No sooner had we packed our bags and headed off on our Bert & Ernie-style summer holiday together than the one piece of news we'd been waiting for came to pass. Just days after the end of Aston Villa's dismal relegation season in the Premier League, it was announced that the club was to be taken over by Dr Tony Xia's Recon Group, a Chinese investment vehicle with big intentions.

Of course, Villa being Villa the whole thing's gone a little murky since then. Questions over Xia's wealth, means and plans have provided the media with a fruitful backdrop to the void left by the formal processes of the takeover and the question of Villa's new manager looms large as pre-season (we presume) approaches.

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