Tony Xia finally, formally completed his takeover of Aston Villa at 3.25pm on Tuesday afternoon and then the Chinese businessman said: ‘Okay, good, now it’s time to make Villa the biggest football club in the world.’
If that sounds overly optimistic, then perhaps it is, but the 39-year-old Chinese businessman is nothing if not an optimist, and a little impatient, as he explains to Sportsmail in his first interview since taking control at Villa.
‘The first priority is to get Villa back into the Premier League and after that, back into the top five clubs in England and then into the top 10 in Europe,’ he says.
New Aston Villa owner Tony Xia has revealed his plans for the Midlands club following his takeover
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New Aston Villa owner Tony Xia has revealed his plans for the Midlands club following his takeover
The Chinese businessman is hoping to get Aston Villa back to the Premier League at the first time of asking
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The Chinese businessman is hoping to get Aston Villa back to the Premier League at the first time of asking
Xia sat down with Sportsmail's Nick Harris on Tuesday afternoon following the completion of his takeover
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Xia sat down with Sportsmail's Nick Harris on Tuesday afternoon following the completion of his takeover
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Pic Andy Hooper/Daily Mail
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‘But actually I want more than than that. I want it to be the best known football club in the world. And I believe that the name “Villa” can become the best known, first because it can become a big club in China, but also my plan involves other clubs, and they will also have Villa’s name.’
In an interview that lasts the best part of two hours, Xia reveals:
His grand plan for a new ‘sports sector’ of his business empire involves buying clubs or stakes in clubs in India, Spain, the USA and Australia. He expects that to happen over several years but could add another club at some point in 2016 at the earliest.
He has a clear idea of which players will be leaving Villa Park and of transfer targets for the summer. Four or five first-team players will be going, and perhaps more arriving, but new manager Roberto Di Matteo ‘has total control of the final decisions’.
He has scrutinised the club’s accounts in details and knows a financial loss next season of 10s of millions of pounds is virtually certain. But he’s planned for that and £30m is available for players this summer for Di Matteo.
He is fully aware that some fans might still have doubts about his credentials, but says: ‘I’ve been doubted before in my career. I don’t care. I just get on with my business.’ In order to be cleared as ‘fit and proper’, he showed the Football League he has £600m in cash in the bank.
We are sitting in an executive box overlooking Villa Park, just Xia and Sportsmail, talking through his plans for the club - seven-times champions of England, and former European Cup winners, all ‘too long ago’ Xia says - when news of the deal completion came through.
A colleague of Xia came into the room to say ‘It’s done’. The new owner doesn't even smile. ‘I feel like we did the deal weeks ago,’ he explains. ‘When I want to do something, I just want to get on with it. Now we can properly get to work.’
Xia, 39, was given the all-clear as a ‘fit and proper person’ to buy Villa by the Football League on Monday. But for the final sign-off, he needed confirmation that a payment of £52m had landed in the US bank account of Randy Lerner, now officially Villa’s former owner.
Xia poses at Villa Park after taking over the reins of the club from Randy Lerner in a £52m deal
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Xia poses at Villa Park after taking over the reins of the club from Randy Lerner in a £52m deal
As Sportsmail revealed weeks ago, Xia is paying Lerner £52m up front for Villa, plus clearing the club’s £24.5m overdraft at the local branch of HSBC bank. Lerner will also receive £30m more if Villa get promoted back to the Premier League and another £10m if they stay there for three years.
Xia has absolute confidence that his management team of Di Matteo and assistant Steve Clarke are the people to lead Villa straight back to the elite.
‘Roberto was my first choice for several reasons,’ he says. ‘First - he’s possibly the most intelligent coach I’ve known. I don’t just mean the experience he’s accumulated from his management and playing experience, both at Champions League level. But he also has business acumen, an MBA in business management. He knows what I’m aiming at, on and off the pitch.’
Xia knows that radical surgery is required in Villa’s squad, with a clear-out needed, and new faces for the challenge of the Championship. ‘Roberto has already made a phone call to every single player,’ he says. ‘Every player that he wants to keep is happy to stay. The decisions on who goes are up to Roberto.’
Xia will not specify who is likely to leave but it would be no surprise if Micah Richards, Joleon Lescott, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Leandro Bacuna are among those to go. ‘All the decisions will be Roberto’s, and his alone,’ Xia says. ‘The details are up to him.’
A new captain is on the horizon but Xia will not confirm that Bournemouth captain Tommy Elphick will be that man. ‘We are working on various things,’ he says. Sources elsewhere suggest a deal is close to completion for Elphick, 28, and that deals to bring in a striker and a creative midfielder among others are well underway.
The 39-year-old businessman is putting his faith in new manager Roberto Di Matteo following his appointment
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The 39-year-old businessman is putting his faith in new manager Roberto Di Matteo following his appointment
Xia’s plans to expand into other territories is ambitious but he says he had already talked with the authorities in India about taking ownership of a club when that nation’s Super League expands, and says he has a target club in Spain but declines to name them. He says MLS in the USA is attractive, and Australia, but not his own country, China. ‘Not yet,’ he says. ‘The time is not right.’
Why? It seems that he believes some investors in China at the moment are spending too much money on clubs and players to have any realistic hope of breaking even in the foreseeable future. And his ambitions are coupled with a desire to make sure his investments make economic sense as well as sporting sense.
‘Definitely the important thing is to go straight back up to the Premier League and I’m confident that we can do that,’ he says of Villa.
'For now I’m not focusing on anything else. I don’t think we’ll end up like Leeds or like other teams who’ve come down from the Premier League and struggled for years and years. Why? Because I know exactly what the financial situation is here and I’m ready to invest. And I have confidence in my management team that they know what they’re doing and I’m going to let them do it.
‘In this [football] business these days, money is important and I’ll certainly support Villa as much as I can. But it’s not only about money. You have to really understand the business and how to manage a club as a business and I have the team in place to do that too.’
To prove he was ‘fit and proper’ Xia had to show the Football League proof that he owned the businesses he claimed to own, and that studied at Harvard, as claimed, and above all that he was good for the money, and could prove how he made it. In fact he showed them bank deposits of around £600m.
Aston Villa have managed to attract a Champions League-winning manager in the form of Di Matteo
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Aston Villa have managed to attract a Champions League-winning manager in the form of Di Matteo
Shaun Harvey, the Football League’s chief executive, has told Sportsmail: ‘Our inquiries revealed nothing to be concerned about.’
Xia knows Villa will lose money next season, with a loss of at least £18m expected and perhaps more, because of relegation. TV cash of £66m from 2015-16 in the top flight will plummet closer to £5m in the Championship, albeit softened by a £40m parachute payment.
Gate money and commercial income will also likely fall. But Xia says the club’s wage bill might be slashed by as much as half because of clauses in player contracts and because some big earners will leave.
If Villa can indeed amass a big fan base in China, it will certainly help with their earning potential. Xia says he will talk with broadcasters to try to get them shown on TV back in China more often. He has also already opened tentative talks with Harvey about buying the Football League rights in China himself from the 2017-18 season onwards.
By then, of course, Xia hopes Villa will not be in the Football League, but back in the Premier League.
‘Where they belong,’ he says.
He certainly talks a good game.
Read more:
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