The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[frank black]

China is a completely currupt set up.  The worst of both worlds.  The idealism of communism and market forces ruled without democracy.  It's rise has been based on the sweat of its poor and about 20m in prisons of sorts. Their stock market is a tissue of lies. That said many millions have been taken from poor to middle class and a great deal of the country have prospered.   A bit like Victorian Britan. 

And they are greatly responsible with extinguishing the worlds unique life. Unless you are a cute Panda.

[TonyD]

China is a completely currupt set up.  The worst of both worlds.  The idealism of communism and market forces ruled without democracy.  It's rise has been based on the sweat of its poor and about 20m in prisons of sorts. Their stock market is a tissue of lies. That said many millions have been taken from poor to middle class and a great deal of the country have prospered.   A bit like Victorian Britan. 

And they are greatly responsible with extinguishing the worlds unique life. Unless you are a cute Panda.

??

[Walmley_Villa]

Well let's not forget that us Brits invented the concentration camp....

[BC54 VFC]

Interesting comments, including on Chinese corporate governance, from Anthony Bolton, the well known fund manager who got his fingers burnt managing the Fidelity China Special Situations investment trust in the twilight of his career:-

http://citywire.co.uk/money/anthony-bolton-the-chinese-are-great-liars/a743980

[martin o`who??]

He will have done "Due Diligence" on us - has anyone done likewise on him?. I am beginning to get a little nervous the more I learn about him, and apparently I am not alone on this.

[frank black]

China is a completely currupt set up.  The worst of both worlds.  The idealism of communism and market forces ruled without democracy.  It's rise has been based on the sweat of its poor and about 20m in prisons of sorts. Their stock market is a tissue of lies. That said many millions have been taken from poor to middle class and a great deal of the country have prospered.   A bit like Victorian Britan. 

And they are greatly responsible with extinguishing the worlds unique life. Unless you are a cute Panda.

??

Like Victorian Britain

[KevinGage]

I don't think it matters that much in the slightest really.

so within 24 hours of the takeover being announced the club is lying about the business achievements of the potential new owner and that isnt concerning?

the 5 listed companies is another lie but dont worry it was probably lost in translation or something

two whopping lies within two days so what else has been lied about?

what next? the 35000 employed is really 3500 and was a typo

It only matters if you're looking for things to be continually angry about. Let's just see what happens eh?

not angry just amazed that people write off major bollock ups as just one of those things and of no concern

if you go for a job and say i worked on the major restructure of x company and i own 5 companies and i dont really what you still be happy to employ that person?

the lies have come from somewhere and begs the question about more lies and the persons integrity

It's not a case of writing it off, maybe some people are not getting their knickers in an almighty twist at this early stage. Some people might want to wait and see what develops. Just because you're stamping your feet, we don't all have to.

You will never be wrong then will you
You wait and see , if he turns out to be genuine you say he's a good one, if he turns out to be a phoney you say he's a bad one, oooh be careful

in the end we have no choice anyway, we will all have to wait and see as none of us are in control

But it is a message board, and sometimes people will take a chance and give an opinion either way,
I know it may seem a high risk strategy to you but we will just have to live with the consequences

Aye.

Apart from the Villa memories section, you could neuter just about every thread on this site with 'lets wait and see.'

Aside from the Eric Black thread.  Jury is well and truly in on that one.

[Clampy]

I don't think it matters that much in the slightest really.

so within 24 hours of the takeover being announced the club is lying about the business achievements of the potential new owner and that isnt concerning?

the 5 listed companies is another lie but dont worry it was probably lost in translation or something

two whopping lies within two days so what else has been lied about?

what next? the 35000 employed is really 3500 and was a typo

It only matters if you're looking for things to be continually angry about. Let's just see what happens eh?

not angry just amazed that people write off major bollock ups as just one of those things and of no concern

if you go for a job and say i worked on the major restructure of x company and i own 5 companies and i dont really what you still be happy to employ that person?

the lies have come from somewhere and begs the question about more lies and the persons integrity

It's not a case of writing it off, maybe some people are not getting their knickers in an almighty twist at this early stage. Some people might want to wait and see what develops. Just because you're stamping your feet, we don't all have to.

You will never be wrong then will you
You wait and see , if he turns out to be genuine you say he's a good one, if he turns out to be a phoney you say he's a bad one, oooh be careful

in the end we have no choice anyway, we will all have to wait and see as none of us are in control

But it is a message board, and sometimes people will take a chance and give an opinion either way,
I know it may seem a high risk strategy to you but we will just have to live with the consequences

Pardon me if I don't want to give an opinion on a bloke who I don't even know. Sorry about that.

[adrenachrome]

Torygraph

Aston Villa sale to Tony Xia is Randy Lerner's last chance to save risible legacy

Sam Wallace
Chief Football Writer

21 May 2016 • 3:03pm

It was with a final message on Aston Villa’s website that Randy Lerner’s ownership of the club ended this week, a quirky farewell which read, it should be said, like a valedictory email from a colourful colleague leaving under a cloud, cc’d to all at an unusually late hour.

“In being sadly more than tone deaf,” Lerner wrote, “I'll not weakly risk trying to sound any positive notes.” And commendable though it is that the Holte Pub has been restored on his watch as a club banqueting suite, him listing it among his achievements only conspired to make the legacy sound that bit more risible


The fact that fans can choose from a range of beers in a relaxing environment while marvelling at the Holte’s three stylish function suites might soften the blow for some, but on the whole one suspects their preoccupation will be this: Aston Villa are in the Championship.

Yet every owner, no matter how unpopular, has one final task before they do what the banners and the phone-ins demand - that is to ensure their successor is not likely to make an even worse job of it. One wonders, for instance how often each day David Moores reflects on selling Liverpool in 2007 to Tom Hicks and George Gillett.


Although the track record of those two is far removed from their compatriot Stan Kroenke, the former Arsenal shareholder Nina Bracewell-Smith has expressed regrets at selling to the American. Likewise, what to make of Terry Brown’s sale of West Ham to the Icelandics who almost bankrupted the club?

Lerner has selected the Chinese businessman Dr Tony Xia, described by the American as “hugely successful” as well as “passionate about architecture, site design and planning”. Indeed, there was considerably more in Lerner’s farewell about the new owner redeveloping Villa Park than there was about him redeveloping the team’s defence, midfield and attack.

Yet, the latest disclosure that the Premier League and Football League both have serious doubts about Xia’s suitability suggest that whatever mistakes Lerner has made at Villa up until now, he cannot afford for his last to be his greatest.

The first Chinese takeover of a significant British football club has been long-anticipated, and regarded as a potential game-changer even in these days of fossil-fuel billionaire owners. Xia might yet turn out to be a shrewd and resourceful owner of Villa in the mould of Leicester City’s Thai Srivaddhanaprabha family, but at first glance he is not nearly so wealthy.

The Sunday Telegraph’s Beijing correspondent Neil Connor has discovered that the biggest company in Xia’s Recon Group empire appears to be Shanghai-based Lotus Health Group, which made a net loss in of 508.5 million yuan [£53.3 million] on revenues of 1.7 billion yuan [£180 million] last year. That is compared with a net profit of 23.9 million yuan [£2.5 million] the previous year.

Xia bought the company in March last year, and in December there was surprise in the Chinese business community when it emerged the cousin of President Xi Jinping had been elected to its board of governors. The decision to elect Xi Yinping was reversed a day later



The new Villa owner also has further investment aside from Lotus, a food additive company. His Recon Group also has interests in small loans, IT and urban design. He studied design and landscape architecture at Harvard. Historically he has claimed on Weibo, the Chinese Twitter equivalent, that he is a Villa fan – one stunt Lerner conspicuously avoided when he arrived ten years ago.

Yet in the Chinese equivalent of the Forbes rich list – the Hurun List – Xia is nowhere to be seen. In a country where plenty claim to be billionaires, and there is even less transparency about personal wealth, that is nevertheless confusing given the bold promises made this week that Xia will turn Villa into one of the world’s best known clubs in less than ten years.

My colleague Connor did ask Xia’s alma mater Harvard for the new Villa owner’s academic record but he appears to have opted to block all public access to it. Either way, the evidence suggests Xia is not currently at the level where he has limitless funds capable of solving any problem.

If Xia cannot change Villa by sheer virtue of his wealth, and that would be hard to do overnight given the Football League’s financial fair play rules, then it will be intriguing to see his strategy. Traditionally the major Chinese investors have not sought to buy European clubs, on the basis that making profit from the game is so difficult with wages spiraling ever upwards.

At the behest of President Xi, who has made football a part of state policy, major business figures have got involved. Jack Ma, billionaire founder of the internet Alibaba Group, has pumped money into the Chinese Super League club Guangzhou Evergrande, current holders of the Asian Champions League, but he has resisted making a big investment in Europe.

Wang Jianlin, one of the country’s richest men, bought 20 per cent of Atletico Madrid for £34 million last season, which would have barely caused a ripple on the surface of his resources. The CMC Chinese consortium that bought a 13 per cent stake for £265 million in the City Football Group who own Manchester City, were brought in primarily by Sheikh Mansour’s executives to give City a way into the Chinese media market.

In all instances investment has been regarded in China as fulfilling the wishes of President Xi and forging bonds with clubs that will allow top Chinese players a chance to develop in an elite environment and eventually benefit the woefully underachieving national team. As for Xia, he is not nearly as wealthy as the aforementioned, but the first to put himself directly in the firing line.

The bad old days of the last five years at Villa will eventually fade, but if Lerner sells to the wrong man, he may find himself in the unhappy position of being caught unwittingly in a whole fresh era of pain.

[cdbearsfan]

https://twitter.com/mattlyynch/status/734025783962828800

An interview with Dr. tone.
Seems he knows who the manager is. Just another week to wait.

Pretty big spoiler there. Did you notice that when referring to the new manager, he used the word "he"?

The new manager is going to be a man.

[Richard E]

https://twitter.com/mattlyynch/status/734025783962828800

An interview with Dr. tone.
Seems he knows who the manager is. Just another week to wait.

Pretty big spoiler there. Did you notice that when referring to the new manager, he used the word "he"?

The new manager is going to be a man.

Damn! That rules Cherie Lunghi out then. Gutted.

[ciggiesnbeer]

https://twitter.com/mattlyynch/status/734025783962828800

An interview with Dr. tone.
Seems he knows who the manager is. Just another week to wait.

He comes across well.

[adrenachrome]

https://twitter.com/mattlyynch/status/734025783962828800

An interview with Dr. tone.
Seems he knows who the manager is. Just another week to wait.

Pretty big spoiler there. Did you notice that when referring to the new manager, he used the word "he"?

The new manager is going to be a man.

Damn! That rules Cherie Lunghi out then. Gutted.

Older posters will remember Cherie Lunghi playing opposite Jack Shepherd in a controversial TV Series about a left wing Labour MP imaginatively named "Bill Brand".  Jaysus she was a revelation.

[Proposition Joe]

Interesting comments, including on Chinese corporate governance, from Anthony Bolton, the well known fund manager who got his fingers burnt managing the Fidelity China Special Situations investment trust in the twilight of his career:-

http://citywire.co.uk/money/anthony-bolton-the-chinese-are-great-liars/a743980

Interesting.  Although he seems to attribute the "lying" more to officials/officialdom and has more confidence in what he calls "new China".  I would say that Tony Xia definitely belongs to the latter category.  Still, it shows you should be wary of taking claims at face value (tbh this should apply to all situations at all times anyway).

[Lastfootstamper]

The Sunday Telegraph’s Beijing correspondent Neil Connor has discovered that the biggest company in Xia’s Recon Group empire appears to be Shanghai-based Lotus Health Group, which made a net loss in of 508.5 million yuan [£53.3 million] on revenues of 1.7 billion yuan [£180 million] last year. That is compared with a net profit of 23.9 million yuan [£2.5 million] the previous year.

Xia bought the company in March last year, and in December there was surprise in the Chinese business community when it emerged the cousin of President Xi Jinping had been elected to its board of governors. The decision to elect Xi Yinping was reversed a day Later

Yeah, well done. Glad to see investigative journalism's not dead.

Yet, the latest disclosure that the Premier League and Football League both have serious doubts about Xia’s suitability

Has this been disclosed? What "serious doubts" are they that would concern those bodies?


Will we ever stop being annoyed by people sitting on their arses and getting paid for doing fuck-all?