I saw this article in The Sun (was also mentioned in brief in the Birmingham Mail)
Southampton, West Brom and Aston Villa’s spending powers are set to be seriously damaged https://t.co/fA0YTbT22J pic.twitter.com/xhAVA2j3D1
The Sun-Aston Villa (@SunAstonVilla) September 4, 2017
I asked Villa owner Tony Xia:
What is situation with this @Dr_TonyXia ? I noticed difficulties for film company purchase, are there now pressures on the footie side? 😎✌ https://t.co/cxbSVtUFGX
Vital Villa (@VitalVilla) September 4, 2017
Fair question I think, not had a reply – fair enough – but have re-tweeted him to ask again and said:
Totally understand if you can’t properly comment, but could you comment to say you can’t comment perhaps?!?! 😎✌
Vital Villa (@VitalVilla) September 5, 2017
What is it about?
Well, there are already reports that Xia hasn`t been able to follow through on the purchase of the film company. He had agreed to buy 51% then schedule payments for the rest of it. Xia on twitter says the deal is still on. However the co-founder and chairman of Millennium Films says in another report it is off. Variety.com say: According to Millennium co-founder and chairman Avi Lerner, the deal is dead. “They paid us $20 million and the deal is now dead. As far as we know, it`s dead. The deal was for a little over $200 million for 100% of the company. They gave us $20 million on the come and they were supposed to pay us and they gave us many reasons why they couldn`t. It was this, it was that. It`s very simple. It`s dead. There is no secret deal. I will find another buyer or continue as we are.”
Now reports say that the Chinese Government has set new directives in Beijing to stop the flow of money out of China and into British football clubs.
The Sun say That means fans of Southampton, West Brom, Aston Villa and Birmingham, who were expecting to see some lavish spending, will have to think again. {And Wolves now also}
The Sun quote Ji Zhe, director at London-based sports marketing firm Red Lantern and an expert on Chinese football told AFP this will have an impact … “Most of them will have to make continued significant investment into playing staff and all other areas of the football club in order to compete. This impact could then have a knock-on effect to the clubs as investment dries up. Chinese owners could realign their focus and the clubs can suffer both on and off the pitch.”
Zhe says ‘a firm brake` has been put on football because the Chinese Government is looking to ‘tackle the outbound flow of money.”
I will try to bring this up at the next Villa fan consultation group meeting this month.
Gulp, bit of a worry !?
