TSI - The Promises, Policies & Progress Thread

[Alexander Litvinenko]

For a club that he reportedly wouldn't sell for £80M a few years ago to be sold at the price that he sold to TSI this year suggests a quick sale to me.

The transaction may not have been quick, but the decision to sell seems to have been.

[larry1971]

What are the penalties for not meeting these requirements? Financial or points deductions?

would't effect Reading to much the FFP is some thing being brought in by Uefa and those clubs who fail to meet the new regulations would be banned from the ChampionsLeague./Europa cup .

[Cypry]

What are the penalties for not meeting these requirements? Financial or points deductions?

would't effect Reading to much the FFP is some thing being brought in by Uefa and those clubs who fail to meet the new regulations would be banned from the ChampionsLeague./Europa cup .

Not true - the UEFA FFP rules are in place this season and cap expenditure to income (i.e. club cannot run at a loss).

There are still ongoing discussions amongst the Premier League teams about how the Premier League specific rules will look (I believe the original plan was for them to come into force next season), which would affect all clubs in the Premier League.

[melonhead]

Like I have said since the late summer...why the people running this club haven't made a bit more of an "investment" in the playing squad, with the money which is on the line with the new TV contract for next year, is beyond me. Any extra money spent to keep this club up would be paid back many times over if we can stay up this season...far more than any parachute payments we'll get for going down, with the chances of coming right back up sketchy at best. Anyone catch how Blackburn, Wolves and Bolton have been fairing in the Championship in their quest to come right back up? I have, I have been paying attention...a couple of them have a better chance of going down to League 1 than going right back up. Just sayin'...

a bit more money?



how much more?

if its about a financial pissing contest do we need to spend more than saints? QPR? etc?
how much more would guarantee we finish above them?

if you were a millionaire would you happily risk blowing 30,40,50,60 million on a gamble that is no way near guaranteed to pay off?
not sure i would. & you dont become a millionaire by throwing money away imo

[melonhead]

Like I have said since the late summer...why the people running this club haven't made a bit more of an "investment" in the playing squad, with the money which is on the line with the new TV contract for next year, is beyond me. Any extra money spent to keep this club up would be paid back many times over if we can stay up this season...far more than any parachute payments we'll get for going down, with the chances of coming right back up sketchy at best. Anyone catch how Blackburn, Wolves and Bolton have been fairing in the Championship in their quest to come right back up? I have, I have been paying attention...a couple of them have a better chance of going down to League 1 than going right back up. Just sayin'...

those tams all spent way above their means to maintain premiere league football, and when they failed have ended up in huge ammounts of debts from inflated wage bills, and ridiculous spending not based on income, have had to sell all their best players to stay afloat, sacked managers etc

everything that reading hasnt done

[melonhead]

I think it was pretty clear from the start - in his first interview he talked about running a business and how money could be made from it etc. That didn't sound to me like the kind of guy who wanted to blow lots of cash on our team in the manner of Abramovich etc. Question is though whether you can really run a club as a business .... the only club in the Prem that seems to be making money is Arsenal. I doubt that you can really run a Championship club on a profit ... at least not in the long run without really upsetting the fans as the only way of doing it really is to keep prices high and always sell your best players.

think he takes th elong view, that you can be a profitable/break even club in championship, and premiere league, but only if you grow the club in terms of fan base and infrastructure, and only increase spending in line with increases in income.

he has enough money to back us, so we dont have to sell if its not in our interest, and chip in for the odd quality player here and there where required.
he hopes to increase the fan base, which has been growing pretty much year on year anyway, and hopes to recoup that backing in the future from the spending on infrastructure which will only pay off when he eventuallly sells. the most profitable point to do this would be after two or three years of prem football, stadium expansion and new training ground.

on top of that i think theyve already stated its not just about profit- its about profile in the uk, and profits he can make from new business deals he makes off the back of it

[Royal Rother]

He'd been trying to sell it for 10 years, just hadn't found the right people.

Is what he would say...

[Vision]

It's akin to when film stars give it the "it took me 20 years to become an overnight success"

I know what Dirk means though. TSI certainly wouldn't have got the club for this price 5 or 6 years ago but we were in the Premiership then and that was pre the global recession so understandable that the going ate would be significantly lower as Championship club early 2012. And certainly JM's other business worries would certainly be a factor in him deciding on what price he would accept now and how quickly he might want that deal concluded..

[Victor Meldrew]

The original question in the posting was "What happened to the man with deep pockets?"
As I see it he is on a par with what we already had.
If the Madman had still been in total control I think the Summer signings would have been at about the same level as when we were previously in the Premier League.
Remember the likes of Fae and Marek and the rest.
Fae IIRC cost about as much as Mariappa and Gunter combined and some.
In the case of Guthrie and Pog and McLeary it's about wages rather than transfer fees so our initial outlay is probably less than before.

As I see it nothing much has changed other than admission prices have gone up and the club is receiving more money from TV than before.
That and rubbish football most weeks but never mind,we have better training facilities now to produce that rubbish football and a bigger hotel and worse still we have hardly anybody worth selling when we get relegated.

[Who Moved The Goalposts?]

Fae IIRC cost about as much as Mariappa and Gunter combined and some.

Don't think this is right. Fae was a club record 2.5m signing. Gunter and Marriappa were 2.5m each . We sold Fae for 3.2m Euros so techinically, only paid his wages and lost nothing on the fee.

[Vision]

Fae and Marek were both bought after we'd spent a season in the Premier league already as was Kebe.

TSI have spent as much in this one window as we spent in all 4 the last time we were here if people want to make a proper comparison. Of course we could flog all our assets in january and never buy another player but I'm pretty certain that won't happen.

How deep the pockets are I've no idea but they've already indicated they are as deep as JM's were back then before a global recession and the meltdown of his property and print businessess. They're certainly deeper than his were when they purchased the club.

If they weren't then I'm not sure we'd be having this discussion as a Premiership club.

We've no idea what will pan out long term so anything else is idle speculation but if people are going to make the comparison between this Premiership window and the last time we came up then so far they've invested more in the team than in the similiar period last time and as I say probably as much in this one window than we did in all 4 last time around.

It's a shame if people were expecting a Roman/Fernandes/Liebher? type because JM's initial jolly hype aside, pretty much all talk was of a more long term investment and of not initially throwing millions and millions at the club. That doesn't mean they haven't made money available for players that wouldn't have been there under JM though because they have.

[runrunrunrungilksey]

"I'ts the Reading way"

[Royal Rother]

As might his age?

[grey_squirrel]

Agree with both Vision's posts.

But, it still gnarls me that McD spunked what money he got (largely) on players no better than what we already had. I suspect this is also the main angst amongst supporters - rather than the perceived lack of splashing the cash.

[Victor Meldrew]

Fae and Marek were both bought after we'd spent a season in the Premier league already as was Kebe.

TSI have spent as much in this one window as we spent in all 4 the last time we were here if people want to make a proper comparison. Of course we could flog all our assets in january and never buy another player but I'm pretty certain that won't happen.

How deep the pockets are I've no idea but they've already indicated they are as deep as JM's were back then before a global recession and the meltdown of his property and print businessess. They're certainly deeper than his were when they purchased the club.

If they weren't then I'm not sure we'd be having this discussion as a Premiership club.

We've no idea what will pan out long term so anything else is idle speculation but if people are going to make the comparison between this Premiership window and the last time we came up then so far they've invested more in the team than in the similiar period last time and as I say probably as much in this one window than we did in all 4 last time around.

It's a shame if people were expecting a Roman/Fernandes/Liebher? type because JM's initial jolly hype aside, pretty much all talk was of a more long term investment and of not initially throwing millions and millions at the club. That doesn't mean they haven't made money available for players that wouldn't have been there under JM though because they have.

You chose to miss my point about TV money being more than before as well as admission prices being higher.
Couple those with Anton's early assertion that he would spend what it takes and the dross that we are watching on match day and it is quite understandable why fans might feel a bit disappointed with this season so far.

[Vision]

Agree with both Vision's posts.

But, it still gnarls me that McD spunked what money he got (largely) on players no better than what we already had. I suspect this is also the main angst amongst supporters - rather than the perceived lack of splashing the cash.

Yeah. Unfortunately not hitting the ground running means we've not been able to find a settled side for those signings to prove their worth. I think Mariappa looks like he could work out well alongside Morrisson and McCleary does carry a threat at times (he also makes Gunter look a better player I think). On the face of it Pog and Guthrie are signings that are better than we already had but unfortunately the search for a winning formula has meant they've not been able to (or given a chance to )settle in properly. Oh and Shorey's been our best player probably.

I get why people see what/how West Ham and Saints have spent and feel let down by what we've done in comparison but however deep TSI pockets are, they don't come close to the Saints owners and to a lesser degree the West Ham guys either. We've basically followed the Norwich and Swansea model whereby the the existing players were given a chance to prove themselves and a couple of additions (non proven premiership players in general) were added. It obviously hasn't worked out as well for us thus far but I can see the reasoning behind it.

[Vision]

Fae and Marek were both bought after we'd spent a season in the Premier league already as was Kebe.

TSI have spent as much in this one window as we spent in all 4 the last time we were here if people want to make a proper comparison. Of course we could flog all our assets in january and never buy another player but I'm pretty certain that won't happen.

How deep the pockets are I've no idea but they've already indicated they are as deep as JM's were back then before a global recession and the meltdown of his property and print businessess. They're certainly deeper than his were when they purchased the club.

If they weren't then I'm not sure we'd be having this discussion as a Premiership club.

We've no idea what will pan out long term so anything else is idle speculation but if people are going to make the comparison between this Premiership window and the last time we came up then so far they've invested more in the team than in the similiar period last time and as I say probably as much in this one window than we did in all 4 last time around.

It's a shame if people were expecting a Roman/Fernandes/Liebher? type because JM's initial jolly hype aside, pretty much all talk was of a more long term investment and of not initially throwing millions and millions at the club. That doesn't mean they haven't made money available for players that wouldn't have been there under JM though because they have.

You chose to miss my point about TV money being more than before as well as admission prices being higher.
Couple those with Anton's early assertion that he would spend what it takes and the dross that we are watching on match day and it is quite understandable why fans might feel a bit disappointed with this season so far.

And wages are higher as a result.

My point is simply that you can't go comparing what we spent in 4 transfer windows last time when we've only had one this time especially if the manager has said he got all the targets he wanted. Another point on that as well and another difference which McD highlighted was that he "got his business done early". This is a significant difference from previous seasons as well when we've been kicking our heels waiting to see what happens in the market before making our bids.

Things may not have changed as radically as people want, or more likely imagined they would, but there are definite changes which wouldn't have been possible under Madejski's ownership.

[melonhead]

The original question in the posting was "What happened to the man with deep pockets?"
As I see it he is on a par with what we already had.
If the Madman had still been in total control I think the Summer signings would have been at about the same level as when we were previously in the Premier League.
Remember the likes of Fae and Marek and the rest.
Fae IIRC cost about as much as Mariappa and Gunter combined and some.
In the case of Guthrie and Pog and McLeary it's about wages rather than transfer fees so our initial outlay is probably less than before.

As I see it nothing much has changed other than admission prices have gone up and the club is receiving more money from TV than before.
That and rubbish football most weeks but never mind,we have better training facilities now to produce that rubbish football and a bigger hotel and worse still we have hardly anybody worth selling when we get relegated.

last time we went up the first year we spent 1 million on seol
only in our second season did spending increase slightly

so on a par with what we had is wrong imo, by about 9 million(minus inflation)
not only that but JM isnt in the same financial position he was, so this time would have been ableto spend even less

[robinsfriday]

McD is in the Chronicle today, talking about Gylfi & Long and that Reading fans need to be realistic and that very little funds are available - which probably means expect relegation as little Reading cannot compete in the premier league.
I seem to remember hearing Sir John saying he would only sell up to someone who had deep pockets and who could take us to the next level.
What exactly is going on and what is TSI/Anton going to do to keep us in the premier league?

2012 - The year the fans found out that their football club are full of sh*t. All marketing and no substance.

[melonhead]

Agree with both Vision's posts.

But, it still gnarls me that McD spunked what money he got (largely) on players no better than what we already had. I suspect this is also the main angst amongst supporters - rather than the perceived lack of splashing the cash.

to get players better than we had wed have had to spend double the money
we only had a ten million budget for fees and wages and had 6 positions that 100% needed filling.

shoreys better than we had. gunters better cover at RB than we had(bryn/karacan).mariappa is better cover than we had(bryn).mcleary is better cover than we had(no one)guthrie is a better ball player than any of our other three midfielders, and even now pog is still a better 4th choice striker than church.