Time for a takeover

[romavillan]

12 hours ago, DaveAV1 said:

Whilst gazillions of dosh wouldn’t be too terrible, what we really need is an owner with a brain. If we were well run and with the right people on board, I think some elements of ffp can be negated. Don’t tell me PSG are making the money they’re spending entirely through football. Same goes for Citeh and Chelski. 

Totally, there's probably plenty of ways a smart owner could get money into the playing side if they had it. I don't think it needs gazzilions either with the right appointments on the footballing side the size of our fanbase and the quality we can produce through the academy and our facilities we *should* be aok at this level and challenge for promotion without the gazzilions. Once you are up in the premier though, it's very bonkers indeed.

[Nigel]

Simon Jordan was just on talksport a few minutes ago.

Does seem to know a bit about the internal workings of the place.

He obviously cant give too much away but he seemed to imply something serious is going on in the background, probably in terms of ownership.

Financially there is nothing too serious going on, tjust cash flow problems (that we know about already)

Seems to think Grealish and Kodjia will be sold but thats about it, but said that new motivations will be needed right at the top....implying a sale.

He was asked whether he would be interested in buying us, surprisingly he intimated he would look at the financial side but said he couldnt see him writing too big a cheque.

[sidcow]

15 minutes ago, Nigel said:

Simon Jordan was just on talksport a few minutes ago.

Does seem to know a bit about the internal workings of the place.

He obviously cant give too much away but he seemed to imply something serious is going on in the background, probably in terms of ownership.

Financially there is nothing too serious going on, tjust cash flow problems (that we know about already)

Seems to think Grealish and Kodjia will be sold but thats about it, but said that new motivations will be needed right at the top....implying a sale.

He was asked whether he would be interested in buying us, surprisingly he intimated he would look at the financial side but said he couldnt see him writing too big a cheque.

So Simon Jordan is not currently in discussions to buy us.

That is indeed the best news I have heard this year. 

[Nigel]

1 minute ago, sidcow said:

So Simon Jordan is not currently in discussions to buy us.

That is indeed the best news I have heard this year. 

I wouldnt go as far as say 'not'......more like 'maybe not'!

[KSV]

5 minutes ago, sidcow said:

So Simon Jordan is not currently in discussions to buy us.

That is indeed the best news I have heard this year. 

to me implied he would be involved in some capacity but wouldnt be writing the cheques. Hes been talking about us alot and tends to imply that he knows a few things that he cant mention. 

[Demitri_C]

Xia just sell us up your fraud of a businessman

[leighavfc]

12 minutes ago, sidcow said:

So Simon Jordan is not currently in discussions to buy us.

That is indeed the best news I have heard this year. 

He did say he would take a look though.... but also did say he doesn't think he will be writing a big cheque to buy Villa

[hippo]

48 minutes ago, leighavfc said:

He did say he would take a look though.... but also did say he doesn't think he will be writing a big cheque to buy Villa

I wouldn't think it would need a big cheque TBH.

[omariqy]

I think today's news actually hints at Xia staying on. He is showing the club who is boss and making big decisions. 

[DaveAV1]

9 minutes ago, omariqy said:

I think today's news actually hints at Xia staying on. He is showing the club who is boss and making big decisions. 

In what way is he showing the club who is boss? He already owns the club. Getting rid of the football director without a replacement is hardly showing leadership. That decision could be linked to a new regime, but that’s probably wishfull thinking!

[hippo]

16 minutes ago, omariqy said:

I think today's news actually hints at Xia staying on. He is showing the club who is boss and making big decisions. 

I Agree ......

But trying to judge an owner who is on the edge of sanity is fraught. He could do anything at any time.....or nothing.

Really want the cretin of an owner gone.

[sne]

5 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

In what way is he showing the club who is boss? He already owns the club. Getting rid of the football director without a replacement is hardly showing leadership. That decision could be linked to a new regime, but that’s probably wishfull thinking!

Classic Chinese leadership. Getting rid of the dissidents.

[romavillan]

6 minutes ago, sne said:

Classic Chinese leadership. Getting rid of the dissidents.

wait, they've **** shot steve round?

[sne]

7 minutes ago, romavillan said:

wait, they've **** shot steve round?

No, no.

He's just been relocated to our affiliate North Korean club and will never be heard from again.

[Demitri_C]

56 minutes ago, omariqy said:

I think today's news actually hints at Xia staying on. He is showing the club who is boss and making big decisions. 

There is hardly anyone left for him to do that...

[DaveAV1]

He got the wrong Steve

[Rob182]

1 hour ago, hippo said:

I wouldn't think it would need a big cheque TBH.

I don't know, it sounds like Xia managed to use one of those oversized ones that you see in the newspapers. 

[Sam3773]

The similarities to the last takeover are certainly there. The CEO has gone (forcibly in this case) and doesn't look set to be replaced. Key staff including Round, Coton and Fitness staff have left and don't appear to be being replaced. 

Xia has converted debt owed to him by the club in to shares to make DD and sale ability better - Lerner did the same in 2016 shortly before granting Xia exclusivity. 

A key difference is the communication. Xia has a direct communication medium with fans - Twitter. We never had this with Lerner and still I'd argue communication was better under the previous regime. We were up for sale. No guess work, just honesty from an absent owner. Xia hasn't given us anything. 

I understand from the press that Rongtian and Organ are meeting with Bruce this morning. I don't think they'll remove him, but perhaps update him on what Xia's doing. I'm sure Bruce is as much in the dark as most. This could mean a takeover is closer than expected. 

In my opinion, its too late and he needs to sell. He has single handedly created a toxic vibe amongst the fan base again and a large portion of the blame for that rests on Xia's silence the last month or so. Its allowed the press to dictate the story, and its rarely a good one. 

He needs to sell carefully, with full focus on the club. I've seen reports that he only wants to sell to a Chinese buyer. I'm sure those are far from the mark, and hope if he has refused offerers from American or European buyers, its for good reason. 

I believe something is happening, I have seen rumour that he's accepted a bid finally, how true that is I don't know (Twitter eh?), but I certainly hope so. 

Either way, the club and Xia need to communicate almost immediately to try and calm fears, tell the fans that something is happening, albeit from a high level. Just the knowledge that Xia is looking to sell would be a start. And moreover, put themselves in the driving seat again, being the authority on what's happening instead of the press. 

Here's hoping a new owner comes in soon and allows a smart, patient rebuild of the club. We certainly can't throw money at the problem again. 

[hippo]

8 minutes ago, Sam3773 said:

The similarities to the last takeover are certainly there. The CEO has gone (forcibly in this case) and doesn't look set to be replaced. Key staff including Round, Coton and Fitness staff have left and don't appear to be being replaced. 

Xia has converted debt owed to him by the club in to shares to make DD and sale ability better - Lerner did the same in 2016 shortly before granting Xia exclusivity. 

A key difference is the communication. Xia has a direct communication medium with fans - Twitter. We never had this with Lerner and still I'd argue communication was better under the previous regime. We were up for sale. No guess work, just honesty from an absent owner. Xia hasn't given us anything. 

I understand from the press that Rongtian and Organ are meeting with Bruce this morning. I don't think they'll remove him, but perhaps update him on what Xia's doing. I'm sure Bruce is as much in the dark as most. This could mean a takeover is closer than expected. 

In my opinion, its too late and he needs to sell. He has single handedly created a toxic vibe amongst the fan base again and a large portion of the blame for that rests on Xia's silence the last month or so. Its allowed the press to dictate the story, and its rarely a good one. 

He needs to sell carefully, with full focus on the club. I've seen reports that he only wants to sell to a Chinese buyer. I'm sure those are far from the mark, and hope if he has refused offerers from American or European buyers, its for good reason. 

I believe something is happening, I have seen rumour that he's accepted a bid finally, how true that is I don't know (Twitter eh?), but I certainly hope so. 

Either way, the club and Xia need to communicate almost immediately to try and calm fears, tell the fans that something is happening, albeit from a high level. Just the knowledge that Xia is looking to sell would be a start. And moreover, put themselves in the driving seat again, being the authority on what's happening instead of the press. 

Here's hoping a new owner comes in soon and allows a smart, patient rebuild of the club. We certainly can't throw money at the problem again. 

Thing is Xia is a liar and is totally off his rocker. Any communication is likley to leave us none the wiser.

[delboy54]

I think the reason why Xia has gone quiet is that he has been found out to be a con man all along.

 

Football now is becoming polarised, I mean we can all predict the same clubs will occupy the top 6 at the end of next season in the prem league, and probably several seasons after that. Unless a club is owned by an arabic oil producing country or Russian "businessman" none of the reamaining 86 clubs in the Football league stand a chance of breaking into that top 6.

The best any club outside the top 6 can hope for now is to avoid relegation, have a good cup run (until you meet one of the top 6 clubs) and maybe get promoted from division 4, 3 or even 2. Even then once in the prem league (div 1) it is a case of looking at where the 40 points for survival are coming from. Its all a bit depressing now to be honest.

As a solution its shame that our football club, one of the founders of the league cannot break the mould. What I mean is, to try and create ownership of our club using something like the German model. We need to look away from mega rich owners pretending to be supporters and we need to find the right people at the top including some form of supporter ownership to create a new model of owning a football club. Yes it may not bring us cups and titles for several years but it may show other clubs in a similar predicament as ours that there is another way to have a well run club that "lives within its means".

Stop buying old players, stop getting in old loan players, create a new scouting policy and refresh our youth U18/U21 etc set up so we dont have to rely on overpriced over hyped players that under perform.

There has to be another way, is this the moment ?

Regards to all

VTID Del