The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[oldhill_avfc]

One thing I haven't quite worked out is, if he has wealthy Chinese (property investment?) backers, why does he need the services of Chris Samuelson?

To me this is the worst worrying art of it all as it implies that he's going alone on this and needs funding, which will inevitably come with some significant strings attached.  Strings which if it goes tits up will end up either in a fire sale to another chancer or worse still bankruptcy.

I know that sounds alarmist but thats what at stake here.

[ASHTONVILLA]

I can understand the worrying, but I think this is going to work out fine. He clearly has access to money from somewhere as Hollis and Lerner will have sought proof that he has the £60m available. I don't think they care if he has the rest (as intimated in the Hollis interview where he shrugged and suggested the interviewer asked Tony) but if he can find £60m down the  back of the sofa then he can probably find the other £50m for players and certainly has the rest of the cash for Lerner when we get promoted. This is not a poor man, or at least he has people behind him with substantial amounts of money.

Everything he is saying so far I like. He seems to be setting ambitious goals in attainable steps, and is putting things on place for a new manager. He wants hard workers and for us to be sustainable - all good. If he can get us to a decent level of support back in China then revenues will increase, I also expect us to get better sponsors going forwards.

Overall I feel pretty good about the deal thus far.

[Jimbo]

www.reconig.com

Is it my computer or is Recon's website down?

Weird, I just came on to post the same. Found it at the end of this video

http://english.cctv.com/2016/05/21/VIDEYK6efVnOuvv3qKqT715t160521.shtml

It actually sounds like the manager position has already been filled. With announcement next week.

Terribly childish of me, I know, but when I see Dr X interviews, I can't help thinking of Bob Mortimer's Tony Baron character from Bang Bang Reeves & Mortimer's 'The Club'. It's uncanny.

[aj2k77]

It is in Lerner / Hollis' best interests to sell us to someone with the right intentions and the right money.
Lerner stands to almost double his money if we are promoted, he will want to know that there is a good chance of that happening and that the new man has the money to pay up. And for all we know there are further success related clauses.
My only concern is that the success isn't achieved by bank loans etc.
Personally though, I think Xia / Recon is probably a front for Chinese government who can't be seen to be buying a football club, and that's why the trail on the money is so vague.

Lerner could have doubled his money by keeping us and investing the 40m himself, getting promoted and then selling us.

Lerner has already invested and lost a quarter of a billion pounds. He could probably quite easily plow in another £40m and fuck that up too. He's not fit to run a football club, he knows that himself I'd say.

[oswald funkletrumpet]

Is he a proper Doctor or one like Doctor Fox?

i saw something that the degree he did was doctor of science and something so no not a real doctor as in a medical dr or having done a phd

[JUAN PABLO]

It is in Lerner / Hollis' best interests to sell us to someone with the right intentions and the right money.
Lerner stands to almost double his money if we are promoted, he will want to know that there is a good chance of that happening and that the new man has the money to pay up. And for all we know there are further success related clauses.
My only concern is that the success isn't achieved by bank loans etc.
Personally though, I think Xia / Recon is probably a front for Chinese government who can't be seen to be buying a football club, and that's why the trail on the money is so vague.

Lerner could have doubled his money by keeping us and investing the 40m himself, getting promoted and then selling us.

or investing in January and keeping us a prem club.

[PeterWithe]

Is he a proper Doctor or one like Doctor Fox?

i saw something that the degree he did was doctor of science and something so no not a real doctor as in a medical dr or having done a phd

You learn something every day, I always thought you had to do a PhD to become a doctor of something. Ta.

[tomd2103]

Not sure what to make of this quote from Xia in one of the papers today, "Villa Park is a very historic stadium, so we will not callously destroy a club's history.  But we want to use Villa's history and its substantial fan base around the world to also promote Lotus Health.  It would be a great advert for both brands". 

New shirt sponsor and stadium name on the way?

[ASHTONVILLA]

Is he a proper Doctor or one like Doctor Fox?

i saw something that the degree he did was doctor of science and something so no not a real doctor as in a medical dr or having done a phd

You learn something every day, I always thought you had to do a PhD to become a doctor of something. Ta.

The other types of doctorate have the same academic status as a PhD, they are not a softer option just a different one. Usually they are more industry focussed / applied.

[KevinGage]

Bulldoze the Doug Ellis and build a giant lotus.

[paul_e]

The problem is all the negatives are based on rumour or are demonstrably false.

The doctorate thing seems to be a rumour based on very little.
The bird's nest thing, as has been said, was probably due to the oylmpic forest and something got misunderstood.
The 1 company not 5 is wrong and I have no idea why it's not been challenged - teamax are a recon company and are registered, lotus are a recon company and are registered, so the 1 company thing is clearly wrong.  It seems to have come from someone calling recon and speaking to an employee but with no info on who they are why does it become gospel and without knowing the actual questions that were asked.

To me it seems that there's a bit of a 'hole' in the info available about him and the internet has filled it with scare stories and rumours and they've been escalated to fact with far less scrutiny than is being suggested for Xia to face.

[ASHTONVILLA]

Bulldoze the Doug Ellis and build a giant lotus.

A new stand like this to replace the North Stand would be bonkers but quite good.

[Billy Walker]

The problem is all the negatives are based on rumour or are demonstrably false.

The doctorate thing seems to be a rumour based on very little.
The bird's nest thing, as has been said, was probably due to the oylmpic forest and something got misunderstood.
The 1 company not 5 is wrong and I have no idea why it's not been challenged - teamax are a recon company and are registered, lotus are a recon company and are registered, so the 1 company thing is clearly wrong.  It seems to have come from someone calling recon and speaking to an employee but with no info on who they are why does it become gospel and without knowing the actual questions that were asked.

To me it seems that there's a bit of a 'hole' in the info available about him and the internet has filled it with scare stories and rumours and they've been escalated to fact with far less scrutiny than is being suggested for Xia to face.

I agree, I think some things are simply being lost in translation or twisted to create click-bait stories. I still remain optimistic on this one and hope we will see a press conference called at Villa Park in good time to make things official and clarify matters. 

[pauliewalnuts]

The problem is all the negatives are based on rumour or are demonstrably false.

The doctorate thing seems to be a rumour based on very little.
The bird's nest thing, as has been said, was probably due to the oylmpic forest and something got misunderstood.
The 1 company not 5 is wrong and I have no idea why it's not been challenged - teamax are a recon company and are registered, lotus are a recon company and are registered, so the 1 company thing is clearly wrong.  It seems to have come from someone calling recon and speaking to an employee but with no info on who they are why does it become gospel and without knowing the actual questions that were asked.

To me it seems that there's a bit of a 'hole' in the info available about him and the internet has filled it with scare stories and rumours and they've been escalated to fact with far less scrutiny than is being suggested for Xia to face.

There's not a single thing you've listed there that explains away anything.

The birds nest stadium thing "lost in translation"? That's no explanation whatsoever.

It wasn't 'five companies' it was 'five listed companies' and regardless of whether you've found another one, that is still not five. "The takeovers of the others haven't gone through yet " line we heard the other day is also utter nonsense - until those takeovers do go through, they don't 'own' them.

The 'offices in x countries' thing too - look at the xwho Web site, no addresses for these offices, just email addresses.

I am not saying this bloke is a crook but contrary to what you said, none of the things people are worrying about have been explained.

Do you find it surprising given the above that people are concerned? This is a bloke who apparently employs 35,000 people in 70 countries yet he and his companies are almost non existent on the Internet. Don't you think you'd find chatter about those companies from some of those 35000 employees?

One of the few things on the Internet about this bloke is a well known anti corruption campaigner calling him out.

All the above and you're still not concerned? This isn't some pissy club like Albion or Blues he's buying, it is our club and this bloke is shrouded in uncertainty. Sorry, but until some of these issues get clarified then I'm staying in the sceptical camp.

[JUAN PABLO]

Not sure what to make of this quote from Xia in one of the papers today, "Villa Park is a very historic stadium, so we will not callously destroy a club's history.  But we want to use Villa's history and its substantial fan base around the world to also promote Lotus Health.  It would be a great advert for both brands". 

New shirt sponsor and stadium name on the way?

no problem with the shirt , he can f''k off with a ground name change.