sidcow

Guinness pisses me off. An awful drink. I can't think of any alcohol that is more overrated. Actually I can, Champagne even worse than Guinness but costs a sh;tload more. Apparently Guinness as a brand is so strong that if everybody actually drank it who claims they drink it in surveys their sales would be around 10 times more than they are. What this means is Guinness is a hugely aspirational brand that people want to associate with but not actually drink as its foul. Now Bathams.... Mmmmmmmmmm... Bathams

I hate these "I'm a better coffee drinker than you" type of arguments

Now you have gone too far. No one deserves to be despised more than cyclists

Absolutely this. Why anyone would want to mutilate themselves is beyond me. I guarantee that years down the line most of these people will seriously regret it. Mind you I also don't understand why people have tattoos. I do think it's going to be really funny though in about 50 years time when there are thousands of old ladies with tats accross the top of their panty line which will now be drooping somewhere around their knees

I really don't get people's obsession with "proper coffee" I was going to put something about this in the things that piss you off thread but it's as good here. I am quite happy with a cup of instant coffee which costs next to nothing. It is beyond me why or even how people afford to buy all this "real" coffee that costs a shitload of money When I was a youth years before Starbucks, Costa etc I did actually used to go to a coffee shop in martineau square called the cardoma coffee shop before we could use pubs. The coffee there was not remotely expensive. The current coffee trend is just that a fashion thing so they can charge more.

This If we lose a lot of the current team and add a few million onto what we get each time £50m will go an awfull long way. I don't care if most of last year's squad could or couldn't make it in the Aston Villa founded football league or not. They are all tainted for me by last year's horror show and have a losing mentality. Every last one can go and I will she'd not a tear as long as we get a fee for the better ones.

Thanks for writing all that up Diesler. It does back up my own thoughts that it's pointless looking at his personal wealth and trying to see what companies he does or doesn't own or how he owns them. If there is government involvement in all businesses in one form or another it really depends on what their desire is in all this But it then begs the question, if he is not working with the blessing and support of the government, why is he bothering at all? People keep talking about asset stripping but we have no assets to strip, even the land Villa Park stands on isn't worth the money he has paid. If he wanted to make serious money and has £65m to invest there are 1001 better ways to spend your money, as Randy has found out he would have been far better off just leaving his £62m in a current account for 10 years, he would be significantly better off. If Xia is not here to do something serious I really can't see why he would be here at all.

The only thing I want to know about Dr Xia is if he can wrestle a pig?

I. Don't understand this comment? Hutton IS Cafu!

I think Flabby has already started the process of putting the rides together. I saw a photo of him a few weeks ago trying to get his hands on a Zipper in a Mayfair hotel room.

Had posted this elsewhere but probably better here: Maybe it's going to be a retro kind of theme park with a resident troop of clowns. Lescott could drive one of those cars which all the wheels fall off to comedy effect. Guzan could have one of those giant clown noses which makes a honk sound when squeezed.... Actually that wouldn't work as he wouldn't be able to hold into it despite being on the front of his own face. If only we had someone to fall over when somebody pulled down his trousers?

Maybe it's going to be a retro kind of theme park with a resident troop of clowns. Lescott could drive one of those cars which all the wheels fall off to comedy effect. Guzan could have one of those giant clown noses which makes a honk sound when squeezed.... Actually that wouldn't work as he wouldn't be able to hold into it despite being on the front of his own face. If only we had someone to fall over when somebody pulled down his trousers?

It sounds like he is taking about development /training of young players. I expect there is some kind of student visa you can get for this. Any man jack and lad can get hold of one of these in the name of education. It's one of the reason for unfettered illegal migration into the UK with bogus academies and colleges setting up. Just Google "migration London School of Business and Finance" who have a huge campus in Birmingham you can see from the railway line into Moor Street where no one seems to go in or out which is what made me suspicious. I digress but for educational reasons it seems obtaining visas is pretty easy for some reason

How funny. Was trying to find this post I seem to have remembered reading and when I discovered it I found it was me wat rote it!!!! Anyway from the horses mouth : The supporters must know that at the Newcastle home game, which we drew 0-0, Tony was in one of the boxes as my guest with some of his people. The noise, the enthusiasm, the sheer passion they generate. they must understand the role that they played in actually helping Randy and I bring Tony into this club. To actually witness that outburst of support, enthusiasm and hope from the supporters, it was amazing. So to every one of those supporters that was there, a big thank you.

Whoa hold your horses. Didn't you know you can't just go round saying that it is corrupt in Nigeria. You can get in trouble for those kind of spurious comments. They are trying really hard not to be corrupt any more

Which photo is this? I must have missed this

Understandable really as there must be hardly any call for MSG in China. Seriously I don't think it's really possible to understand finance and accounts in China. I would bet if the largest seller of MSG in China is making "stated" losses of that scale it's because for some mysterious reason they want it to show those kinds of losses possibly because they are leaking unfeasibly large amounts of cash out of China into overseas markets. . Hopefully to spunk ludicrous amounts on money on something like football club sponsorship.

These newspaper reports are a nonsense. They would be investigated anyway. It does seem that they are trying to put a negative slant on it. They would be investigated under the fit and proper person check regardless so they are actually just reporting a standard procedure that would take place anyway. The leagues will want to know about where his money comes from as part of this as they need to be satisfied that the money is not from the proceeds of crime or the club to be used for money laundering Lerners legal team will also have to have carried out similar enquiries to ensure compliance with The Proceeds Of Crime Act so unless they uncover something Randy's legal advisers didn't he should pass that element of the test

I think if Cameron really is any kind of Villa fan he should immediately cake James Bond in some serious bronze foundation and dark eyeliner and parachute him into Recon and find out what's going on.

This is purely speculation on my behalf but I do wonder if this Recon thing really is just a front for indirect investment from the Chinese government. They have been rumbled by some pesky western journalist pdq as they are not really used to being questioned. It is well documented that the Government regularly operate via companies It's probably far fetched. I am sure there is a lot of money on the way this just may have been the story put out to distance the government but has not stood up to scrutiny

I saw this accusation before. Something about misrepresenting himself to get the Harvard gig or not having gone there at all or something. I find this hard to believe The Chinese government would be allowing a guy who has stitched them up to be trapsing around China running businesses earning hundreds of millions in personal wealth and buying high profile overseas sports clubs in a sport they are keen to project their power into. I am pretty sure somewhere along the way the Charlatan might have received a word in his ear from a representative of the government. Therefore I am pretty sure it's horse kack

Just seen this is my 600th post and I quite like it!

The biggest club ground in the UK broke ground in 1909 according to Wiki. OK so it's only a babby compared to the grandest old lady of all. A Johnny come lately if you like but it shows there is no reason to abandon your traditional home just to develop big. There are some interesting comments about Aston on the o/s tonight. I don't think we are going anywhere. We are ASTON Villa not Birmingham United

I see Randy Lerner as his parting shot has re-written history. Apparently the Holte Hotel is actually a Jacobean building. Blimey there was me thinking it was Victorian more fool me. Cheers Randy