allani

Only if we don't get promoted in the next two seasons. Fact is that the new TV deal means that being in the Premiership is worth so much money that transfer prices were bound to go through the roof. I wonder what we would all be saying if Newcastle signed a £17m striker and we signed a £3m striker??? If he scores enough goals to help us get promoted then he'll be a bargain in terms of net value. Even if we sell him back to Bristol City after we've been promoted for only £5m - it would still be a profitable transfer.

But if he is what we need to get us promotion and he either becomes a squad player or we sell him on to the next big club who drop into the Championship (even if it costs us a few million) surely it is a good deal?

I'd forgive him when he saves a penalty from Messi to win the Champions League...

This is why at the moment I am loving his Twitter updates. Any owner could have done a lot of these things behind the scenes (even visiting the shop outside opening times) or got other people to do it for them. This might well have had a similar impact on people inside the club but would have left the fans in the dark. A few bad results and any positive morale within the club could have been lost on match day. As it is I think Tony has cleverly (either deliberately or accidentally) extended his own honeymoon period with us - as we can see all the stuff he is trying to turn around. I've not been sceptical - but after my initial thoughts when Lerner arrived I'm definitely in the "once bitten, twice shy" camp - however, I am finding it harder and harder not to think that the Good Doctor is going to make one hell of an owner and that great things are about to happen to this club. The first job is to get promoted but if / when we are I think we'll surprise a lot of people. We just need to do it soon so that we don't get left behind by the TV money - although hopefully the Chinese / Indian markets will help us there.

av1 - that reply has just won the post of the season title. Game over - and it's still August!!!

Reivax_Villa - I think you are right in terms of it being an over-statement. But I am hoping that it does mean that this is our marquee signing and that we are all going to be excited. Anyone know who plays No.9 for China?

How do you know he is being naïve? At the moment we don't know whether the new striker will or will not be world class. So it seems a bit early to be worrying about whether he will be pursued by trolls. I suspect that "world class" may be a slight stretch but I don't think this guy is stupid either and so think that he believes we should be very excited about this signing. More so than just "we are trying to sign a striker". Maybe he would have been better off saying "an exciting striker" but I'm convinced that the backroom team have told him that this player is the one that is going to bring everything together. I have my fingers and toes crossed that by the end of the week we'll all be creaming our pants when the player's signing is confirmed!!! :-) PS - I love the fact that he seems to be so excited about everything - makes me think that he's going to make it work. Possible that he might get carried away sometimes - but I'd rather that than hear nothing and have everything released to us in a dull. monotone! :-)

PS - I had been sure that Ross was our big signing this season - so the fact that the new striker looks like being the deal has me incredibly excited. I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas. Just hope I'm getting that super-duper new bike I told my dad about and not a sweater with one arm longer than the other that has been knitted by my gran!!!

Brilliant. I know a few people have questioned the use of "world class" in the above statement. But to me this reads as meaning that the striker they are working on is our marquee signing - THE player that the team will be built around and THE player that RDM and Tony think will get us promoted and then performing in the Premiership. I don't think he would have used the words "world class" unless the management team are telling him that this is the missing piece of the puzzle. In other words we should be excited about this one. If we are picking up a good international then that counts for me - maybe someone who has "been there and done it" or maybe someone younger with huge potential. Either way I think we're being primed to be excited - I just hope that people don't say "oh well it's not Neymar so they aren't really world class". I could be underwhelmed but something about the deals we've done so far and the way that they have been announced / negotiated makes me think that these guys know what they are doing and aren't using the term lightly. It might just be a bit of "spin" to hopefully persuade said player that we really, really, really want him to sign - but I reckon this is more a message to the fans. I'm taking "world class" with a bit of salt but am still expecting this to be a massive coup for a club in our position. Good luck Tony!

Westwood out and Jedinak in seems like a double bonus to me. I don't think we need to sell to buy at all - more that RDM / Xia are running things properly and ensuring that we don't have a squad of 15 or 40 depending on whether we can shift people out / sign players we want? Seems pretty sensible to me if that is the case. Westwood could probably do a job on the bench but I doubt that we will miss him.

Surely this is the point - they may have done. The agent may also have been told that Villa have reconsidered and then "interpreted" that a Xia had reconsidered. It might be that we still want to sell but after defeat at the weekend to Wednesday Xia has questioned whether we should be selling any players to other clubs in the promotion mix (which is not unreasonable). It could be that RDM and the other officials at the club have become more concerned that promotion is tough and asked Xia to contact Wednesday and block the deal. Or it could all be bollocks. Surely it is a bigger story for the BM if they can claim that Xia has blocked a deal against RDM's wishes than it is to report that the club have re-considered? So surely the onus is for them to prove this is the case rather than anyone else to prove that it isn't? I suspect that if I'd been involved in the negotiations and the club had then had a change of heart that the easiest thing to say (and to save a bit of face) is that the owner has changed his mind and the decision was made over my head. Doesn't make it entirely true.

I'm struggling to see the problem here. From what RDM and Xia have said (whenever either are asked) they seem to be working closely together and communicating a lot. I for one hate how manager after manager trotted out after yet another embarrassing result and abject performance to defend the "spirit" in the squad and how we were "going to fight to the end". It's about time someone in power stood up and said it like it is - some players don't deserve to wear the shirt and need to either buck the *uck up or *uck off. Maybe some will realise that the **** they've been turning in over the last few months is unacceptable. Maybe some will also realise that maybe other clubs will be taking another look and thinking maybe they are not worth giving a second chance to. Just maybe it might be the kick up the ar$e that some of them need. In which case I would far rather that the "good cop" / "bad cop" roles were adopted by RDM and Xia than the other way around. It's not embarrassing. It shows that the owner gives a **** and isn't going to put up with it.

OK - going for the controversial approach here and waiting to be shot down in flames!!! But actually isn't now the perfect time to blood a new keeper and get him to learn and fine tune his craft? I don't think we will get promoted this season - too much **** to sort out from the last 5 years and not enough time. I think we may get close - possibly very close. However, in some ways getting a decent team together this year that does well and improves over the season may mean that next season our youngsters will have had a good season under their belts, gained some confidence, started to believe in themselves and adopted a (hopefully!) stylish and entertaining brand of football - that leads to automatic promotion including handing out some absolute tonkings on the way. Then we arrive back in the Premiership with a completely different team to the **** that spent 5 seasons trying to get relegated, with a bit of swagger and a group of young lads in their early 20s who aren't afraid of anyone, expect to win and are just hitting their prime. In which case 2 seasons time is exactly when we would want a brilliant keeper rather than some 36 year old who has been round the block 50 times and is never going to be good enough to survive in the Premiership let alone get us back into the challenge for European places. I think we need some experienced heads in the team who are used to winning and getting the best out of their team-mates. But realistically it is going to be tough to buy a top class spine for the team in 2-3 seasons. Maybe signing players into core positions - who we coach and develop into brilliant players is the way to go? Haven't seen enough of this guy to know whether he is a future £15m keeper but if there is a chance that he might be then maybe it is a good time to take the gamble. Think I might avoid VillaTalk for a few hours / days and keep my head down for a while....

Mid-September is still way too early. I've said before that when Lerner took over I thought he was going to be a brilliant owner - he did lots of impressive things early on (secured a manager who looked like he would be awesome, some decent early signings, re-development of / investment into important Villa assets, engagement of Villa fans, etc, etc). The first couple of seasons looked promising too and then the wheels came off big time. So as I have said before I am definitely in the once bitten / twice shy camp. Xia will not be a good / bad owner in 3, 6, 9 or 12 months. If the team is doing badly after 7-10 games he won't become a bad owner, just as if we are unbeaten after 10 games he won't become a good owner. He will become a good / bad owner based on his actions over a period of time, how he responds to the good times and the tough times during his tenure, how he improves (or not) the general health / state of the club, etc. Personally I don't really care whether he has bucket loads of cash or not, I don't really care how much money he invests into / earns from the club. The important things are that; he does what is required to bring success to the club both on / off the field; the building blocks for continued success are put in place; the history and "culture" / integrity of the club are preserved; etc, etc. Such things cannot be achieved overnight. I think that his regime has got off to a good start; the management / coaching team we've assembled is pretty impressive considering where we are; the first few signings are promising (if not earth-shattering but then we are in the second tier and have been rubbish for a while so earth-shattering was never realistic); he seems to want to engage with the fans (maybe a bit too much); exposure in new "markets" appear to offer great opportunities for extending our support base, generating new revenue streams / opportunities and potentially stealing a march on new prospects / players; etc. etc. However, they are nothing more than the first baby steps on a long journey. Promising steps (in my opinion) but baby steps all the same. As I said I don't really care how much money Xia does / does not have - so that whole argument seems pointless. If he has no money but successfully delivers against the success criteria I mentioned then that doesn't diminish the success. I appreciate that people will say that he needs money to invest in the club - but you can build a massively successful business without a huge amount of initial capital. Bill Gates and Paul Allen were far from billionaires when they founded Microsoft - didn't stop them from creating one hell of a company. Indeed I don't want to be in a position where we're doomed if our owner ever decides to sell / leave the club because no-one else can afford to take us over. The whole net spend debate is also (in my view) equally pointless as it immediately penalises an owner / businessman who is able to sell players / assets for more than they are worth and buys players / assets for less than they might be worth. Similarly there is no point spending £30m net if you haven't improved the team at all and have over-spent doing so. No doubt some will say - yeah but Xia "promised" a transfer kitty of £20m, £30m, £50m or whatever. Building a successful / better team for less than that shouldn't diminish the success - just as spending £65m to do so wouldn't be seen as being better. Similarly - I don't really care whether we have to sell the players who were so **** last season before we replace them with better players - just so long as we do replace them (or suddenly realise their potential - for those that have any) and that by the end of the season the new team has achieved what we wanted them too. 2 months ago I was hoping for a mid-table finish - its our finishing position that counts rather than where we may be after 7-10 matches. We could lose 4 or 5 of those games but be clearly developing into an effective team and be in a better state for achieving our target than winning 6 or 7 games but being awful, disjointed and just plain lucky. Yes I would have liked to have had all our signings in place for the start of pre-season - but name 1 club in Europe who achieved that at any point in the last 20 seasons let alone a club that was in as bad a state as we were at the end of the previous season and who were in the position of changing ownership at the same time. Finally, I get why people might be concerned about protecting the integrity of the club. I do care about how ethical our owner is and that the values he holds / respects are aligned to those of our club. If we achieve great success and then find out that our achievements were built on immoral / illegal foundations then that destroys our success (just look at any sportsperson who has won medals by taking drugs as an example of what I mean). It will take time, transparency and actions to determine whether ANY new owner delivers on this. In this regard I don't have any more / any less confidence in Xia at this stage than I would in any other new owner and just like anyone else he needs to earn my trust over a period of time. I've not seen anything thus far that makes me doubt that Xia is anything but a decent guy - but then I also get that others might be more suspicious (and that that suspicion may or may not prove to be valid or misplaced in the future). In summary, I am feeling much more positive than I was a couple of months ago. My initial impressions of Xia are pretty good - I think that there have been more positives to date than negatives. However, I've been here before and I've seen supporters of other clubs be in a similar position under new owners only to then have their hopes and dreams smashed to pieces (or in some cases enhanced and dwarfed by reality). It is almost certain that at times we (or most of us) will be proclaiming Xia as a hero, at times we (or most of us) will feel slightly ambivalent and at times we (or most of us) will be bemoaning him and calling for his head. This is football after all, passions run deep and success/despair is rarely far away (although I've slightly forgotten what success feels like when it comes to Villa!!).

Why a phoenix? Am a missing something as I always thought that feeling like a phoenix would be a good thing...

"It seldom ends well for people who puts themselves in front of the club, it usually goes better for the ones who appoints people and let them do their job." What - like Lerner? (Sorry I know you said usually!! :-) ) I have to say that when Lerner took over I thought he was going to be the best owner ever. So I'm definitely in the "once bitten, twice shy" camp when it comes to our new owner. However, I'm far happier about him tweeting away about the club (with the odd cringe here and there over some of the comments - although as someone who has just moved to a new country and who has used words incorrectly to the amusement of the locals it is often difficult to understand some of the hidden meaning of certain phrases) whilst already making good on promises to extend the reach of the club in India (first of many I think). I think it is unfair to judge him based on what other owners have done - he seems to be very much his own man and from a new generation of businessmen. I need more time and more action before I make a judgement but I'd rather have a owner who excelled with action and made the odd verbal **** up - than an owner who excels verbally and ****s up with their actions - or even someone who does nothing on either front. We're yet to see which of those categories Xia falls into...

I hope that means that we are keeping him but that they thought he would be better off spending more time doing fitness training or something. But I might be clutching at straws.

I assume you are referring to this one: "Sorry I didn't mean to imply I know who it is, for clarity I don't. I agree with the above post, I think this is a roll for one of those infamous 'football people' rather than someone like Cortese who I can't really see is needed with the personnel already on board. I think it will be of international standing in the game in a playing and probably managing capacity. I'd assume they will be here to head up scouting networks, coaching and development and be involved building this club network. I'd be very surprised if they are British, more likely to be from Southern Europe or South America I'd assume. It will likely be someone like Sven but hopefully not the man himself. I'm really eager to see who it is."

Awesome news. I love Ian Taylor - demonstrated everything in a player that our squad has lacked for the last 4 or 5 seasons. The more we can get the likes of him and Little around our players and youth teams the better. Hopefully, their enthusiasm will be as infectious as the recent malaise that hamstrung the club was. Trying hard not to get too excited with all the positive vibes that I'm feeling!

"...from what I can see he got 1 goal and 1 assist in 11 appearances in all competitions. 184 minutes in total...." Not disagreeing with any of the other points made at all - but 184 minutes equates to 2 matches. Strikes me that an assist and a goal every other game in a team that would stuggle to score in a brothel is actually pretty damn impressive. I hope that he stays, keeps fit and proves some of his potential to justify selection - because if he replicates those kinds of stats across a full season then we should be doing pretty well! 20 goals from one winger would be incredible. :-)

Wasn't the main part of his initial brief to help with the search for a new manager? (Or am I making that up / misremembering?) With the arrival of RDM and SC I think it is fair to say that he has done his job. Would still like to think that there could be a role for him at the club - maybe working with RDM / SC on player recruitment (?) - as there is no doubting his passion for the club.

Thanks for the translation (and some of the added context). I'm beginning to really like our new owner - sounds like he has a good (and in many ways quite an English / cynical) sense of humour!

I think that is pretty obvious from the league table and the stats in terms of goals scored, goals conceded, chances created, etc. If he hasn't been able to work out that then he is in the wrong job. We scored exactly 50% of the number of points of the second worst team in the division - that should be a BIG clue that the squad is probably not very good (heavy on the sarcasm). Also didn't Adrian Bevington spend two months at the club assessing the playing, coaching staff and helping advice on managerial candidates? You would hope that he would have pulled together a pretty decent dosier with an assessment of each and every member of the First Team Squad, U21s, U18s, etc. I just hope that it is an honest and genuine assessment.

Both of the people we seem to be most heavily linked with have "history" of getting teams promoted from the Championship - this I suspect is the one of the (if not the main) criteria that our advisers have identified when it comes to selecting our next manager. I think Moyes' identification of the fact that we maybe need three different teams to get back to a Top 6 team - may have triggered thoughts about whether we also need three different managers. Moyes and RDM both have experience of competing at the top of the Premiership and in Europe - so may potentially have gained the upper hand with that consideration. However, I think that the new Board will also be considering other non-footballing issues as well. Let's not forget that Xia's aim is to crack the Chinese market - so he is going to want a manager that not only brings results on the pitch - but is also likely to be able to appeal to potential new fans in China. In this respect I do think that maybe RDM and Moyes' demeanours would probably put them ahead of a slightly more combustible Pearson (although I've not really studied their pre/post match interviews so I may be being unfair here). Obviously the main factor has to be getting someone in who can deliver results on the pitch quickly - but I feel that we're also going to need someone who can help with the building of the Villa "brand" (even if it is just showing their interviews on TV, media, etc).

The other option is that he has followed our recent history and realised that one of the issues (but not the only!) was Lerner's unwillingness to talk to either the fans or the press - and that this is something that he feels that he needs to address? Either way I think he is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Give the information and be "guilty" of trying too hard. Don't give the information and be "guilty" of being a shadowy figure. It feels to me that this was more about opening communications and addressing some of the initial concerns that proving one specific point (just so happened that the point he was being specifically asked about was about no-one knowing whether he had any money). As you say all he needs to do is pass the "fit and proper" tests - so this feels more like something he wanted to do. If he doesn't have the cash - then surely presenting "data" to more people than he strictly needs to is more likely to result in someone finding a problem with the data and pointing it out to everyone else (and most importantly to those that do matter and could block the deal)?