Aston Villa Owner Tony Xia Looking to Rename Villa Park as Part of Rebranding Exercise

Published on: 19 May 2016

"?Aston Villa owner Tony Xia is already looking to leave a mark on his new club after sealing a £60m agreement with Randy Lerner earlier this week, and the first step will be a renaming of Villa Park to promote his other business interests.


In comments to the Beijing Times, Xia spoke about tying his Lotus Health brand in with the stadium. He was careful to specify that the club's heritage will be taken into account, but it may leave a somewhat sour taste in the mouth of fans.

"One of the things we have thought about is using the Lotus Health name to rebrand Villa Park. Villa Park is a very historical stadium, so we will not simply and callously destroy a club's history," he told the Chinese newspaper.


"We want to use Villa's history and its substantial fan base around the world to also promote Lotus Health products and services globally. The ideal scenario would be for fans to enjoy Lotus Health products at Lotus Villa Park, it would be a great advert for both brands."


But supporters may just have to grin and bear their club's iconic home of 119 years being renamed because of what else Xia is planning to do.

It's already been laid out that he wants an immediate return to the Premier League, followed by top six finishes and European football. That means making plenty of money available for the new manager, most likely Roberto Di Matteo, in the Championship.


"We will have a budget from £20m to £30m to £40m to £50m. It depends when we have the coach around the table," Xia explained in a separate interview with the BBC.


"I think there is a lot of potential for Villa to be promoted very soon. They have a very good academy and facilities and a very good fan base, which can attract a lot of people. If we can get the right team to work with we can get on the right track and I hope we can achieve it one year."

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