All senior administrative management positions at AVFC

I think it will be Wyness. I'd say Samuelson and Banfill have helped engineer the deal and assist with DD, but they will depart. Wyness and Cook (if it is Cook) will form part of the board.

Will be interesting to see if Hollis is offered a role and Brian Little too. Links to Comolli as well, although Xia hasn't mentioned him and he's been pretty open (maybe he's not been asked) I'd assume once we announce a manager, the deal will be ratified by the authorities shortly after and then a proper and full press conference can be held in the UK where the board and other finer details can be expanded upon. I'm excited to see/hear it all.


incidentally, people saying the Fit and Proper test is a sham and it's passed Cellino etc are partly correct. It's since changed to the Directors and Owners test and notably in all the examples given (were it's failed) none of them have been subject to this test and none of them have been investigated by the Premier League (who have a big brand to protect) So I see it as reassuring that they, as well as the Football League will be involved.

GadgetMan wrote:I think it will be Wyness. I'd say Samuelson and Banfill have helped engineer the deal and assist with DD, but they will depart. Wyness and Cook (if it is Cook) will form part of the board.

Will be interesting to see if Hollis is offered a role and Brian Little too. Links to Comolli as well, although Xia hasn't mentioned him and he's been pretty open (maybe he's not been asked) I'd assume once we announce a manager, the deal will be ratified by the authorities shortly after and then a proper and full press conference can be held in the UK where the board and other finer details can be expanded upon. I'm excited to see/hear it all.


incidentally, people saying the Fit and Proper test is a sham and it's passed Cellino etc are partly correct. It's since changed to the Directors and Owners test and notably in all the examples given (were it's failed) none of them have been subject to this test and none of them have been investigated by the Premier League (who have a big brand to protect) So I see it as reassuring that they, as well as the Football League will be involved.  

alan nixon saying samuelson wants pulis

I really hope Samuelson has no further involvement with Villa.

Famous last words and all that but there doesn't seem to be much momentum in the Pulis side of things. Samuelson may want him but I don't think he will be the preferred candidate of the club or even on their shortlist and maybe Dr. Xia has ideas of his own. There does seem to be a bit more momentum to Moyes lately which is good to see.

Yeah both Samuelson and Pulis would concern me, however at this stage I have an open mind.

I'm keen to see the board structure, as well as the footballing structure, ie do we have a manager or head coach, will we get a Sporting Director etc! Will there be big changes to the scouting and Academy? You'd think so. I think we have a lot of info coming our way in the next few weeks. Bring it on, I'm excited.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/7167688/David-Moyes-in-line-for-Aston-Villa-manager-job-in-shock-return-to-English-football.html?CMP=spklr-_-Editorial-_-TWITTER-_-TheSunFootball-_-20160522-_-Football-_-474818274-_-Imageandlink


says here that Christopher Samuelson, set to be named as executive chairman

beware though this is only the sun so could hopefully well be faulse!

Samuelson was also involved in a (failed?) takeover at Reading and served as a director there. I think his dodginess is related to how money is handled (offshoring, tax havens etc) rather than what he's done as an office bearer at clubs. That said, his track record (the takeover that wasn't at Reading, other failed attempts to buy into Everton and Bristol City) doesn't inspire confidence.

Still, it's only a tabloid report and can be shaped as much by fan and social media speculation as actual facts recent experience suggests. Different papers have different versions of events. The Sun are saying that Moyes spoke to Samuelson, the Mail are saying it was Xia himself who did. It was not that long ago that The Sun were saying Samuelson wanted Pulis.

It will all come out in the wash.

Samuelson had bad press from his time at Reading and the fans apparently disliked him to say the least. It seems that Reading borrowed a considerable amount of money by signing over their parachute payment to a loan company after being relegated. When their debt became unserviceable, John Madejski (their owner) handed control of the club over to their lender Vibrac. The club was then up for sale for £1, plus a clearance of their debt.

Samuelson's Swiss "Mutual Trust" company has allegedly been investigated on a number of occasions (according to google searches) but he hasn't been found to have done anything illegal.

Whether or not Samuelson is the character portrayed by the media, appointing him as Villa Chairman would have an effect on Aston Villa's reputation. Public perception is important and this would send out a "dodgy Villa" message.

this was from November last year, is there a link between samuelson and this story?!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/11971191/Aston-Villa-holds-talks-with-Swiss-investor-over-sale-of-club.html

lukevilla wrote:this was from November last year, is there a link between samuelson and this story?!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/11971191/Aston-Villa-holds-talks-with-Swiss-investor-over-sale-of-club.html

Difficult to say Luke. What Samuelson does is put sellers in touch with buyers and helps get the purchase done and where needed looks at ways of getting a finance package. In our case it appears that Dr Xia will be paying cash, so I'd think Samuelson has assisted with the Acquistion on behalf of Xia and maybe helped structure the deal and channel funds out of China. Really hard to say though without knowing more.

lukevilla wrote:this was from November last year, is there a link between samuelson and this story?!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/11971191/Aston-Villa-holds-talks-with-Swiss-investor-over-sale-of-club.html

Chris Samuelson's company is also Geneva based but is called Mutual Trust SA. It has only got a handful of employees, but it has managed to attract a lot of bad publicity. I don't know whether he had any input into the IM1972 enquiry, but I remember reading that he was linked to a Phoenix group who apparently approached RL about a Villa deal.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/revealed-details-new-aston-villa-11376514?

I hope Tony isn't confusing the expertise needed to buy a club, with the expertise needed to run a club.

Still this is only conjecture at the moment.

Note how Samuelson was 'executive chairman' in a previous story and is now 'deputy chairman' in this one. That's either the press pissing in the wind or he's getting gradually getting demoted and will not be on the board at all by the time the takeover is finalised.

Meanwhile, some more info (none of it a surprise) here: http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-exclusive-dr-tony-11375963

Sandie wrote:Note how Samuelson was 'executive chairman' in a previous story and is now 'deputy chairman' in this one. That's either the press pissing in the wind or he's getting gradually getting demoted and will not be on the board at all by the time the takeover is finalised.

Meanwhile, some more info (none of it a surprise) here: http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-exclusive-dr-tony-11375963

I think Tony Xia intends to be AVFC Chairman, so if Samuelson was appointed it would be as deputy chairman you would think.