CONFIMRED - The 2nd final countdown

[From Despair To Where?]

Gymshark-g8 really did him no favours at all. Put a massive mark on his record.

Oh, he was shit long before then, in much the same way that since Charlie Watt's departure, all local journos have shit. No connections in the club and relying on Twitter rumours for scoops.

Sorry, there are just too many Smiths!

Mr Gymshark was Anthony Smith (@Smudgersport) a 'bone fide' journalist.

Mark Smith (@smudgerfc) is just some randomer on Twitter

Oh, in that case, if some random bloke with a twitter handle similar to a discredited local journo says it's true, who am I to question the validity of his claim.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Cool, let's see how long this one spins out before Dai finds a reason to reject it.

[Snowflake Royal]

Cool, let's see how long this one spins out before Dai finds a reason to reject it.

Calm down chaps. We have to have two or three weeks of speculation of whether it's real and who made it, before we can announce exclusivity. Then we can have the two to three month silence before the 'exclusivity has ended and we have a number of other serious interested parties' message

[Crusader Royal]

From the article in the Chronicle today it’s clear it is Couhig looking to push the deal through.

[rabidbee]

For what it’s worth, Dellor interviewed Joe Jacobson about Couhig’s takeover bid last night. I thought he spoke well, he certainly doesn’t think Couhig has quit yet. I think it was in the last few minutes before kick off, for those who can be bothered to go back and listen, but the Chronic has pulled out some quotes here.

Edit: What he ^^^ said.

[Dave the rave]

Slightly amusing: was at my lad's parent's evening last night. They have a fund raising board with a target of £15k towards their new 3G pitch and facilities which is currently under construction.
Tadley Calleva FC had donated £2.5k, Aldermaston FC £1k and little old Reading FC £1k also.

Even my lad asked me where we got the money from to donate

[traff]

Slightly amusing: was at my lad's parent's evening last night. They have a fund raising board with a target of £15k towards their new 3G pitch and facilities which is currently under construction.
Tadley Calleva FC had donated £2.5k, Aldermaston FC £1k and little old Reading FC £1k also.

Even my lad asked me where we got the money from to donate

Thought the price of bovril was up last night

[Hendo]

Slightly amusing: was at my lad's parent's evening last night. They have a fund raising board with a target of £15k towards their new 3G pitch and facilities which is currently under construction.
Tadley Calleva FC had donated £2.5k, Aldermaston FC £1k and little old Reading FC £1k also.

Even my lad asked me where we got the money from to donate

Probably part of the "community trust", which I'd imagine is slightly different to the main football club?

[Dave the rave]

Slightly amusing: was at my lad's parent's evening last night. They have a fund raising board with a target of £15k towards their new 3G pitch and facilities which is currently under construction.
Tadley Calleva FC had donated £2.5k, Aldermaston FC £1k and little old Reading FC £1k also.

Even my lad asked me where we got the money from to donate

Probably part of the "community trust", which I'd imagine is slightly different to the main football club?

Not sure. Didn't go into specifics, just had our badge and the figure £1000 under it.

[Crusader Royal]

Slightly amusing: was at my lad's parent's evening last night. They have a fund raising board with a target of £15k towards their new 3G pitch and facilities which is currently under construction.
Tadley Calleva FC had donated £2.5k, Aldermaston FC £1k and little old Reading FC £1k also.

Even my lad asked me where we got the money from to donate

Probably part of the "community trust", which I'd imagine is slightly different to the main football club?

Community Trust is a seperately funded charity. Guy who has run it for years (Dave Evans) is a cracking bloke who I played Sunday football with when we were younger.

[Uke]

From the article in the Chronicle today it’s clear it is Couhig looking to push the deal through.

Couhig buys the club and all those expensive multimillion dollar lawsuits disappear…

Or Dai refuses and spends a metric shittonne on defending his case

[Hiram K Hackenbacker]

Couhig buys the club and all those expensive multimillion dollar lawsuits disappear…

Or Dai refuses and spends a metric shittonne on defending his case

I agree

[blueroyals]

Our fan's are naive to think this situation can't go on forever. The Venky's at Blackburn haven't been seen or heard from for over a decade, after their fan protests in the early 2010s. They stumble on season after season through player sales.

From the Guardian last week:

Questions remain over the Rovers board and Venky’s, the club’s controversial owner, that has not had anyone at an Ewood Park game in more than a decade and remains under financial scrutiny in India with ongoing court battles

Sound familiar?

[LUX]

I take the point. On the pitch they are in the play-offs, as we ( nearly) are.

[Sutekh]

Our fan's are naive to think this situation can't go on forever. The Venky's at Blackburn haven't been seen or heard from for over a decade, after their fan protests in the early 2010s. They stumble on season after season through player sales.

From the Guardian last week:

Questions remain over the Rovers board and Venky’s, the club’s controversial owner, that has not had anyone at an Ewood Park game in more than a decade and remains under financial scrutiny in India with ongoing court battles

Sound familiar?

Yes but don’t the Venky’s still pay the basic monthly bills even if there’s no team investment. And the Venky’s don’t spend their time antagonising the FL and spending zillions over the odds on fees and contracts for players who don’t fit in with the latest cr@p managerial hire.

[Sanguine]

Was going to post this in the Action thread, but thought different of it. And I hate to be the guy who doesn't really contribute on here but then lands with a crap thought or two, but...

The intentions of everyone here are very good. Beyond that, exemplary. But only one thing is going to get this firmly back into the nation's football consciousness, and that is more direct action. Another protest up the A33. On the pitch again. The sort of stuff that gets the EFL telling us off again. Now I'll be clear - I don't want this. It will have a detrimental affect on the team and our play-off push - a team that, in the circumstances, is fast reaching legendary status in our history.

Petitions, adverts. I honestly have so much respect for everyone trying to do something here, and it's a hell of a lot more than I am or can. But it's like treating a bee sting with a baby wipe.

And I put my hands up again - I am doing nothing to 'help' on this. I've been watching Reading for going on 30 years. And the club is going to disappear down the plug in a few short months and that is desperately sad. For all our history and achievements, it is the couple of seasons I watched at Elm Park that will probably stick most firmly in my memory, for whatever reason.

But I don't see us as a Blackburn, I think we've reached 'end of days' now.

[Brogue]

Once we are out of the running for playoffs we should definitely start going on the pitch again. Points deductions would be irrelevant.

As far as Blackburn goes. They made a 1.8 million pound profit on their last set of accounts. Never not paid a tax bill. No points deductions. Not broken P&S rules. They sit 6th in the championship. Average attendances have grown for the 9th year in succession. They have a cat 1 academy. Their CEO is English and been in place since 2018 who regularly puts out cons to the fans. So far this season according to transfer market they’ve spent £5 million on transfers in and made 14 million in transfer sales.
Revenue is up, turnover increased from £19.9m to £22.7m sponsorship up rising by £1m, ticket sales up by £0.4m and retail sales up by £0.2m. slight increase in wages from £25.8m to £26m but the wage to turnover ratio dropped from 130 per cent to 115 per cent which puts them
In 13th place for wage to turnover in the champ.


As far as I can see they are a well run club the only complaint being the owners don’t go to matches and they don’t spend beyond their means in the transfer market. I think every single Reading fan would bite their hand off to be in this situation. Comparing Blackburn’s situation to Readings is just daft.

[East Grinstead Royal]

Once we are out of the running for playoffs we should definitely start going on the pitch again. Points deductions would be irrelevant.

As far as Blackburn goes. They made a 1.8 million pound profit on their last set of accounts. Never not paid a tax bill. No points deductions. Sit 6th in the championship. Average attendances have grown for the 9th year in succession. They have a cat 1 academy. Their CEO is English and been in place since 2018 who regularly puts out cons to the fans. So far this season according to transfer market they’ve spent £5 million on transfers in and made 14 million in transfer sales.
Revenue is up, turnover increased from £19.9m to £22.7m sponsorship up rising by £1m, ticket sales up by £0.4m and retail sales up by £0.2m. slight increase in wages from £25.8m to £26m but the wage to turnover ratio dropped from 130 per cent to 115 per cent which puts them
In 13th place for wage to turnover in the champ.


As far as I can see they are a well run club the only complaint being the owners don’t go to matches and they don’t spend beyond their means in the transfer market. I think every single Reading fan would bite their hand off to be in this situation.

Cons to the fans - that’s what we get. Blackburn get coms.

Good post, Brogue. Although you never know what points deductions might result from disruptive action. Damage to the playing surface should also be a factor in any disruption plans (i.e. we don’t want to make it worse than it already is).

[tidus_mi2]

Once we are out of the running for playoffs we should definitely start going on the pitch again. Points deductions would be irrelevant.

As far as Blackburn goes. They made a 1.8 million pound profit on their last set of accounts. Never not paid a tax bill. No points deductions. Sit 6th in the championship. Average attendances have grown for the 9th year in succession. They have a cat 1 academy. Their CEO is English and been in place since 2018 who regularly puts out cons to the fans. So far this season according to transfer market they’ve spent £5 million on transfers in and made 14 million in transfer sales.
Revenue is up, turnover increased from £19.9m to £22.7m sponsorship up rising by £1m, ticket sales up by £0.4m and retail sales up by £0.2m. slight increase in wages from £25.8m to £26m but the wage to turnover ratio dropped from 130 per cent to 115 per cent which puts them
In 13th place for wage to turnover in the champ.


As far as I can see they are a well run club the only complaint being the owners don’t go to matches and they don’t spend beyond their means in the transfer market. I think every single Reading fan would bite their hand off to be in this situation. Comparing Blackburn’s situation to Readings is just daft.

It does seem a bit wishy-washy to only do pitch invasions when there's nothing at stake but at the same time, not against it and wouldn't want us doing anything to harm the efforts of the team, so perhaps a bit of a hypocritical view on my part. Ultimately, repeated pitch invasions/abandonments will just lead to games behind closed doors and even less revenue for the club.

If we have good reason to think this will hasten a sale then sure, but I think we need to be confident before any on-field action.

[El Diablo]

A pitch invasion, as we know has no impact on anything. And another will achieve absolutely nothing.

So apart from the fact that we can, what benefit would it bring?

I only see negatives.