The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[Des Little]

Now that the North Stand is getting a jet wash, I couldn't care less about the takeover or the way the season shapes up. 

[Tony Erdington]

So its Randy , I think hes been a good custodian all things considered, and with Mr Fox in trot, I think its not such a bad thing.

Randy does seem more interested, or his visits were purely for the sale of the club??? Dunno

Status Quo

ps, just know Ive given an option for another

PUNATHON - with my last words. Sorry

[saunders_heroes]

So its Randy , I think hes been a good custodian all things considered, and with Mr Fox in trot, I think its not such a bad thing.

Randy does seem more interested, or his visits were purely for the sale of the club??? Dunno

Status Quo

ps, just know Ive given an option for another

PUNATHON - with my last words. Sorry

A good custodian, really?
In what way?

[cheltenhamlion]

Whatever you want.

[OCD]

He's always been well intentioned but just made some bad judgment calls. I think now that he's putting together what's looking to be a good management team at boardroom level so that he can formally step back, things are looking up.

[Dante Lavelli]

He's always been well intentioned but just made some bad judgment calls. I think now that he's putting together what's looking to be a good management team at boardroom level so that he can formally step back, things are looking up.

I agree.  The worry is whether he also pulls the plug on the money he has continued to put into the club.  In an ideal world we would be well run with an increasing turnover but Randy donates the cash to get us to the limit of the FFP rules each season.

[Toronto Villa]

He's always been well intentioned but just made some bad judgment calls. I think now that he's putting together what's looking to be a good management team at boardroom level so that he can formally step back, things are looking up.

I agree.  The worry is whether he also pulls the plug on the money he has continued to put into the club.  In an ideal world we would be well run with an increasing turnover but Randy donates the cash to get us to the limit of the FFP rules each season.

The club does generate its own revenue stream also. Randy doesn't have to put his own money in. If we just spend responsibly based on a set spending cap to our then that's a big move forward.

[Dante Lavelli]

He's always been well intentioned but just made some bad judgment calls. I think now that he's putting together what's looking to be a good management team at boardroom level so that he can formally step back, things are looking up.

I agree.  The worry is whether he also pulls the plug on the money he has continued to put into the club.  In an ideal world we would be well run with an increasing turnover but Randy donates the cash to get us to the limit of the FFP rules each season.

The club does generate its own revenue stream also. Randy doesn't have to put his own money in. If we just spend responsibly based on a set spending cap to our then that's a big move forward.

You're right, but I think we have made a loss in every year of Randy's time so this would have been even greater if we solely relied on the money the club generates. 

[Percy McCarthy]

Well, we said it all along - TBAR were deluded and we on H&V knew nothing would happen. Don't we feel smug??

If I'd been predicting certain relegation every season since the Barwick Street meeting I'd take my smugness where I can too.

Ironically I didn't predict it last season and we came the closest yet. I'm not going to predict it for 2015/16 either but I suspect it will be close again.

That's true to be fair, you didn't. It was nagging away at me towards the end of the season - "I won't feel truly safe until levico says we're doomed".😜

[The Laughing Policeman]

Tom Fox is ex Arsenal as is new recruit Hendrik Almstsdt, so all we need now is for David Dein to be announced as the new chairman and the takeover by Arsenal will be complete.

[Richard E]

Tom Fox is ex Arsenal as is new recruit Hendrik Almstsdt, so all we need now is for David Dein to be announced as the new chairman and the takeover by Arsenal will be complete.

Well, they certainly "owned" us at Wembley!! :-( 

[Ron Manager]

Tom Fox is ex Arsenal as is new recruit Hendrik Almstsdt, so all we need now is for David Dein to be announced as the new chairman and the takeover by Arsenal will be complete.

Er..... Tony Adams?.....I thought not!

[passport1]

He's always been well intentioned but just made some bad judgment calls. I think now that he's putting together what's looking to be a good management team at boardroom level so that he can formally step back, things are looking up.

I agree.  The worry is whether he also pulls the plug on the money he has continued to put into the club.  In an ideal world we would be well run with an increasing turnover but Randy donates the cash to get us to the limit of the FFP rules each season.

The club does generate its own revenue stream also. Randy doesn't have to put his own money in. If we just spend responsibly based on a set spending cap to our then that's a big move forward.

You're right, but I think we have made a loss in every year of Randy's time so this would have been even greater if we solely relied on the money the club generates. 

I think published accounts can be taken with very large pinches of salt. As we have seen with Amazon,Google and Starbucks US companies create loses to minimise tax bills.

Lerner as a non dom can shift his tax liabilities around the globe and good luck to anyone who can unravel his financial affairs.

What I do know is that since he has owned Villa TV rights have grown exponentially so the thought that he is some sort of benevolent owner bequesting his fortune to our club doesn't quite ring true to me. A bit like that other urban myth that MON ran away with all of his money.

[pauliewalnuts]

He's always been well intentioned but just made some bad judgment calls. I think now that he's putting together what's looking to be a good management team at boardroom level so that he can formally step back, things are looking up.

I agree.  The worry is whether he also pulls the plug on the money he has continued to put into the club.  In an ideal world we would be well run with an increasing turnover but Randy donates the cash to get us to the limit of the FFP rules each season.

The club does generate its own revenue stream also. Randy doesn't have to put his own money in. If we just spend responsibly based on a set spending cap to our then that's a big move forward.

You're right, but I think we have made a loss in every year of Randy's time so this would have been even greater if we solely relied on the money the club generates. 

I think published accounts can be taken with very large pinches of salt. As we have seen with Amazon,Google and Starbucks US companies create loses to minimise tax bills.

Lerner as a non dom can shift his tax liabilities around the globe and good luck to anyone who can unravel his financial affairs.

What I do know is that since he has owned Villa TV rights have grown exponentially so the thought that he is some sort of benevolent owner bequesting his fortune to our club doesn't quite ring true to me. A bit like that other urban myth that MON ran away with all of his money.

Lerner might be a non-dom, but the holding company for Villa, Reform Acquisitions is not, so it's not a case of shifting the money around and hidden profits anywhere.

I think Lerner has run us badly, but honestly, this thing about him actually not putting that much money into the club is demonstrably untrue, and I struggle to understand why anyone would choose to doubt things that are there, for all to see, in black and white.

[Risso]

I don't think Lerner even pretends to live in the UK does he, so technically he isn't a non dom as such, as he lives and pays tax in the US.

The post Paulie is quoting is nonsense I'm afraid.  You can't compare Villa to a multi-national like Google or Starbucks.  We don't buy coffee beans in one country, roast them somwhere else, and then have transfer pricing arrangements between various jurisdictions.  We play football in the UK, receive our income in the UK from fans, Sky TV via the PL and various commercial partners.  There's nothing complicated about it, all that's happened is that since Lerner took over, we've pretty well always spent more than we've earned, hence the losses.  There's no artificial shifting of profits in or out, as there aren't any foreign entities who have anything to do with the trade.  We're held by a Delaware company but I imagine that's just because that's where most US businessmen incorporate their holding companies.

You don't need to unravel Lerner's affairs to understand the Aston Villa accounts, because they're very straight forward indeed.  And we did indeed spend way too much under O'Neill.  Whether you apportion the blame for that to O'Neill, Lerner, or a combination of the two is up to you, but the fact is we overspent hugely on players who didn't get us into the top 4, eg Cuellar, Shorey, Heskey, Sidwell, NRC, Harewood, Warnock and Beye.