Tony’s Statement.

[VILLA MOLE]

Lozells twinned with Mar A Lago, can you imagine?!

Just googled Mar A lago ,  posh init 🤔😀

[ktvillan]

Lerner's biggest achievement (if you can call it that) was finding an even bigger useless twat than himself to sell to.  I wouldn't have thought it possible but he pulled it off.

Was Randy's planned sale to Xia anything to do with Bernstein and King walking out?

[SoccerHQ]

Lerner's biggest achievement (if you can call it that) was finding an even bigger useless twat than himself to sell to.  I wouldn't have thought it possible but he pulled it off.

Was Randy's planned sale to Xia anything to do with Bernstein and King walking out?

Wasn't the whole point of bringing in Steve Hollis to find a credible buyer. Doubt Lerner was involved that much in the sale process except being told he'd get the money he was asking in.

Hollis is still around Birmingham business world I think so surprised he hasn't done an interview in last year explaining his role unless he just wants to airbrush himself out of our history given he was only here a brief time and seems to have done the trick.

[ASHTONVILLA]

Having done business in China, I have to say it is very difficult to get any reliable information about who you are dealing with and who owns what. It's a nebulous and constantly moving platform there. Dr Tony might well have had access to funds one minute and none the next, happens all the time as people go out of favour with the government there. Guess we will never know.

I also take a more kindly view of Randy. He toasted a huge amount of money on Villa, had second thoughts and messed up when tightening the purse strings. But how many of us would have burned the level of cash he did without getting twitchy in the end? He did well first few years and I am glad for that, just wish he had sold quicker and not to Dr Tony!

[Risso]

The sale was being handled by Bank of America, whose only remit was to find somebody with the cash. A lawyer I worked with had acted for a couple of interested parties from Hong Kong and China, and he let me have sight of the sales particulars etc.

[BC Villain]

Lerner's biggest achievement (if you can call it that) was finding an even bigger useless twat than himself to sell to.  I wouldn't have thought it possible but he pulled it off.

Was Randy's planned sale to Xia anything to do with Bernstein and King walking out?

Wasn't the whole point of bringing in Steve Hollis to find a credible buyer. Doubt Lerner was involved that much in the sale process except being told he'd get the money he was asking in.

Hollis is still around Birmingham business world I think so surprised he hasn't done an interview in last year explaining his role unless he just wants to airbrush himself out of our history given he was only here a brief time and seems to have done the trick.

Not sure if the link below works

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4RztWl1NNLWFFSq1MSSo4h?si=rUAp-Zz-TaK3qcBrM7QWFg&utm_source=copy-link

[IFWaters]

I cant believe Xia would have passed any due diligence worth its salt, which probably means Lerner was just desperate to get rid...as his recent interview seems to show.

[eamonn]

Thanks for that podcast link. Very interesting. Biggest thing, which I didn't realise (or forgot), is that Nigel Pearson was being lined-up as our next manager if Randy had failed to sell. Pearson even flew out to America to meet him and hold talks.

Hollis also highlighted the "civic values" held by Lerner and "shown" by Xia re his regeneration plans for the area around Villa Park which apparently helped pave the way for the sale to Xia. The lack of a salary cap put off the American investors accustomed to NFL rules but I wonder of the remaining interested parties, all Chinese according to Hollis (there was no interest from "high net-worth British individuals"), how wary/or not were Hollis/Lerner about who they sold to? Hollis seems fairly sure in his convictions - Xia passed the fit and proper owners test and once that was cleared, it wasn't Hollis or Randy's problem anymore.

[Risso]

Thanks for that podcast link. Very interesting. Biggest thing, which I didn't realise (or forgot), is that Nigel Pearson was being lined-up as our next manager if Randy had failed to sell. Pearson even flew out to America to meet him and hold talks.

Hollis also highlighted the "civic values" held by Lerner and "shown" by Xia re his regeneration plans for the area around Villa Park which apparently helped pave the way for the sale to Xia. The lack of a salary cap put off the American investors accustomed to NFL rules but I wonder of the remaining interested parties, all Chinese according to Hollis (there was no interest from "high net-worth British individuals"), how wary/or not were Hollis/Lerner about who they sold to? Hollis seems fairly sure in his convictions - Xia passed the fit and proper owners test and once that was cleared, it wasn't Hollis or Randy's problem anymore.

The lad I mentioned above said that it was only Chinese investors interested apparently, including another, different bloke called Xia.

[brontebilly]

The ageing board of the 1960s were outdated, misguided, which over a number of years culminated in nearly sending us under.
Ellis spent decades on and off missing the big boat, interfering too much with a corner shop mentality instead of rolling the dice more.
The Bendalls were hands off, put the money in and we got some fantastic success. You can debate the financial state we were in when they went.
Ellis at least when he left seemed to have put us into good hands with Lerner coming in.
Lerner failed but we had some half decent times for a while until he was shown to have lost the plot.
Xia put all the chips on red and it came up black. He managed in a very short time to do what the old directors of the 1960s took many years to do.
Without doubt he was the very worst to run the show.

Ellis left us in a right state too. His last season with DOL at the helm and bed sheets hanging from the Holte End was an incredibly grim one. Made a decent chunk of change when he sold the club too. Unlike Lerner who lost a fortune a bit like his compatriot at Sunderland, Ellis Short. Lerner's biggest failing was not putting in place a competent management team to run the club for him. Xia was just a fraudster.

[ChicagoLion]

Thanks for that podcast link. Very interesting. Biggest thing, which I didn't realise (or forgot), is that Nigel Pearson was being lined-up as our next manager if Randy had failed to sell. Pearson even flew out to America to meet him and hold talks.

Hollis also highlighted the "civic values" held by Lerner and "shown" by Xia re his regeneration plans for the area around Villa Park which apparently helped pave the way for the sale to Xia. The lack of a salary cap put off the American investors accustomed to NFL rules but I wonder of the remaining interested parties, all Chinese according to Hollis (there was no interest from "high net-worth British individuals"), how wary/or not were Hollis/Lerner about who they sold to? Hollis seems fairly sure in his convictions - Xia passed the fit and proper owners test and once that was cleared, it wasn't Hollis or Randy's problem anymore.

The lad I mentioned above said that it was only Chinese investors interested apparently, including another, different bloke called Xia.

Its one of those situations where the I.M. Introductory Memorandum  had been pushed around for so long, the "deal" hung around like a bad smell.

[CT]

Apologies if already mentioned elsewhere, but there’s a programme on Al Jazeera tonight at 9pm “The men who sell football”.

I’m hearing Xia is in it and doesn’t come out well. We shall see!

Channel 513 on SKY.

[Sexual Ealing]

Apologies if already mentioned elsewhere, but there’s a programme on Al Jazeera tonight at 9pm “The men who sell football”.

I’m hearing Xia is in it and doesn’t come out well. We shall see!

Channel 513 on SKY.

Beat you by one second (on a less relevant thread). Call it a draw!

[Brazilian Villain]

Apologies if already mentioned elsewhere, but there’s a programme on Al Jazeera tonight at 9pm “The men who sell football”.

I’m hearing Xia is in it and doesn’t come out well. We shall see!

Will it also cover the purchase of PSG?

[Sexual Ealing]

Apologies if already mentioned elsewhere, but there’s a programme on Al Jazeera tonight at 9pm “The men who sell football”.

I’m hearing Xia is in it and doesn’t come out well. We shall see!

Will it also cover the purchase of PSG?

I doubt whether Chris Samuelson woud've had his beak in that one.