Incoming La Liga side Valencia Dir Lay Hoon said that new Valencia Owner Peter Lim plans to "grow the international brand" of the club, while plans for a new stadium "are to again be rethought," according to Dermot Corrigan of ESPN. An extraordinary general meeting on Monday saw "confirmation of a new Los Che board," with seven of its nine members having been brought to the club by Lim. Just two previous directors are remaining -- including Amadeo Salvo, the club's president since June '13, who "helped shepherd" the club through the "controversial takeover." In a speech to shareholders "introducing Lim's personal and business background," Hoon said that the new regime was "anxious to put in place its new project -- without giving many details of what that would involve." Hoon: "From today onwards Valencia football club will be our business's biggest treasure. Valencia is much more than a business adventure for Peter. Football is very, very much in his heart. And this conviction has brought us here today. The journey to get here has cost us much more than we originally wanted. But we have finally arrived and we are here for a long, long time. Now we are impatient to set off on the new project we have."
INTERNATIONAL APPEAL: She said that giving the club an int'l presence with a "focus on the
Asian market was an immediate objective." Hoon added that developing young players "would be a priority." She said, "Our vision is to convert Valencia into an international club of which all valencianos
and all the fans can be proud. We have fixed our view on
competing at the highest level and to grow the international presence of
the club, focusing immediately on the Asian market. Our priority is to
build a competitive team with valenciano DNA, and to keep investing in our academy. It is there, at Paterna, where our future is." Hoon suggested that completing the club's new stadium -- in which €98M was invested until money ran out in Feb. '09 -- "was a
longer-term project" (ESPN, 12/2).
