The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[Lucky Eddie]

I felt positive for the first time in months until I just read stanleyvictors nonsense.

I'm back to feeling numb now.

[pauliewalnuts]

So the miserablist conspiracy is that the Lerner family trust made Steve Hollis fabricate evidence that Xia is not a shyster in order to force through a sale. Xia is a faker and Hollis is a stooge.  Got it.

Yes, Brian, that's absolutely what people have been suggesting.

[Monty]

Here's Collymore's tweet:

Dr Xia estimated wealth is £27bn with Recon Group at £100bn.

Needs confirmation but in comparison..

Sheikh Mansour 20bn

I'm off for a lie down!!!

Yes, someone who appears to have been born at about 10am today (as far as Google is concerned) is richer than the scion of one of the most lucre-filthy sovereign wealth funds on earth. And he needed to wait until the club was relegated and sharply devalued before buying it. And he's a Villa fan.

[brian green]

I think a smart city is hipsterspeak for a properly planned one.

[pauliewalnuts]

Full of people who drive Smart Cars. And park them perpendicular to the kerb, just because they can.

[four fornicholl]

Here's Collymore's tweet:

Dr Xia estimated wealth is £27bn with Recon Group at £100bn.

Needs confirmation but in comparison..

Sheikh Mansour 20bn

I'm off for a lie down!!!

I think that's probably amongst the least reliable pieces of financial information to grace the internet.

ever

[Toronto Villa]

Naturally there is going to be scepticism. When Lakshmi Mittal joined up at QPR a lot of people jumped to the conclusion that QPR might be some sort of world force. But then again when some Thai duty free company nobody could have thought they could become league champions. We don't know much about Recon/Rui Kang. They could be massive. They might not be. We have to hope Hollis, given 4 choices did his homework and along with Lerner has left us in the best hands possible. As with anything we won't know for sure either way for a little while, but starting with the manager appointment and summer investment.

[godzvilla]

According to our “friend“Pat Murphy ,
" Chinese businessman Dr Tony Xia has agreed to buy relegated Aston Villa for £60m.

BBC Sport's Pat Murphy told BBC Radio 5 live: "Randy Lerner's tenure at the club is over. The new chairman is a prominent businessman and a seriously impressive business leader in China."

Who is Dr Tony Xia?

He is the owner of Recon Group, a holding company that has the controlling interest in five publicly listed companies on the Hong Kong and Chinese stock exchanges, employing 35,000 people in 75 countries.

After graduating in China, he was among the initial 25 highly-rated graduates out of 1,000 sent to study overseas. He spent six years at Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, including five months exchange with Oxford University, before returning to China

Xia played football until he finished at college and the sport has remained his passion. He became a Villa fan "many years ago", according to the club's statement, and is "delighted" to become its owner.

I know that a reasonable amount of scepticism is understandable but I“m surprised that this , seemingly good news ( well, I think its bloody good news , but that“s me , Mr glass half full !! )  has been accompanied by so much vitriol.........Godzvilla!

[pauliewalnuts]

Naturally there is going to be scepticism. When Lakshmi Mittal joined up at QPR a lot of people jumped to the conclusion that QPR might be some sort of world force. But then again when some Thai duty free company nobody could have thought they could become league champions. We don't know much about Recon/Rui Kang. They could be massive. They might not be. We have to hope Hollis, given 4 choices did his homework and along with Lerner has left us in the best hands possible. As with anything we won't know for sure either way for a little while, but starting with the manager appointment and summer investment.

*shits pants*

[Pat McMahon]

Late to the thread - ironically have beeen  at Chinese class tonight - but have asked Chinese friends for their input.

Somebody in a city-focused infrastructure company would have been in a position to make ludicrous amounts in China in the past 20 years. The sheer scale of the place means that revenue and statistics go beyond our imagination - a much quoted stat is that China has used more concrete in the past 5 years than the USA used in the whole of the 20th century.

He sounds bright - current role and Harvard / MIT education - so god knows why he wants to buy a football club. I don't buy the Villa fan for years angle though. The Chinese only care about success in sport so unless we come back up quickly there won't be millions of people queuing up for Villa shirts across the country.

Will comment more when I have proper information.

[Des Little]

I'm backing Team Hollis. Believe in Steve!

[Ger Regan]

So the miserablist conspiracy is that the Lerner family trust made Steve Hollis fabricate evidence that Xia is not a shyster in order to force through a sale. Xia is a faker and Hollis is a stooge.  Got it.

Yes brian, that's exactly what we're saying.

[villainjock]

Here is another article about Recon. last paragraph
http://www.s-3.ch/en/home/2015/10/27/the-chinese-company-recon-s3-have-signed-a-strategic-cooperation-agreement-to-develop-low-cost-orbit-satellite-delivery

[pauliewalnuts]

According to our “friend“Pat Murphy ,
" Chinese businessman Dr Tony Xia has agreed to buy relegated Aston Villa for £60m.

BBC Sport's Pat Murphy told BBC Radio 5 live: "Randy Lerner's tenure at the club is over. The new chairman is a prominent businessman and a seriously impressive business leader in China."

Who is Dr Tony Xia?

He is the owner of Recon Group, a holding company that has the controlling interest in five publicly listed companies on the Hong Kong and Chinese stock exchanges, employing 35,000 people in 75 countries.

After graduating in China, he was among the initial 25 highly-rated graduates out of 1,000 sent to study overseas. He spent six years at Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, including five months exchange with Oxford University, before returning to China

Xia played football until he finished at college and the sport has remained his passion. He became a Villa fan "many years ago", according to the club's statement, and is "delighted" to become its owner.

I know that a reasonable amount of scepticism is understandable but I“m surprised that this , seemingly good news ( well, I think its bloody good news , but that“s me , Mr glass half full !! )  has been accompanied by so much vitriol.........Godzvilla!

That text is taken directly from the introduction article on the club website.

If you think the discussion here is not reasonable scepticism, or is 'vitriol', you might want to look up the meaning of the word.

[Monty]

Late to the thread - ironically have beeen  at Chinese class tonight - but have asked Chinese friends for their input.

Somebody in a city-focused infrastructure company would have been in a position to make ludicrous amounts in China in the past 20 years. The sheer scale of the place means that revenue and statistics go beyond our imagination - a much quoted stat is that China has used more concrete in the past 5 years than the USA used in the whole of the 20th century.

He sounds bright - current role and Harvard / MIT education - so god knows why he wants to buy a football club. I don't buy the Villa fan for years angle though. The Chinese only care about success in sport so unless we come back up quickly there won't be millions of people queuing up for Villa shirts across the country.

Will comment more when I have proper information.

That's great stuff, so far as it goes - and a useful reminder that China is more like a continent than a country, size-wise at least!