Phoenix Club: What would you pay

[Snowflake Royal]

£2500 or £3000 at a push. I'd also pay a bit monthly as that sounds a great idea. I'd want something in return though, proper "owner" status of that's how it works. So we all have insight into the club.

Although - and this may sound like an oxymoron in some ways - I feel would be "done" with football. I just would back this new club in the hope it goes somewhere. To see ReadingFC fold would be very hard, particularly when the rest of football shrugs its shoulders and I see the same guys walking around the area in their Liverpool tops.

Anyway a few questions and points

1) why do we lose our ground? Is that immediate. Would that be the last resort or an automatic thing, like the day after the bailiffs come and lock it down?
Depends on the circumstances of what happens. It's owned separately to the club, which complicates things. In terms of this thread, the premise is Reading FC is liquidated and no longer exists, so Dai is left with a stadium to flog and no club to go with it. A stadium that'snot exactly great for redevelopment because of tye land it's on.

2) what league do you go in? If we survived league one but then went to administration, would we stay in that league but -20 points, or would we be a sort of new entity/club and start in a default league somewhere? If so, what tier?
Well on the basis of liquidation and a new club, which this is about, rather than trying to buy the existing club, we'renot raising the £30m cost let alone the ongoing funding to be approved. AFC Wimbledon went into the 9th tier, I think we'd have to assume the same unless someone knows better. If we just go into Administration and get bought, nothing changes in terms of league position except -12points, unless the penalty has changed.
3) at some point this forum discussion is going to have to be formalised by star and the wider fanbase. It does seem a bit like that time is now. Protests all failed - despite amazing efforts by all. We're powerless and I can see that we're clinging on to a cliff eedge and each session will see us weaken to the pont of failure. I'd rather throw the towel in on our own terms. Especially if it ducks over dai a bit. Can we not push for this to be prioritised by the supporter groups including SBWD? The best time to get funds and backing is whilst there is still an official club.
IMO, there is zero point taking any action, other than planning and being ready, until RFC is no more. Anything else just splits the fanbase and doesn't help the club survive, which i by far the preference to starting a phoenix club.

4) similar to above, we'd be in a good position now for key stakeholders to be identified. Those who can afford £50k+

5) how do we know how much we'd need? Is there a known figure that other clubs raised, or a framework? Or is it down to the league you're in?

6) maybe MPs or government, sporting minister has funds to support this. Even Reading council?

This is a big and established club in some ways. We have a big fanbase, and history in the premier league and championship. There's so much potential there.

Seeing the club destroyed is one thing, but not taking full advantage of all those interested parties, the fans, the media, using the clubs name is another and would be a wasted opportunity that we'd never get back.

[Sutekh]

£2500 or £3000 at a push. I'd also pay a bit monthly as that sounds a great idea. I'd want something in return though, proper "owner" status of that's how it works. So we all have insight into the club.

Although - and this may sound like an oxymoron in some ways - I feel would be "done" with football. I just would back this new club in the hope it goes somewhere. To see ReadingFC fold would be very hard, particularly when the rest of football shrugs its shoulders and I see the same guys walking around the area in their Liverpool tops.

Anyway a few questions and points

1) why do we lose our ground? Is that immediate. Would that be the last resort or an automatic thing, like the day after the bailiffs come and lock it down?
Depends on the circumstances of what happens. It's owned separately to the club, which complicates things. In terms of this thread, the premise is Reading FC is liquidated and no longer exists, so Dai is left with a stadium to flog and no club to go with it. A stadium that'snot exactly great for redevelopment because of tye land it's on.

The SCL would probably be rented out to any number of sporting concerns that could make use of it - unless RBC make an unlikely bid to bring it under their control. Presume the park and ride would remain and the Thai’s “project” could really get underway. While the possibility of continuing to play there should be looked at, realistically it’s extremely unlikely that a new club would be able to afford playing there - of course if there was considerable serious funding then who knows what would be possible. Bearwood would also be in the same boat though it may be possible that one of the pitches there could be used as a temporary home though Wokingham council don’t always seem to be particularly friendly in these areas. Most likely any new club would have to start with a share at Reading City, Wokingham and Embrook, Maidenhead, Slough or perhaps even Bracknell/Sandhurst.

2) what league do you go in? If we survived league one but then went to administration, would we stay in that league but -20 points, or would we be a sort of new entity/club and start in a default league somewhere? If so, what tier?
Well on the basis of liquidation and a new club, which this is about, rather than trying to buy the existing club, we'renot raising the £30m cost let alone the ongoing funding to be approved. AFC Wimbledon went into the 9th tier, I think we'd have to assume the same unless someone knows better. If we just go into Administration and get bought, nothing changes in terms of league position except -12points, unless the penalty has changed.

Any new Phoenix club would have to apply for a place lower in the pyramid which would usually be around step 9/10 (note, to give some idea as to the scale of the task for a new club, Bracknell are currently step 3, Maidenhead are currently step 1) depending on the nature and resources available to the club. The most likely league would be the Combined Counties, though the Hellenic might be an alternative.

3) at some point this forum discussion is going to have to be formalised by star and the wider fanbase. It does seem a bit like that time is now. Protests all failed - despite amazing efforts by all. We're powerless and I can see that we're clinging on to a cliff eedge and each session will see us weaken to the pont of failure. I'd rather throw the towel in on our own terms. Especially if it ducks over dai a bit. Can we not push for this to be prioritised by the supporter groups including SBWD? The best time to get funds and backing is whilst there is still an official club.
IMO, there is zero point taking any action, other than planning and being ready, until RFC is no more. Anything else just splits the fanbase and doesn't help the club survive, which i by far the preference to starting a phoenix club.

Absolutely, draw up plans so they are ready and the likely costs and requirements are known this is where STAR would need to reach out to Bury, Wimbledon, Aldershot and Macclesfield for advice. After ensuring funding, the biggest issue at first will be where to play.

4) similar to above, we'd be in a good position now for key stakeholders to be identified. Those who can afford £50k+

5) how do we know how much we'd need? Is there a known figure that other clubs raised, or a framework? Or is it down to the league you're in?

Funding required depends heavily on what league you start in and the constitution of that league (travel cost, player expenses etc.). Talking to people who know that league well should enable a benchmark to define a playing budget then, on top of that, there’s costs to buy/rent/share a ground somewhere and, if lucky enough to be able to own a ground, there’s the budget that would be needed to be able to develop and progress that ground to the standards required if the club moves up the pyramid therefore it’s not just anywhere that will do, there’s little point finding a home if future plans for development would never be accepted.

6) maybe MPs or government, sporting minister has funds to support this. Even Reading council?

This is a big and established club in some ways. We have a big fanbase, and history in the premier league and championship. There's so much potential there.

Seeing the club destroyed is one thing, but not taking full advantage of all those interested parties, the fans, the media, using the clubs name is another and would be a wasted opportunity that we'd never get back

Reading should not get public money even if supported by public organisations (though if it’s what people of the local area want, then using public money should be given proper consideration). Note also that media interest would pretty much disappear (BBC Berks would have to completely change their policy to be interested in non league, “column inches” on paper or online are next to nothing) though presume there’d be a very decent fan base for the level in tow, so maybe more fan content would appear online

[Crusader Royal]

Ground shares at clubs already with ground shares seems extremely unlikely. Reading City and Sandhurst are in that category.
Any groundshare outside Reading would be a huge negative in terms of getting people to actuallly go and watch.
In terms of costs the monthly running costs for a Step 3 side are probably north of £20k at the lower end. Groundsharing would mean income would be pretty low.

[Dirk Gently]

...
2) what league do you go in? If we survived league one but then went to administration, would we stay in that league but -20 points, or would we be a sort of new entity/club and start in a default league somewhere? If so, what tier?
Well on the basis of liquidation and a new club, which this is about, rather than trying to buy the existing club, we'renot raising the £30m cost let alone the ongoing funding to be approved. AFC Wimbledon went into the 9th tier, I think we'd have to assume the same unless someone knows better. If we just go into Administration and get bought, nothing changes in terms of league position except -12points, unless the penalty has changed.

Any new Phoenix club would have to apply for a place lower in the pyramid which would usually be around step 9/10 (note, to give some idea as to the scale of the task for a new club, Bracknell are currently step 3, Maidenhead are currently step 1) depending on the nature and resources available to the club. The most likely league would be the Combined Counties, though the Hellenic might be an alternative.

On this particular point, there's an FA Committee - think it's the "Competitions Committee" - which decides the appropriate level for new clubs to play at, based upon a number of factors such as size of ground, size of potential support and also the contentious question of whether they are a wholly new club or the "continuation of an existing club" which I think is the official terminology.

They were stung a bit by AFC Wimbledon taking thousands to every game, at places like Sandhurst Town, which is why they gave this committee jurisdiction to decide. For the same reason - size of following - as far as I remember, a potential Portsmouth phoenix team was most likely to start at National League South (as it is now.)

As an example of how it works in reality, when Chester FC replaced Chester City FC the FA decreed they should start in North West Counties Football League Premier Division (Step 5) but Chester appealed this decision and won, and they actually started at Step 4, in the Northern Premier League Division One.

tldr : You don't automatically start at the bottom, you start at the "most approriate level", as decdied by an FA Committee..

[Garry Baldy]

After my family, Reading FC has been the most important part of my life for 60 years. If the worst happens and I thought it would help, I would happily put in £25,000.
Yes, my wife does understand me, bless her.

[Royalwaster]

I wouldn’t be interested in a phoenix club. Sadly after a lifetime of support I’ve moved on. Setting up a new club would be hard, the politics would be unbearable and personally I can’t get excited about it.
Good luck to anyone who’s prepared to do more than promise a random amount of money.

Do you and Sciag live together?

[Royal_jimmy]

£9k pledged from 5 people isn’t bad.

I'd pay £5k but lefties would rather take money from people who have done well for themselves

[Snowflake Royal]

£9k pledged from 5 people isn’t bad.

I'd pay £5k but lefties would rather take money from people who have done well for themselves

I assume you're drunk, because this nonsense is spectacularly stupid even for you.

[Orion1871]

£9k pledged from 5 people isn’t bad.

I'd pay £5k but lefties would rather take money from people who have done well for themselves

It appears you have an exciting new obsession, Jimmy. Which I feel makes you very special.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Well, collectively, that’ll help pay for two RFC employees (family and a friend) wages…well done✔️

But (don't forget) you also have to, add-in their redundancy packages