suarez etc but so did dalglish and he cocked it up big time
As long as Rodgers gets who he wants, and not who the board wants. He’d work really well. Or you know, a football director who has the best interests in what Rodgers likes to do and not just the next big name, like them buying Benteke for Rodgers who didn’t want him.
Reading ring any bells?
BWS – good point, and his history at Watford isn’t exactly glowing either…
And didn’t he leave under a cloud doing a Delph?
From relegation favorites in January to safe, how is his history at Watford not glowing? Especially when he took over in November?
Watford – yes, he left them mid-table, although it was on his watch that they’d fallen into the relegation position in January.
But the manner of his departure certainly had a touch of the Delph-like…
Good header Badger very well researched, I couldn’t find a thing about the fella.
Is it good bad or indifferent?
Who knows?
But one things for sure, it can’t have got any worse (than under Lerner).