I reckon we need @Deisler123 to translate that!

Just now, Gary Thomas said:

http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/10300988/villa-hopeful-on-di-matteo-appointment

Villa hopeful on Di Matteo appointment

01/06/16 10:18am

Aston Villa hope to announce former Chelsea manager Roberto i Matteo as their new manager in the next 24 hours.

Can't watch videos at work... Can someone relay a basic jist of the info please?

The official website has just announced a finalised pre-season tour of France. Surely they wouldn't do this without the go ahead of a new manager? Methinks RDM has had a hand in this.

I can't imagine the air tight contacts of Randy Lerner would finally leak some information (after ten years of silence) to the Daily Mail/Metro

If this is true though, it's just another addition to an already full catalogue of errors.

9 minutes ago, rodders0223 said:

Gary Megson has been out of work since 2012. I reckon he is itching to get back in.

Xia: "I'm proud to announce the triple signing of Gary Megson as manager, John Carver as his assistant and Joe Kinnear providing the scouting nouse at a high level."

Absolute dream team!

Just now, Wainy316 said:

Benteke but that was an anomaly.

I reckon you could lump Mellberg and Laursen in that list as far as Villa are concerned. Those are the last two real gems that stand out that we didn't pay a huge amount for other than Tekkers and Delph.

Just now, Deisler123 said:

Or to make it even easier, it has almost the identical pronounciation as 'Xa' of 'Xavier' in Spanish. Sh-ee-a (one sound)

I am now confident in saying his name. Cheers dude! 

Just now, Deisler123 said:

Depending on what tone the 'SHA' was pronounced though. But mostly likely to be either Mr. 'Stupid' or Mr. 'Killer' - neither sounds good.

The Sky reporter made his name sound like Mr. Zi, a sound in Chinese we used to mimic how the mouse/rats 'speak'. No good. 

The CNN journalist pronounciate his name very well though (in the most recent interview done in Beijing) - but his attitude as a journalist is very annoying.

Xia's English certainly needs to be improved, but IMHO, if the journalists can't even pronouciate the interviewee's name correctly, what can we expect from the interview? 

I've been pronouncing it "shee-ah". Is that right or am I butchering it?

1 minute ago, GENTLEMAN said:

Remember he has been battered by the press since the announcement. I think he is trying to please or convince everybody that he is a serious and responsible owner. One interview for the Birmingham Mail or AVTV would have been sufficient enough.

That's given me an idea about who his first dismissal should be. Sod Paddy Riley, get rid of Jack Woodward

A lot has been said about paying around £10mil for players but has anyone ever looked at the record fees for teams buying players in the Championship?

1. Andre Gray - £9.3mil
2. Jordan Rhodes - £8.9mil
3. Ross McCormack £8.9mil
4. Jordan Rhodes £7.6mil
5. Bradley Johnson - £6mil

Those are the all time top 5 transfers (granted, two of them are the same player!). We wouldn't be looking at signing 5 Andre Gray type signings. Maybe two at most? After that we could make at least a further five signings of a really high standard. If the new boss gets £50mil we'll be absolutely cushty this season.

17 minutes ago, fightoffyour said:

I'm somewhere between romantically optimistic and cautiously nourished.

20 minutes ago, juanpabloangel18 said:

It was posted a page ago, but he's done another interview which should allay some fears.

Main points (all encouraging to hear!):

- The current scouting team needs to take responsibility for a lot of our failures and needs a revamp 

- He strongly denies any plans to rename Villa Park

- He says there is no reason why he would fail the FL's Director test as everything he does is above board

- While he has strong connections to Chinese government officials, they do not influence his businesses

- He is normally uneasy with the media (due to the 'insane' Harvard accusations), but has been more open recently as he wants to communicate and reassure us, the fans

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/05/24/aston-villa-new-owner-lines-up-roberto-di-matteo-and-prepares-to/

All brilliant news. Someone needs to make a flow chart for how these interviews work along these lines:

Xia gives interview -> certain statements are scrutinized -> gives another interview and quashes fears -> certain statements are scrutinized. etc. etc. etc.

1 minute ago, dn1982 said:

Where has Hollis said about the Birds Nest? He never mentioned it yesterday when he was interviewed by the media. 

It was either in the Brum Mail article or on that Tom Ross podcast. He definitely said it though.

I don't know if Xia is a multi-billionaire and I don't know if he's broke. Lerner entrusted the takeover with Hollis and he seems to know what he's doing and has a good track record in previous business.

The recent stories that have come out about his business(es) don't look great, I'll admit, but if we are to trust Hollis then we have to hope that he's made the right call. Even if he's totally cocked this up we were facing serious trouble with Randy at the helm so even as a worst case scenario this is still better than Lerner.

The fit and proper persons test should prove that Xia is decent enough and if he managed to convince Hollis that he has our best interests at heart then that's good enough for me. Should he fail the test then we will have dodged a bullet. This still doesn't change the fact that he made all the right noises yesterday even if he was being a little overly ambitious!

I for one think he'll pass the test and the proof will certainly be in the next two weeks worth of pudding. Fingers crossed.

1 minute ago, bobzy said:

No, it's not.

You're out of line here.  Read my posts again, thanks.

You say this but there are no other comparisons to the men themselves. Yes Yeung and Xia have both promised great things, but what owner would take over a football club and say "Yeah, I think I'll relegate the club again and generally not give a toss".

Xia is self-made in legitimate business and has 35,000 employees under him. Yeung was a money laundering hairdresser. Any comparison is laughable.

4 minutes ago, Richard said:

To be fair I think there are some decent ones badly let down by the shite around them.  I think some of the likes of Amavi,  Ayew,  Traore and even Veretout would have looked much better in better teams or if we had the option to bring them on not throw them straight into a shit team struggling in the premier league.  I guess what I am saying is dont throw the baby out with the bathwater

Echoing this thought I think Ayew and Traore would tear up the championship. Especially Traore.

1 minute ago, 007√ said:

Get rid of Gestede, absolute crap of a striker. God awful he is.

Not too sure about that as it's hard to be effective without service. Absolutely battered the championship the season before last with Blackburn. 19 goals was it? Might be worth giving him a shot?

3 minutes ago, hippo said:

Not quite. He seems to have come from quite a privileged background. But he looks like he can handle himself.

Not at all how it came across in the Guardian interview:

"“I grew up in a very normal family,” he said – but according to reports in China’s domestic media he was far from a normal child. They describe Xia, who was one of three children, as a child prodigy who left home to study at university in Beijing at the age of 14."

Quote

Aston Villa: Steve Hollis explains how the Tony Xia takeover was done and talks about the future of the club
14:51, 19 MAY 2016 UPDATED 14:54, 19 MAY 2016
BY GREGG EVANS
The Villa chairman talks about new owner Tony Xia, as well as the past, present and the future
 
Steve Hollis has been answering questions on the Villa takeover.

Steve Hollis met with reporters today to discuss the bright new future at Aston Villa under Tony Xia.

A takeover is expected to be completed in the next two-to-three weeks providing the Football League approve.

Hollis will leave once the sale is wrapped up and is convinced the new owners will bring better times to Villa.

These are the key topics he spoke about today:

Why Tony Xia?

“The reason we went with him is because of his background. If you see what he has achieved in his business career, frankly it’s amazing.”

Does he have enough experience?

“It would be unfair of me to comment on Tony and his team and their ability. But we wouldn’t have sold the club to Tony and the Recon Group if we didn’t feel - particularly Randy, because this is a hugely emotional experience for him - that Tony was showing all the right signs of being the person who can polish this football club and take it back to where it should be.”

How much did Randy sell it for?

The Birmingham Mail understands it was between £75m and £100m depending on future success.

Hollis said: “I’m not going to say how it’s made up but the price is significantly more than the £60m that I’ve seen mentioned. It is a lot higher. We can’t disclose the price for various reasons.”

Was he the only option?

“No. As of two months ago we had half a dozen serious buyers. That came down to four and then two in the last couple of weeks. Of those two, Tony Xia was the preferred candidate.”

What role did Hollis play?

“I was given the job of the heavy lifting. The big job was to find a new owner. What you’ve seen is the culmination of my work.”

When is a new manager arriving?

“We’re going to have discussions next week. It’s no secret that Randy and I have our preferred choice. We’re in discussions. We will have discussions with Tony and his team next week. We’ve not had that discussion.”

Will there be a director of football?

“It’s down to Tony. If there are issues that align, we will get involved.”

Is a stadium move or development a thought?

“Again, you need to ask him but he is responsible for the Bird’s Nest in Beijing and some of the other major iconic developments in China.”

How was Randy’s mood like after?

“It’s a bit of a grieving process now for him also mixed in with happiness as he can see someone is taking the custodial role in this club.”

What should fans expect?

“Tony has some grand plans and you will soon see. Those plans are really, really exciting. For any supporter of this club to be a part of that journey that Tony is going to map out, it is going to be really great.”

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-steve-hollis-explains-11357357?

 

Interesting stuff on Xia from Hollis. Especially about the Beijin National Stadium. Had no idea he had a hand in that incredible stadium!

1 minute ago, Jareth said:

The only thing I don't like is that he says he won't follow the Man Citeh mode of burning money. If we are to be top 3 in the world then burn money we must! Other than that 9 out of 10 from me. I still think I am dreaming all this in some sort of coma from a car accident I haven't realised happened yet.

I think it's important that we're not following that template. It can't be sustainable long term and I think as soon as Mansour (or whatever his name is) gets bored of Citeh he'll leave them to it and sell them on to whoever fancies a punt. 

I sort of hope they don't appoint a DOF.

I'd honestly be happier if this was just left to the manager and his own scouting team. He chooses the players and then uses the players. That way the buck stops at him and there's no doubt at who to blame or praise when all is said and done.

Can someone spill the beans if there's anything decent on Talksport? I can get away with being on the forum at work but I think putting the radio on in the office is a step too far

1 minute ago, AndyGray1985 said:

If he's teaming up with Chris Samuelson and Wyness he's either naive or not up to any good. Worried if true - Samuelson brokered and represented Fortress Sports Fund that  would invest in Everton, but he and the investment disappeared in thin air. This was when Wyness was CEO of Everton.

Did Samuelson and Wyness ever get convicted of anything or was it just speculation?