S1 Ep5: Aston Villa & Birmingham City – A tale of one city and two clubs with rollercoaster ownerships

Football Uncovered

There are 4 major football clubs within 14 miles of each other in Birmingham and West Midlands that have been or are owned by Chinese businessmen: Birmingham, Aston Villa, West Brom and Wolves.

Two of these have largely been success stories with Wolves under Fosun and West Brom under Lai Guochuan. However, Villa and Birmingham didn’t have the same fortunes.

This is the story of Carson Yeung’s and Tony Xia’s time in the West Midlands. Yeung will forever be remembered by Birmingham fan’s for pushing them to League Cup success in 2011 but his tenure wasn’t always fairytale stuff. Relegations and prison sentences followed for the pair as the cracks in the road began to show.

Xia on the other hand with his outlandish ideas looked to make Aston Villa a Premier League powerhouse. From the bright lights of China and an Aston Villa theme park on the cards to winding up orders. This is the turbulent tale of Villa and Birmingham.