Sky Sports' Johnny Phillips: Two years on, just who is Tony Xia?

Who is Dr Tony Xia?

There are plenty of known and assumed details about the man at the helm of this great club, but there are just as many, if not more, unknowns. Supporters are no wiser today about the man who owns Villa than they were when he purchased the club two summers ago.

Put simply, there is no way of verifying Dr Xia’s true worth or his intentions. Back in the summer of 2016 he was famously asked whether or not he was a dollar billionaire.

“I think it’s rather more than that,” was the confident reply.

Yet somehow Dr Xia had gone completely under the radar in his home country, to the extent that nobody in the Chinese business media knew who he was. It is virtually impossible for British journalists to dig into that opaque world, but even the country’s own media have struggled.

Last week SupChina, a leading Chinese business analysis website, reported that Xia has been associated with three main companies – the Shanghai-listed Lotus, which manufactures food supplement MSG, Teamax, a smart city planning and construction firm, and cable manufacturer Recon.

“Lotus has been losing money consistently for the past 15 years, with those in charge blaming old equipment and too many employees,” they reported.

“Xia sold his 18.8 per cent holding in Recon earlier this year, shortly before the stock went into freefall losing more than half its value in a number of weeks. The current boss is listed as Xia Jianjun, rumoured to be his brother, not Tony himself.

“As for Teamax, Xia said he sold it for hundreds of millions of dollars prior to buying Aston Villa in May 2016. In true China fashion, however, it’s virtually impossible to check who Xia really is and how many companies he effectively controls.”

Getting beyond such a basic analysis is difficult.

Those that suggest Dr Xia’s main problem is getting money out of the country are ignoring the fact that capital controls in China have been loosened, not tightened, in recent months. Again, SupChina confirmed this.

“Foreign exchange reserves have been increasing, so the People’s Bank of China has allowed more money to flow outside the country,” they said.

Communication is hugely important at times such as this. Dr Xia has engaged supporters via Twitter throughout his tenure.

The merits of club owners using this platform can be debated, but it at least maintained a line of communication, even if most were no wiser about the man doing the tweeting. Twitter is no place to be informing fans of what is going on now, though, a more substantial presence is required.

So what are fans to make of reports that Tuesday’s meeting with senior members of the board, including chief commercial officer Luke Organ and executive assistant Rongtian He, was held via a conference call with Dr Xia?

What message does that send out, that these incredibly important talks are only worthy of a conference call?

Villa supporters have had a torrid few years, but it should never have come to this. When Dr Xia strode out across the pitch to greet the fans ahead of the Championship clash with Rotherham in August 2016 he must have realised how fortunate he was to be here.

After a hopeless attempt to avoid relegation from the Premier League that should have been enough to make even the most ardent supporter think twice about putting any more money into the club’s coffers, the fans still turned out in numbers. Well over 30,000 were prepared to give the team another chance. Against Rotherham.

Before a ball was kicked, the team was cheered to the rafters and the atmosphere inside the ground was fantastic that afternoon. Dr Xia got a rapturous reception when he took to the pitch beforehand.

The players responded too, with a superb performance that showed there was enough in the ranks, even back then, to mount a genuine promotion challenge.

Despite the last years of Randy Lerner’s ownership and the relegation, the club were still in relative good health. There was the opportunity to build on the solid foundations of a great stadium, fantastic training ground, Premier League parachute payments and a huge and loyal support. To gamble the whole future on an all-or-nothing return to the Premier League this season did not make sense. It was kid in a sweet shop stuff.

It is not too late, though. After everything that has gone on, Dr Xia still has time to turn all this around and come out on top.

Can this be the time that supporters finally get to discover who the man at the helm really is?

The EFL have met with the club to thrash out a way forward. Here is the opportunity for transparency and progress. This is not just about a missed tax payment or a one-off cash flow problem.

Supporters are concerned about the fabric of the club’s existence; how it is being run and where it is being run from.

As each day goes by fans are left wondering what bombshell they will be hit with next.

It doesn’t have to be this way and they deserve so much better. Dr Xia has one more chance to show his true colours.