The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[Steve R]

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.

 

Perhaps the reason people here doubt him is that a fair amount of what has been written about him is doubtful. Nothing to do with the fact that he is Chinese.

[not3bad]

I accidentally posted this on the manager thread but I will also put it here just in case anyone's interested.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2016/05/24/aston-villa-and-tony-xia-are-looking-like-ac-milan-with-mr-bee/#7cc1a93065fd

[Pete]

Apparently he worked at MIT as a cleaner and solved mathematical equations left on blackboards.

I'm wondering if we should ask Dr Butler for his credentials

I'm a Dr too, and if you asked me to have anything to do with running a football club you'd be insane. Academic qualifications are irrelevant. Randy Lerner is a qualified lawyer. It's track record in owning a large business that counts. Details on this for Xia are somewhat sketchy, granted, so we'll have to wait and see. What certificates he got at school mean nothing.

[chrisf]

So somebody has incorrectly taken down some information and it's now been used as evidence of him lying? Lulz.

I haven't seen any evidence that anyone has taken anything down. Just the words of a Telegraph hack who didn't do any research for the rest of his article.

[The Edge]

All I know for sure is that at some stage the truth will out. We all want the same outcome here. So until anything tangible comes out I'm stopping out of it.

[mike]

All of this (except maybe the education bit which really isn't important)

You were challenging people the other day to show you one lie, just one lie, that Tony had told. Now you're dismissing this particular one as unimportant. Then there's the bit about him being a Villa fan for years. 2 fibs contained in his opening salvo to Villa fans doesn't make me feel overly confident about the rest of his story

I wonder whether you're trying to convince us or yourself that Tone's a straight sort of guy?

So you've decided that he was lying about about his education with no evidence, this sums up the problem, far too many people who just want to find something wrong.  There are others who have legitimate concerns but those are being overshadowed by nonsense.

As for the Villa fan thing, who really gives a shit?  It wa s throw away line in the statement that I'm fairly certain no one took seriously.  Add to that the subsequent admission that he attended 1 game whilst he was at Oxford and I can see someone in the club's PR department deciding that the one game is enough to make him a long-time fan and it's probably not something he ever said.

His education isn't important in the context because it makes no difference to his ability to buy us or run us well.

Only in the same way that you seem happy to swallow everything you're told even though there's no evidence to support much of it

We'd be pissing ourselves if this was Blues

That last sentence is my litmus test. I wouldn't be worrying about them becoming the new Man City, I'd be laughing my bollocks off. 

[brian green]

I was once short listed for a teaching position in Philadelphia that carried with it an associate professorship for the successful candidate.  It was in the same discipline as Tony Xia studied at Harvard.  Conversely I have the great good fortune to know as friends several of the cleverest men and women in Cambridge.  Most of them do not know how to boil an egg.  One or two do not know what an egg is.  One dear old boy now deceased who assisted Fred Hoyle formulate the opposition to the Big Bang theory of everything only ever wanted to talk about kippers and Oldham Athletic.

[Jon Crofts]

I accidentally posted this on the manager thread but I will also put it here just in case anyone's interested.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2016/05/24/aston-villa-and-tony-xia-are-looking-like-ac-milan-with-mr-bee/#7cc1a93065fd

Thanks but it's still the same old rehashed stories though isn't it?  No new information or insight just guesswork.

[curiousorange]

A lot of very, very intelligent people act on a completely different level to you or I. Some could tell you pi to nine million places but wouldn't know how to boil a kettle.

[chrisf]

I was once short listed for a teaching position in Philadelphia that carried with it an associate professorship for the successful candidate.  It was in the same discipline as Tony Xia studied at Harvard.  Conversely I have the great good fortune to know as friends several of the cleverest men and women in Cambridge.  Most of them do not know how to boil an egg.  One or two do not know what an egg is.  One dear old boy now deceased who assisted Fred Hoyle formulate the opposition to the Big Bang theory of everything only ever wanted to talk about kippers and Oldham Athletic.

Bit of respectful advice Brian. That post was bollocks.

[chrisw1]

I was once short listed for a teaching position in Philadelphia that carried with it an associate professorship for the successful candidate.  It was in the same discipline as Tony Xia studied at Harvard.  Conversely I have the great good fortune to know as friends several of the cleverest men and women in Cambridge.  Most of them do not know how to boil an egg.  One or two do not know what an egg is.  One dear old boy now deceased who assisted Fred Hoyle formulate the opposition to the Big Bang theory of everything only ever wanted to talk about kippers and Oldham Athletic.

Bit of respectful advice Brian. That post was bollocks.

Doesn't sound very respectful to me.  His point was that whether Dr X is a real doctor or not has no real relevance.

[oswald funkletrumpet]

I was once short listed for a teaching position in Philadelphia that carried with it an associate professorship for the successful candidate.  It was in the same discipline as Tony Xia studied at Harvard.  Conversely I have the great good fortune to know as friends several of the cleverest men and women in Cambridge.  Most of them do not know how to boil an egg.  One or two do not know what an egg is.  One dear old boy now deceased who assisted Fred Hoyle formulate the opposition to the Big Bang theory of everything only ever wanted to talk about kippers and Oldham Athletic.

Bit of respectful advice Brian. That post was bollocks.

Doesn't sound very respectful to me.  His point was that whether Dr X is a real doctor or not has no real relevance.

the only relevance is if he calls himself a dr and he isnt although im a fine one to talk my real name is billy ten inch

[curiousorange]

I think the point is not whether or not Xia is clever enough to have earned a doctorate, but rather that if someone goes making up qualifications they don't have, it doesn't bode well for other things that are a lot more difficult to refute.

[Ron Manager]

Tone's been quiet today.That is a concern for this thread.

[brian green]

This thread has become very bad tempered.  Must be Pre Millennium Tension.