Dr. Tony Jiantong Xia, Aston Villa's new owner, wants the club's supporters to focus on the future.
On Thursday, one day after Villa announced that an agreement was signed for the sale of 100 percent of the club, Xia spoke of his desire to turn the Villans into one of the planet's top three sides in an exclusive with Tom Phillips of the Guardian.
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Xia, a 39-year-old millionaire from China, is the owner of Recon Group and is the successor to Randy Lerner, Villa's previous owner who oversaw the club's relegation to the Championship and is widely unpopular among its supporters.
"My ambition is to bring Villa to the top six in less than five years and I hope it can be (one of) the top three in the world - even the best well known in the world - in less than 10 years," Xia said. "At least (until) now what I have planned (in my career) everything has been achieved. Nobody believed in the beginning but I made it happen no matter how many years it took."
Asked if he had a message for Villa's supporters, Xia said: "Forget the past and think we are going to enter a new age."
While Xia's purchase of Villa is reportedly valued at £60 million, he told Phillips that whoever is appointed as the Villans' next manager will be given transfer funds of between £20 million and £50 million. He also confirmed that he has held discussions with a number of candidates, including Roberto Di Matteo and Nigel Pearson.
"We have several very good candidates ... I have talked to all of them," Xia said. "The most critical thing now is to get the right manager ... (We) need a really good coach who knows how to play in the Championship. It's even harder than the Premiership. We need to figure out how to reorganise the team."