Dr who?
The vast majority of Aston Villa's fans will have breathed a sigh of relief when American owner Randy Lerner's reign finally came to an end on Wednesday but few, if any, will have heard of the man whose company has bought their club.
Dr Tony Xia, reported to be 39, is a Chinese businessman, the owner, chairman and chief executive officer of Recon Group, which owns the controlling interest in five publicly-listed companies on the Hong Kong and Chinese stock exchanges.
He has already stated this was no vanity project, but a hard-headed business decision.
He said in a statement quoted on Channel NewsAsia: "The club won't take the path of burning money - we are a business, not funded by Arab oil wealth."
Channel NewsAsia also reported that Xia were chosen by Villa ahead of seven other Premier League clubs he had considered buying.
He is said to have spent the last month searching for a new manager and was in talks with a candidate who had won the Champions League, fuelling speculation that Roberto Di Matteo is favourite for the job. An announcement over the new manager is said to be imminent.
Xia also said he was in talks with various clubs in Spain, Italy, China and India regarding other possible takeovers within three years.
The Financial Times report that Xia trained as a landscape architect after studying design in the United States and now runs a large Shanghai-based producer of flavour enhancer monosodium glutamate.
His other business interests include an eclectic mix of companies involved "in everything from smart city design to small personal loans".
After his proposed takeover was announced on Wednesday, Xia posted a picture of Forrest Gump on Weibo, China's version of Twitter, and said: "Go Villa Go! We will be back."
Actor Tom Hanks, who played Forrest Gump in the hit movie, is a Villa supporter, and the Financial Times said the message was tweeted to David Cameron, who also claims to be a fan of the club.
The FT claims Xia does not appear to have published an annual report or audited financial statements.
Xia set up the Recon Group in 1996 soon after buying into a company created in the 1960s by his Harvard University adviser, Charles Harris, which the Chinese businessman renamed before setting up its services in China.
"The six core business sectors include IT infrastructure and services for smart cities, health and agriculture, new energy and smart transportation, engineering and design, Recon Capital including financial services and sports, leisure and tourism," Villa said on their official website.
"It also owns lots of other private companies and employs 35,000 people in 75 countries.
"Lotus Health Group, part of the health and agriculture division, is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and is the largest glutamic company in China and the second-largest in the world with 12,000 employees, 10,000 distributors in China and 40,000 worldwide in 70 countries."
The FT reported that Lotus Health Group announced a net loss of £54million to the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2015 compared with a net profit of just under £2.5m the previous year.
Villa's new owner, subject to a takeover being approved by Premier League and the Football League, is said to have a passion for football having played as a striker during his college days, and is no stranger to England.
After studying in China, Xia was one of 25 graduates chosen out of 1,000 to study overseas and spent six subsequent years at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while his studies also included a five-month exchange with Oxford University.
Source: PA
