Tony Xia interview in The Guardian

[SoccerHQ]

See I can understand people being cautious, as I said yesterday this summer will tell us a lot, if he does as he's said and gives us whatever money we need (which is my interpretation of £20m, £30m, £40m ... £50m?) to back up a  well consider and sensible choice as manager then he'll have started things as well as anyone could ever hope.  If we go into the new season with most of the current squad and Steve Bruce then we can start to worry.

What I can't see is people who are making claims like calling him a shyster or a fraud or calling for us to back out of the deal less than a day after it was announced, that's just weird.  I also got a bit frustrated last night with the idea that there was no internet presence when it was clearly there but took a bit more effort to find because it's all chinese.  That's where some people are going to far and falling into being overly pessimistic rather than just sensibly cautious.  If they were doing it because the of all the people who were talking about getting "AVFC Champions league winners 2019" tattoos then I'd be ok with it, the balanced perspective would help but I haven't seen a single person be anything like that level of wide-eyed loon, the majority seem to be of the opinion that it all sounds good so far but let's wait and see so an overly pessimistic attitude is just strange.

Whilst I agree that a balanced perspective is desirable,  there's a lot here to be very wary of.   It might be a small issue but lying about his qualifications is not a good start.   Then we see that his main business makes a loss.   While not wanting to piss on anyone's parade I'd be very happy to see this one bounced by the FA. 

If people like Sinawatra and Venkys can own premier league clubs (and indeed Cellino at championship level) I don't think the good Doctor has  much to worry about being disqualified.

Like many it's a case of wait and see. I wish him well and hope he has a proper plan of recruitment bar spending shed loads of money which was Lerner's main idea for 4 years. Probably why the reaction has been lukewarm so far.

You don't actually need to spend the amounts he's talking about to be at the top in the championship. We obviously need a clear out and would imagine that will be easier to achieve now but 20m this summer and I'd be very disappointed if we're not top 2.

[paul_e]

I did see something about xwho but it was alongside a message that it was renamed to recon so I never actually searched for it, which was a mistake.

[pauliewalnuts]

I'm weary of all the posts looking for things to dislike about him/them and believing any negative rumour they hear.

I'm not looking for things to dislike or believing all the negative things I hear, for me it's just about being suspicious of the motives of pretty much everyone who buys into football, especially those of whom we know next to nothing.

I don't see how anyone can be surprised at people being suspicious given some of the chancers who come into the game, the clusterfuck of our last six years, and our chairman's inability to judge people.

That's not looking for things not to like at all, it is being concerned.

Like i said a few posts back, we're going to get our answer pretty quickly in any case.

[pauliewalnuts]

I wish him well and hope he has a proper plan of recruitment bar spending shed loads of money which was Lerner's main idea for 4 years.

This x1000

Lerner is the best example that loads of money alone is not going to be a guarantee of success.

More than anything I want someone who will be nice and grown up and appoint a credible management structure, invest reasonable money, and trust that management structure to ensure it is spent well.

[paul_e]

I'm weary of all the posts looking for things to dislike about him/them and believing any negative rumour they hear.

I'm not looking for things to dislike or believing all the negative things I hear, for me it's just about being suspicious of the motives of pretty much everyone who buys into football, especially those of whom we know next to nothing.

I don't see how anyone can be surprised at people being suspicious given some of the chancers who come into the game, the clusterfuck of our last six years, and our chairman's inability to judge people.

That's not looking for things not to like at all, it is being concerned.

Like i said a few posts back, we're going to get our answer pretty quickly in any case.

The initial questions aren't but ignoring the answers or looking for something else to worry about when one fear gets addressed is where it gets a bit much.

[pauliewalnuts]

I'm weary of all the posts looking for things to dislike about him/them and believing any negative rumour they hear.

I'm not looking for things to dislike or believing all the negative things I hear, for me it's just about being suspicious of the motives of pretty much everyone who buys into football, especially those of whom we know next to nothing.

I don't see how anyone can be surprised at people being suspicious given some of the chancers who come into the game, the clusterfuck of our last six years, and our chairman's inability to judge people.

That's not looking for things not to like at all, it is being concerned.

Like i said a few posts back, we're going to get our answer pretty quickly in any case.

The initial questions aren't but ignoring the answers or looking for something else to worry about when one fear gets addressed is where it gets a bit much.

Where are the answers, though? That's the problem - we haven't actually seen any.

I've not been on here since last night, but last thing I saw, someone said "I ran a credit check and he's worth 42bn" which doesn't really strike me as the most trustworthy indicator.

You said yourself you've found five companies, of which we know next to nothing. That's not answering anything.

People making enormous sweeping generalisations about the Chinese are way off the mark. People suggesting he's some sort of crook are also way off mark, there's nothing to suggest that. But there's very little information about him full stop and that is what makes people nervous.

I don't see why you're so exasperated at people showing concern about that.

[cdward]

 
XWHO 47th anniversary Fun Games in 2010


New Years Party 2009


2011 Forbes China City Investment and Development Forum

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I think the idea about the redevelopment of Aston is quite exciting. West Ham will reap the benefit of the Stratford development in my view with the public transport and tourist potential having a knock on with attendances.

Whether the Doc would put the ownership under our auspices and use landlord income to supplement us I don't know, but it would be an interesting development.

I am keen to see what he does with ticket prices. In my opinion taking out the elastic nature of supply for home tickets by making them very cheap would be the best way to dramatically increase demand. I suspect the North Stand may get redeveloped and although I've argued it's worth it for the extra revenue we'd take on the two or three games it's full, it would surely be better to build it and fill it more regularly.  Abolishing the feature of home tickets being available in large quantities on a game by game basis ought to be a key aim.

[aj2k77]

The XWHO architecture/planning/design business part of the Recon group has offices in Seattle, Boston, Sydney, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Batonrouge as well as 5 offices in China, with an impressive list of over a hundred projects with a detailed write up on each.

The board of directors are a mix of people from all these regions.

Also interesting reading of various news articles going back at least 8 years, with photographs of Dr Tony being invited to speak at events organised by Forbes about planning and strategies for cities.

It's all there with help from Google translate.
http://www.xwhodesign.com/

You mean he's not a 30 yr old Chinese hairdresser?

[ciggiesnbeer]

I love some of the comments in that Guardian article. Complaints about us "buying success" and we are going to ruin football by becoming a new Man City or Chelsea.

Let me go on record. I would be absolutely fine with that label if we are playing in the Champions league. More than fine in fact 

[not3bad]

He's only a millionaire though. 

Dr Tony out!

His personal wealth is not as important as what Recon is worth from what I understand.

[not3bad]

I'm weary of all the posts looking for things to dislike about him/them and believing any negative rumour they hear.

I'm not looking for things to dislike or believing all the negative things I hear, for me it's just about being suspicious of the motives of pretty much everyone who buys into football, especially those of whom we know next to nothing.

I don't see how anyone can be surprised at people being suspicious given some of the chancers who come into the game, the clusterfuck of our last six years, and our chairman's inability to judge people.

That's not looking for things not to like at all, it is being concerned.

Like i said a few posts back, we're going to get our answer pretty quickly in any case.

Being concerned is fine, but a few people have taken it a bit further than that.

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Why did I waste ten minutes of my life reading the comments on the article?

[Villa in Denmark]

Why did I waste ten minutes of my life reading the comments on the article?

It's usually some masochistic desire to see who can contribute the most asinine/racist/pointless/obsessive/jealous (delete as appropriate) comments.

[Steve R]

Xia Jiantong, a 39-year-old millionaire from eastern China who uses the English name Tony Xia

I've known him since he was 30. Seems like it was only yesterday.