Tony Xia (no longer involved with AVFC)

[It's Your Round]

Does this mean we won’t be having a theme park then? 

[VillaChris]

What always amazed me was how many people would get excited about those weird tweets he used to put out, usually in transfer window and just basic rubbish of signs and emotions. Looks so stupid now.

I was seduced a bit at the time, not by our spending but acutally by his apparent plans to redevelop the area around Aston. He claims he had some meetings with the council at the time so would've loved to have been a fly on the wall for those.

Also completely forgot about Steve Hollis role in this. I see he's involved in HS2 now so is still prominent in the Birmingham area so interesting if anyone on here in business has come across him in the last year and what he thinks about Xia now.

Worth remembering the fit and proper test actually took a good 6 weeks to complete so longer than usual and clearly Football league had some issues when looking at this background but eventually things were sorted out and we then went mad spending money on likes of McCormack and Tishbola.

[VillaChris]

3 hours ago, MNVillan said:

Considering that every addition to this story that comes out seems more unbelievable than the last, I don’t think it’s a massive exaggeration to say that losing to Fulham may have saved the club.

Who knows really. If we'd gone up he'd have had another 100m + to play with, we'd probably signed some big name players (and yes probably done a Fulham) but being back in the prem I'm sure would've interested plenty of people to come in with bids if we were put up for sale halfway through the season.

The problem was of course staying down and then all hell broke loose for a few weeks. Thank the lord for Wes and Nas.

[villaglint]

You really feel like Amazon missed a trick by not doing a season on us through all of this stuff. Ending in us getting promoted it would have been Oscar worthy... 

[villaglint]

Maybe they did and it just hasn’t been announced yet. That would be so amazing! 

 

I mean All or Nothing... the title couldn’t apply to anyone more than us 

Edited October 18, 2019 by villaglint

[Zatman]

2 hours ago, Villan4Life said:

 

 

 

Must be fake, no emojis

[Keyblade]

2 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I didn’t about Wyness. Told you all he was dodgy mainly because of his face. Many turned on me but you need to understand a face reveals many things.

He's basically the living embodiment of the greedy capitalist archetype.

[MNVillan]

1 hour ago, VillaChris said:

Who knows really. If we'd gone up he'd have had another 100m + to play with, we'd probably signed some big name players (and yes probably done a Fulham) but being back in the prem I'm sure would've interested plenty of people to come in with bids if we were put up for sale halfway through the season.

The problem was of course staying down and then all hell broke loose for a few weeks. Thank the lord for Wes and Nas.

Yeah absolutely, nobody knows. There’s every chance that he would’ve taken an offer to sell and cashed in on his investment. Although if he would’ve held onto the club it seems inevitable that his house of cards would’ve collapsed eventually. 

You’re right though, at the end of the day all that we know is that we seem to be in great hands with NSWE. A bright future is ahead!

[Guest av1]

9 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

Hollis has a lot to answer for almost ruining us and selling to this utter fraud.

Throw the book at him.

And many wanted him kept on in some capacity. 

[Mic09]

Now that he is gone for some reason I can't get the image out of my head of him behaving and sounding like Mr Chow from Hangover.

[ferguson1]

Have to say i’m no fan of Xia, but during his reign I enjoyed the odd transfer tweet and felt his intentions were honourable.  In reality though, we were probably a laughing stock at the time and I for one didn’t see it.  Yes, he was a major chancer and he gambled money unwisely to reach the Premier League promised land.  It didn’t work and we know the rest.

However, the guy above is simply a business leach/toad. Probably talks a good game in meetings etc, but in reality knows bugger all about running a professional company and just wants his big bonuses.   Didn’t Everton fans dislike him and he arrived with a huge health warning?   Just look at his desk!  I know it’s petty, but even the pic above winds me up.  Just messy.  Does Purlow’s desk look like this?   I very much doubt it.  Purslow’s desk probably looks more like something from a Patrick Bateman film.  The fact that he has an Alexa on his desk also makes me smile - is it his adviser throughout the day? I see people like Wyness all the time in my line of work and I dislike them immensely.  Coming up with hollow buzz words like “Villa engine”, which creates and achieves nothing.  

The latest round of tweet exchanges says it all really “Karma is a bitch”?  Pathetic.  Just show some form of professionalism and dignity, and keep it shut.  

Like I said earlier, Xia was a chancer, but he didn’t buy the club to run it into the ground and lose money did he?  He wanted success and to make money surely.   Where he went badly wrong was his trust in people like the above.   

In summary, the whole Xia reign was a complete farce and a real mess.  Needs to be put to bed, but in some ways not forgotten.  It needs to be remembered in the sense of “let’s not make those mistakes again”.  The current regime are the complete opposite and now I feel truly blessed.   We’re in really good hands.  UTV

Edited October 19, 2019 by ferguson1

[Dr_Pangloss]

12 hours ago, Lerner's Driver said:

Yes racism. You clearly missed my point, which was about the judgements some made of him BEFORE anything was known about him. After he'd failed to pay the tax bill then sure you have some ammunition, but before, nobody knew and plenty judged. Timing mate. 

Knew the race card would get lazily thrown out.

The bottom line is that China is a highly oppressive one party state that has a tight grip on business and capital outflows. Any money coming into this football club, or any other business for that matter, from China, should be viewed with absolute suspicion because somewhere down the line the brutal Chinese government will have a stake. 

You then had the man himself. A simple background check highlighted that business which could actually be identified under the Recon holding group where not exactly performing very well. You then had his own claims about his wealth and education which could not be verified at all. You then had his bizarre ambitions for a club which included a theme park being built. He also got Chris Samuelson involved at an early stage, a demonstrable crook who should not have a place in football.  Those of us with half a brain were flagging this up at the time based on evidence and not racism. 

To call it 'racism' is complete, puerile, thoughtless dross.

Edited October 19, 2019 by Dr_Pangloss

[Lerner's Driver]

4 hours ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

Knew the race card would get lazily thrown out.

The bottom line is that China is a highly oppressive one party state that has a tight grip on business and capital outflows. Any money coming into this football club, or any other business for that matter, from China, should be viewed with absolute suspicion because somewhere down the line the brutal Chinese government will have a stake. 

You then had the man himself. A simple background check highlighted that business which could actually be identified under the Recon holding group where not exactly performing very well. You then had his own claims about his wealth and education which could not be verified at all. You then had his bizarre ambitions for a club which included a theme park being built. He also got Chris Samuelson involved at an early stage, a demonstrable crook who should not have a place in football.  Those of us with half a brain were flagging this up at the time based on evidence and not racism. 

To call it 'racism' is complete, puerile, thoughtless dross.

Fortunately, (in your own words), you have half a brain, some don't and didn't when they came to their conclusions.

We all wanted to believe in him despite the questions, but for some the fact there were questions and he was Chinese was enough to write him off. Same now.

To pretend racism didn't play a part for some, is just deluded, thoughtless dross.

[Xela]

16 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I didn’t about Wyness. Told you all he was dodgy mainly because of his face. Many turned on me but you need to understand a face reveals many things.

[Demitri_C]

21 minutes ago, Lerner's Driver said:

Fortunately, (in your own words), you have half a brain, some don't and didn't when they came to their conclusions.

We all wanted to believe in him despite the questions, but for some the fact there were questions and he was Chinese was enough to write him off. Same now.

To pretend racism didn't play a part for some, is just deluded, thoughtless dross.

There has been absolutely no racism shown towards him. Perhaps you can provide some examples where this has been demonstrated ?

[sharkyvilla]

6 hours ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

Knew the race card would get lazily thrown out.

The bottom line is that China is a highly oppressive one party state that has a tight grip on business and capital outflows. Any money coming into this football club, or any other business for that matter, from China, should be viewed with absolute suspicion because somewhere down the line the brutal Chinese government will have a stake. 

You then had the man himself. A simple background check highlighted that business which could actually be identified under the Recon holding group where not exactly performing very well. You then had his own claims about his wealth and education which could not be verified at all. You then had his bizarre ambitions for a club which included a theme park being built. He also got Chris Samuelson involved at an early stage, a demonstrable crook who should not have a place in football.  Those of us with half a brain were flagging this up at the time based on evidence and not racism. 

To call it 'racism' is complete, puerile, thoughtless dross.

One thing I would say is that it seems he did go to Harvard as you can find quotes from his professor about him.  Most likely imo he was a moderately successful businessman who either had a fair bit of cash (that £400m bank slip or whatever it was comes to mind, though again you have to doubt that too) or investment who gambled it on us getting promoted and it went tits up.  I guess we will never find out the real truth.

[DCJonah]

8 hours ago, ferguson1 said:

Have to say i’m no fan of Xia, but during his reign I enjoyed the odd transfer tweet and felt his intentions were honourable.  In reality though, we were probably a laughing stock at the time and I for one didn’t see it.  Yes, he was a major chancer and he gambled money unwisely to reach the Premier League promised land.  It didn’t work and we know the rest.

However, the guy above is simply a business leach/toad. Probably talks a good game in meetings etc, but in reality knows bugger all about running a professional company and just wants his big bonuses.   Didn’t Everton fans dislike him and he arrived with a huge health warning?   Just look at his desk!  I know it’s petty, but even the pic above winds me up.  Just messy.  Does Purlow’s desk look like this?   I very much doubt it.  Purslow’s desk probably looks more like something from a Patrick Bateman film.  The fact that he has an Alexa on his desk also makes me smile - is it his adviser throughout the day? I see people like Wyness all the time in my line of work and I dislike them immensely.  Coming up with hollow buzz words like “Villa engine”, which creates and achieves nothing.  

The latest round of tweet exchanges says it all really “Karma is a bitch”?  Pathetic.  Just show some form of professionalism and dignity, and keep it shut.  

Like I said earlier, Xia was a chancer, but he didn’t buy the club to run it into the ground and lose money did he?  He wanted success and to make money surely.   Where he went badly wrong was his trust in people like the above.   

In summary, the whole Xia reign was a complete farce and a real mess.  Needs to be put to bed, but in some ways not forgotten.  It needs to be remembered in the sense of “let’s not make those mistakes again”.  The current regime are the complete opposite and now I feel truly blessed.   We’re in really good hands.  UTV

I don't believe they were. 

[ciggiesnbeer]

I feel like such a fool defending this guy as I did when he was here. 

[Deisler123]

On 18/10/2019 at 19:07, Lerner's Driver said:

I'm no defender of Xia, but the basis for dismissing him back then was that he must be dodgy because we know nothing about him and... wait for it, yes, he's Chinese as well!

Any amount of I told you so now, is precisely the same thick headed racism it was back then because you still don't know any more now, than you did then.

Another uncomfortable truth is that we were a basket case and whilst Xia certainly did not do us any favours at all, he did at the very least give it a go, when nobody else who was any good wanted to touch us with a barge poll.

Bearing all that in mind, we are ridiculously lucky to be where we are and to have found the owners we have now.

I was also defending him here (if people still remember me), but I was proven wrong as his business seemed to be more and more dodgy as time went on. All of a sudden, he became a top investor in China from nowhere (I reported his issue with his allegedly fraud application for getting research funding) and little was known to him (still the case now). It is probably safe to conclude now that he was used as a 'face' of a number of rich people for investment business, and when that bubble got too big, it busts. 

Some of you were right, particularly those who were concerned about 'his business model', as from the beginning we all knew his business model was based on 'buy and sell companies', which is not sustainable.

Glad to see Villa doing well now in PL. I am still watching every game but only came here occasionaly.

I was at Villa park on Saturday (Zone C3 I think it was) - you guys were great!!! Thought about asking a few of you out for beer but maybe next time!

Cheers

Deisler

[Sam-AVFC]

1 hour ago, Deisler123 said:

I was also defending him here (if people still remember me)

Of course we do (although you wont remmber me as only stopped lurking recently) - good to see you're still here!

1 hour ago, Deisler123 said:

I was at Villa park on Saturday (Zone C3 I think it was) - you guys were great!!! Thought about asking a few of you out for beer but maybe next time!

This is what I love about football. A Chinese connection put you on to Villa, but although this all went wrong you've developed an attachment to the club and are still a supporter. That's great you got to Villa Park, it's been too many years since I've been.

Are you based in the UK? I'm keen to meet a few guys from VT and go for some beers at some point, but am based in London.

Judging by this thread there is definitely interest in both a Brum and London meet, but nothing set in stone.