Opinion | Is Xia Jiantong the man to save Aston Villa, or will fans be wishing Randy Lerner never left?
Jury out on Chinese businessman’s credentials as he tries to take over historic English club
After 10 years of stagnation and finally relegation under American owner Randy Lerner, the news that he had sold storied English club Aston Villa for £60 million (HK$676 million) to China’s Tony Xia Jiantong was greeted with fervour by fans.
Xia declared that he wanted Villa to become the best known team in China, “even the best well-known in the world – in less than 10 years.”
His football credentials – he’s a fan of Villa and played at college! – were given the seal of approval. A wild notion that he had a fortune of £27 billion started doing the rounds, before common sense prevailed.
But the reaction among those without a vested interest in the club’s future was “Who?”
“Like most of the world, I’ve never heard of the guy or any of his companies,” a CEO of a sports-related investment firm in Beijing told me when I tried to find out some info.
Reports in British – and notably Chinese – media simply cut-and-paste the bio from Aston Villa’s official statement.
