The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[aj2k77]

It's strange that so many people are making such an effort to be negative. First it's not going to happen, then it happens but it's still bad because we don't know anything, then we find out a bit more but they pick holes in what he's said... He speaks of ambition but the last guy was also ambitious so that makes a worrying parallel?!

I don't think people are trying to be negative, it's just the last 5 years have left a lot of people expecting the worst and not trusting. We got our fingers burnt badly with Lerner and now we aren't likely to just give the benefit of any doubt straight up.

Show us not tell us has never been more apt.

The last line is absolutely true, but people need to give him time to show us in that case, he can't do much in the 23 hours that he's been involved, so any major judgements should be held off for at least a month or 2.

Exactly. Leave the scare mongering to noses who hoped we'd be down in their slums for a few years, giving them something to play for.

Can anyone find anything genuinely suspicious about him so far?

The company that he has highlighted as one of his main assets looks like a large loss-making mess.

He is talking about making us one of the top 3 clubs in world football today (yesterday it was just China) yet only waited until we were relegated to finalise the purchase.  If the money is truly available to fund that level of ambition, why wait until now?

He wears a Burton suit and shoes from Bacons.

I don't think anyone has enough of a grasp of any of his businesses to say they are a mess. I will say, without any knowledge of the finances that from the outside they build cities to rehouse millions of Chinese, it's definately not small time.

Who knows why now? Maybe Lerner was a problem until the relegation?  The top club guff is your standard takeover talk. I don't think anyone's ever come in to a club and said they're looking and trundling along.

Maybe Bacons shoes are the in thing in China? (they do look shit, I think you have him on that one)

[paul_e]

Haven't seen it posted yet so Hollis article on the official site: http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~5583097,00.html

Chairman Steve Hollis met the press at Villa Park earlier today to discuss the sale of the club to Recon Group, owned by Dr Tony Xia.

Have a read below.

On confirmation of the sale of the club…

It is no secret we have been running a process and we've had a number of interested buyers from all parts of the world.

We wanted someone who is going to really take this so seriously they are determined to deliver and achieve the ultimate accolades in football for Aston Villa.

The one thing that really helped us in getting behind the Tony Xia bid is the scale of the ambition he has.

If you look at Tony Xia's business career in China, he has been instrumental in the regeneration and the building of over 60 of the new cities and relocating 500 million people into the urban areas.

He has shared with us his ambition in football, his ambition for Aston Villa Football Club, his ambition for the Aston area as a part of the city of Birmingham - frankly it is inspirational.

If he delivers on what he shared with us, it is going to be a great journey over the next few years.

On the role of the claret and blue faithful in bringing new Owner Tony Xia to B6…

It is a big club.

This club is the founder of the Football League, it is one of the best supported clubs.

The supporters must know that at the Newcastle home game, which we drew 0-0, Tony was in one of the boxes as my guest with some of his people.

The noise, the enthusiasm, the sheer passion they generate. they must understand the role that they played in actually helping Randy and I bring Tony into this club.

To actually witness that outburst of support, enthusiasm and hope from the supporters, it was amazing.

So to every one of those supporters that was there, a big thank you.

On the new Owner's vision…

The picture starts with actually winning football matches and getting Aston Villa back into the Premier League.

Tony's ambition, which he has been talking about, is getting Aston Villa into European football as quickly as possible.

That's the starting point.

If you look at Tony's business career he has been hugely successful in China and globally.

On the new owner's claret and blue background…

He's very keen on football.

He's always supported Aston Villa.

You must ask him but I think he looked at a number of clubs, Aston Villa was his preferred choice.

He sees huge opportunity for this football club.

It ticks the boxes for Tony and his team.

Managerial update…

We have our preferred candidate.

We are now in this interim period until Tony gets the fit and proper approvals through from the Premier League and the Football League and once we've got those, it is then Tony's club.

We will start discussions next week with Tony.

There will be a consultation but as I sit here now there has been no discussions whatsoever with Tony and his people around the manager.

That is the 'hold' position until we get together next week.

On the future…

Tony has made it very clear he wants to make Aston Villa the best supported club in China.

He has huge global ambitions in football and this is the starting point on that journey for him.

For Aston Villa supporters to be a part of something that has that scale of ambition, hopefully the future years are going to be hugely more exciting than the past few years.

I've underlined the bits I think are important.  The 'plans for Aston and Birmingham' bit is the biggie for me.  As I said when the Chinese interest first came up I always thought it was going to be about the city as much as the club and Hollis quite clearly backs that up here.


I have a lot of time for Hollis, I thought the blame he got for January was unfair and his 6 months, despite all the shit on the pitch, seems to have been highly productive.  If he's saying things like this about our new owner then I'm more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.  I honestly think the general mood should be much more excited than it is.  Not insane but certainly not looking for things to be unhappy about in every statement.

[ChicagoLion]

For those that want more information concerning money and finances, you are not going to get it.
It is not how Chinese businesses and people operate.
You will find out through actions, I am afraid it is like it or lump it.
The next big thing is the managerial appointment.

[supertom]

As with everyone who came in under Randolph over the last 5 years, I wasn't sure what to make of Hollis. However the guy has done a good job and ultimately has done what Lerner has been incapable of doing in the last 2 years. Well done Steve. He'll leave with my best wishes.

[CJ]

As with everyone who came in under Randolph over the last 5 years, I wasn't sure what to make of Hollis. However the guy has done a good job and ultimately has done what Lerner has been incapable of doing in the last 2 years. Well done Steve. He'll leave with my best wishes.

Well said, and seconded

[paul_e]

John E you are on a loser here. We have cash to spend and he is taking this far more seriously than Lerner ever did. By all means be sceptical, but dial in the "wrong un, shyster, chancer" stuff.

Judge on actions. And lighten up a bit. The well meaning man child has fucked off. That's worth a cheery pint in anyone's book.

There's no reason to be accusing the guy of being a 'wrong un' etc but it would be very nice to have a clearer idea of who he was and what he's done.
All we have is the MSG company and vague stuff about infrastructure companies with wildy varying valuations and nothing backing it up.

The fact that Hollis is happy with the deal is some comfort but it still leaves me not having a clue whether our new owner has borrowed cash to buy us or is planning on borrowing more in future. Those are important details.

What are you on about with 'nothing backing it up'? In an hour last night I found all 5 of the companies they say are listed on the stock exchange and 4 of them were linked in this thread (here's the one I haven't linked - http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=000662.SZ - I only held off on it because I was trying to work out how the merger/acquisition of softto fitted in).  That's the smart cities company and has a market cap of 16.2bn Yen, I think it's safe to say that's where most of the money from the urbanisation work has gone.  Unfortunately they don't seem to have posted accounts for a couple of years (I don't know why) so it's tough to get a full position on them but they're certainly a big company.

[Ian.]

Well it certainly all sound very promising. Hopefully more exciting times ahead. It's been very hard being a Villa fan, it must be absolutely demoralising for those who go regularly.

The proof will be in the managerial appointment, the funds available this summer and the removal of the rotten players in the short term. The long term, well, we have all 'Lerned' (sorry) the hard way and that it is always not as easy as throwing money at things. The set up from board room right the way through the club needs to be correct and all pulling in the same direction.

Heres to good times again. Welcome to the club Tony.

[Percy McCarthy]

Haven't seen it posted yet so Hollis article on the official site: http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~5583097,00.html

Chairman Steve Hollis met the press at Villa Park earlier today to discuss the sale of the club to Recon Group, owned by Dr Tony Xia.

Have a read below.

On confirmation of the sale of the club…

It is no secret we have been running a process and we've had a number of interested buyers from all parts of the world.

We wanted someone who is going to really take this so seriously they are determined to deliver and achieve the ultimate accolades in football for Aston Villa.

The one thing that really helped us in getting behind the Tony Xia bid is the scale of the ambition he has.

If you look at Tony Xia's business career in China, he has been instrumental in the regeneration and the building of over 60 of the new cities and relocating 500 million people into the urban areas.

He has shared with us his ambition in football, his ambition for Aston Villa Football Club, his ambition for the Aston area as a part of the city of Birmingham - frankly it is inspirational.

If he delivers on what he shared with us, it is going to be a great journey over the next few years.

On the role of the claret and blue faithful in bringing new Owner Tony Xia to B6…

It is a big club.

This club is the founder of the Football League, it is one of the best supported clubs.

The supporters must know that at the Newcastle home game, which we drew 0-0, Tony was in one of the boxes as my guest with some of his people.

The noise, the enthusiasm, the sheer passion they generate. they must understand the role that they played in actually helping Randy and I bring Tony into this club.

To actually witness that outburst of support, enthusiasm and hope from the supporters, it was amazing.

So to every one of those supporters that was there, a big thank you.

On the new Owner's vision…

The picture starts with actually winning football matches and getting Aston Villa back into the Premier League.

Tony's ambition, which he has been talking about, is getting Aston Villa into European football as quickly as possible.

That's the starting point.

If you look at Tony's business career he has been hugely successful in China and globally.

On the new owner's claret and blue background…

He's very keen on football.

He's always supported Aston Villa.

You must ask him but I think he looked at a number of clubs, Aston Villa was his preferred choice.

He sees huge opportunity for this football club.

It ticks the boxes for Tony and his team.

Managerial update…

We have our preferred candidate.

We are now in this interim period until Tony gets the fit and proper approvals through from the Premier League and the Football League and once we've got those, it is then Tony's club.

We will start discussions next week with Tony.

There will be a consultation but as I sit here now there has been no discussions whatsoever with Tony and his people around the manager.

That is the 'hold' position until we get together next week.

On the future…

Tony has made it very clear he wants to make Aston Villa the best supported club in China.

He has huge global ambitions in football and this is the starting point on that journey for him.

For Aston Villa supporters to be a part of something that has that scale of ambition, hopefully the future years are going to be hugely more exciting than the past few years.

I've underlined the bits I think are important.  The 'plans for Aston and Birmingham' bit is the biggie for me.  As I said when the Chinese interest first came up I always thought it was going to be about the city as much as the club and Hollis quite clearly backs that up here.


I have a lot of time for Hollis, I thought the blame he got for January was unfair and his 6 months, despite all the shit on the pitch, seems to have been highly productive.  If he's saying things like this about our new owner then I'm more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.  I honestly think the general mood should be much more excited than it is.  Not insane but certainly not looking for things to be unhappy about in every statement.

Yeah, I love that bit about Aston too. Villa first though in my list of priorities, then regeneration of the manor. I've always thought that both the club and the area has so much more potential than anyone has ever spotted, so hopefully here's a bloke that has, with the know-how to realise it (the potential).

[Matt Collins]

Hello everyone. Couldn't face this site for quite a while

Quick thoughts on this:
- glad randy's gone and welcome the ambition, though some of the ambitions don't seem credible unless he is going down the man city route. And that concerns me.
- does seem like he has a plan - championship suited manager, promoting youth and the like
- hope he doesn't want to interfere in playing matters
- do think you could regenerate Aston as it's quite close to the centre - but I did the walk from new st last season and I was shocked at the lack of investment since I last did it about 15 years ago. Would require massive investment and genuine job creation

[chrisf]

There's no reason to be accusing the guy of being a 'wrong un' etc but it would be very nice to have a clearer idea of who he was and what he's done.
All we have is the MSG company and vague stuff about infrastructure companies with wildy varying valuations and nothing backing it up.

The fact that Hollis is happy with the deal is some comfort but it still leaves me not having a clue whether our new owner has borrowed cash to buy us or is planning on borrowing more in future. Those are important details.

What are you on about with 'nothing backing it up'? In an hour last night I found all 5 of the companies they say are listed on the stock exchange and 4 of them were linked in this thread (here's the one I haven't linked - http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=000662.SZ - I only held off on it because I was trying to work out how the merger/acquisition of softto fitted in).  That's the smart cities company and has a market cap of 16.2bn Yen, I think it's safe to say that's where most of the money from the urbanisation work has gone.  Unfortunately they don't seem to have posted accounts for a couple of years (I don't know why) so it's tough to get a full position on them but they're certainly a big company.

Good point. I'd forgotten you'd posted those. There's a good £5-10 Bn of company assets in just those listed companies. Not clear whether they're making much money but then neither is Amazon and I wouldn't have complained if Jeff Bezos bought us. I'm convinced and will now shut up.

[dave.woodhall]

We had a chairman. We complained that he was a small businessman and we needed a rich owner. We got a new owner. We complained that he'd inherited his money and we needed a self-made rich owner. We've got a self-made rich owner. We're complaining that he looks a bit dodgy/shifty.

[chrisw1]

We had a chairman. We complained that he was a small businessman and we needed a rich owner. We got a new owner. We complained that he'd inherited his money and we needed a self-made rich owner. We've got a self-made rich owner. We're complaining that he looks a bit dodgy/shifty.

You couldn't make it up could you?  No wonder the heathens laugh at us sometimes.

[paul_e]

There's no reason to be accusing the guy of being a 'wrong un' etc but it would be very nice to have a clearer idea of who he was and what he's done.
All we have is the MSG company and vague stuff about infrastructure companies with wildy varying valuations and nothing backing it up.

The fact that Hollis is happy with the deal is some comfort but it still leaves me not having a clue whether our new owner has borrowed cash to buy us or is planning on borrowing more in future. Those are important details.

What are you on about with 'nothing backing it up'? In an hour last night I found all 5 of the companies they say are listed on the stock exchange and 4 of them were linked in this thread (here's the one I haven't linked - http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=000662.SZ - I only held off on it because I was trying to work out how the merger/acquisition of softto fitted in).  That's the smart cities company and has a market cap of 16.2bn Yen, I think it's safe to say that's where most of the money from the urbanisation work has gone.  Unfortunately they don't seem to have posted accounts for a couple of years (I don't know why) so it's tough to get a full position on them but they're certainly a big company.

Good point. I'd forgotten you'd posted those. There's a good £5-10 Bn of company assets in just those listed companies. Not clear whether they're making much money but then neither is Amazon and I wouldn't have complained if Jeff Bezos bought us. I'm convinced and will now shut up.

You can also add xwho to the ever growing list - http://www.xwhodesign.com/en/ - I can't find any stock market  details on them though so getting details on their finances might be a lot more complicated.

[avfcpg]

We had a chairman. We complained that he was a small businessman and we needed a rich owner. We got a new owner. We complained that he'd inherited his money and we needed a self-made rich owner. We've got a self-made rich owner. We're complaining that he looks a bit dodgy/shifty.

This...

[nigel]

Haven't seen it posted yet so Hollis article on the official site: http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~5583097,00.html

I've underlined the bits I think are important.  The 'plans for Aston and Birmingham' bit is the biggie for me.  As I said when the Chinese interest first came up I always thought it was going to be about the city as much as the club and Hollis quite clearly backs that up here.


I have a lot of time for Hollis, I thought the blame he got for January was unfair and his 6 months, despite all the shit on the pitch, seems to have been highly productive.  If he's saying things like this about our new owner then I'm more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.  I honestly think the general mood should be much more excited than it is.  Not insane but certainly not looking for things to be unhappy about in every statement.
[/quote]



Yes, I think he's done a wonderful job.
I'd like to think he'll be staying on, but, I reckon he was just bought in to oversee the sale.

EDIT:
Bit of a quote failure