The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[Dazvillain]

Good. Looking forward to the press conference.

How can that possibly happen without jack WOODWARD ... It just won't be the same

[oswald funkletrumpet]

 just confirmed by pat murphy on radio 4

76 million
samuelson as vice chairman
wyness chief exec
30 million to spend

[mattjpa]

from the bbc:

Chinese businessman Dr Tony Xia has completed his £76m takeover of Championship club Aston Villa.

The 39-year-old has passed the Premier League and Football League's fit and proper person test and will become the new chairman of the West Midlands side.

Dr Xia succeeds American Randy Lerner, who bought Villa for £62.6m in 2006.

Villa were relegated from the Premier League for the first time last season, finishing bottom, and have since named Italian Roberto di Matteo as manager.

Dr Xia spent six years at Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, including five months at Oxford University, before returning to China.

He made his fortune as the owner of Recon Group, a holding company that has the controlling interest in five publicly listed companies on the Hong Kong and Chinese stock exchanges, employing 35,000 people in 75 countries.

His takeover comprises a £52m purchase price and a £24m overdraft. In addition, he will contribute £60m in operating costs.

Dr Xia met the Football League's Shaun Harvey in London on Monday for formal confirmation he had passed the owners' and directors' test, after the Premier League had been satisfied in its investigations.

The new Villa vice-chairman is Chris Samuelson, an international financier who has been involved in a failed proposed takeover at fellow Championship club Reading and also an attempted financial injection into Premier League Everton more than a decade ago.

The new chief executive is Keith Wyness, who filled the same role at Scottish Premiership club Aberdeen, then Everton.

Samuelson was instrumental in getting Dr Xia interested in the Villa project and introduced the new owner to Wyness.

Dr Xia is expected to inject about £30m into the transfer fund available to former Chelsea boss Di Matteo as he rebuilds a first-team squad that won only three league games last season.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36522094

[Phil from the upper holte]

Here we go

[Virgil Caine]

A word about Hollis- a job well done and someone who communicated well with honesty and clarity. I hope that in the coming years he will be seen as the unsung hero who was instrumental in changing the fortunes of AVFC.

[Phil from the upper holte]

A word about Hollis- a job well done and someone who communicated well with honesty and clarity. I hope that in the coming years he will be seen as the unsung hero who was instrumental in changing the fortunes of AVFC.

Amen

[PeterWithe]

Not good news for those of us wary of Samuelsons involvement.

[Witton Warrior]

A word about Hollis- a job well done and someone who communicated well with honesty and clarity. I hope that in the coming years he will be seen as the unsung hero who was instrumental in changing the fortunes of AVFC.

Amen

Let's see in 5 years time ;-)

[Malandro]

I'll never get used to not living next door to Hollis

[Nelly]

A word about Hollis- a job well done and someone who communicated well with honesty and clarity. I hope that in the coming years he will be seen as the unsung hero who was instrumental in changing the fortunes of AVFC.

Amen

Let's see in 5 years time ;-)

Sounds like a plan. Ahem.

[peter w]

Well someone somewhere must have looked into the role to be played by Samuelson and also considered his roles elsewhere. We're not in the Premier League so haven't got the untold riches available to us that some unscrupulous Fagin would be tempted by. Samuelson makes me nervous, yes, but after what happened with Reading you'd expect, or hope, that this business model is different. And, in all honesty I think this does make a difference, we're Aston Villa. If a Reading go to the wall the Football league will be seriously called into question for allowing it to happen. if one of the most famous names in world football were allowed to do the same by unscrupulous mean the Football league probably wouldn't recover from it as a body overseeing football in this country.

[brian green]

With Samuelson and Wyness in our boardroom, the one word you are never likely to hear tossed about again is "naive".  Plenty of other words no doubt but not naive.

[markeeeebeeee2005]

I hope I'm made to eat my words. But the appointment of both Samuelson and Wyness worry me. Having read about what Samuelson got up to at Reading and how Wyness and co treated Everton fans with contempt regarding the potential stadium move.

I have a great sense of unease.

[Ads]

Am i right in thinking that hes put in £130 million now, including putchase over draft and ops costs, or is the latter inckusive of his guarantee to Robbie D for funds?

[Ads]

Also interesting to note that without the pantomime Villain we would still be in Randy's man child hands. Whether we will be wishing we still were remains to be seen.

Come on Villa, let's get our act together for the first time in nearly a decade.