So Aston Villa have finally been sold.
To a Chinese businessman Tony Xia of Recon Group.for just £60m. Now I don't know about you, this might be a wonderful opportunity, but I'm keeping my powder dry on this one until we see how this is going to pan out.
Mr Xia has said he wants promotion, European football and Villa being one of the biggest names in China, all promising ambitions but we only have to look across the Alum Rock Road at our friends from B9 to see how Chinese ownership can go sour.
The same things were said to them and look how that turned out. Slightly secretive Chinese businessman (Recon Group have 35,000 employees but barely have a website to speak of) with a penchant for being seen with Communist Party bigwigs he comes with a clinical marketing mind and sees Villa as a vehicle to develop his leisure industry across the South East.
If that entails Villa's success then fine but if he finds he can make money out of the club without heavy investment then that is exactly what will happen.
On the bright side, he's bought a big club with history and potential to be back in the Prem soon for £60m - that's a bargain in anyone's book. And it wouldn't take too much to turn round this floundering tanker (new experienced high-profile manager, experienced director of football and solid core of players) and then he can reap the rewards
On the dark side, this might be a quick and easy way to suck the life out of the club, selling assets (land and rights) and knock-off shirts to a billion Chinese people. He can probably make double his money back in 12 months and leave us with a shell of a club with no resale value
It could go either way, for now I welcome our new owners and wish them well, but I'll withhold my full support until your intentions are clear. We don't want to suffer the same fate as our Bluenose cousins across the Expressway
To a Chinese businessman Tony Xia of Recon Group.for just £60m. Now I don't know about you, this might be a wonderful opportunity, but I'm keeping my powder dry on this one until we see how this is going to pan out.
Mr Xia has said he wants promotion, European football and Villa being one of the biggest names in China, all promising ambitions but we only have to look across the Alum Rock Road at our friends from B9 to see how Chinese ownership can go sour.
The same things were said to them and look how that turned out. Slightly secretive Chinese businessman (Recon Group have 35,000 employees but barely have a website to speak of) with a penchant for being seen with Communist Party bigwigs he comes with a clinical marketing mind and sees Villa as a vehicle to develop his leisure industry across the South East.
If that entails Villa's success then fine but if he finds he can make money out of the club without heavy investment then that is exactly what will happen.
On the bright side, he's bought a big club with history and potential to be back in the Prem soon for £60m - that's a bargain in anyone's book. And it wouldn't take too much to turn round this floundering tanker (new experienced high-profile manager, experienced director of football and solid core of players) and then he can reap the rewards
On the dark side, this might be a quick and easy way to suck the life out of the club, selling assets (land and rights) and knock-off shirts to a billion Chinese people. He can probably make double his money back in 12 months and leave us with a shell of a club with no resale value
It could go either way, for now I welcome our new owners and wish them well, but I'll withhold my full support until your intentions are clear. We don't want to suffer the same fate as our Bluenose cousins across the Expressway