The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[The Laughing Policeman]

Back in the mists of time....well in the last few weeks didn't RDM or the Doctor say that the squad needed to be trimmed before significant signings could be made? Which makes sense to me.......cut out the dead wood before bringing in 'replacements' that you subsequently found you didn't need. Something that never seemed to happen under Randy's tenure hence the bloated unbalanced squads we ended up with.

[paul_e]

Back in the mists of time....well in the last few weeks didn't RDM or the Doctor say that the squad needed to be trimmed before significant signings could be made? Which makes sense to me.......cut out the dead wood before bringing in 'replacements' that you subsequently found you didn't need. Something that never seemed to happen under Randy's tenure hence the bloated unbalanced squads we ended up with.

Yep, and then that's what they went and did but some are taking it as a 'sell to buy' policy which shows we don't have any money to spend.

[dave.woodhall]

Three things from AV89's post make me suspicious. 1.The club is paying the minimum wage of "around £5 an hour" if that bit is true then the club can expect a lawsuit from the government pretty soon.
2.An official email from your employer that begins "Hi" seems very informal to me.
3." In finalising, certain staff are already in the process of contacting acas to seek advice on whether employment law has been broken so Aston Villa won`t have heard the last of this."  So being asked to attend a meeting that you found useless is a breach of employment law?
In my humble opinion your honour I think it's a load of bollocks.

1.  Lots of the staff will be fairly young so there's nothing illegal about it - https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates - specifically the 18-20 wage of £5.30 - the morality of it with all the money sloshing about in football is another matter and there have been plenty of protests about that over the last couple of years.
2. Not that uncommon, depends a lot of the culture, my work does the same with all mass mails from the senior management.
3. They were asked to come into work and have been paid for it, they may have assumed they were doing more hours though so there is potential for a challenge there but it seems unlikely it'll go very far.

It actually seems legitimate to me but I don't really see anything wrong with it other than some pretty shoddy communication.  Given there will be more hours available to staff this season than there has been for years I don't know if I'd be complaining too much.

I've worked for places int he past that have done this, once i got told I had to be in the office for 5am with no more details only to turn up and find out that they needed 2 people to do a job and everyone else (out of 7 of us) would be doing the normal 9-5 hours.  Given I don't drive I'd had to pay for a taxi and then ended up  sat around for 3 1/2 hours (unpaid) before my shift started I was seriously pissed off and ranted about it for a few days but I was 21 and they paid well for the work I did so I just lived with it.

First, it's hospitality, so casual staff, so no chance with ACAS.

Second, it cost two hours wages to get there? Even at the under-18s (and could they work in a hospitality area whre alcohol is sered?) minimum rate you'd spend eleven quid to get at a job where you were only getting paid about £40?

Third, if you're getting paid for it it's work regardless of what it's called.

[paul_e]

Three things from AV89's post make me suspicious. 1.The club is paying the minimum wage of "around £5 an hour" if that bit is true then the club can expect a lawsuit from the government pretty soon.
2.An official email from your employer that begins "Hi" seems very informal to me.
3." In finalising, certain staff are already in the process of contacting acas to seek advice on whether employment law has been broken so Aston Villa won`t have heard the last of this."  So being asked to attend a meeting that you found useless is a breach of employment law?
In my humble opinion your honour I think it's a load of bollocks.

1.  Lots of the staff will be fairly young so there's nothing illegal about it - https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates - specifically the 18-20 wage of £5.30 - the morality of it with all the money sloshing about in football is another matter and there have been plenty of protests about that over the last couple of years.
2. Not that uncommon, depends a lot of the culture, my work does the same with all mass mails from the senior management.
3. They were asked to come into work and have been paid for it, they may have assumed they were doing more hours though so there is potential for a challenge there but it seems unlikely it'll go very far.

It actually seems legitimate to me but I don't really see anything wrong with it other than some pretty shoddy communication.  Given there will be more hours available to staff this season than there has been for years I don't know if I'd be complaining too much.

I've worked for places int he past that have done this, once i got told I had to be in the office for 5am with no more details only to turn up and find out that they needed 2 people to do a job and everyone else (out of 7 of us) would be doing the normal 9-5 hours.  Given I don't drive I'd had to pay for a taxi and then ended up  sat around for 3 1/2 hours (unpaid) before my shift started I was seriously pissed off and ranted about it for a few days but I was 21 and they paid well for the work I did so I just lived with it.

First, it's hospitality, so casual staff, so no chance with ACAS.

Second, it cost two hours wages to get there? Even at the under-18s (and could they work in a hospitality area whre alcohol is sered?) minimum rate you'd spend eleven quid to get at a job where you were only getting paid about £40?

Third, if you're getting paid for it it's work regardless of what it's called.

First - I covered that, I said I can understand why they think they have a challenge but I don't think it will go far.
Second - I never commented on that bit (because the post I quoted hadn't either) sounds like a lie to make the story sound worse to me, under 18s could work in areas where alcohol is sold but they couldn't pour or serve it, in our cases that might mean there's nothing they can do but without knowing how all the stands are run it's difficult to be sure.
Third - I agree, as i said the argument they'll have is around the number of hours they thought were on offer but given that there was no mention of number of hours that doesn't hold up.

[dave.woodhall]

Sorry if it sounded confrontational. I wasn't arguing with your point, just adding to them. This story sounds to me like another Eileen - job spec alters a bit, isn't what some malcontent wants so they try to stir dissent.

[paul_e]

Sorry if it sounded confrontational. I wasn't arguing with your point, just adding to them. This story sounds to me like another Eileen - job spec alters a bit, isn't what some malcontent wants so they try to stir dissent.

No it didn't I just didn't want people to misinterpret me as thinking there was anything of note in this, as you say it's a none story to try to shit-stir and I don't really see who benefits from that.

[GarTomas]

Three things from AV89's post make me suspicious. 1.The club is paying the minimum wage of "around £5 an hour" if that bit is true then the club can expect a lawsuit from the government pretty soon.
2.An official email from your employer that begins "Hi" seems very informal to me.
3." In finalising, certain staff are already in the process of contacting acas to seek advice on whether employment law has been broken so Aston Villa won`t have heard the last of this."  So being asked to attend a meeting that you found useless is a breach of employment law?
In my humble opinion your honour I think it's a load of bollocks.

1.  Lots of the staff will be fairly young so there's nothing illegal about it - https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates - specifically the 18-20 wage of £5.30 - the morality of it with all the money sloshing about in football is another matter and there have been plenty of protests about that over the last couple of years.
2. Not that uncommon, depends a lot of the culture, my work does the same with all mass mails from the senior management.
3. They were asked to come into work and have been paid for it, they may have assumed they were doing more hours though so there is potential for a challenge there but it seems unlikely it'll go very far.

It actually seems legitimate to me but I don't really see anything wrong with it other than some pretty shoddy communication.  Given there will be more hours available to staff this season than there has been for years I don't know if I'd be complaining too much.

I've worked for places int he past that have done this, once i got told I had to be in the office for 5am with no more details only to turn up and find out that they needed 2 people to do a job and everyone else (out of 7 of us) would be doing the normal 9-5 hours.  Given I don't drive I'd had to pay for a taxi and then ended up  sat around for 3 1/2 hours (unpaid) before my shift started I was seriously pissed off and ranted about it for a few days but I was 21 and they paid well for the work I did so I just lived with it.

First, it's hospitality, so casual staff, so no chance with ACAS.

Second, it cost two hours wages to get there? Even at the under-18s (and could they work in a hospitality area whre alcohol is sered?) minimum rate you'd spend eleven quid to get at a job where you were only getting paid about £40?

Third, if you're getting paid for it it's work regardless of what it's called.

First - I covered that, I said I can understand why they think they have a challenge but I don't think it will go far.
Second - I never commented on that bit (because the post I quoted hadn't either) sounds like a lie to make the story sound worse to me, under 18s could work in areas where alcohol is sold but they couldn't pour or serve it, in our cases that might mean there's nothing they can do but without knowing how all the stands are run it's difficult to be sure.
Third - I agree, as i said the argument they'll have is around the number of hours they thought were on offer but given that there was no mention of number of hours that doesn't hold up.

Something came up on my Facebook feed at the weekend along the same lines. Not impressed that turned up expecting a full day's work only to be sent home after training etc.

Agree the communication could be better but the quoted email says turn up at 11am. The expectation that all staff would then get a full day's work for a pre season friendly is a little bit of a stretch.

[Edvard Remberg]

His latest tweet (dig at CC?)
@Dr_TonyXia: More ins, more outs, be patient,please. Numbers won't escape like someone
Response to  "@Dr_TonyXia could you tell me when the squad numbers are released please"48 retweets 84 likes

[villadelph]

His latest tweet (dig at CC?)
@Dr_TonyXia: More ins, more outs, be patient,please. Numbers won't escape like someone
Response to  "@Dr_TonyXia could you tell me when the squad numbers are released please"48 retweets 84 likes

might be a shot at idrissa?

god, his tweets make me cringe. He has so little self-control, everything he tweets is direct and venomous.

[mr underhill]

a bit strong -  and isn't all this a bit  damned if you do, damned if you don't ? We spent years castigating a chairman who made Howard Hughes look talkative and now we're moaning about the good doctor being too chatty. Let's cut him some slack ; I'm sure the twitter novelty will wear off soon.

[PeterWithesShin]

I don't mind him saying stuff on twitter, it's the regularity he's taking shots at others I have a problem with.

[villadelph]

a bit strong -  and isn't all this a bit  damned if you do, damned if you don't ? We spent years castigating a chairman who made Howard Hughes look talkative and now we're moaning about the good doctor being too chatty. Let's cut him some slack ; I'm sure the twitter novelty will wear off soon.

Too chatty and blatantly unprofessional are much different. Telling the fans to be patient and trust the staff is one thing. Feeling the need to address idiot pundits with the use of censored language, take parting shots at players (who are fully entitled to leave), and publicly discussing the transfer window is just irresponsible.

I'm sorry, but I've said from day one, get this guy off of Twitter. Absolutely nothing good will come of it.

[ChicagoLion]

I don't mind him saying stuff on twitter, it's the regularity he's taking shots at others I have a problem with.

Well it works for Donald Trump, er

[Billy Walker]

His latest tweet (dig at CC?)
@Dr_TonyXia: More ins, more outs, be patient,please. Numbers won't escape like someone
Response to  "@Dr_TonyXia could you tell me when the squad numbers are released please"48 retweets 84 likes

I think Tony misunderstood the meaning of "squad numbers" in the question hence his answer.

[villadelph]

His latest tweet (dig at CC?)
@Dr_TonyXia: More ins, more outs, be patient,please. Numbers won't escape like someone
Response to  "@Dr_TonyXia could you tell me when the squad numbers are released please"48 retweets 84 likes

I think Tony misunderstood the meaning of "squad numbers" in the question hence his answer.

Now using his personal account to announce signings.. hopefully it doesn't blow up.