TheStagMan Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 2 minutes ago, cyrusr said: Correction. Last season we had the best groundsmen in the Premier League This season will be a walk in the park in the Championship... Well technically gutter when we go to the sty but you get my drift 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Deisler123 Posted June 15, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted June 15, 2016 1 hour ago, limpid said: Someone posted a link some time ago that we were the 12th best supported team in China. I don't think that is true, or at least not the recent figure. Pre-2000, only Italian/German football was well known to Chinese fans (mainland) due to TV rights. For now a good measure of that would be using Baidu Tieba, an online forum that covers all topics of society, including football clubs. Real Madrid has 1.1M active users now, almost 100k posts every day. Arsenal has 0.43M active users, 10k-20k posts daily. Aston Villa http://tieba.baidu.com/f?ie=utf-8&kw=阿斯顿维拉 has 3379 users, single digit daily posts. In fact, it is hardly in top 100 in football club forums. I think Aston Villa is definitely the top 30 most well-known club in China, because its Chinese translation '阿斯顿维拉', which although literally does not mean anything, is very artistic and romantic as it sounds, especially in Mandarin.... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshVilla Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 46 minutes ago, TheStagMan said: I've heard of defending deep but this is rediculous 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler123 Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 (edited) 2 hours ago, useless said: Xia's appparently talking about buying TV rights to the football league in China, not sure how that will benefit us though if we hopefully get promoted. Even if Villa could get promoted with the first attempt, it is still crucial to develop the fan base in China in the first year, for a long term benefit. In China now there is absolutely NO coverage at all about English second or lower football division - most people follow, quite understandably, the most successful clubs in europe and those clubs who have Chinese players in the first squad. Development of fan base takes time (and media coverage), and Villa as a club certainly don't want to wait till the moment when it really needs the fan base in China. I would like to bet that if Villa returns back to PL and have 1 good quality Chinese player (if possible) in the first squad, the national TV channel will buy TV rights of all Villa games. And very soon (in 1-2 years) Villa will become the most popular club in China. It is not about the number of trophies the club win, it is about the feeling of 'belonging'. And all of this means potential sponsorship contract, potential investors, better confidence of Xia's investors, potential contract of youth camp (a huge un-exploited market there), potential gain for Xia's business etc., which all lead to, well let me put it bluntly, income, directly or indirectly. PS: i still remember when a few Chinese players joined Crystal Palace (in second division) in late 90s, and Sun Jihai played for Man City some years ago, all newspapers in China were like crazy and reported every single match. And you can find their kits/jerseys everywhere in the street. Edited June 15, 2016 by Deisler123 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa89 Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 (edited) 30 minutes ago, Deisler123 said: because its Chinese translation '阿斯顿维拉' Can you write that phonetically in English? If possible ...interested to hear what it sounds like. Edited June 15, 2016 by villa89 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 @Deisler123 Who is the best Chinese player or players Villa could realistically buy? Putting aside cost for a second! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dounavilla Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 Rh-aan-dee-haaas-ggonnne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler123 Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 9 minutes ago, villa89 said: Can you write that phonetically in English? If possible ...interested to hear what it sounds like. I recorded my own sound and you can find it here: https://clyp.it/joen2qxw Not very different from English if you say it in Mandarin, very different in Cantonese though. PS: if you have come across a secretive woman name, called Vera, who helped Xia complete this takeover accroding to Google, she is ' 维拉 '. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexbelowsound Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 8 minutes ago, dounavilla said: Rh-aan-dee-haaas-ggonnne. That name doesn't sound very Chinese to me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler123 Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 8 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said: @Deisler123 Who is the best Chinese player or players Villa could realistically buy? Putting aside cost for a second! The best now: Zhang Linpeng (RB) 27 yo (A football-look-a-like Sergio Ramos), Wu Lei (AMC/shadow) 24yo (like Argentinos Aimar), although too expensive. I personally think they can do well in Championship, and maybe a sub player for PL. Realistically: the guy my profile pic is showing - Zhang Yuning 19yo, playing for Vitesse Arnhem first team now. He is believed to be the best Chinese player in the next 5 years. And I think he is capable of playing in PL (in 1-2 years time). Or Lin Liangming 19yo, playing for Real Madrid U19 now. A good investment I think. In the last 3-4 years most clubs have resumed youth training system and they send hundreds of kids to Spain and Portugal to play youth games. Will have some good players in 2-3 years time and if Villa can take advantage of that, financial gain will be huge. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 We could with getting some promising Chinese players whilst they're still young and giving them the benefit of our training facilities and staff. Might have a better chance of making it that way and if they're not quite good enough for Villa, we might be able to sell them on to a Chinese club. Whoever China's best player is we should sign him, if that's realistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler123 Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 8 minutes ago, useless said: We could with getting some promising Chinese players whilst they're still young and giving them the benefit of our training facilities and staff. Might have a better chance of making it that way and if they're not quite good enough for Villa, we might be able to sell them on to a Chinese club. Whoever China's best player is we should sign him, if that's realistic. Good idea, and it could be just a start. Long-term speaking, if Villa can find 1-2 satellite clubs in other smaller leagues in Europe, like Dutch/Belgium (for more first team experience plus bypassing the work permit), it could be even more sustainable. And this is in fact a part of Xia's idea of 'owning a few clubs in other EU countries branded as Villa group'. A business model is there, whoever exploits it first will get huge benefit - I think Xia might attempt it with a reasonable investment, after Villa returns back to PL. It is certainly a big element of Xia's ambition. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 I'm sure the entire population of China will want to turn out to watch us battle out a grim 1-1 draw in the driving rain against Rotherham. They'll be agog at Burton Albion too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 Sounds good, I'm intrigued to see which other clubs that he's going to try and buy, one might be bought this year, so we shall see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted June 15, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted June 15, 2016 3 hours ago, TheStagMan said: *ahem* Championship. Sorry :-( *ahem* The Aston Villa founded football league! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted June 15, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted June 15, 2016 3 hours ago, Spoony said: Do you remember that time Randy Lerner owned Aston Villa Football Club? Oh man. I had almost forgotten about that! Looking back he was like the false dawn before the blazing glory of the Xia years. Some of those chunts we signed towards the end of his ownership wouldn't be fit to lace the boots of our current triple champions League winning squad. And remember that Bacuna feller who finally got his move to Barca only to score 2 own goals for us in the final. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duck Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 3 minutes ago, sidcow said: ...remember that Bacuna feller who finally got his move to Barca ... Now you're just being silly 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 2 hours ago, Deisler123 said: And this is in fact a part of Xia's idea of 'owning a few clubs in other EU countries branded as Villa group'. Let's hope the nation doesn't vote for Brexit in a week's time then. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubby Posted June 16, 2016 Share Posted June 16, 2016 I wonder whether Bernstein and King are happy right now? Is concluding a deal with Tony the hope that they had? Didn't someone email Mervyn King previously? Maybe worth following up to see if those resignations can be put to bed..? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post KSV Posted June 16, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted June 16, 2016 15 hours ago, useless said: Sounds good, I'm intrigued to see which other clubs that he's going to try and buy, one might be bought this year, so we shall see. Me too. Although in MLS and A League - he could probably create his own club. Sydney Villa. or Perth Villa (since we have a good affiliation with that academy (herd, lowry, lyden etc)). In MLS.. he can create a club in Texas. Austin Villa. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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