*Aston Villa sold to a great bunch of lads*

Bounty Hunter

kinda complicated (mad) story but it would seem that the Rui Kang Sports Culture Group lead by a Dr Tony Xia (the supposed new chairman) have acquired Aston Villa.

This group is a subdivision of a Pharmaceutical company which is owned by the Chinese Government!

being reported now by the BBC

Chinese businessman Dr Tony Xia has agreed to buy relegated Aston Villa for £60m.

The deal, which is subject to Football League approval, will see Xia take 100% ownership, says BBC Sport's Pat Murphy.

American billionaire Randy Lerner, who bought Villa in 2006 for £62.2m, had put the club up for sale in 2014.

The Midlands club's new manager - likely to be either Nigel Pearson or Roberto di Matteo - will not be announced until the deal is done.

Xia needs to pass the relevant owners' and directors' test, and provide proof of finance before formally completing his takeover.

"Randy Lerner's tenure at the club is over," Murphy told BBC Radio 5 live. "The new chairman, Dr Tony Xia, is a prominent businessman and a seriously impressive business leader in China."

Villa will play in the Championship next season following their relegation from the Premier League.

They finished bottom of the table with 17 points, sacking manager Remi Garde at the end of March

martyos121

£60m?! So Benteke was actually worth a third of a Premier League club last year? :eek:

keeponhurling

martyos121 wrote: »

£60m?! So Benteke was actually worth a third of a Premier League club last year? :eek:

They might have debts or unpaid transfer fees ?

martyos121

keeponhurling wrote: »

They might have debts or unpaid transfer fees ?

Thought it was pretty clear I was joking.

JPA

martyos121 wrote: »

£60m?! So Benteke was actually worth a third of a Premier League club last year? :eek:

54% actually.

Mars Bar

I love the thread title

Bounty Hunter

Mars Bar wrote: »

I love the thread title

I hope it's appropriate and not just humorous though.

I wouldn't exactly be the most trusting of those linked to the Chinese government (says the guy living in Taiwan).

blinding

I hope they spend a lot of cash. Its a pity to see such a big club in such a state.

Harry Palmr

Arms race enters the Championship.

Bounty Hunter

it's official



http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~5580369,00.html

martyos121

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Arms race enters the Championship.

Selling to a firm called Recon certainly makes it seem that way!

StupidLikeAFox

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

kinda complicated (mad) story but it would seem that the Rui Kang Sports Culture Group lead by a Dr Tony Xia (the supposed new chairman) have acquired Aston Villa.

This group is a subdivision of a Pharmaceutical company which is owned by the Chinese Government!

being reported now by the BBC

Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos

Bounty Hunter

NBC are saying the guy fronting it and the apparent new chairman is a Billionaire although I've read elsewhere he is worth around 70m but the Recon / Rui Kang group is backed by The Chinese Government whom I believe have some money.


more importantly Villa have a new CF

Dr Xia played football as a striker until he finished at college and football has remained his passion. Dr Xia decided to buy an iconic football Club in England as the cornerstone of his Sports, Leisure and Tourism Division. He became a fan of Aston Villa many years ago and is delighted at the opportunity to become the new owner.

Paully D

Very difficult to know how these things will go - good, bad or in-between. The amount of supposed positive ownership changes that turn sour are too many to mention.

Good luck anyway Villa fans, hopefully it will work out.

The Backwards Man

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

NBC are saying the guy fronting it and the apparent new chairman is a Billionaire although I've read elsewhere he is worth around 70m but the Recon / Rui Kang group is backed by The Chinese Government whom I believe have some money.


more importantly Villa have a new CF

He sounds lie a Chinese Robbie Keane

The Backwards Man

The Backwards Man wrote: »

He sounds lie a Chinese Robbie Keane

A chairman like our Robbie?

eagle eye

It's more than likely a good thing because it would be unlikely that you could get a worse owner than Randy Lerner.

I hope it works out for the Villa fans.

ERG89

eagle eye wrote: »

It's more than likely a good thing because it would be unlikely that you could get a worse owner than Randy Lerner.

I hope it works out for the Villa fans.

Randy "Goodbye, to all that" Lerner.
I thought the Chinese were buying Milan, I've been thinking that with every weekly deadline for the takeover. Oh Silvio :rolleyes:

Bounty Hunter

The Club could cost up to 100m in the end
Manager in the next few weeks (I'd wager it may even be sooner if the club have done any groundwork with preferred person)
Between 30 and 40m will be spent on new players this summer
He considered several other Premiership teams

http://in.reuters.com/article/china-aston-villa-sale-idINKCN0YA0VV

and here is a video of the first interview from the man himself. Confirms the stuff from reuters above and does specifically say that RDM (was asked specifically about him)is one of the people being considered but there are other good candidates and they will take probably two weeks to get their man.

http://birminghamupdates.com/post/144601009008/first-interview-with-chinese-businessman-dr-tony

Richard Hillman

I heard somewhere that they may be trying to get Damien Comolli involved. It does not bode well if true.

Bounty Hunter

Richard Hillman wrote: »

I heard somewhere that they may be trying to get Damien Comolli involved. It does not bode well if true.

He was linked to the unknown Chinese bid a few weeks back but there was nothing solid to the links. Not saying it's not true but he has been out of football for about 4 years now iirc.

The New chairman has decent enough English at least (based on the video linked in my post above), did go to College in the US & UK afterall and no doubt it'll get better too as one would think he will be doing a lot more things in English now.

Cortina_MK_IV

The Backwards Man wrote: »

He sounds lie a Chinese Robbie Keane

Lobby Keane.

mikeym

They cant be any worse than Randy Lerner.

jmayo

I would presume there goes Nigel Pearsons chances or maybe he will disown the son.

Bounty Hunter

jmayo wrote: »

I would presume there goes Nigel Pearsons chances or maybe he will disown the son.

Well that was Thailand and I do believe he has been mentioned as one of the people being looked at (although unlike RDM I can't find a direct quote from the new guy on him) but I honestly don't think they will go that route.

I think it will be RDM at the moment but Moyes is an outside option. I believe they have already met with 3 candidates and media reports would suggest they are RDM, Pearson & one more but tbh nobody is actually 100% sure on anything other than that there have been people discussed and that the club hope to have someone in place within the next 2 weeks or so, most likely after the new chairman passes the fit and proper evaluation.

I think RDM might be a lot more marketable than Pearson and they are seemingly putting a lot of stock in managers who have championship experience and getting promoted from the championship from whats been said hense I'm guessing him.

Corholio

Pearson was apparently Bernstein's and Bevington's preferred choice, both of whom have now left the club, so I would say that's now dead in the water. Xia has said Di Matteo and 1 other good candidate have been spoken to about it.

jmayo

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Well that was Thailand and I do believe he has been mentioned as one of the people being looked at (although unlike RDM I can't find a direct quote from the new guy on him) but I honestly don't think they will go that route.

Ehhh the racial abuse could have been equally aimed at Chinese.
I think Pearson's reaction and family connection to that event will go against him.

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

I think it will be RDM at the moment but Moyes is an outside option. I believe they have already met with 3 candidates and media reports would suggest they are RDM, Pearson & one more but tbh nobody is actually 100% sure on anything other than that there have been people discussed and that the club hope to have someone in place within the next 2 weeks or so, most likely after the new chairman passes the fit and proper evaluation.

I think RDM might be a lot more marketable than Pearson and they are seemingly putting a lot of stock in managers who have championship experience and getting promoted from the championship from whats been said hense I'm guessing him.

Di Matteo would probably be more presentable.
He cuts a better figure and has a major trophy in his CV.

Kiwi_knock

A new Chinese owner of a Birmingham club promising to spend 40 million on players and make the club the most popular in China, where have I heard that before?

Bounty Hunter

Kiwi_knock wrote: »

A new Chinese owner of a Birmingham club promising to spend 40 million on players and make the club the most popular in China, where have I heard that before?

nowhere ever before *whistles*... have you met my friend Officer BarBrady

Ulysses Gaze

Richard Hillman wrote: »

I heard somewhere that they may be trying to get Damien Comolli involved. It does not bode well if true.

How anyone would hire that clown after the balls-ups he made at St-Etienne and Liverpool, beggars belief.

Bounty Hunter

I believe reports have said there has been no contact at all between Villa's new owners and Comolli.


Thing I'm trying to work out is if Villa are actually no owned by The Chinese Government. Hard to know how much of a front the Government backed Recon group / Tony Xia are from all the mad stuff ive been reading but I guess it's too early at this stage and nobody really knows all the details.