Tony's Tweets

[Damo70]

So the 7th biggest bank in the world worth over 2.3 TRILLION dollars has zero doubts Xia is who he says he is and is happy to work with him and Aston Villa, but some fans need "proof" because... right, no reason.

Eh?

Do you know what them taking a charge actually means? It doesn't mean they have zero doubts at all, it means we're using the assets of the club as proof we're good for a loan.

Honestly, are you surprised some people are uncertain about his financial bona fides?

You're acting like we've shot his dog or something.

All I'm saying is that before going on about him being a billionaire who puts this or that into the club, it might be worth waiting to see the accounts.

Sorry if that's too upsetting for you to countenance.

If his dog gets shot that would suggest he can't even afford a decent meal. I'm now off to that Recon website that was linked to find myself a man into "leather, rubber, BDSM and kink". I'm not entirely sure what 'kink' entails but I will try anything once.

[Canadian Villa]

Banks will lend anybody money if they have assets to back it up. But let's not forget HSBC has been fined many times for shady practices.

[paul_e]

The only thing I'd say on this is that if he was English, or American (or many other other nationalities) we'd probably not be seeing posts like this and we certainly wouldn't have seen reports in the press of him being shady.  I'm not accusing anyone of anything, just pointing out that the cultural differences are where the mistrust comes from rather than any evidence that he isn't exactly what he claims to be.

[john e]

The only thing I'd say on this is that if he was English, or American (or many other other nationalities) we'd probably not be seeing posts like this and we certainly wouldn't have seen reports in the press of him being shady.  I'm not accusing anyone of anything, just pointing out that the cultural differences are where the mistrust comes from rather than any evidence that he isn't exactly what he claims to be.

that's just rubbish, everyone gets stick on here regardless, the Glazers, Mike Ashley, Dave Whelan, Randy, Gold, Sullevan, Brady I could go on
makes not one jot of difference where they are from

[Chris Jameson]

The only thing I'd say on this is that if he was English, or American (or many other other nationalities) we'd probably not be seeing posts like this and we certainly wouldn't have seen reports in the press of him being shady.  I'm not accusing anyone of anything, just pointing out that the cultural differences are where the mistrust comes from rather than any evidence that he isn't exactly what he claims to be.

that's just rubbish, everyone gets stick on here regardless, the Glazers, Mike Ashley, Dave Whelan, Randy, Gold, Sullevan, Brady I could go on
makes not one jot of difference where they are from

As John says, that is nonsense. There were quite a few of us who didn't buy into the unquestionable Lerner love in that went on when he first bought the club, Liverpool and Manchester United supporters certainly didn't take to their American owners, ask ANY Newcastle supporter about Ashley etc.

[Ad@m]

And even if anyone is treating him differently, it's not a 'cultural difference' but rather the fact that if you own MBNA there are lots of reputable sources which will tell you how much that's worth. Sadly China, like the Netherlands, or Delaware in the US doesn't have the same attitude to making such information public.

[Billy Walker]

Perhaps a better benchmark for working out the credibility of Tony is the fact that RECON signed that recent deal with the City of Birmingham?  One would like to think the Department of Trade and Industry did their homework.   

[ChicagoLion]

Perhaps a better benchmark for working out the credibility of Tony is the fact that RECON signed that recent deal with the City of Birmingham?  One would like to think the Department of Trade and Industry did their homework.

You might like to think so.

What is true, is there are lots of ways a credit worthy Chinese company or individual can obtain facilities for a UK company  from a Bank, without providing a charge over the Assets.

So Mr walnuts is right to be sceptical without the benefit of any verifiable information.

[Dave]

The only thing I'd say on this is that if he was English, or American (or many other other nationalities) we'd probably not be seeing posts like this and we certainly wouldn't have seen reports in the press of him being shady.

No, but if he were English or American and was the owner of a (according to reports) multi-billion pound enterprise, there would be a lot more information publicly available about both him and his company.

If our owner were from Kansas or Kettering and there was as little information in the public domain as there is about Xia and Recon then I'd actually find the situation a whole lot more troubling.

[paul_e]

Sorry John and Chris but I'm sticking to it but I think you've both got the wrong end of the stick, Chicago has just summed it up:

So Mr walnuts is right to be sceptical without the benefit of any verifiable information.

This is what I mean about the cultural thing, the availability of information just isn't the same in Chinese business as we're used to in Europe.  You gave a list of names but literally every one of those is questioned over their motives, ability or personality rather than their wealth, we all know that they have the money they claim and accept it.

What I'm getting at is that whilst we don't have any evidence about his personal wealth we can see the valuations of the companies and so far he's done everything he claimed he would so, while I understand some of the skepticism, I think he's earned some measure of trust to this point.  If the accounts come out and suggest things haven't been done in a way we should be comfortable with then we can start questioning him but before that I just think it's being incredibly unfair, both because of the differences above and because Lerner was a false dawn.

[Ad@m]

Perhaps a better benchmark for working out the credibility of Tony is the fact that RECON signed that recent deal with the City of Birmingham?  One would like to think the Department of Trade and Industry did their homework.   

How many contracts were the demonstrably bust Carillion awarded by the Government again?

[kippaxvilla2]

I’m pretty sure that Recon website only materialised in 2015. 

[Billy Walker]

Apologies -Deleted Post

[Billy Walker]

I’m pretty sure that Recon website only materialised in 2015. 

I’m pretty sure that Recon website only materialised in 2015. 

Here's another new website:

http://www.teamaxsc.com/

[Toronto Villa]

Not from the Doc but his main man Ro has suggested/hinged/teased on Twitter that a signing might be about to happen.