Club Sale Close
The Evening Standard gave us some takeover talk on Tuesday, this time involving a new face. They believe that another business man from the USA, known as David Freeman, has set up a company called ‘AVFC 1874’ in order to buy the club. The Nashville Predators Ice Hockey team owner is very much unknown and perhaps is too late in his attempts to buy the club.
The Mirror the other hand seemed to be convinced that a Chinese consortium is leading the race and The Mirror reported on Wednesday that they’ll complete the deal within days. The Hong-Kong based group have been mentioned throughout the process and seem to have secured their monies in Europe. Furthermore, it’s also been reported that the new group want Damien Comolli as their technical director. While this group seem to be the favourites in the press at least, the Mirror doesn’t have the greatest track record in reporting things that actually become reality.
New Manager Favourite Di Matteo
On Wednesday a very out of the blue report came from the Metro as Roberto Di Matteo’s odds to become Villa’s next manager were slashed dramatically. It’s certainly a sign that the buyers are in the latter stages of talks as the rumours are starting to brew. Some bookies have even reduced his odds down to 1/2 and it’s very likely that Di Matteo is linked to one of the groups in the race to buy the club.
The Villa fan base is extremely split on whether Di Matteo would be the right man to take villa forward, as a whole variety of opinions have been thrown forward.
Di Matteo has spent most of the last year on the golf course, since resigning as the boss of FC Schalke. You’d probably take him over the likes of Bruce and McCarthy, but he’s managerial CV doesn’t exactly suggest that he’s good for the long-term. The next manager, needs to get knee-deep into Villa and sow the seeds for a revolution.
England U21s
Young Jack Grealish was called up to the U21s National squad on Thursday and will be heading to Toulon for his first England tournament. The academy graduate hasn’t featured for the first team in a long time and when he has this season, you can’t say he’s been amazing. It’s certainly been disappointing to see him grab so much attention last year and then hardly feature this year.
The Birmingham-born attacker did grab his first ever Villa goal up at Leicester but that was probably the high point of his whole season. I now hope that he can kick on and impress at this tournament, then be fresh and hungry for his first full season in the Championship.
The Birmingham Mail reported on how Gareth Southgate is excited to work with the talented lad and hopefully reap the benefits of selecting him. Many coaches have recognised that he has the ability, but always feel that he needs to show it in more matches and work harder.
Mortimer Murders Culprits
The Mirror reported on how the ex-Villa captain, who was a vital part of that 1982 European Cup winning side, ripped into the likes of Doug Ellis, Gabby Agbonlahor and partly Martin O’Neill in an interview. He starts by asking questions of O’Neill that many Villa fans would love an answer to and looks back on how the Irishman bitterly walked out on Villa in 2010.
Mortimer also agreed with the MOMS view that Nigel Pearson would be the correct man to bring Villa forward and get them straight back to where they belong.
Mortimer’s biggest axe to grind though was with ex-chairman Ellis who “just parked that history” after Villa won the league and conquered Europe, because he wasn’t involved in it. It’s a great article and brilliant to see the opinion of an ex-player who truly cares about the club.
UTV
Follow Chad on Twitter – @ChadBillyWrenn
Follow MOMS on Twitter – @oldmansaid
But does either paper know who the likely candidates are to take over or are both wrong ? I was certainly surprised over claims of a Chinese drug company being in the runnining as the rumours of Chinese involvement refered to an International Hotel Group but then perhaps that was yet another “red herring”
As for a new manager I did see a new name suggested on twitter & that was the last manager to record a win over the gunners & that was Gary McAlister