The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[four fornicholl]

According to this: http://www.duport.co.uk/credit-reports/reports.php?id=10176070

Samuelson was appointed a Director on the 20th. But there does seem to be some extraneous coming and going.

No club statement yet about this.  Xia probably sticking his head in the sand and hoping we don't notice.  Time you started telling us the truth about this "ownership" doctor.

Time you stopped whining.

Only saying what a growing number of people are saying.  Operating a sell to buy policy after boasting of huge transfer funds and having pretty much the same squad that failed abjectly last season.

We are in big trouble.

Perhaps you can tell us where this growing nunber are saying it, because it certainly isn't on here or anywhere else I've been looking.

Perhaps we should start a new poll because I'm definitely worried.

[Gareth]

According to this: http://www.duport.co.uk/credit-reports/reports.php?id=10176070

Samuelson was appointed a Director on the 20th. But there does seem to be some extraneous coming and going.

No club statement yet about this.  Xia probably sticking his head in the sand and hoping we don't notice.  Time you started telling us the truth about this "ownership" doctor.

Time you stopped whining.

Only saying what a growing number of people are saying.  Operating a sell to buy policy after boasting of huge transfer funds and having pretty much the same squad that failed abjectly last season.

We are in big trouble.

Are we really in big trouble? I beg to differ....

Operating a sell to buy policy? An assumption that cannot be proven until September 1st but the fact we have signed 3 already suggests that it's poppycock!

In an alternative view the transfer business thus far has been done properly and sensibly (following budgets / due diligence on players you want to sign and all that!) as there is 5 weeks left in the window.

It seems some are determined that Dr X & co are crooked and are hoping everything goes wrong so they can run round shouting 'told you so' - in the real world like any new owner the proof will be in the actions over time.  Not rocket science & certainly not something to be getting so wound up and wetting yourself over at this stage.

Woe, woe...woe!

[Billy Walker]

Are we really - in a week when our owner has held a press conference to over 130 journalists in China ( including representation from the UK government) and flown out to India to meet Indian government officials about Aston Villa running academies and influencing football on their school curriculum - still having people suggest Xia is a fraud?   If he was dodgy why would he open himself to such scrutiny?

My take on him is that he seems a genuine, likeable and hugely ambitious young man.  He is the boss of a private conglomerate that holds investments in loads of companies.  One company alone, Teamax Smart City, has twice the market capitalisation of Mike Ashley's Sports Direct which suggests Recon, as a group, have money. 

I think people are getting fidgety simply because we haven't signed a player for roughly a fortnight and Wolves are now being linked to a host of Mendes players.   

[Villa in Denmark]

Both Samuelson and Wyness have been appointed, terminated and then appointed again in the space of 6 weeks.  Most odd.

Auditions for the Labour front bench?

[Chinchilla Bathhouse]

LTA, can I just ask if there's anything at all about Aston Villa that you approve of at the moment?  I'm sure you're not alone in some of your concerns but your unrelenting negativity is beyond tedious.  You make the Grim Reaper look like Ainsley Harriott.  I honestly believe that if we won the Championship with a hundred points, scored a hundred goals, won prizes for the best programme and the best pie and sold out every home game, you'd be on here complaining that our urinal cakes didn't smell as fresh as Brentford's.  Most of us on here still live in hope.  Why do you bother?   

[Gareth]

LTA, can I just ask if there's anything at all about Aston Villa that you approve of at the moment?  I'm sure you're not alone in some of your concerns but your unrelenting negativity is beyond tedious.  You make the Grim Reaper look like Ainsley Harriott.  I honestly believe that if we won the Championship with a hundred points, scored a hundred goals, won prizes for the best programme and the best pie and sold out every home game, you'd be on here complaining that our urinal cakes didn't smell as fresh as Brentford's.  Most of us on here still live in hope.  Why do you bother?

👏

If we sell Sinclair we'll be able to buy Brentford's urinal cakes, if only we had the ambition to buy them first!

Spell check wants to change urinal to Ronaldo....is it a sign?

[N'ZMAV]

According to this: http://www.duport.co.uk/credit-reports/reports.php?id=10176070

Samuelson was appointed a Director on the 20th. But there does seem to be some extraneous coming and going.

No club statement yet about this.  Xia probably sticking his head in the sand and hoping we don't notice.  Time you started telling us the truth about this "ownership" doctor.

Time you stopped whining.

Only saying what a growing number of people are saying.  Operating a sell to buy policy after boasting of huge transfer funds and having pretty much the same squad that failed abjectly last season.

We are in big trouble.

Perhaps you can tell us where this growing nunber are saying it, because it certainly isn't on here or anywhere else I've been looking.

Perhaps we should start a new poll because I'm definitely worried.

Not sure we are operating a sell-to-buy policy, but surely removing some of the arse-wipes that were here last season that are a huge financial drain on things is the right way to manage this football club?

[cdbearsfan]

According to this: http://www.duport.co.uk/credit-reports/reports.php?id=10176070

Samuelson was appointed a Director on the 20th. But there does seem to be some extraneous coming and going.

No club statement yet about this.  Xia probably sticking his head in the sand and hoping we don't notice.  Time you started telling us the truth about this "ownership" doctor.

Time you stopped whining.

Only saying what a growing number of people are saying.  Operating a sell to buy policy after boasting of huge transfer funds and having pretty much the same squad that failed abjectly last season.

We are in big trouble.

As you're certain we are on a "sell to buy" policy, I'm sure you'll have no problem listing all the Championship clubs that have a higher net spend than us this Summer?

Equally, you'll have no problem listing the players we sold before Gollina, Elphick and Tshibola arrived?

[PaulWinch again]

According to this: http://www.duport.co.uk/credit-reports/reports.php?id=10176070

Samuelson was appointed a Director on the 20th. But there does seem to be some extraneous coming and going.

No club statement yet about this.  Xia probably sticking his head in the sand and hoping we don't notice.  Time you started telling us the truth about this "ownership" doctor.

Time you stopped whining.

Only saying what a growing number of people are saying.  Operating a sell to buy policy after boasting of huge transfer funds and having pretty much the same squad that failed abjectly last season.

We are in big trouble.

As you're certain we are on a "sell to buy" policy, I'm sure you'll have no problem listing all the Championship clubs that have a higher net spend than us this Summer?

Equally, you'll have no problem listing the players we sold before Gollina, Elphick and Tshibola arrived?

Indeed and I don't think anybody else is saying that. There might be some people who are nervous and are waiting to see what happens, but I don't think anyone is being as hostile as LTA. The idea of a sell to buy policy when we've already signed three players and not received any transfer fees back is just laughable.

[Ads]

If we'd signed six more the moaning Stripey whopper would only whinge on about how we haven't got rid of the dead wood.

[Clampy]

I reckon he goes on a Wolves forum and pretends to be one of them as well.

[mr underhill]

only his forum name's down as toothless lupine

[Ron Manager]

Are we really - in a week when our owner has held a press conference to over 130 journalists in China ( including representation from the UK government) and flown out to India to meet Indian government officials about Aston Villa running academies and influencing football on their school curriculum - still having people suggest Xia is a fraud?   If he was dodgy why would he open himself to such scrutiny?

My take on him is that he seems a genuine, likeable and hugely ambitious young man.  He is the boss of a private conglomerate that holds investments in loads of companies.  One company alone, Teamax Smart City, has twice the market capitalisation of Mike Ashley's Sports Direct which suggests Recon, as a group, have money. 

I think people are getting fidgety simply because we haven't signed a player for roughly a fortnight and Wolves are now being linked to a host of Mendes players.

Billy I am not in the camp that doesn't trust him neither would I describe him as a 'young man' at the age of 40. I do however have the belief
that he does not want to spend too much on us. In other words he wants value for money in his investment. Nothing wrong with that of course but it means his choice of manager Di Matteo will have to use his experience to obtain lower league recruitments at cost.

At the moment I should imagine Di Matteo's hands are full trying to move on various players at that is proving to be a difficult task. Gil has gone on loan and Brad Guzan has gone on a free transfer. David Moyes does not want Richards so there is work to be done on that one. So Xia will be very lucky to move on 3 or 4 this week as he he stated on his twitter account.

Does Xia have an immense personal fortune?  Possibly not but he is certainly not on his uppers. He might be a steady hand to guide us through the next few years and hopefully provide just enough finance to get us back to the top level.

We should settle for that and not expect players of note to arrive at Villa Park.

[paul_e]

I disagree Ron.  i think that would be very short term thinking and he doesn't come across as if he's thinking in the short term at all.  Mid-Long term it's essential that we get back to the premier league asap and then make sure we stay there.  Given the TV deal and the silly amounts being thrown around up there even if he sees us as a money making venture he needs to invest for a couple of years to get us to the point where we make him big profits.

I think the slowdown currently is more about RDM than Xia in that he wants to be certain of who he wants to work with of the current squad and try to get rid of the ones that don't fit before filling the gaps in a few weeks.  I suspect we won't see anyone else in before the opening day but that we'll see 3-4 more signings by September and that will total out at another £20-25m spent (minus whatever we bring in from sales).

[chrisw1]

Whilst LTA's general views are easy to ridicule, I am with him on that I feel if Tony is as ambitious and wealthy at we think, then we should have been more active in the transfer market.  The sell to buy quote comes from the fact that right now the inference is that we need to sell or move on some players before we buy any more (over and above those already in).  It is not laughable, it is pretty much what is happening.

We have discussed this on another thread (Ghana I think).  I totally get that it is prudent to keep a manageable squad size and that the bomb squad idea does not really work.  But the fact remains we are starting our most important season for 20 odd years with a woefully poor team.  I think it is perfectly reasonable to be slightly dissapointed by that.  Personally I had hoped Tony would have had the funds to build a good team and deal with the surplus players as and when.  He clearly hasn't which is fair enough.  But the fact that we are now saying we need to trim the squad before getting any more players in, whilst probably prudent, is essentially what LTA said, albeit more one out-one in than sell to buy.