6 hours ago, AntrimBlack said:

When you look at his profile, he will be too busy with other things to take on a major role at the club. He will spend time as appropriate at the club for however many days that requires, just as he will with his other interests.

I suspect they will bring in experience at the top to make sure things are running smoothly and efficiently, and Sawiri will be the man on the spot as required.

I agree, hands on can be interpreted many ways, but I'd say you've probably nailed it. I just posted that there are rumblings that a guy called Jake Suski might be deployed by Edens to get involved. 

4 hours ago, holteend1982 said:

That is a well balanced bench in terms of positions 2 defenders 2 forwards 2 midfielders and a gk. It's not like he was leaving out skillfully playmakers to get Ashley westwood on his bench instead is it. The only problem I see with the bench is that they are all absolutely awful players. 

I meant the ones that came on. 2 defenders and a defensive midfielder 

3 minutes ago, ShaldonAVFC said:

Bruce’s silence is odd , I would have thought a rousing we are all in it together going forward interview would of happened by now

I don't think there support is as 'full' as the brief statement said. Rumblings of discontent and some control being appointed elsewhere (ie not Bruce)

12 minutes ago, sidcow said:

I can't see Sawiris traipsing into his office at Villa Park on a daily basis to deal with the day to day running of the club.  They will have to have a CEO.

I think his "Exec" Chairman title is just a label to make it clear he is the chairman without belittling Eden's position, and of course Xia is there In name only.

Of course a CEO is possible, I said over the weekend that Sawiris has indicated he will take a very hands on role, so we will have to see what that entails. I would personally like to see a really experienced CEO, poached from another club. 

5 hours ago, praisedmambo said:

The figures you use tell only part of the story. Were any of those teams on a run of about 4 wins in 50 games as we were? Were they on their fifth boss inside a year? Did they have the kind of absolutely broken doom-ridden confidence as we had?

That last sentence may seem hyperbolic to people who support other clubs, but we know it probably doesn't even go part way to summing up how broken we were. The previous five or so years had left us an absolute ruin. The team Bruce inherited may have had some expensive players but it was also full of absolute dross. 

When Bruce came in we were one of the biggest disasters not only in England but arguably world football! Look at the stats in the preceding years...record defeats or somesuch, record low home wins. It may be interesting to you that people bring this up but to me it's weird and disingenuous of everyone who chooses to ignore it just because they don't like the manager. I'm absolutely on the fence about Bruce but I'm not just going to ignore things to suit my agenda. 

Then just compare RDM and Bruce...one inexperienced manager Vs a vastly more experienced one. With RDM we won once in eleven. We only won against the worst team in the division. Bruce came in and we went immediately seven games unbeaten and in that time we won as many games as we'd won in the previous year and a bit. With RDM we were gutless and suddenly we were at least more resilient. 

I wish we were more attacking and dynamic but he has his ways and has turned round a broken team to one that was one win away from promotion. That's as much reality and I'd argue a lot more honest than the line 'he failed twice'. We all know we're still in the championship. We get it. We're not changing him for now so it's time to look ahead. 

It's also 'interesting' to list the players you mention. Before Bruce Grealish was on the slide, getting pissed and at risk of wasting his talent. He had also had about one good game for us. Even up to this Christmas, a year and a half later, the jury was well and truly still out on Grealish. Only under Bruce does he seem to have grown up. A new, professional attitude seems to have transformed him. 

And for the record, here's the team in Bruce's first game. It's nothing stellar and badly balanced. Beforehand RDM was trying to play Jedinak in a two. Bruce changed that. We went on to only win with Jedinak in the team. If that shows one thing it's how frikking stupid an inexperienced manager can be.

I've run out of steam now. 

Look at his subs, all defensive, kinda sums him up for me. His here now though, he will either do well and be here for a while, or do badly and be shifted rather quickly. I can't see there is much else to discuss, certainly not across every other bloody thread 

1 hour ago, Daweii said:

They are likely still trying to untangle the mess that is the post-Xia era Aston Villa. The Times ran an article saying short term cash flow is still an issue thanks to everything Xia did. Aston Villa may be without a CEO/DOF for a while yet while the new owners figure out exactly what the club can and can't afford short term. Yes Nassef can pump in £4 million a month forever, but that's not ideal..

Don't think we will have a CEO, we have Sawiris as a Exec Chairman. A DOF/Sporting Director on the other hand is essential. This will be an indicator of where we want to go football wise. I find it odd Bruce hasn't spoken about his meeting, you'd think he would be delighted to tell everyone, I think we need to see how the full story plays out with regards to our new owners and what they intend to do. I think their short term decisions won't mirror their mid to long term ones.

8 minutes ago, Rob182 said:

They've passed the first test, in my opinion.

Although I'd rather we move away from Bruce and bring in someone else, replacing him with Henry was the wrong decision, and after the initial excitement of an unknown quantity, I'm sure many people agree that keeping Bruce (instead of getting Henry) is the right thing to do.

The new guys now need to get their feet under the table, bring in some brains around them (CEO/ advisors/ or just 'football men') and then start making the decisions that take us forward.

If I was them, I'd be getting right on the phone to Jorge Mendes. What we need this season is a few £10m-£15m players that we can bring in on loan, but only pay them £20k p/w. 

Don't we just, if only!! 

As for getting some brains around them, they appear to have quite the entourage, so I'm sure some names will come to the forefront. I know a guy who is acting on their behalf, but I don't know if he's just a rep or if he will have more involement. He's called Mr Brill awesome name haha!!

2 minutes ago, Rob182 said:

Just a word on the takeover, if/when it happens.

I don't think the fit and proper persons test will have been done just yet, but I wanted to throw something out there for anyone that cares.

I work in a field (no, not a real field, smart arses) where I have to review businesses and their ownership structures, and probably complete a lot of the same checks that the 'fit and proper persons test' completes (or what you'd assume they'd complete, if they weren't such jobsworths at the EFL), and there are certain rules around businesses that will have gone through fairly rigorous checks previously (for example, a Public Limited Company has to go through a number of checks to be placed on the New York Stock Exchange or the London Stock Exchange, so the checks that need completing on said company become reduced).

I think we'll see a similar thing happening with Edens. I've read that American sports franchises have fairly strict checks for any new owners or co-owners, so Edens will likely have been reviewed to a high level already, and I believe that the EFL will take this into consideration when having to review him, meaning that he could pass the tests in double-time (if/when him becomes an actual co-owner).  Sawiris will have the full checks, I'd assume, but his worth and businesses expertise seems to be out in the open for all to see, so also shouldn't be a problem.

Unless I'm talking out of my arse and they've already gone through the EFL tests to become investors, in which case I'll hop back into my field with daisy.

All good points Rob, I'm certain their tests will be very straight forward, there is immediately a lot of verifiable public information, so privately submitted evidence will be in abundance and as you say they will have also being rigorously audited/checked for their other roles. Nassef at Adidas for instance. Nothing to worry about with these guys credentials. All about their decisions now.

49 minutes ago, jacketspuds said:

Bit harsh.

hahaha!! Well spotted (ooops) You have a keen eye 

What's the chances of having two multi billionaires owning us that BOTH have a lazy right eye?!  

The video was fine, you can see they were asked to put 'something' out and as a result we got a awkward (ish) generic (albeit it nice) quick video. I'm sure we will hear a lot more about their vision after they have undertaken a full review and had more than a few days to buy the club and get the keys, so to speak. 

Keeping Bruce wouldn't have been my preferred choice, but I totally get it (I'm afraid to go in the Bruce thread) On balance it's a sensible and pragmatic approach (a novelty when it comes to Villa owners) He will be on a very short leash though. I suspect they might want their own man anyway, so it's a win win. if he fails, they've had time to properly scout a replacement and if he succeeds, great!! 

I like these two, they feel like 'real' owners and only REALLY rich people wear a suit like Wes Edens haha!! 

4 hours ago, hippo said:

They don't seem media friendly - nowt wrong with that. Rumours that nassef wants to be hands on -  does that mean we won't have a CEO ? 

 

He definitely wants to be hands on, whether that's instead of a CEO remains to be seen. The Executive Chairman title suggests so.

Henry Head Coach, an experienced no2 (Bould) Van Persie as No2 and a sporting director? Will work for me 

4 hours ago, NurembergVillan said:

In fairness they were both clubs without a manager.

I think this is more about "being fair to Bruce" than anything against Henry being a manager.

This is a good point actually and Bruce has lots of love by his media buddies. Hadn't made the connection, but that makes total sense.

11 minutes ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

What about 32 Red?...

Talk Talk are just a Broadband partner

32 minutes ago, TheStagMan said:

been having a trawl around on the companies house website. There are 13 companies registered at Villa Park - Sawiris (and only Sawiris) has been appointed director of 10 of them, along with Xia who remains a director. 

 

The other three are:

Aston Smart Cities (he can keep that one) and the excellent sounding "VicVilla Healthy Food and Nutritional Biotechnology Ltd" 

But more interestingly, there is one called "1874 Developments Ltd" which has a charge registered against it for a lot of land near the stadium (Tame Road), which was a loan taken out 6th July. Sawiris is not a director on this one, just Xia.........  although it is owned and controlled by Recon Group Ltd, which SawIris is a director of. 

Wonder what is going on there, is Tony trying to hold on to some property, or is this a company where the filings have not been processed yet (seems odd if so), although some transaction documents have been filed and are pending so be interesting to see what they are. 

We will see a string of changes I'm sure. There'll likely be a NSWE Ltd  (although it could be under another name( set up too which will have both Sawiris and Edens) 

49 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

aviation enterprises inc from wilmington delaware i think

Sawiris is based out of London, likely not had to fly in. Other jet is definitely Edens

12 hours ago, villan_007 said:

It's fair enough if you don't fancy him as manager, but you haven't got a scooby what he does with his time and who he watches, so why make up complete nonsense?

Lukaku has already said in a recent interview during the world cup that his knowledge of world football is mind boggling, Including having in-depth knowledge of the German second tier of all things.

Sure he is inexperienced, but we live in a digital world, you can do your own homework. He has wanted to go in this direction for many yrs. Shadowed Wenger in coaching, completed his coaching license with arteta and Vieira. Part of that course is managing a side for a season at u18 level. He got knocked back by Wenger after applying for a coach role there as Wenger didn't want someone he considered a potential rival in future yrs in the role. He even offered to work unpaid for the role, something you also think he wouldn't do is take a pay cut. This proves he would for the right role.

It wasn't a surprise to those following his coaching journey that he landed a high profile role at Belgium, similar to arteta at city.

I don't know if this will turn out for the best,  but why paint a negative picture based on nothing other than you don't want him. He hasn't been sitting in his underpants and suddenly thought I want to be a manager. There is a journey there.

 

Excellent sir, just excellent. The crap on this thread is quite astonishing and a little embarrassing, jeez guys get out the house, go get laid and cheer up!!! #BruceOut #HenryIn *Puts tin hat on* 

1 hour ago, Rob182 said:

I too wish them well, but what I didn't understand was them coming on and repeatedly telling us how to protest to get rid of our owner, seemingly forgetting that it was a fan-organised protest (organised by DDiD and Mark from VT) that essentially pushed Randy out and tempted Xia in.

There was quite a lot of projection in their posts to be honest. lots of assumptions that what happened to them was ultimately our path. Sometimes almost gleeful too. I don't think it was intended, but they read like two people who really hadn't dealt with their own damage.

8 minutes ago, sidcow said:

The limited company own it.  Sell it to a other company (at arms length from the directors) for £20m, £20m is in the clubs P&L, then the owner usually charges peppercorn rent until everyone falls into then the true owner who has now left the club is revealed, puts the rent up massively and eventually forces the club to leave.  This is pretty much what happened to Coventry at The Richo and happened at Moseley Rugby Club. 

Yeah with small time crooks, not a CHANCE that is their intentions imo of course

1 minute ago, sidcow said:

It's interesting that it was real estate advice.  I'm not sure if this is good or bad.  It could be that they have identified some great revenue opportunities from the owned  buildings and land which is connected to all these charges being put in order, but I worry it could be stuff like selling Villa Park and renting it back or some such thing.  That always goes wrong when the ground is bought by the owner, they tend to bugger off and charge huge rents eventually leaving the club homeless. That sparks alarm bells for me and I will be watching this space very carefully. 

Could be about naming rights. I don't believe you can do anything with the ground having a charge on it. Pretty much all the charges are just old ones that have had some housekeeping done. I don't get buying the ground, as surely they already own that? (between them all that is) We have some under developed land and perhaps the new guys want to press ahead with the north Stand for instance? I see nothing so far to think anything sketchy is happening or that it will. I'll be keeping an  eye om things, but more out of interest to see what they are planning vs having worries.

2 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said:

Hahaha, okay good luck with that. 

Was worth a polite request haha!! 

7 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said:

Consistency, in the positive sense is defined by results. You can be consistently shit but I'd assume no one would want that for the sake of consistency. 

 

I find it contentious when people talk about consistency, we finished 4th in a 24 team division, we won more than 50% of matches and more than twice the amount of games we lost. 

 

Sure, we were not as consistent as the 3 teams that finished above us, but to say we weren't consistent at all is a stretch. 

 

I've yet to see any team play well and win every single game, even the best have off days and lose matches. 

I don't wish to be rude, but is there anyway at all we can keep the Bruce for and against to his own thread as opposed to it being here? It's a busier and angry enough thread alone without it being here too, This if i'm right is to discuss the merits (or not) of other managers that may or may not become manager. The Bruce in or out debate is boring enough without it being here too. 

44 minutes ago, dounavilla said:

Where did you hear that ?

I said it a over the weekend in the takeover thread and now confirmed by the B Mail.

Quote

News: Press Releases | 23 July 2018

Match made in heaven: Hogan Lovells kicks off Aston Villa FC season advising on NSWE investment

Hogan Lovells has advised Championship football club Aston Villa FC on the real estate aspects of investment in the club by NSWE through an undisclosed capital injection.

https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/news/match-made-in-heaven-hogan-lovells-kicks-off-aston-villa-fc-season-advising-on-nswe-investment#.W1X2H62XrSo.twitter