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Author Topic: Tony’s Statement.  (Read 320700 times)

Online paul_e

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Re: Tony’s Statement.
« Reply #390 on: June 06, 2018, 11:16:12 AM »
Looking back at the statement the bit about being a sustainable club was, by most, considered to be an FFP related comment but I wonder if it was actually more cashflow related now that all this news is coming out. If you add that he left the country very quickly after the final and has been unnaturally quiet on twitter I'd like to believe that he is trying to convince Chinese authorities to let him invest more money. It may well be that to do so he has to make a number of changes (which he said in the statement as well) including altering the structure/make-up of the board and a different sponsorship program (along with the expected change of relying more on youth players and coaching).

The suspension suggests something more than just Xia wanting to make board level changes but with the HMRC stuff, rumours of takeover bids and the potential disagree over Bruce it might just be a convenient way to make the changes and look to a CEO with a more suitable background, the Trevor Birch link gives that some weight, even if only as a temporary arrangement.


This is purely speculation but to me it seems as reasonable as most other suggestions I've seen.

Online curiousorange

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Re: Tony’s Statement.
« Reply #391 on: June 06, 2018, 11:18:04 AM »
Just heard a rumour that Xia was banking on promotion to clear debts he has in China. No sources, and I hesitate to use the phrase "Chinese whispers"...

Online kippaxvilla2

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Re: Tony’s Statement.
« Reply #392 on: June 06, 2018, 11:19:40 AM »
I’m sorry but this made me laugh. 

But there are concerns the businessman, who has turned up at the training ground previously in a Uber, simply doesn't have the resources or access to cash he suggested when he bought out Randy Lerner in 2016.

Online Bad English

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Re: Tony’s Statement.
« Reply #393 on: June 06, 2018, 11:57:48 AM »
What exactly is HH doing about it?

I'm doing all I can to help too. Fuck all other than discussing it here.
He could be helping Tony locate his missing passbook.

"When did you last make a deposit?"
"Have you looked under your bed?"   
"Did you check your pockets before putting your trousers in the laundry basket?"
"It's not with the key to your money box, is it?"

Offline Tuscans

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Re: Tony’s Statement.
« Reply #394 on: June 06, 2018, 12:13:09 PM »
We never really knew about the reality of the Docs wealth but I read 3 articles about moving money out of China all saying the same, "China law forbids anyone from sending out of China more than USD$50,000 in any given year without government approval".

I knew there were difficulties now but only $50,000...that shocked me.

Offline tomd2103

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Re: Tony’s Statement.
« Reply #395 on: June 06, 2018, 12:22:33 PM »
Just heard a rumour that Xia was banking on promotion to clear debts he has in China. No sources, and I hesitate to use the phrase "Chinese whispers"...

I do wonder if they were banking on promotion to the Premier League and the revenue that brings to try and address the quite obvious financial difficulties at the club.

Offline chrisw1

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Re: Tony’s Statement.
« Reply #396 on: June 06, 2018, 12:30:51 PM »
What exactly is HH doing about it?

I'm doing all I can to help too. Fuck all other than discussing it here.
Hopefully he’s coming up with another insightful ‘Hodgson Report’

The last one suggested we buy better players, coach our youngsters better and score more goals.  It was groundbreaking stuff.

I imagine this one will say don’t but old players and put them on massive contracts and check down the sofa for loose change.

In Hairy Hands we trust.

Online pauliewalnuts

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Re: Tony’s Statement.
« Reply #397 on: June 06, 2018, 12:53:00 PM »
What exactly is HH doing about it?

I'm doing all I can to help too. Fuck all other than discussing it here.
Hopefully he’s coming up with another insightful ‘Hodgson Report’

Perhaps he could arrange for Tony to stuff a few million in one of his coffins and stick it on a container ship bound for the UK.

Offline andyh

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Re: Tony’s Statement.
« Reply #398 on: June 06, 2018, 12:54:29 PM »
Been reported on twitter (I know !) there is a board meeting at 2pm today?

The collection plate will be passed around at then end, no doubt.

Online kippaxvilla2

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Re: Tony’s Statement.
« Reply #399 on: June 06, 2018, 12:56:22 PM »
Attendees : Dr T Xia

Apologies: Mr K Wyness


Offline David_Nab

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Re: Tony’s Statement.
« Reply #400 on: June 06, 2018, 12:57:02 PM »
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/inside-story-behind-aston-villa-12655774

Quote
Aston Villa owner, Dr Tony Xia, has been bankrolling the former European Champions from the moment he set foot inside Villa Park.

Each month, money would arrive from China, into Villa's bank account to make good the shortfall in normal trading operations.


That has happened, without fail, for the past two years.

Only last month, it didn't. April's money was received. May's wasn't. There was no sign of it turning up. It still hasn't.

Incredibly, that is all it has taken to bring this great football club – this cornerstone of the English game - to its knees.

One missed monthly payment. It's a sizeable one. Aston Villa are running a £5-6m monthly deficit on their current outgoings. But still.
Tony Xia with Steve Bruce (Image: Neville Williams)
And now that has set in motion a chain of events that is likely to see the club change ownership. That is one scenario.

The other is far more unpalatable. Administration – or, if a position with HMRC is not met – a winding up order may be issued.

No more Aston Villa. Doesn't bear thinking about.
Obviously, promotion to the Premier League would have solved the on-going cash crisis.

No wonder Xia, who sat stony-faced at Wembley as Fulham cavorted around the pitch just ten days ago, was unable to show any other emotion.

His world was just about to come crashing around him.

Perhaps it was a taste of things to come. Xia did not sit with his chief executive, Keith Wyness, at the play-off final. Behind the scenes, they had been seated on separate tables.

Strange, you might think, for the two chief decision-makers not to be joined at the hip – to not share the inevitable joy or pain that was about to be inflicted upon them.

But the writing was on the wall.

A few weeks earlier, Wyness, along with director of football Steve Round, had delivered a presentation to Xia at Bodymoor Heath, outlining the two courses of action that would be taken once Villa had qualified for the end-of-season lottery English football calls the play-offs.
One was promotion to the Premier League, the other staying right where Villa were, in the Championship.

Xia received the news. Didn't blink. Didn't move a muscle. Did not utter one single word.

The three-minute silence was eventually broken by Rongtien He, Xia's eyes and ears at Villa Park.

The result of that meeting led Wyness to confess later to a high-level colleague: “Anything other than promotion is not an option.”

By the time the final whistle blew at Wembley, the chief executive knew that he had to act. He had to take action as per his fiduciary duties as a director of the club.

He knew that the money from the Far East had not been received into Villa's bank account. He had to do something. And swiftly.

Steve Bruce looks dejected (Image: Getty Images Europe)
Late last week, with the club's payroll due on Friday, Wyness was on the phone, trying to raise the cash to pay it.

Burnley were contacted. Villa were due another chunk of money from Ashley Westwood's £5m transfer later this month.

They took a hit but the money turned up and the staff were paid. Wyness knew that this could not keep going indefinitely.

Any director who has an inkling that the club is trading insolvently must take advice. That was incumbent upon him.

As a director, he could also put the club into administration. It was that which has led Xia to trashing Wyness's reputation after Villa released a statement suspending their chief executive yesterday afternoon.
The next bill was from HMRC for £4.2m. That was the lever for Xia to use to put Wyness on gardening leave.

The authorities have been as aggressive as you might expect them to be in recovering that cash.

In just over three weeks time, Villa are due to make another payroll payment.

The bills just keep coming. And the cash position is little short of horrendous.

Anyone seeking to take on Villa as a going concern will have to make good a staggering £70m shortfall during the course of the next 12 months.
Due to existing contractual commitments the budget is showing a £25m deficit for 2019-20.

That is a £100m hole that needs plugging.

The parachute payment from the Premier League has dropped to £15m. The cash call is growing, not slowing.

Anyone interested in Villa will have to show a commitment to meeting those costs.

At this rate, Xia won't be seeing much back for his £150m gamble during the past two seasons.

He will be lucky to see the club change hands for £1 because someone has got to make good on his reckless calls.
Due to the football creditors' rule, the likes of Micah Richards, Pierluigi Gollini, Ross McCormack – none of whom kicked a ball in anger last season – will all have to be paid their monstrous salaries.

Xia will be lucky if he trousers anything from this.

He could, of course, raise some cash from selling assets.
Jack Grealish is the main one. A public auction might top £30m for the playmaker who has the world at his feet.

That would meet some of the on-going costs. Buy him some time, potentially, to off-load the club to a buyer.
Villa will auction off Grealish (Image: Clive Mason)
And what of Steve Bruce, the manager who drew together a disparate dressing-room and took Villa to within 90 minutes of diverting this disaster from public attention?

His future has been a subject of debate on message boards and in social media.

He will stay put. He's a tough cookie, Bruce. And anyway, paying him off is a long way down the club's list of priorities.

For now, Xia's got bigger issues to sort out. Like keeping Aston Villa afloat.

 :o

Offline garyshawsknee

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Re: Tony’s Statement.
« Reply #401 on: June 06, 2018, 01:03:59 PM »
From John Percy at the Telegraph....Understand Trevor Birch - previously chief executive at #cfc and #lufc, among others - is now working closely with Aston Villa. Birch is renowned as an insolvency expert... #avfc

Offline Risso

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Re: Tony’s Statement.
« Reply #402 on: June 06, 2018, 01:07:04 PM »
Fucking hell.

Online kippaxvilla2

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Re: Tony’s Statement.
« Reply #403 on: June 06, 2018, 01:09:21 PM »
There is no way we can avoid Administration if that lot is true.

Offline OzVilla

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Re: Tony’s Statement.
« Reply #404 on: June 06, 2018, 01:12:48 PM »
Yep, if true next season is about survival and hoping the youth come good.

 


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