The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[Ron Manager]

It would be very helpful in understanding this complex situation if Mervyn King and  David Bernstein could give the Football League some information as to why they felt the need to withdraw their services. Then again perhaps they already have.The next couple of weeks may be very interesting!

[SashasGrandad]

Well the Daily Mail have actual proof

That would be a first

[Mister E]

The only real proof of his integrity will be when a manager is in place, players are being bought and sold and we see evidence of daily club management going in the right direction.
THe PL / FL sure as hell won't be determinants of Xia's efficacy, if history is anything to go by.

My sense is that the Chineses authorities would be unlikely to have 'allowed' a high-profile cultural acquisition like this to have taken place if it were going to end in embarrassment for the Chinese; particularly given the schmoozing that 'Dave' and Osborne have been doing in Beijing (and don't underestimate the influence - however informal - of the Chinese authorities in any sort of western-style takeover or JV).

[berneboy]

Saviour or dreamer? Sportsmail talks to Aston Villa’s Tony Xia   http://dailym.ai/258G9iJ via http://dailym.ai/android

That sounds very positive and nothing to be concerned about.

I think we have all been been poisoned by the toxicity of recent months/years.

It's exciting times.

[PeterWithe]

I hope Lerner doesn't get the hump about him revealing the details of the sale price.

[Risso]

Ask me again in a years time. Until then I'll wait to see what Tony does at the Villa. Benefit of doubt and all that.

Trouble is we could be in a complete hole by then. Time to get worried is now while the deal has to be ratified. Hopefully that will prompt the football authorities to do a bit more investigation before the deal is signed off.

well not really, in 12 months we could just as easily have walked the championship with over 100 points and be thinking of all the big name we'll be looking at to go with squad.  No one knows anything like enough to be making any significant judgements either way.  What protesting about him now over nothing would do is stop us from having the chance to find out.  How would it feel for him to then buy, for example, West Brom and make them the biggest club in the country?

 If the premier league or whoever decide he's legit then i can live with that. But personally taking Hollis' or Lerner's word when they just want rid of us however they do it seems daft.

It's the best info we have, an auditor who had high up roles in the middle east and far east operations of a global auditing company says he's a good guy with the money and backing to make us a big club again.  Conversely some people on the internet said he seems a bit a dodgy because they don't like his shoes and can't find him with a google search.

I don't know either way, none of us do, but whenever you research anything the key is determining which source is the most credible and from our point of view Hollis is it.  The FT article did add a little worry but when the core headline is provable as wrong the credibility of that drops so I'm back to thinking he's legit for the time being.

THat's about where I am.

I don't know anything about Chinese or Far Eastern business and how they structure things, at all, as I've never had any dealings out there personally, but on Dr T and the general takeover:

- He will HAVE to have demonstrated that he can afford to buy the club, before even getting past first base with Merrill Lynch (or the new lot) and entering discussions
- Assuming that the £75m day one, and £40m deferred payment for getting straight back up is about right, he will then have to have demonstrated clearly that he can afford that.
- And again, assuming that Hollis isn't lying and there's an element of having several buyers and picking the 'best one', he'll have been asked to prove how he was going to fund expansion and future growth.

Hollis is an experienced accountant, and won't have had his pants pulled town by a delusional time waster, so while I agree that there's been a few concerning comments, I'm prepapred to wait and see.  The alternative appears to be another year of being owned by Lerner, and I'm absolutely certain that would lead to an immediate demotion to League 1, so I'm prepared to give Xia a chance.

[brian green]

My son and I were sitting in his kitchen drinking coffee and talking about the takeover.  We agreed that in a year's time the two most frequently used words on H and V will be "humble" and "pie".  They will be being used by those who called out Tony Xia as a conman or alternatively by those like me who welcomed him.

My post may well read

I really must consume a large slice of humble pie washed down with a gallon of contrition for not spotting from the start what others were warning of concerning our current owner.  It was only when I read KRO4EVA's post and his "incontravertical prufe" that Tony Xia was not the product of Harvard and MIT but RADA and can be seen as a waiter in a 2012 episode of EastEnders that I was forced to admit my errors.  I grovel.

[London Villan]

Not shy is he. This must be his third or fourth interview in the last week.

[Meanwood Villa]

I'm looking forward to the theme park. Nice to have some guaranteed thrills down at VP.

[john e]

My son and I were sitting in his kitchen drinking coffee and talking about the takeover.  We agreed that in a year's time the two most frequently used words on H and V will be "humble" and "pie".  They will be being used by those who called out Tony Xia as a conman or alternatively by those like me who welcomed him.

My post may well read

I really must consume a large slice of humble pie washed down with a gallon of contrition for not spotting from the start what others were warning of concerning our current owner.  It was only when I read KRO4EVA's post and his "incontravertical prufe" that Tony Xia was not the product of Harvard and MIT but RADA and can be seen as a waiter in a 2012 episode of EastEnders that I was forced to admit my errors.  I grovel.

Think your right there Brian
I've always been one to come out shooting from the hip only to get one straight between the eyes
If pie eating is what is called for, I can do that

[Ron Manager]

My son and I were sitting in his kitchen drinking coffee and talking about the takeover.  We agreed that in a year's time the two most frequently used words on H and V will be "humble" and "pie".  They will be being used by those who called out Tony Xia as a conman or alternatively by those like me who welcomed him.

My post may well read

I really must consume a large slice of humble pie washed down with a gallon of contrition for not spotting from the start what others were warning of concerning our current owner.  It was only when I read KRO4EVA's post and his "incontravertical prufe" that Tony Xia was not the product of Harvard and MIT but RADA and can be seen as a waiter in a 2012 episode of EastEnders that I was forced to admit my errors.  I grovel.

Think your right there Brian
I've always been one to come out shooting from the hip only to get one straight between the eyes
If pie eating is what is called for, I can do that

With Gabby's help of course!

[Ian.]

Well if your not worried Risso, (money is your field isn't it?) I'm not worried and I'm still feeling positive about this.

I can't wait for a manager to be announced and the summer can be a process of squad cleansing and rebuilding.

[Proposition Joe]

I can't believe how many of us are looking at all these questions and just refusing to think about how this could turn out if it really turns out that this bloke is nowhere near as rich as we've been told he is.

I think how rich he personally is is not question. We were bought by a company, not by he himself. Having said he won't burn money, my guess is his aim is to have us as a self-sufficient subsidiary of his group (see Spurs to see how it could be done). The initial phase requires investment, so the question is if all that money is coming from subsidiaries, loans or where. If loans, and we miss out on promotion then it may get messy.

Also, Villa were pulled up for the press release when it was said Recon didn't own 5 listed companies, just 1. That's not to say it didn't own 5 companies, just that only 1 was a listed company.

[Virgil Caine]

Saviour or dreamer? Sportsmail talks to Aston Villa’s Tony Xia   http://dailym.ai/258G9iJ via http://dailym.ai/android

That sounds very positive and nothing to be concerned about.

I think we have all been been poisoned by the toxicity of recent months/years.

It's exciting times.

I am certainly moving to a far more positive state of mind about the takeover. I agree Berneboy, a great many of us have been affected by the endless pipeline of bad news and glass half empty feel around Villa Park. Bizarrely when I started reading the more negative rumours about The Doc my immediate thought was about the fiasco of a purchase of Aldershot Town by a 20 year old who tuned out to be a Walter Mitty character without a pot to pee in. Can't remember the details but it was about 20 years ago?

[DeKuip]

I'll only believe he's loaded and has good intentions when he knocks 50% off my season ticket price and offers free flights to our first pre-season friendly in China.

The theme park idea at least proves he's thinking of what to do with the current squad.