Obviously the takeover is a massive story and it’s brought in lots of comments.
What’s impressed me here is the standard of the debate/discussion, which has been excellent and I commend you all; Well done!
It’s also been very revealing, with some well researched comments that have saved me having to trawl Newsnow as much as I normally do, for tonight anyway. So thanks for that too.
What’s also noticeable is after the initial euphoria (consider those who thought this deal was a good thing is around 92% in the poll), serious doubts are beginning to set in already.
Which is understandable.
This is the problem with a Chinese investor, in that everything the Chinese do in business seems to be somewhat opaque, doesn’t it?
It’s a daft thing, but an example is I’ve long wondered why most Chinese takeaways still don’t accept cards for payment, when it’s been normal practice for years in the UK?
Tax evasion? I doubt it myself, as Asian and other ethnic places are happy to accept them.
I suspect it’s more a cultural thing.
And apart from having to use cash being a pain in the rear, it doesn’t stop me from eating my fair share of Chinese food. Even without the Monosodium Glutamate.
So what am I saying?
Well, I don’t have lots of personal experience with Chinese people, but I’ve had many a chat with Chinese takeaway owners and they always strike me as being very friendly and personable.
I know. It’s not a particularly good way to judge a race in general, but it’s the best I can come up with.
So, as a person who always looks for the good side in people, I’m willing to wait and see what our new owner actually does before I make any sort of judgement on him.
As for the Financial Times comment that casts aspersions on Dr Xia, I’ve accused Randy Lerner’s accountants of at least massaging the figures many a time and I see it as being part of big business. Hence I can’t particularly hold anything against Xia on this point.
Basically, I’m willing to give him the benefit of any doubt, even if it might prove naive.
Where Xia has been a lot more transparent though, is in his quick admission that the name of the ground might be changed.
I suspect he’s put this one out there to test the waters and see what us fans think, myself.
And while I’ve previously been strongly against any re-naming of one of the most respected stadiums anywhere in the footy world, I think I could actually live with the “Lotus Villa Park” name that he suggested.
It’s not something I want, but we have to be realistic in that this is the world we live in, where money is all important.
As for Xia’s interview, I haven’t actually read it, but it seems he says all the right things, doesn’t he?
There, I do have to be sceptical.
Biggest foreign club in China?
It’s a lovely idea, but we have to compete with the likes of Man Utd, who are years ahead of us.
Nah, much more realistic is to just be somewhere up there. That’d be good enough.
Six or seven players in? Wouldn’t we have to get that many out first?
It’s a big ask, I’d suggest.
And then there’s the part that says he’ll be looking to use quite a few of the kids.
I know this will be popular amongst many, but I have my doubts and could just be an excuse for not bringing better players in.
On this point, I have to wonder if he’ll be looking to bring Chinese players into the side too.
Which brings us onto the transfer pot, which is seemingly anything from £20-50 million.
An amount Neil Warnock says isn’t needed.
Is he for real and has he actually seen us this season?
I quite like the bloke, but I’m glad he doesn’t see himself as a contender for the role.
And then there’s Holis’ interview, where he stated that the preferred candidate has taken a “very mature” outlook on our situation.
Am I the only one who thinks that it points to someone quite young?
Which means Roberto Di Matteo or Roberto Martinez, in my book.
I’m not convinced about either of them, but then I’m not the one stumping up the money.
As for the comment wondering why Ellis hasn’t commented on anything; he has, saying Lerner’s only mistake was not turning up for enough games. Hmm, ok.
Which is another good point, given that Xia is based in China, although I saw something that suggests he’s going to move to Birmingham?
I’m sorry if it seems I’ve rambled my way through this one, but there are lots of questions still swimming around my head that I haven’t properly asked myself yet.
Comments
96 responses to “Can we trust Xia? Lotus Villa Park? and other thoughts”
I suspect we’ll see what Xia is all about in pretty short time.
The recon arena??? I really hope he doesn’t start fucking about with the club colours. Time will tell action speak louder than words.
Adding a prefix to Villa Park, would be tolerable IMO, but the claret and blue colours are sacrosanct and must remain. The Chinese are notorious gamblers, go in any bookies near a Chinese takeaway and you’ll always see them in there. I’m sure Dr Xia won’t be gambling with Villa’s future though. Will he?
No, I think the future looks bright full of optimism! UTV
I wouldn’t be surprised if Sean dyche is our next manager.
1 when questioned on his future weeks ago he was none committal
2 there as a story doing the rounds that part of the argument between king Bernstein and Lerner was that Lerner would not pay any compensation for a new manager after the other 2 recommended dyche. our new owner seems to have money to burn and can afford him.
3 reports this week suggested comolli and dimeteo were coming hand in hand but comolli has said there has been no approach.
4 villa have said they are after somebody with vast championship experience. 2 out of the last 3 seasons dyche has been the best.
5. villa with the right backing is massive with massive potential. no disrespect to Burnley but dyche will at some point move on to Vetter things.
just my thoughts
We all love speculating – roll on the transfer window!
OLL – thanks for your last post in answer to my question on the previous thread. As you say only time will tell about our new owner.
Will China’s President become our newest famous fan?
Oh and I could live with Lotus Villa Park (just) – bit of trivia here – did you know that our ground has never formally been named as Villa Park but gained its famous name from colloquial use by the fans – I believe the official name is the Aston Lower Grounds from when it was part of the Victorian ‘pleasure grounds’ which preceded the stadium.
why would anybody want to change anything about aston villa. villa park is football history, lets rewrite the bible it doesn’t matter. one massive part of villa selling part must have been our tradition and our name, colors, our success and our home. shall we uproot and move to asia or london.
The Bible was re-written.
The bibles been re-written a host of times…
And the point is money, sponsorship reasons. Like Manchester City’s name change to the Etihad. Would add valuable funds to Villa’s transfer kitty.
well i stand corrected, only when i stated in haste rewrite, i meant entirely like no god, so stop wasting your time reading and preaching.
sponsorship…. like they couldn’t put plaster their company around villa park, or on the shirts. changing the name of the stadium today, tomorrow we will be playing in pink. changing our nickname bible bashers where will end.
at least pay for for the club, hire a decent manager ~ splash some cash out on some decent players, before you start redecorating the place,changing names etc
We know nothing about the man and plain to see, but our trust is in a bussnesman that’s there to sort it out, let’s dont start knocking him till we can see the man’s work, 35 thousand people around the world work for him, all his companies are solvent , this is a change we all prayed for and at last we got, Xia might be from part of the world that’s not got human rights sorted out, but business is their game, he said the right things to me so it’s wait and see, change the name? No, you loose our history by changing, Villa park that don’t matter, but Aston Villa does.
I think our new owner has been pretty up-front with his proposals, when China normally does business in more covert ways – you will never find out exactly how much he is worth, but I think he will be able to get his hands on lots of cash if he needs to…. Lets face it our previous owner lost millions via his BoA shares and his costly divorce but it is still almost impossible to find out what he is worth….Hollis is one shrewd businessman and with his team, would have done lots of research…
We now have a new owner who is prepared to spend money, wants us to be massive in China, has a vision and given more interviews than Randy Lerner in the last ten years.
Finally if any gypsy compares him to the idiot across the city – Carson Yeung is a hairdresser turned gambler who laundered his ill gotten gains and went to prison – our fantastic new Chairman gained a Ph.D. In one of the best education establishments in the world, and work tirelessly to resettle the poor for over 20 years……. But more importantly is worth billions and your criminal owner is worth pence….. He he he he
Lets all be very happy
I could live with Lotus Villa Park, the name Villa Park is still their. I think we are all worrying to much about our new owner, he wants Villa back up with the big boy’s, so let’s sit back and enjoy the ride.
Funny, a lot of our fans claimed they would be okay with Villa Park’s name change when Ellison was linked last summer, because we could’ve been the next Manchester City. Now we’ve got taken over, how quickly things change when it could become a reality.
OK you lot sit back and enjoy the ride. Apart from the eulogy from Hollis (which is being backtracked from almost by the minute), I haven’t seen anything that convinces me this is a bona fide takeover that is going to inject serious funding into the club. How can a business with £5-6M turnover have 35000 employees? Pay them £200 a year each and you are losing money.
something isn’t right here
So now the Recon Group doesn’t hold an interest in 5 publicly quoted companies (just 1 that lost quite a lot of money last year). Tony Xia was not involved in the design of the “birds nest”. He also isn’t a PhD. The Financial Times is starting to run articles pointing the finger of suspicion at his “vast wealth”.
Is nobody else suspicious of this?
DS I’m stuck somewhere between you and Andrew, part of me fears a Carson Yueng scenario but then again part of me says anything’s got to be an improvement on Lerner (did you know he employed a journalism student as a scout responsible for scouring Spain and Portugal? Unbelievable).
So if Mr Xia passes this fit and proper person business we are going to accept him as kosher and see how it pans out, all we can do is enjoy the ride mate.
The stuff I read from fans regarding the fit and proper test is that it’s a joke. Owen Oyston and Ciellino, not to mention Yeung spring to mind.
I’m really hoping I’m way off the mark, but I have always felt this would be Lerner’s last f**k up.
Maybe I’m trying not to get my hopes up. You would hope Hollis is no mug, but he is there to get Lerner his money. If he does that he is out of here and won’t be around if it all goes pear shaped (and probably paid a fair chunk as well)
You’re spot on, it is a joke. Carson Yeung passed it ffs but it’s all we have.
As for Hollis, should we trust him? Should we ***k.
He was employed (imo) to find Randy the best deal out there and that’s exactly what he’s done but whether that will be in the best long term interests of AVFC only time will tell.
No doubt he’ll be sitting by the letter box waiting for that big fat bonus cheque to drop through once the deals finalised.
That’s the point though BWS. It has been such a rough ride that you do end up thinking any change must be an improvement. When you look around though it could be worse.
It’s all very suspect imo something is not right about this
I can’t see if this guy is that dodgy anything however slightly not right will get pass the fa, if we’re finding this info on him correct or not surely that will apply to the fa.it would be just our luck the blokes a fraud.
sounds dodgy 🙁 surely the FA can spot a crook, unfit none proper person. but hollis should know a dodgy deal its not like hes a novice in the business world. you could believe it if lerner had brokered the deal himself.
just news of the prospect takeover, has shortened villa’s odds to 10’s to win championship they were 14’s or 16’s other week.
Our fans do realize they changed the rules of the fit and proper test because of people like Yeung and the Venkys. It’s not the same test.
bredan rodgors is confirmed celtic boss so hes ruled out lol
Unfortunate, my favorite manager to take over. He’ll be a huge difference to what they’re used too. Might actually be fun to watch now. Especially in Europe.
I wanted Rogers as well. He’s done his credibility damage by taking the easiest job in the planet. A 2 horse race at best even if I was manager Celtic would finish in the top 2. Rogers should of stayed in prem or top European ckub.
And you do realise that Ciellino and Oyston (a convicted rapist no less) are still owners of football clubs.
New rules came out after Cellino took Over Leeds.
Oh everything is fine and dandy then. Thanks for reassuring me.
I didn’t say it was fine and dandy, but they can’t just get rid of managers because they wouldn’t meet the current standard.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwib6NbTtenMAhWLJcAKHZETCaQQqQIIJDAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Ffootball%2F2016%2F05%2F20%2Faston-villas-65m-takeover-to-be-scrutinised-by-premier-league-an%2F&usg=AFQjCNFjWk7SQgMKZtjxczfHLRGK14mwr
Since the day it was announce who the new owner was I have had my doubts. This is one dodgy geezer.
Calm down lads….its simple. Read between the lines. Xia is just fronting the operation. All the funding will be courtesy of the Chinese government. Now come on lads…..they are NOT very likely to come out and say that are they?
That’s very plausible, I believe.
Presumably the guy has managed to put £60m into a ‘holding’ account with some lawyers; if it’s not his or his company’s money, then there’s a good chance that it’s come from one or other ‘ministry’ in Beijing.
Why wouldn’t they say that what’s wrong with a government financing a team. Don’t Real Madrid get financed by their gov. What about West Ham
Well, just for one reason: FIFA/EUFA have had quite firm policies of not allowing goverments to become overtly involved with running football associations or clubs.
OK, we know that both are tainted [Blatter/Platini], but they have been known to take a very strong line about ‘non-interference’ by national governments.
As for what really goes-on: Yes, Real were indirectly funded by their local government [ sold their training ground to the local authority for a hell of a lot more than it was really worth]; WHam are dealing with a quango – far enough removed from the present government to give plausible deniability to the obvious accusation that they’re ripping off we taxpayers who all paid to build the white elephant [ & remember the Millenium Dome??].
The point is that national governements don’t openly directly fund clubs – when it happens it’s hidden behind a smokescreen…
AD….spot on mate!
BTW….I couldnt give two fucks whose funding us as long as its legal….and there is no way the deal would have reached this stage if it were dodgy…this deal will be hugely beneficial for both Villa and China
If your concerned about dodgy deals you should focus on the this governments gift to West Ham in the shape of the Olympic Stadium…..a stadium paid for by us all as taxpayers…..now thats a real definition of dodgy. It guarantees West Ham will make a fortune out of the deal.
Enjoy the Villa/China partnershio because you ARE going to love it!!
WHam, certainly; and did Man City ever pay fin full for the Commonwealth Games stadium that was built at taxpayer/ratepayer expense?
Proof please
Langford you have will and always will be a dick, we won’t go down Randy’s the dogs blah blah blah and you’re right and everyone else is wrong.
Crawl back under your stone you Muppet.
Please God not DiMatteo, almost anyone but him!
Langford and all – I posted a question on the last thread ‘is Dr Xia a front for the Chinese Government’?
There appears to be a number of discrepancies appearing between statements made and reality – is the deal unravelling?
I would be very disappointed if Hollis has taken this guy on face value and not carried out even the most rudimentary due diligence. As fans we really have no idea what the truth is other than (apparently) the £60m has been paid.
Like Yeung and the Venky’s only time will tell!
Hollis has a very solid professional reputation. It’s very hard to imagine someone coming from a very senior role with KPMG not knowing how to do full due dilligence – especially when this deal was always going to generate tons of publicity.
Hence I believe it’s extremely unlikely that he’s allowed the club to be taken for a ride; there may be some very vague areas regarding exactly who “Dr Tony” is, and who is really providing the money – and a lot of what comes out of Beijing seems to get completely mangled in translation – but as Langford says, do we really care as long as it’s legal and as long as the club get the funding that they need?
Is he working on behalf of the club or on the behalf of Randy?
The latter I’d say
One other point. The PL is carrying out a fit and proper persons test but then in June the Football League starts its own due diligence. What an almighty mess that will be if one or the other fail to agree on Dr Xia’s credibility – where would that leave us.
Notwithstanding it seems to me unlikely that this deal will receive approval or otherwise before mid June – and why is the PL getting involved anyway given that we are relegated. Only in England – what a joke!
I just don’t trust this guy all seems very shady imo
I trusted Lerner when he came in.
I trusted Lerner when he came in as it was different. Firstly he had the money and we all knew his wealth. His intention of finishing top 4 was backed up by giving mon the most money in a villa managers history. Unfortunately MON blew it and the rest is history. When Man city became super wealthy that was the beginning of the end for us. No fan of Lerner but his intentions at the outset were at least honourable
I don’t know Oohah, we all thought Randy was a multi billionaire, but didn’t realise it belonged to the family and I think they had some dealings with him turning the cash taps off, along with that his money was mostly held in BoA shares, which plummeted like a stone…..
True but it was still a lot more transparent than this guy.
OohAh – as I posted on another thread a few days ago: I have a mate who runs a tech/manufacturing company here in the West Midlands; he’s been doing business with the Chinese for some 15 years – usually having to go over there a couple of times a year.
The one thing he’s repeated to me this week [& he’s not a Villa fan, by the way] is that nothing in Chinese business is ever transparent; you turn up for a ‘company’ meeting and find that half the people attending are ‘civil servants’; you go to a meeting with some governement officials and find half the people attending are commercial – often apparently your business ‘competitors’ – but then you realise that they work in a completely different culture.
Fair enough will to wait and see. The problem with lack of transparency is how do the prem etc find out if they are kosher or not?