Re: AVFC Takeover Thread, Rumours, Gossip and Hearsay...all goes here

[Gordonsleftboot]

Have the other directors passed their Fit & Proper test yet? I don't seem to have heard anything.

[Guest]

Have the other directors passed their Fit & Proper test yet? I don't seem to have heard anything.

was thinking the same myself, if there were any issues we would of heard by now I'm sure

[Wriggle]

Didn't Wyness say he had his interview a day or two after the press confer nice the other week? Surely it's all gone through ok if we've heard nothing?

[deadbuzzardalive]

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/latest-aston-villas-search-new-11543314?

Aston Villa’s search for a technical director has now become a two-horse race.

Owner Tony Xia is in discussions with both candidates and is hoping to make a breakthrough before the start of the Championship campaign.

At this stage their identities remain private but the Birmingham Mail understands that Xia is confident of landing his preferred target.

Both men have experience in the global market and the eventual appointment will be seen as a major coup for a second-tier side.

[BillytheKid]

WOW really get the feeling we have hit the big time with Xia as our new owner you know, its either Cortes or Camolli imo who Xia is after, cheers for the article deadbuzzard mate

[Trotters]

I'm surprised it's not been announced yet. Clearly, Xia had his boardroom team and manager lined up long before the fit and proper tests were concluded so I wonder why it's taken so long for a technical director? I'd have thought you'd have him in BEFORE a manager.

And isn't Cortese more a CEO than a technical director?

Nevertheless, exciting times ahead.

[Boldfinger]

i have to say it .... i cant f'kin wait for the season to start!!!!!
i feel so positive now compared to the doom and gloom of previous seasons.

[Wriggle]

I'm surprised it's not been announced yet. Clearly, Xia had his boardroom team and manager lined up long before the fit and proper tests were concluded so I wonder why it's taken so long for a technical director? I'd have thought you'd have him in BEFORE a manager.

And isn't Cortese more a CEO than a technical director?

Nevertheless, exciting times ahead.

Maybe they are in another job or involved in the Euro's?

Maybe it's Woy...

[smetro]

I'm surprised it's not been announced yet. Clearly, Xia had his boardroom team and manager lined up long before the fit and proper tests were concluded so I wonder why it's taken so long for a technical director? I'd have thought you'd have him in BEFORE a manager.

And isn't Cortese more a CEO than a technical director?

Nevertheless, exciting times ahead.

So far as I aware:-

Wyness, Samuelson, and the other director - haven't passed the f+p test yet (or if they have it hasn't been announced)

The Technical Director hasn't been recruited yet - not even sure if he would be subject to f+p

[AstonThriller]

Regarding who the new technical director will be. An ITK who broke the news of us playing Sheff Wed away in the first game of the season a day before the fixtures were released said this a few weeks ago...

#AVFC interviewing 3 people for role of sporting director: Frank Arnesen, Marco Branca and Stefano Antonelli.

Branca= spent twelve years as Inter Milan's sporting director and brought in some impressive players like Milito, Lucio, Etoo etc.

Arnesen= has vast experience in that role having worked at the likes of Spurs, Chelsea, Hamburg and PSV amongst others. The worry is though is that he spent five years at Chelsea but since he left in 2010 he's been at three clubs. So he's either not impressed at the those clubs or he hasn't been able to settle.

Antonelli= appears to have been sporting director at both Bari and Siena. Also worked at Udinese before.

Meanwhile Wyness said HERE that the links to Comolli weren't true but I'd be surprised if they didn't at least talk to the guy tbh seeing as he also has vast experience in that role.

Some have mentioned Dan Ashworth but it looks like he's knee deep with England and will remain so for some time.

I've had a look around and found THIS site that details available sporting directors and some decent names jump out.

Christian Nerlinger was at Beyern for three years and didn't do too badly. Held talks with Rangers a few years back but turned them down...with our new money though I'd say we'd be attractive to him.

Predrag Mijatović was at Madrid for three years and I'd imagine has a lot of links in the game.

Leonardo had a successful spell at PSG and unlike some of the others I've named he left on his own terms.

Andoni Zubizarreta spent five years as Barcelona sporting director and had been at Bilbao before that.

So just to round this off if you go by Xia's actions so far he spoke about getting Di-Matteo because he's "high profile" as well as his stellar managerial record. So I think they'll be trying to go for a top name tbh. What's also important though is getting one who can speak English?!! Because communication between RDM, Wyness and Xia will be key of course.

Branca seems like an intriguing name having spent so long at a top club like Inter. He also knows the English game having played for Boro for a season. But I think Leonardo or Zubizarreta would be big coups as well. All in all I'd expect our new sporting director to be one of these names. Comolli or Arnasen would probably be the safest pair of hands with their prior experience in English football but something tells me Xia doesn't do "safe" .

[AstonThriller]

Interesting that the Wolves and Baggies fans are all speculating about having their own Chinese takeover. Wolves being linked with a man named "Robin Li" who, it's claimed is worth 10 billion. While the Baggies seem to think "Wang Jianlin" (where have I heard that name before?) are in for them!!.

It will be interesting to see what transpires. The Jianlin link seems a little lazy tbh. He's been heavily linked with us along with Larry Ellison and none of that happened. Also Wanda already have shares with Atletico so would the Baggies really be a priority? With the Wolves link their fans are really hoping for "big news on monday" when the Chinese stoke exchange opens. I think it might be wishful thinking as Recon didn't announce anything before our website confirmed the deal did they?

Also most of the midlands journo's, Sky Sports News, BBC etc were all adamant that the takeover was in the offing. Moxley even put his reputation on the line on Twitter. But with these links I haven't seen any of that yet.

[deadbuzzardalive]

Proffessor Simon Chadwick (I think that's his name), on twitter says that he's aware of Chinese interest in a West Mids club, and know the name of the investor. So must be Wolves or Albion.

Li, has been linked with Wolves for a while now, I think I'm right in saying that he owns the Baidu search engine. So if he did buy them I imagine he'd have the means to make a difference.

[AstonThriller]

Proffessor Simon Chadwick (I think that's his name), on twitter says that he's aware of Chinese interest in a West Mids club, and know the name of the investor. So must be Wolves or Albion.

Li, has been linked with Wolves for a while now, I think I'm right in saying that he owns the Baidu search engine. So if he did buy them I imagine he'd have the means to make a difference.

Aren't the noses being taken over by a small chinese company as well? Also that guy just seems to be looking for attention because from what I remember he didn't have a clue about our takeover and even doubted it would happen when Xia's name first popped up.

[deadbuzzardalive]

Andrew Stone is the new Performance Analysis & Technical Recruitment at Villa. Was at Southampton. I don't if this is basically the Technical Director appointment, that was being talked about.

[The Utterer]

Very pleased with this, Southampton made us look stupid in the transfer market the last 5 years and if this guy is something to do with that i welcome him with open arms

[achilles]

Andrew Stone is the new Performance Analysis & Technical Recruitment at Villa. Was at Southampton. I don't if this is basically the Technical Director appointment, that was being talked about.

What the hell exactly is this?

It used to be so simple in my day, you used to run around, tackle, pass the ball to one of your own players and occasionally score a goal!

[Dions_Bald_Head]

Andrew Stone is the new Performance Analysis & Technical Recruitment at Villa. Was at Southampton. I don't if this is basically the Technical Director appointment, that was being talked about.

What the hell exactly is this?

It used to be so simple in my day, you used to run around, tackle, pass the ball to one of your own players and occasionally score a goal!

Then Randy Lerner took over & that all slowly went out the window...

[UnclePanda]

Andrew Stone is the new Performance Analysis & Technical Recruitment at Villa. Was at Southampton. I don't if this is basically the Technical Director appointment, that was being talked about.

What the hell exactly is this?

It used to be so simple in my day, you used to run around, tackle, pass the ball to one of your own players and occasionally score a goal!

you havent watched villa for a while, have you? haha!

[KMitch]

The main thing Southampton does better than anyone is finding/replacing managers when theirs leave. They identify managers who will fit into their structure and will not deviate from it at all. They don't try to fit square pegs in round holes or dismantle their whole structure behind the scenes every time they get a new manager. How much money have we wasted on coaches, scouts, analysts, etc over the years because our revolving door of delusional managers didn't like what their predecessors did? We can't turn a profit because every time we sack a manager, we have to pay off a dozen freeloaders on their staff, as well as provide compensation for the next managers staff.

I'm not sure if Stone is the Technical Director we were promised and may be part of this position's new staff. He has been around Soton's famous setup for long enough that whatever he brings to the table will be leagues better than Paddy Reilly's amateur hour setup.

[Cha Ching]

The main thing Southampton does better than anyone is finding/replacing managers when theirs leave. They identify managers who will fit into their structure and will not deviate from it at all.  They don't try to fit square pegs in round holes or dismantle their whole structure behind the scenes every time they get a new manager. How much money have we wasted on coaches, scouts, analysts, etc over the years because our revolving door of delusional managers didn't like what their predecessors did?  We can't turn a profit because every time we sack a manager, we have to pay off a dozen freeloaders on their staff, as well as provide compensation for the next managers staff.

I'm not sure if Stone is the Technical Director we were promised and may be part of this position's new staff.  He has been around Soton's famous setup for long enough that whatever he brings to the table will be leagues better than Paddy Reilly's amateur hour setup.

Spot on. No continuity. We went from 100 mph high pressure game under O'Neill, through a more technical possession type game under Houllier and then defensive hoofball under McLeish and then a bit of everything under Lambert. The amount of players that were bought by certain managers who were then discarded by their successors was crazy. If we adopt a more consistent style all through from academy upwards, we have a chance to build something here.

[AstonThriller]

Yeah not really sure what Andrew Stone's role is tbh but it looks like he might be the one who runs the scouting department or something? And that's different to being a "director of football" type.

Whatever the case it looks like Xia and co are leaving no stone un-turned in an effort to create a great structure at this club once and for all.

[4BetLite]

Out of interest, I would love to know King and Bernstein's thoughts on the new Villa.

[achilles]

If it means the end of Paddy Reilly's stint at Villa Park then I am definitely in favour of Mr Andrew Stone!

[deadbuzzardalive]

From his job description, I'd say that Stone is most likely Almstads replacement.

Trent on Villatalk said (before Stone joined) that he thinks the Director of Football might be a Goran Erikson type but not Erikson himself and also mentioned southern europe and southern america. I don't know if he was speaking from some knowledge of what's going to happen, or just guessing at what he thinks will happen.

But I don't think Stone is the 'Technical Director'.

[deadbuzzardalive]

Still want a 'technical director'.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-want-fill-one-11573618

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