VillaBrum

Another "Brilliant"!

You guessed! And I'm proud of the smart way that I have handled the sale

Me - I'm a Tit and Proper Jester!

I wondered about the part " fulfil its fixtures for the season ahead". Surely any business plan will be for a longer term than 12 months?

This is a superb thread, which has given myself and, I'm sure, the other readers, a new insight into the way China functions (not only with football). I feel a more cheerful now! Just one question:- Deisler, do you think that 'McParland The Great' is correct with his own view of the situation? He certainly puts his thoughts over very well. http://www.astonvilla.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=7520870 McParlandTheGreat posted: 21/5/2016 14:03 Let's look at the facts. The Villa website put out a statement that Recon was a holdings company which has a controlling interest in 5 companies, interests in many more, which in total employ 35000 personnel in 75 countries. It appears that the controlling interest in 5 companies bit was wrong. A guess might be that the mistake was at the Villa end; the Chinese end was quick to correct it. It now appears that the controlling interest is in 1 company (it is of course possible and even likely that it has major interests in the other 4; the statement from the Chinese end that it is engaged in acquiring a controlling interest in another 4 companies tends to imply this) There is a corrected statement on the Villa web site which reads: Recon Group is a multinational conglomerate group led by Dr. Tony Jiantong Xia. The group holding company owns, directly and indirectly, the shares of several publicly listed companies on the Hong Kong and Chinese stock exchanges and many other private companies employing 35,000 people in 75 countries. The mistake is a minor one. It doesn't matter a jot whether Recon owns majority interests in 0 or 100 companies. It is a holdings company; it is a vehicle for investments. What matters is whether or not it can put together the resources to buy Villa. It appears to have satisfied Hollis that it can. It now has to satisfy the leagues. If it can then Recon owns Villa. I have no problem with that. The thing about holdings companies is that they tend not to just stick money in any old company. They have a strategy. They target certain markets for growth. They build up related investments. They invest over a period, not for the short term. At least the better ones do; from what I've read of Recon this is what Recon does. They're based in a country with huge opportunities in the medium and long term, and Recon is wired into that. If you look at what's been said about the plans for Villa, that approach ties in. I've seen it suggested that it if we aren't promoted at the end of this coming season Recon will pull out. I don't think Recon is that sort of company. It's about long term investment and profit, not about short term return. It has highly ambitious plans for Villa and the structure around it; in the scheme of things, a one season promotion is highly desirable, but nowhere near critical. Early days. A lot more will become clear over the next two weeks and beyond. I hope we back it not knock it. Teams which aren't optimistic get nowhere on the field. Clubs and fans also need optimism.

Maybe Steve Hollis should have been given this insight - it could be that everything is ok, but this kind of information would have been invaluable during his negotiations. (Just my personal musings )

"The little-known businessman who bought Aston Villa is hoping to improve both the English club and Chinese soccer in general." This concerns me, a little - if he has been involved in the regeneration and building cities in China, I would have thought that he would have been a very well known individual (or at least the companies that are doing the work would be high profile).

Yes

My only concern is how they put it into writing "SHA" Apart from that, they can pronounce it how they like

OMG - just seen how to pronounce "Xia" on utube. Note how it's put into writing

Where has King's resignation letter been published? Sounds interesting.

Correct me, if I am wrong - but I was under the impression that Sherwood complained that he did not have the final say. It seemed that an unseen committee chose who was going to be signed.

I'm slow on the uptake - who's Gana? Gueye. Seems he prefers to have Gana on his shirt. Thanks for that

I'm slow on the uptake - who's Gana?

Cheers! Another one to savour.

Thank you, Chewie. The quality is on the pitch! UTV

Good Cop, Bad Cop?

I said I was missing something - part of my brain So it's QPR, Reading and Wigan for the drop then!

I think I am missing something - what happens if Reading and QPR win their remaining matches and Wigan and Villa lose all their remaining matches? Please be gentle with me

My first Post on this Forum Just wondered - if Dempsey was to join us, would he just "go through the motions"? He didn't appear to want to come to Villa in the first place.

Good man. AVFC FOR LIFE This x2 x3

I'm not an ST holder because I live in Kent and its just not practical. However, I am genuinely interested in why you would consider NOT supporting the club both financially and in person. Say for example we appoint McLeish, and we win our first 6 games and are in CL contention by Xmas. Will you come back? Would you then leap on the bandwagon and support the club again. It doens't matter who is in the Manager's Officer, or who pulls that beautiful shirt on. You are (apparently) a Villa fan. And a bloody priviliged one at that in that you are able to take yourself onto that hallowed ground once fortnight. If you love this club, support it. Regardless of the difficulties we experience on the way.

At last, someone I can fully agree with. UTV Even if the managerial appointment is so non-sensical that it completely defies any logic or belief? I, personally, can do nothing about which manager is employed (wish I could) but I can do something about which team I will continue to support. If the eventual manager's appointment is proved to be the wrong one, we will then have to go through this nightmare again - I will still support Villa. I only hope and pray that the right manager is found soon (albeit more by luck than judgement). When I say I will always support Villa, I naturally mean that I will also support whichever manager is in the dugout. The Board will realise if they have appointed the wrong manager (they are not stupid) and it is then that we will go through this nightmare again. UTV

At last, someone I can fully agree with. UTV

Thanks Iain. Each goal is one to savour - a warm glow comes over me as I watch them go in. UTV