Re: A hovercraft of eels...it's the Tony Xia thread.

by achilles Thu Aug 31, 2017 9:36 am

AstonThriller wrote:
deadbuzzardalive wrote:Recon no longer buying 'Millenium films' according to Bloomberg.

Chinese government are apparently strongly clamping down on foreign investment, something that has left me wondering how seriously it's going to affect Xia's ownership of us, and the plans he had for the club and beyond. Wouldn't be surprised if it's not long before the club is up for sale again.

So I assume you also expect Wolves, West Brom, Birmingham, Inter Milan, Ac Milan, Southampton and Reading to be put up for sale soon aswell? Or will the government clamp down only effect good old Villa?

I think it is a valid concern as China is a country trying to come to terms with itself but ultimately China will do what is best for itself with no regard for individuals.

by deadbuzzardalive Thu Aug 31, 2017 9:46 am

AstonThriller wrote:
deadbuzzardalive wrote:Recon no longer buying 'Millenium films' according to Bloomberg.

Chinese government are apparently strongly clamping down on foreign investment, something that has left me wondering how seriously it's going to affect Xia's ownership of us, and the plans he had for the club and beyond. Wouldn't be surprised if it's not long before the club is up for sale again.

So I assume you also expect Wolves, West Brom, Birmingham, Inter Milan, Ac Milan, Southampton and Reading to be put up for sale soon aswell? Or will the government clamp down only effect good old Villa?

It wouldn't surprise me to see some of those sides being put up for sale no, I think it depends on whether the various owners have the means of generating funds outside of China, as it seems from now on, or at least for the time being, it's going to be harder to move money out of that country. I was also thinking of Xia's health as well to be honest.

But to be fair since I posted that Xia has said that the deal to purchase Millenium Films is still going ahead just through another company he's created not publicly listed, so maybe he is able to generate the funds outside of China.

by deadbuzzardalive Sun Oct 22, 2017 2:36 pm

I wasn't sure where to put this but just seen this interesting post on Villatalk by TrentVilla...

Not VP related but this is probably the best place to put this.

I’m told big plans are being made for substancial work at BMH.

I posted (I think) a while back that the club had purchased a significant amount of land next to BMH.

Well I’m told that the plan is to build a large extension to the current facilities.

So much so that the current complex will become the youth set up facilities with the first team/squad moving to the new, separate but adjacent complex.

I don’t have much more info than that at this stage and can’t seem to find anything in the media to support it but that is what I’ve been told.

If accurate it’s a very interesting development in terms of the future of the club. I don’t know if this is contingent on promotion. Thought I’d share

Sounds big if true.

by achilles Sun Oct 22, 2017 5:00 pm

I think a lot of plans are all dependant on promotion and staying there and at the moment the saying 'small steps first' springs to mind!

by deadbuzzardalive Sun Oct 22, 2017 6:30 pm

Well if they've purchased the land already, you'd think they'll have to do something with it. Will be good news for our academy players if they inherit Bodymoor, as it would mean our youth system having better facilities than most first teams in the country. And presuming that the new training complex, will be even better, then it's good news for the first team as well.

by achilles Sun Oct 22, 2017 6:42 pm

I would question whether we use the training facilities for the first team as it is?

by deadbuzzardalive Sun Oct 22, 2017 6:49 pm

That's the big question, by the time this happens, if it ever does, Bruce will probably be long gone, and hopefully we'll have a better class of manager in place. Long way to go at the moment though.

by Jae1411 Mon Oct 23, 2017 8:08 am

it may be simply to compensate for the land lost to HS2 which will cut straight through BMH.

by deadbuzzardalive Mon Oct 23, 2017 8:29 am

That's probably playing a part, but it's only 10%, that we're reportedly losing to HS2. So that alone wouldn't cause the need to build an whole new training complex.

by **De Kuip** Mon Oct 23, 2017 9:26 am

Is the land big enough to accommodate a relocated Villa Park?
Don't for one minute think that's what would happen in reality, but given road links just thought it worth asking

by **De Kuip** Mon Oct 23, 2017 9:31 am

I mean, now I've started this thought process, a short extended rail line from somewhere like Lea Marston to a station at BMH is feasible. I assume no local station on the HS2 line at BMH as that's not what HS2 is about. How much would he get for VP with planning permission for a shopping mall?
Wish I hadn't thought these thoughts now!

by AstonThriller Tue Oct 24, 2017 9:50 am

Yeah this could be massive tbh. If you look at the likes of Barcelona, Lyon, Man City etc they have academies with their own facilities and identity. And I think this is the way to go for us. And on reflection, when you add this to Xia's plans to expand VP and buy satellite clubs, it really does look like our dreams could be realised if/when we manage to get back up to the big time. Because when you look around, none of the other teams who got taken over recently, i.e Wolves, Albion, Southampton, Leeds, Forest, The noses etc, have plans like this in place.

by **De Kuip** Tue Oct 24, 2017 11:19 am

AstonThriller wrote:Yeah this could be massive tbh. If you look at the likes of Barcelona, Lyon, Man City etc they have academies with their own facilities and identity. And I think this is the way to go for us. And on reflection, when you add this to Xia's plans to expand VP and buy satellite clubs, it really does look like our dreams could be realised if/when we manage to get back up to the big time. Because when you look around, none of the other teams who got taken over recently, i.e Wolves, Albion, Southampton, Leeds, Forest, The noses etc, have plans like this in place.

Plans like what though? That's the part I'm curious about.

by AstonThriller Tue Oct 24, 2017 11:40 am

De Kuip wrote:
AstonThriller wrote:Yeah this could be massive tbh. If you look at the likes of Barcelona, Lyon, Man City etc they have academies with their own facilities and identity. And I think this is the way to go for us. And on reflection, when you add this to Xia's plans to expand VP and buy satellite clubs, it really does look like our dreams could be realised if/when we manage to get back up to the big time. Because when you look around, none of the other teams who got taken over recently, i.e Wolves, Albion, Southampton, Leeds, Forest, The noses etc, have plans like this in place.

Plans like what though? That's the part I'm curious about.

Expanding stadium

Buying satellite clubs like Man City

Building a new academy facility like Man City

Creating Villa academies in Asia

Installing a new philosophy in the club i.e "the villa engine"

etc etc

by **NARLA24** Tue Oct 24, 2017 12:15 pm

Friend of mine works at BMH. According to what he has been told it is the academy pitches that will be affected by the HS2 and nothing else.

by deadbuzzardalive Tue Oct 24, 2017 4:28 pm

Apparently there's a route map you can look at and it only affects a corner of Bodymoor, which accounts for about ten percent; still a lot though I suppose, and there's the noise to take into consideration. The club are apparently trying to get compensation.

by AstonThriller Tue Oct 24, 2017 7:56 pm

deadbuzzardalive wrote:Apparently there's a route map you can look at and it only affects a corner of Bodymoor, which accounts for about ten percent; still a lot though I suppose, and there's the noise to take into consideration. The club are apparently trying to get compensation.

They WILL get compensation as I remember reading a few articles HERE and HERE about the club being in talks regarding compo.

And around this time of reading it, I actually emailed the club and suggested we turn Bodymore into an academy facility and build a new training ground. So it's brilliant to hear that they might be doing just that. Tony is big on youth as we all know so giving the youngsters their own "La Masia" is a brilliant step forward for the club.

by FoxyAV Wed Oct 25, 2017 7:48 am

AstonThriller wrote:
De Kuip wrote:
AstonThriller wrote:Yeah this could be massive tbh. If you look at the likes of Barcelona, Lyon, Man City etc they have academies with their own facilities and identity. And I think this is the way to go for us. And on reflection, when you add this to Xia's plans to expand VP and buy satellite clubs, it really does look like our dreams could be realised if/when we manage to get back up to the big time. Because when you look around, none of the other teams who got taken over recently, i.e Wolves, Albion, Southampton, Leeds, Forest, The noses etc, have plans like this in place.

Plans like what though? That's the part I'm curious about.
Buying satellite clubs like Man City

Building a new academy facility like Man City

We're buying Man City to turn into our academy? Excellent Dancing Banana

by deadbuzzardalive Wed Oct 25, 2017 12:03 pm

I'd like to see some of these plans in concrete form, it's all gone a bit quiet of late. Even the Recon website hasn't updated since July, previous to that there was a new news story on it pretty much every week, their Weibo only posts Villa related news as well now.

Maybe Xia's laying low, whilst he works on some big deal.

by deadbuzzardalive Mon Nov 20, 2017 10:09 pm

Notes from Xia's presentation to the Villa players before the QPR game.

'But very important, we don't get used to be the son of success, it is like son of the bitches if you get used to it.'

Here, here, here, and here.

by deadbuzzardalive Tue Nov 21, 2017 1:47 am

In addition to the above, he's also posted his personal schedule from the 16th of this month to the 28th, on his Weibo account, some interesting stuff on there to be honest... looks like he's planning on a few acquisitions and looking to develop Aston, amongst a bunch of other things... here

A hovercraft of eels...it's the Tony Xia thread. - Page 19 006bdOJHgy1flpp6c60p9j30k01sfdlh

A hovercraft of eels...it's the Tony Xia thread. - Page 19 006bdOJHgy1flpp6c60p9j30k01sfdlh

by **Trotters** Tue Nov 21, 2017 5:17 am

If only a few of Xia's plans come to fruition, it tells me that he's preparing the club for when we get back to the top flight. A much better option than "Shit, we're in the Premier League...now what?".

As such, I suspect that it will be up to the manager to match his off-pitch efforts and if he doesn't, then it'll be curtains.

by smetro Tue Nov 21, 2017 9:26 am

Significant if true. BMH went through a massive upgrade just after lerner took over so can't imagine its in dire need of an upgrade. So if there are funds for this who knows what funds are available for other projects.

A slight aside I think Xia is ballsy enough to build a whole new stadium away from VP. If he does have big plans for us a move away from b6 wouldn't be off the agenda IMO.

by achilles Tue Nov 21, 2017 9:30 am

We have to just achieve the first objective... promotion, then we will see the reality!

by deadbuzzardalive Tue Nov 21, 2017 10:19 am

The Estate Agents he was in discussion with (Realis Estates Limited) regarding the 'Aston Project', seem to specialize in Retail and Leisure developments.

The Bodymoor discussions regarding HS2 are probably to do with compensation at this stage.

Trouble is all these grand plans will make failure to get promoted all the more galling.

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