by Victor Meldrew »
26 Aug 2009 21:20
I have generally over the years been fairly neutral about our chairman.
Last night I watched the TV programme rather than hike up to the stadium and spend £50 or so for the pleasure of watching a Carling Cup game.
In some ways it was interesting but unfortunately the programme was spread over a period of 3 years and often it didn't make clear when the filming was taking place.
What struck me was how driven the man clearly is by money- he even said (possibly jokingly)that he wished he could have his charitable donations back and he seemed in a state of subdued panic when talking about the effect the recession would have on his 18 companies.
Very little was said in the whole hour about the football club,in fact there was more about Cilla Black,but we had him strolling winsomely across the pitch in an empty stadium with an air of "this is all mine" but without a player or fan in sight.
Like many people without a wife and children (and at his age grandchildren) his life looked rather empty and of course he was rather me,me,me because there are no other people to care deeply about and (only slightly joking) he said that he only got involved with women who are financially independent.
As is often the case with adopted children he was driven as an adult to make an impression but sadly,other than a few glimpses of his late mother,there was only a passing statement that he has a brother and a sister.
I thought he had a daughter but there was no mention of one.
All in all as dull an hour as you might pass watching Reading at the moment( a friend of mine said that he started watching but fell asleep and my wife found it equally boring and asked why he didn't get his hair cut) and only of interest to an RFC fan because he is our chairman.There were quite a few sycophantic types around and the Christmas lunch for female staff didn't appear to be a bundle of laughs.
I would suspect that outsiders would have thought of him as a sad figure surrounded by trappings of wealth but terrified that one day he could lose it all.
There was no mention of Tommy Smith.