Bit Bloody Late Now ! / Cutbacks

[Royal Monk]

No one is denying that he saved our skins last century, but he cant hold that as a trump card forever. Every one also seems to forget the millions of pounds he made on Green Park and also the retail park with B&Q etc.
He stumped up the money for the new stadium etc (loans) but made millions on his £1 investment on the land around it.

[zummerset]

Like many I have been really negative and pissed off about RFC/ SC/ JM following the last two games. I think that I have cared too much and got some things out of proportion.

JM is an astute businessman with probably some very clever advisors. Would you rather have a thick Chairman that doesn't listen to people that can advise him? If he has loaned the club money - we certainly did not have it before and safeguarding this if he sells on does make sense (although I still have some questions about why he got involved in our beautiful club?!)

The problem seems to me that JM has not been able to sell the club on and has invested his trust in SC to make decisions that will move the club forward (or status quo if we are honest). Sadly SC has not been able to make the right decisions and whilst I like his integrity, frankly he looks way out of his depth at the moment. He seems too weak, kind, loyal and sometimes clueless to dig us out via his own efforts and JM has not added any aspect of leadership to assist SC in adding some bite.

They both must have known that the club was in a bad way in early 2008 but instead of action opted for a mixture of hope and faith. We could stay up or go down on Saturday (and over a season how narrow the margins are). Faith and hope are poor leadership material but who is more culpable the man on the tiller or the man that trusts him not to sink the boat.

For me, it is Steve Coppell that has sunk our ship.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

I think if our scouting network had been able to offer him players that are the kind of players he wanted, he'd have been rather more keen on signing them.

The reality is we've had a succession of signings who've either flopped totally, or at best been on par with what we've already got (Matejovsky would be the exception, but he's still not the Sidwell replacement we needed), and a succession of players on trial who have been handed a return ticket from whence they came with a "thanks, but no thanks" response.

The scouts have been good and finding players who'd be good championship players, but failed to raise the bar after promotion.


We've actually been here before with Coppell, as recently as three years ago, when we slid seemingly unstoppably out of a play-off position, seemingly incapable of scoring as injuries and poor form left the team tactically impotent. In that situation, similar to now, he stuck with the players he knew, such as Paul Brooker, who despite their limitations, could offer the same sort of performance week in, week out. They were predicable. He knew what to expect from them, and a "better the devil you know" approach was the order of the day, meaning less predictable players, such as Convey, barely got a game.

The comments then were the same, if not louder. Coppell Out! He's lost the plot. He's lost the dressing room. The club have shown no ambition in the transfer market - they clearly don't want to go up. Every knee-jerk tabloid reaction drama queen wanted their say.

[RoyalBlue]

Reading chairman John Madejski says 'significant' investment will be made in the squad this summer, but only if they stay up.



The Royals are currently third from bottom in the Premier League and need help on the final day of the season in order to retain their top-flight status.


However, should Reading stay up then Madejski has confirmed the club will splash the cash in the off-season in order to avoid another disappointing campaign.


The club made a blistering start to life in England's top flight by finishing eighth in their debut campaign, but have struggled this time around after manager Steve Coppell kept faith with his squad.


"We've already developed a plan to make significant investment in the playing squad during the summer," confirmed Madejski.


"But the short-term imperative of retaining our position in the top flight is our only focus."

What a complete and utter merchant!!

'Guess what guys, it's time for you to renew your season tickets and just to persuade you of the need for you to continue to pay through the nose, I'll talk big investment in the summer. But, of course, in order to get a discount, you will have to cough up your money before you see whether I'm true to my word!'

We've heard it all before - one day he might finally walk the sodding talk!!

And as Royal Lady rightly points out, what a great way to motivate the current players before next week's crucial game: Pull off a miracle and I'll pay to replace many of you!!!

Before everyone has a rant at him, do remember that it is HIS money, not the club's that he'd be spending. Perhaps we did need to spend a bit more than we did during the off season, but the point remains: Madejski sees a problem with the current set up regarding funding for purchases and has a plan to correct it. I think its admirable, to donate his own money to the cause. If we do stay up, we'll have achieved something pretty remarkable, finance wise.

And just to show what they say about fooling people......

Still, three cheers to Mr Madejski for possibly donating some of his money and becoming a household name on the back of it!!

:roll: So if he got fed up in the next couple of weeks could he just "pick up his ball" so to speak and say he's not playing anymore??

Not too sure not being an accountant , but with the club not being a plc , in theory he could bugger off and leave us in administration .As the club has no shareholders to report to he can do what he likes , just like a big toy as has been said before . Although it's desperately frustrating at the end of the day we'd still be somewhere like Elm Park and playing in Div 1 or 2 if it were not for him . I'd just say , every dog has its day .

I think an accountant would probably say that it is not that easy for Madejski to detach himself from the club. He is, afterall, a Director of the business and with that come financial and legal responsibilities.

[rhroyal]

Would people please look up how good we were before Madejski. It doesn't matter how much money he has put in or made, just by running this club well he has made us who we are. Ignorance..........

Here we go:
http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/pa ... 91,00.html

We hardly ever ventured out of the third tier before Madejski took over in 1990 and we were at Elm Park. Even if we go down we'll be promotion favourites in the Championship attracting easily over 15,000 fans a week in a Premiership standard stadium. Speak all you like about money, but those are the facts about how different we are from when Madejski took over.

[RoyalBlue]

Would people please look up how good we were before Madejski. It doesn't matter how much money he has put in or made, just by running this club well he has made us who we are. Ignorance..........

Here we go:
http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/pa ... 91,00.html

We hardly ever ventured out of the third tier before Madejski took over in 1990 and we were at Elm Park. Even if we go down we'll be promotion favourites in the Championship attracting easily over 15,000 fans a week in a Premiership standard stadium. Speak all you like about money, but those are the facts about how different we are from when Madejski took over.

He might have made us but he is now undoing all of that through his apparent pig-headed belief that there is a different financial model that will still enable a club to compete at the top levels.

Personally I am sick and tired of the way he appears to take supporters to be stupid (we may not have his money but it doesn't mean we are completely lacking intelligence) and keeps feeding us all of his sodding soundbites about ambition etc. whilst demonstrating great difficulty in actually walking that talk. To me he has about as much credibility as Gordon (stole our pensions) Brown!

And I'm sorry but you really have been living on a different planet if you seriously think we will be promotion favourites in the Championship. Even if we keep our manager and our best players, it seems to have escaped your attention that there are now some very big and financially powerful clubs at that level. In particular, a couple of the country's richest men (one is actually very high up in the global wealth stakes) have moved into Loftus Road and, despite lacking JM's range of soundbites, appear extremely ready and willing to spend very serious money to ensure their club walk The Championship next season.

[rfc58]

Would people please look up how good we were before Madejski. It doesn't matter how much money he has put in or made, just by running this club well he has made us who we are. Ignorance..........

Here we go:
http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/pa ... 91,00.html

We hardly ever ventured out of the third tier before Madejski took over in 1990 and we were at Elm Park. Even if we go down we'll be promotion favourites in the Championship attracting easily over 15,000 fans a week in a Premiership standard stadium. Speak all you like about money, but those are the facts about how different we are from when Madejski took over.

He might have made us but he is now undoing all of that through his apparent pig-headed belief that there is a different financial model that will still enable a club to compete at the top levels.

Personally I am sick and tired of the way he appears to take supporters to be stupid (we may not have his money but it doesn't mean we are completely lacking intelligence) and keeps feeding us all of his sodding soundbites about ambition etc. whilst demonstrating great difficulty in actually walking that talk. To me he has about as much credibility as Gordon (stole our pensions) Brown!

And I'm sorry but you really have been living on a different planet if you seriously think we will be promotion favourites in the Championship. Even if we keep our manager and our best players, it seems to have escaped your attention that there are now some very big and financially powerful clubs at that level. In particular, a couple of the country's richest men (one is actually very high up in the global wealth stakes) have moved into Loftus Road and, despite lacking JM's range of soundbites, appear extremely ready and willing to spend very serious money to ensure their club walk The Championship next season.

What he said..

[rhroyal]

But Madejski isn't trying to say we can be run differently. He's been dropping hints for 2 years now that he wants to sell up to the right man as he doesn't feel the he's the man to throw money at the club. Can you blame him for that? I for one wouldn't be up for wasting away all my money like that. You should be thankful that he hasn't done the easy thing and sold us to the first bidder to get rid of the stress of it all and cut his losses. He said he's already turned down bids whom he thinks would be bad for the club as he doesn't want to see his good work undone. Yet some fans still have the nerve to have a go at him. Once again, ignorance........

[Royal Lady]

I just can't believe so many fans on here think we're going to go straight back up. JM has more or less said from that quote earlier that he'll only spend big money if we stay up. If we go down, not only will we lose some of our better players, but we'll not be paying the right sort of money to attract quality replacements - we'll just get replacements on the cheap. If we bounce straight back up, assuming we get relegated on Sunday of course, I'll be more than happy to eat a whole humble pie if someone dredges this thread up. But don't hold your breath.

[Royal Lady]

But Madejski isn't trying to say we can be run differently. He's been dropping hints for 2 years now that he wants to sell up to the right man as he doesn't feel the he's the man to throw money at the club. Can you blame him for that? I for one wouldn't be up for wasting away all my money like that. You should be thankful that he hasn't done the easy thing and sold us to the first bidder to get rid of the stress of it all and cut his losses. He said he's already turned down bids whom he thinks would be bad for the club as he doesn't want to see his good work undone. Yet some fans still have the nerve to have a go at him. Once again, ignorance........

Do we know who any of these bidders were? I'd have thought one or two might have moaned to the press that JM refused to sell to them, I'd have thought they possibly might have bid for another club and bought that instead. I've long come to the conclusion that anything JM says you have to take with a pinch of salt. He's not going to say, "no one has come in to buy the club from me" is he??

[Mad Dog's Ghost]

RH, you are sadly mistaken if you think this squad is going to breeze through the championship if we're relegated.

[rhroyal]

Please find somewhere on this board where I have said we will.

[Royal Lady]

You said further up we'd be promotion favourites. Why would we? If all our better players go? And getting 15,000 in the championship isn't that good - as plenty of other teams get more than that now.

[Big Ern]

I certainly believe we have been led down the garden path too many times in the past and if we do stay up (which we won't) then Mr Madejski has to be ture to his words or risk losing total credibility with the supporters. Many supporters are frustrated with his prudence with cash and his reluctance to allow us to compete with even teams such as Birmingham, Wigan etc in the financial stakes.

It all comes down to what Madejski considers 'significant investment.' Historically the club have never really spent big, so £10million may be considered significant, when in reality it will not be sufficient (and thats £10million net as I am asuming we will be selling on the likes of Shorey at the end of the seaosn.) The club will not say how much they prepared to spend, and justify this by saying clubs would just put up the price of a player if we came knocking. For me £10million net spend is not significant and although a huge step foprward in terms of what we have done in the past is not sufficient. Anything less that £20million would risk anger from a lot of supporters.

One things for certain, I think if these are just false promises again, it will be the final straw for many fans, and he risks losing a lot of seaosn ticket holders if he pulls the same trick a third year on a row.

After saying all that we are going down so what does it matter.

[Sarah Star]

This is all just speculation, surely?

[rhroyal]

Well we would be favourites. All the bookmakers always make the relegated teams favourites to go back up, but we spent a long time in that division and I know how tight it would be, and with one automatic spot already assured for the cash of QPR it will be difficult. And I say that average attendances is still a lot better than when I started watching us, and that was a modest estimate. In 04/05 we averaged 17,000 and that was before success attracted new fans, so I wouldn't be surprised if we're still getting 20,000.

[Forbury Lion]

Reading chairman John Madejski says 'significant' investment will be made in the squad this summer, but only if they stay up.

Shame he didn't confirm ticket pricing at the same time, seeing as though the last increase was justified because we had to spend big which we didn't do it makes me worry that history may repear itself.

[rfc58]

Reading chairman John Madejski says 'significant' investment will be made in the squad this summer, but only if they stay up.

Shame he didn't confirm ticket pricing at the same time, seeing as though the last increase was justified because we had to spend big which we didn't do it makes me worry that history may repear itself.

JM will have to do some very clever thinking when setting ticket prices, as I think its pretty obvious that the masses are p*ssed off with the way the club has been run, and a lot will wait until the last minute before deciding to renew.

If the club shows ambition, they will renew, but if they think signing "a rough diamond/one for the future" from French second division football is ambitious, he might have a nasty shock at the lack of interest, regardless of what league we are in.

[Northern Git]

But Madejski isn't trying to say we can be run differently. He's been dropping hints for 2 years now that he wants to sell up to the right man as he doesn't feel the he's the man to throw money at the club. Can you blame him for that? I for one wouldn't be up for wasting away all my money like that. You should be thankful that he hasn't done the easy thing and sold us to the first bidder to get rid of the stress of it all and cut his losses. He said he's already turned down bids whom he thinks would be bad for the club as he doesn't want to see his good work undone. Yet some fans still have the nerve to have a go at him. Once again, ignorance........

But Madejski isn't trying to say we can be run differently - yes he is and has frequently in the past.
He's been dropping hints for 2 years now that he wants to sell up to the right man - not hints but open admission he has taken us as far as he can.
He said he's already turned down bids - has he? One minute he says he has, next he says he's not had any bid just 'discussions'.
I for one wouldn't be up for wasting away all my money like that - at the risk of repeating what has been said many times HE ONLY LOANS THE CLUB MONEY - its ALL repayeable on demand. Have a look at the R&A
Once again, ignorance - take it you were looking in a mirror when you typed that?

BTW you are Nigel Howe AICMFP

[10539.4 Miles Away]

Theorhetical question here, Is there any way that someone who bought a season ticket based on the promise of splashing the cash could demand their money back under false advertising / trade descriptions?

A potential refunding of 20,000 season tickets could well be a way to get Mr Mad to actually back up his talk.