Tony Xia interview in The Guardian

[Toronto Villa]

if we could get two top notch chinese and indians players playing for us we will be one of biggest club in China and India and indian community in midlands.

And possibly relegated again in the process. It's all good and well bringing players in from those countries for commercial reasons. Bottom line is they have to be good enough to keep their place in the team. If not it will only hurt us. And the last thing we need again is another dressing room situation because the other players get fucked off because of it.

[Ron Manager]

We had an Indian player on trial some years ago . Wasn't any good  went to Bury I think.

Just looked him up. Bhuttia was and still is his name

[Toronto Villa]

Didn't Everton sign a player when they signed a sponsorship deal a few years back? Was it with Kejian?

[KevinGage]

When Tottingham were sponsored by Holstein they were linked wth Stefan Kuntz.

Who would have been the most appropriately named Tottingham player ever.

[Stirchley Villain]

When Tottingham were sponsored by Holstein they were linked wth Stefan Kuntz.

Who would have been the most appropriately named Tottingham player ever.

Yawn...

[OCD]

if we could get two top notch chinese and indians players playing for us we will be one of biggest club in China and India and indian community in midlands.

And possibly relegated again in the process. It's all good and well bringing players in from those countries for commercial reasons. Bottom line is they have to be good enough to keep their place in the team. If not it will only hurt us. And the last thing we need again is another dressing room situation because the other players get fucked off because of it.

I don't think anyone is suggesting we sign Indian or Chinese players for the sake of it. If they (China in particular) are going to be putting a huge effort into developing players there over the next 30+ years and we have things in our favour that others don't, that help us to identify highly promising players, then I don't have a problem with that.

[brontebilly]

There are Chinese state funds involved ?

I'd hope not or we'd better start rewriting the West Ham stadium thread sharpish...

yes, the whole deal is as dodgy as f*ck imo

[AGRIPPA]

Tony say he aim to make Aston Villa top 3 team in the world. How he will do that as there is Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Juventus, for starters.

See how man city and Chelsea gate crashed the big players league....

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

if we could get two top notch chinese and indians players playing for us we will be one of biggest club in China and India and indian community in midlands.

There aren't any top notch Chinese or Indian players - China can't qualify for the World Cup, and India wouldn't be favourites to beat Luxembourg.

[Matt Collins]

True but you'd have to think with 2 billion people between them and massive growing popularity that this will come. I'd also assume the USA will start to produce much better players too

[pbavfckuwait]

His aim is to use our facilities and personnel to bring Chinese players over here and also allow some of our coaches to go over there, a far far cry from signing someone just because they are Chinese. Leicester have no Thai players, but believe me as I have a house in Thailand there profile has grown over the last couple of years, obviously this year, but prior to this there was Leicester shop at Swampy airport, since King Powers involvement their profile is alot bigger than their size of club would justify normally, once back in the Prem the Chinese interest will rocket.

[brian green]

Agree. Put another way, as Asian influence in the world grows at an astonishing rate if we had no foothold in the Far East we would be alarmed that other clubs were more progressive than us.

[supertom]

The interest in football is beginning to grow in China. It seems that Xi Jingping wants to improve grassroots and improve China's standing in the game. They're also trying to entice higher profile players from Europe to go play in China too. Give it 5-10 years and we may see more Chinese players achieving what the Korean and Japanese players have in as much as making their way over to a high levels in Europe to play. If we can aid that process then why not? But not at the hindrance of our own home grown players of course. It could also be beneficial to send a few of our youngsters on exchange programmes to China for a month or two, maybe more. It may not be the highest level, but they'd potentially get to taste competitive football perhaps and also appreciate different culture. One thing that may also be beneficial for English players in the future is the ability to play abroad. We're not good at it historically. We don't see many English players ply their trade abroad and almost always it ends in failure. Retiring in the MLS is one thing...But it may aid the national side if our players are able to play abroad, adapt to other styles of playing, gain a bit of humility.

[HolmesyVilla]

Agree. Put another way, as Asian influence in the world grows at an astonishing rate if we had no foothold in the Far East we would be alarmed that other clubs were more progressive than us.

That is very far forward thinking and I agree fully with your point.
Put another way, in fact I won't cos yor spot on mate

[Toronto Villa]

You have to wonder if China could create a football super league in a way similar to the IPL in cricket?