The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[Bottom Right 89]

Yesterday I noticed BBC sport reported Bradford City had been taken over by a German Consortium - that is all it said. No scepticism about their intentions, level of funding, CV of the proposed chairman. I know its like comparing apples with sour grapes but still why all the articles about Dr Xia?

I put it down to irrational fear of the Chinese.

[sid1964]

If the deal does not go through, and we are still owned by Learner, then we are in serious trouble

We will have a large overdraft at the bank, and who would really want to manage us knowing that the only players we can bring in are Free transfers / loan deals

I hope that this deal goes through and Dr X, makes good on his promises.

[AVH87]

That bank statement thing is hilarious. How would something like that, belonging to a serious businessman, get into the hands of a journalist? Either it is fake or he isn't a serious businessman. My money is on the former.

It would get  into his hands because they had a face to face meeting at his house and the journalist mentioned that there are worries about how wealthy he is, he responded by showing him something that proved he has money behind him.  Given that a reply of "I've got loads of money, trust me" would've been seen as bullshitting and he won't be able to prove to the fans how serious he is about his spending plans until he actually starts buying people I don't really see how else he could answer that question.

I've been fairly sceptical so far, but as you say he did all he could to try and allay the fears of those who had worries over his wealth. The biggest fears have come from the lack of an online presence for Xia and lack of confirmation of his wealth/Recon Group's wealth, so he has tried to address what he could out of these. The involvement of Chris Samuelson makes me slightly uneasy, but I'm hopeful that will be cleared up in due course.

[paul_e]

I welcome the scrutiny. As I said earlier in the thread, at least the national press are asking difficult questions - the local press here in Birmingham is fucking useless.

Agreed. And what exactly determines scrutiny vs the time it actually takes to conduct the proper investigation? It's only been a few business days since this was announced. And the quality of reporting and writing at the Birmingham Mail is diabolical. They cannot write on thought provoking piece and to compound matters Kendrick and especially Evans come across as thick divs on those videos they do.

As I've said if you read through all the reports and compare them to official releases, etc the person who, in my mind, has done the most investigating is Harris from the mail who seems confident that this is all legit.

Pretty much everything else is rehashes of the same 2-3 stories that came out within a day or so of the announcement and I honestly can't see anything negative that is new since the financial times article on Friday.  The whole thing feels a little like a echo chamber right now with the same few things bouncing around the press so we see multiple versions of the same articles and think that all the 'noise' makes it feel like there's more going on than there really is.

The talk the leagues being concerned, for example, there is no evidence that it's true and more importantly on what grounds will that extra scrutiny take place?  The details of what is covered in the owners and directors test is very clear and they can't add to it so if he passes all of the fairly binary tests they've laid out then they have to approve him and everything we've seen suggests he'll pass those tests easily even if he isn't as rich as he says.

[paul_e]

That bank statement thing is hilarious. How would something like that, belonging to a serious businessman, get into the hands of a journalist? Either it is fake or he isn't a serious businessman. My money is on the former.

It would get  into his hands because they had a face to face meeting at his house and the journalist mentioned that there are worries about how wealthy he is, he responded by showing him something that proved he has money behind him.  Given that a reply of "I've got loads of money, trust me" would've been seen as bullshitting and he won't be able to prove to the fans how serious he is about his spending plans until he actually starts buying people I don't really see how else he could answer that question.

I've been fairly sceptical so far, but as you say he did all he could to try and allay the fears of those who had worries over his wealth. The biggest fears have come from the lack of an online presence for Xia and lack of confirmation of his wealth/Recon Group's wealth, so he has tried to address what he could out of these. The involvement of Chris Samuelson makes me slightly uneasy, but I'm hopeful that will be cleared up in due course.

I agree, Samuelson is the bit about the whole thing that I don't like but it's worth noting that his name is because him and his partner had their names on shirts in the background in one photo.  Talk of him being made a director or funding the whole deal through some elaborate scheme is just rumours with absolutely nothing tangible behind them so until I see a credible link with him having a long term role at the club I'm not going to worry about it.

[AVH87]

That bank statement thing is hilarious. How would something like that, belonging to a serious businessman, get into the hands of a journalist? Either it is fake or he isn't a serious businessman. My money is on the former.

It would get  into his hands because they had a face to face meeting at his house and the journalist mentioned that there are worries about how wealthy he is, he responded by showing him something that proved he has money behind him.  Given that a reply of "I've got loads of money, trust me" would've been seen as bullshitting and he won't be able to prove to the fans how serious he is about his spending plans until he actually starts buying people I don't really see how else he could answer that question.

I've been fairly sceptical so far, but as you say he did all he could to try and allay the fears of those who had worries over his wealth. The biggest fears have come from the lack of an online presence for Xia and lack of confirmation of his wealth/Recon Group's wealth, so he has tried to address what he could out of these. The involvement of Chris Samuelson makes me slightly uneasy, but I'm hopeful that will be cleared up in due course.

I agree, Samuelson is the bit about the whole thing that I don't like but it's worth noting that his name is because him and his partner had their names on shirts in the background in one photo.  Talk of him being made a director or funding the whole deal through some elaborate scheme is just rumours with absolutely nothing tangible behind them so until I see a credible link with him having a long term role at the club I'm not going to worry about it.

Samuelson has also been spotted with Xia at Villa Park in the directors area at the Newcastle game, those 2 and Wyness. Plus The Sun reported Samuelson will be executive chairman, I'm hoping they are about as accurate as they are with most of their stories but he does seem to be linked closely to Wyness/Xia/New board structure at Villa.

However, as long as that bankers draft was genuine we should have nothing to worry about as Recon Group's empire must be big, and Xia won't need Samuelson for any financing/anything dodgy.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

It does worry me who has been advising Xia regarding Samuelson. Wyness wasn't too popular on Merseyside either and had a bit of a run in with the Everton fan group that were fighting to keep the club in the city.

[LeeS]

That bank statement thing is hilarious. How would something like that, belonging to a serious businessman, get into the hands of a journalist? Either it is fake or he isn't a serious businessman. My money is on the former.

It would get  into his hands because they had a face to face meeting at his house and the journalist mentioned that there are worries about how wealthy he is, he responded by showing him something that proved he has money behind him.  Given that a reply of "I've got loads of money, trust me" would've been seen as bullshitting and he won't be able to prove to the fans how serious he is about his spending plans until he actually starts buying people I don't really see how else he could answer that question.

Sorry Paul, I just don't buy that. What next? Here is my Griffin Saver book where my pocket money goes every week? These are not the actions of a serious and confident business man. Why does he have to "prove" anything to a random journalist? People with actual, real, serious wealth don't need to show you their bank statements.

I will be happy as a sand boy if I am wrong. I really want it to be true as much as anyone else. God knows, we need some positive news at the club. But this is just bizarre.

[Toronto Villa]

Right off on a flight to Vancouver. It's about 4.5 hours from Toronto. I expect the deal to be completed, Prandelli in charge and our first multi million £ signing being announced when I land. Keep up the good work chaps.

[AV82EC]

From what I can make out Samuelson and Banfil own a company that helps people buy football clubs so they've probably had roles as "oil the wheels" intermediaries. Evans was suggesting this morning that Banfil would be staying on the board but I've heard no mention of Samuelson?

[old man villa fan]

That bank statement thing is hilarious. How would something like that, belonging to a serious businessman, get into the hands of a journalist? Either it is fake or he isn't a serious businessman. My money is on the former.

It would get  into his hands because they had a face to face meeting at his house and the journalist mentioned that there are worries about how wealthy he is, he responded by showing him something that proved he has money behind him.  Given that a reply of "I've got loads of money, trust me" would've been seen as bullshitting and he won't be able to prove to the fans how serious he is about his spending plans until he actually starts buying people I don't really see how else he could answer that question.

I've been fairly sceptical so far, but as you say he did all he could to try and allay the fears of those who had worries over his wealth. The biggest fears have come from the lack of an online presence for Xia and lack of confirmation of his wealth/Recon Group's wealth, so he has tried to address what he could out of these. The involvement of Chris Samuelson makes me slightly uneasy, but I'm hopeful that will be cleared up in due course.

I agree, Samuelson is the bit about the whole thing that I don't like but it's worth noting that his name is because him and his partner had their names on shirts in the background in one photo.  Talk of him being made a director or funding the whole deal through some elaborate scheme is just rumours with absolutely nothing tangible behind them so until I see a credible link with him having a long term role at the club I'm not going to worry about it.

Samuelson has also been spotted with Xia at Villa Park in the directors area at the Newcastle game, those 2 and Wyness. Plus The Sun reported Samuelson will be executive chairman, I'm hoping they are about as accurate as they are with most of their stories but he does seem to be linked closely to Wyness/Xia/New board structure at Villa.

However, as long as that bankers draft was genuine we should have nothing to worry about as Recon Group's empire must be big, and Xia won't need Samuelson for any financing/anything dodgy.

I think it was only reported that they were at the game. I don't think anyone saw them. If someone did see them, they missed their opportunity to be the first with the news.

[The Edge]

It's the gold the're after.

If that is the case the only way their getting it is to make us successful.

That's it! They want to make us successful just so they can look good. The conning bastards.

[Chico Hamilton III]

That bank statement thing is hilarious. How would something like that, belonging to a serious businessman, get into the hands of a journalist? Either it is fake or he isn't a serious businessman. My money is on the former.

It would get  into his hands because they had a face to face meeting at his house and the journalist mentioned that there are worries about how wealthy he is, he responded by showing him something that proved he has money behind him.  Given that a reply of "I've got loads of money, trust me" would've been seen as bullshitting and he won't be able to prove to the fans how serious he is about his spending plans until he actually starts buying people I don't really see how else he could answer that question.

Sorry Paul, I just don't buy that. What next? Here is my Griffin Saver book where my pocket money goes every week? These are not the actions of a serious and confident business man. Why does he have to "prove" anything to a random journalist? People with actual, real, serious wealth don't need to show you their bank statements.

He'll be joining the Belfry next, wearing a diamond Pringle jumper and plus fours, telling anyone who'll listen that he is "considerably richer than yow!"

[damon loves JT]

Yesterday I noticed BBC sport reported Bradford City had been taken over by a German Consortium - that is all it said. No scepticism about their intentions, level of funding, CV of the proposed chairman. I know its like comparing apples with sour grapes but still why all the articles about Dr Xia?

I put it down to irrational fear of the Chinese.

Talking to colleagues who work in the news there, it seems very hard to obtain real, hard information. It's not just the language, it's also the caution with which they regard the western media.

And part of that is due to the *kind* of stories that appear about them in the west. The only element that sells is the notion that China is weird, or extreme, or bizarre.

The portrayal of a businessman who wants to buy a Birmingham football club as a shifty, shadowy Bond villain would be a typical example.

 

[Walmley_Villa]

From what I can make out Samuelson and Banfil own a company that helps people buy football clubs so they've probably had roles as "oil the wheels" intermediaries. Evans was suggesting this morning that Banfil would be staying on the board but I've heard no mention of Samuelson?

I thought he mentioned both Samuelson and Banfil on the board......