It was a busy Wednesday in the life of an Aston Villa fan.
Manager Steve Bruce met with our new owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens and contrary to the line in the press about him receiving the sack and seeing Thierry Henry appointed in his place, Bruce retains their ‘full support’ (for now) and we move towards the coming 2018/19 Championship season with some stability.
Club statement
Latest update from Villa Park 👉 https://t.co/8ZlCDEjsPN#PartOfThePride #AVFC pic.twitter.com/uTvJcsswH5
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) July 25, 2018
There was also a friendly against West Ham United to contend with but I’m typing this as the game is on so I’m not giving any spoilers away even if this is going in the timer!
One bit of news – well a few bits actually – that may have crept through for some though concerned ownership updates to the many and varied companies listed at Companies House for the club.
I by no means have an exhaustive list as new ones seem to appear like buses but it’s safe to say that Sawiris has now put his boss cap on at Bodymoor Heath and got his feet firmly under his new desk as he begins sorting out the utter FUBAR situation we got ourselves into.
Yangfang Gu has been terminated as a director of Aston Villa, whilst Rongtian He has been terminated as a director of Recon Sports. Nassef Sawiris has been installed as director for both. #AVFC
— Under A Gaslit Lamp (@VillaLamp) July 25, 2018
According to Companies House yes. He's been listed as a director of 'Recon Group UK Ltd', 'Recon Football Ltd', and 'Recon Smart Sports Ltd' – I would presume these were set up for ventures under the Villa brand so he would automatically take control. #AVFC
— The Claret and View (@claretandview) July 25, 2018
It seems Rongtian He (better known as Ho) remains at Villa Park at least for now, as he tweeted.
Will stay as long as possible to serve this club which I truly love. If anything change in the future it definitely won’t stop me back to UK regularly to buy a ticket sitting in the Holte End. #faith #utv
— Rongtian He (@RongtianHe) July 25, 2018
This isn’t entirely unexpected folks – it’s a necessary step and it’s positive it’s being done so quickly. A full takeover would normally see ‘newly named vehicles’ set up or time spent to change the names but as the initial agreement is a buy-in it is quicker and makes more sense to simply ‘add’ Sawiris to Villa’s existing setup and Xia’s Recon setups.
He can get on with the important things quicker with probably slightly less paperwork.
It also answers the question of who is now in charge.
I would, however, be eternally grateful if somebody could explain to me the charges being satisfied on this linked company – Click Here as I’m utterly perplexed. A pint of Guinness once said ‘these are not the charges you are looking for’ and I didn’t even know they were in existence.
