Keener window-cleaner

Three actually, Xia has "rather more" than a billion remember.

If Jack stays I will fly over to Milwaukee and give Wes Edens a big hug and a kiss on the forehead, then I will fly to London and bow down in reverence in front of Nassef Sawiris.

I'm having big hopes for him, he looks like a natural CM, his movement is top class. I love the way he constantly takes up new positions and makes himself available every time he passes the ball. Hopefully he will bulk up a bit and get a run in the side. I thought he looked really promising last pre season too, a bit disappointed that he didn't get more games last season.

Although I don't want Xia to be associated with the club in any way after what he has done, while he is here, perhaps he can be used to promote us in China, building up a fan base there. He can be like our cheerleader in the east ? not interfering with the daily business at the club.

One thing I forgott about in my rush of excitement over our new overlords is what happened to the fit and proper owners test? Did it not have to be conducted as Naz and Wez only bought a minority stake each? Or did the EFL do it in hyper speed time? If so the EFL should get a big thanks (although I'm not sure if that's how we want it to work really). Anyway, after have passed Xia and others I guess this test doesn't mean much, can as well just skip it if it isn't revised. (Sorry if this has already been explained on here)

I think your memory is correct, with the owners being Eggert Magnusson and a consortium backed by the Icelandic bank Landesbanki that later went into liquidation in the wake of the Icelandic financial crisis...

I'm cautiously optimistic about this. From the outset I wouldn't be too fond a billionaire from a dictatorship and a Wall Street private equity broker. Never mind a joint venture of the two. The first I would assume is corrupt and being filthy rich in a dictatorship normally means being dependent of being in good standing with the dictator, with your assets at risk at any time. The second one Wolf of Wall street-type normally cares most about himself, money, power and fame. Being our new owners I will support and welcome them with an open mind though, and not let any of the prejudices above come in the way. Sawaris makes a good impression to me, and I particularly like the links to Adidas, he must have good contacts in sports which should be good for us. Edens hopefully has had his trial and error phase at the Milwaukee Bucks and take all the good experiences back to us, owning a sports club in the US must be quite different to owning us though. This time around I wont get too excited by the nice talk, but rather judge them by their actions. I would demand (wish I could do that) that their desicions are with the long term best of the club in mind, that they are open and transparent with the fans and involves supporter groups. They also need to kick (buy) Xia out of the club as soon as possible for me to fully accept the ownership.

I was wondering the same, there must be thousands of competent sports club owners out there, I wonder how Sawiris and Edens linked up.

This and other posts in this thread is what I just love with this forum. We have a new owner from the other side of the globe and swoosh we have fans living nearby who can give an insight to the rest of us of who he is, thanks a lot! ? Feel free to share any info or opinions you guys have about him.

So we are now owned by these guys It's a bit like the Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

Alright, I guess it's ok to say it now, I think he sounds retarded.

I thought Xia/Recon bought Villa mainly for marketing purposes. I wonder how they feel that has worked out. Anyone fancy buying some Recon products? Or some tasty glutamate from Lotus Health perhaps? If someone offered me a Recon product I would probably not hit the person, but I would for sure let them know what I think of Xia and Recon.

Aren't BB and MJ still having a rest since the WC? Hopefully it's a good omen that Jack, Jimmy Danger and Chester played. I thought players normally don't play if a move is imminent as an injury would cause a lot of legal trouble regarding among other things the right to withdraw from the deal.

Instead of a takeover, Dr Fraud is in town for his Fajita Friday, what an anticlimax that would be ?

It's actually Fajita Friday!

We have quite good movement and some decent passing, haven't seen that in a while!

I didn't think i'd say it but I quite like this 5-3-2 formation. It seems to suit a lot of players. Square pegs in square holes. Elphik as the central CB, doesn't get exposed for lack of pace as much and can steer the defence. Hutton may be quite good in the left CB position, especially if he continues with his runs upfield with Taylor on the left. De Laet looks well suited to a wing back role, I bet he can play right CB as well. Whelan as the anchor in midfield, Hourihane and Lansbury having freedom to roam forward more than in a 4-4-2. Grealish or whoever will play behind the striker has a free role, and Kodjia can play on his own up front.

The link to Dean Marney makes me feel like when we were linked with Glenn Whelan this time last year, only even more uninspiring. Imagine a mid two with Marney and Whelan.

Me neither, I saw enough glimpses of quality from him to think he can become good. He had very good technique and was calm and comfortable on the ball. He is a big man too which is quite unusual to have in midfield with those qualities. I think he coped well against spurs as well. I don't really understand why we are so quick to write players off and not give them chances. Especially the young ones. We should see it as a good challenge to develop them, not a burden and flog them. In other professional areas you try to develop your employees. When we pay so much for them and to them, and there is clearly talent in there, we should try our best to develop them.

I agree the benchmark is quite low, and I'd take almost anyone at the minute. But among other things having heard the Leeds story I'm a bit scared of who may take over. I would f.ex be afraid of a shady Hong Kong investment bank coming in. And being run by an American hedge fund like AC Milan wouldn't make me much happier either. Fwiw I wouldn't be too fond of Ellison, regardless of how much money he has. I would ideally prefer owners with a local connection, with long term thinking also regarding the ownership and with supporter involvement.

As much as I want Xia out, I'd like to know who is behind the "consortiums" and their intentions before I get too excited...

He is the biggest talent I have ever seen in a Villa shirt. His technique, ball control and dribbling ability is just unique. He plays a bit like he is still on the school yard, and that's what he has been critisized for previously, instead of being efficent and going for goal he has dribbled and held up the play. He is accused of going down easily but it's simply because the way he plays draws a lot of fouls. This season has been his break through, he had a freak injury (kidney?) early on and was out for a couple of months. He bulked up during that time and came back more powerful and with a more direct style. Also Terry and others seem to have had a big influence on him becoming more professional. I would say he has bigger potential than Dele Alli and I guess that says something to you. If you like Dele Allis nutmegs, look forward to Jack. I have never ever felt so low about losing a Villa player. He is one of our own and it will cause massive discontent if/when he is sold (just to fill up the holes in the budget that our owner Dr Fraud has caused).

I believe Bruce must have known about the situation, in Jan/Feb when there was talk about a new contract for Hutton and we renewed some of the kids contratcs he said that if we don't go up we will have to rely on the kids. He is the one who persisted with the policy of recruting old players on high wages, despite our wage bill already being unsustainable. As I said I think it's good that Bruce stays in the current situation, and I appreciate his interview, especially the part where he said he told Xia that they should be honest to the fans. But I think his decision to stay is because he knows he is partly to blame for the sitaution. If he walkes out, it looks like he failed and left the club in a mess. Now he can at least try to save some honour. Must give him credit for his ability to make him look like the good guy, the saviour, despite him being part of the mess we are in.

And on most things.