Shropshire Star

Stan Collymore apologises to Tony Xia for Aston Villa rant

Stan Collymore has apologised to Tony Xia after accusing the Villa owner of spending money in an 'orgy of naivety'.

Published

The former striker, now a media pundit, let rip on Twitter after Saturday's 1-0 home defeat to Ipswich.

Xia has spent substantial amounts of money on Villa's squad since buying out Randy Lerner last summer with the club's net spend in two transfer windows around the £40million mark.

But they currently sit 16th in the Championship, 16 points adrift of the top six and just seven clear of the bottom three.

And Cannock-born Collymore took aim at both Xia and chief executive Keith Wyness as he blasted: "Hope theres (sic) a lesson for a few people at AVFC. Less naivety, less "we are good on paper", less bull****, less tweeting. Absolute garbage.

"Ipswich Town £1.5m spent Aston Villa £77m spent. Not good enough.

"Anyone can spend para payments in an excited orgy of naivety. Lets see the real colour of the money in summer. When nobody wants to come."

He later tweeted: "Have apologised to @Dr_TonyXia for ranting earlier. Just gutted, like he and all Villa fans are. Only want us to do well."

Xia, meanwhile, stressed the need for patience and stability in a series of his own tweets, while admitting the rebuild had been 'harder than expected'.

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