Hob Nob Anyone?

Think he meant Bongani Khumalo, rather than the centre back we never actually signed

Stopzilla is Zambian anywayz.

oh yeah

Count me out then.

If still nothing has happened by this time tomorrow I'm going to be very concerned about the new owners....

I would presume some sort of ball park figures must have been given to the management otherwise they would waste their time talking terms with players and setting expectations.

That being the case why does is take so long to get things approved in a marketplace that requires very quick reactions. Somebody needs to be empowered with responsibility in this country.

If truly no rough budget figures whatsoever have been provided then that is a wholly ludicrous situation to be in.

Have they binned Hammond off completely? Surely he should be sorting this out?

Sutekh wrote:
If truly no rough budget figures whatsoever have been provided then that is a wholly ludicrous situation to be in.

but its exactly the way that JM managed the requests for players from his managers, and resulted in promotion to the premiere league

I have heard that our owners mucking Clarke about with his budget could mean that they don't sign for us. Heard Leeds are also keen on both of them.

Come on Thai's sort it out!!!!!!!!

My guess is that our wage bill is still way too high to contemplate new signings yet. When you realise the Pog is on over £3M pa and Ferdinand not far behind, it shows just how huge it must be. We probably shall have to wait for at least one if not two more years before any rebuilding can start in earnest.

http://bbc.in/1GrcnqG

The link to the Radio Berks/Steve Clarke interview at Ascot for those who missed it.

He comes across as honest and up front IMO.

Start about 3 minutes in and ends around 35 minutes.

CholseyRoyal wrote:My guess is that our wage bill is still way too high to contemplate new signings yet. When you realise the Pog is on over £3M pa and Ferdinand not far behind, it shows just how huge it must be. We probably shall have to wait for at least one if not two more years before any rebuilding can start in earnest.

Charles Watts confirmed Pogrebnyak is not on anywhere near that. Ferdinand is nowhere near that either. The players we released has saved us maybe £4m off the wage bill too.

I'll give the club until July 1st before I start worrying - when most contracts come to an end and signings can officially be signed off. It isn't the Reading way to disclose signings prior.

The owners will not be disclosing our transfer kitty publicly. That would be a terrible idea.

They have obviously been discussing the coaching staff Clarke is on the verge of bringing in; and are no doubt finalising the budget (which is most likely changing constantly as sponsorship deals and next seasons commercial income is finalised).

See you all in a week or so; when I'm sure these pages will be splayed with abuse towards our owners because we haven't signed 6 or 7 senior players already - whilst the majority of the football world are still on their holidays.

royalp-we wrote:I'll give the club until July 1st before I start worrying - when most contracts come to an end and signings can officially be signed off. It isn't the Reading way to disclose signings prior.

The owners will not be disclosing our transfer kitty publicly. That would be a terrible idea.

They have obviously been discussing the coaching staff Clarke is on the verge of bringing in; and are no doubt finalising the budget (which is most likely changing constantly as sponsorship deals and next seasons commercial income is finalised).

See you all in a week or so; when I'm sure these pages will be splayed with abuse towards our owners because we haven't signed 6 or 7 senior players already - whilst the majority of the football world are still on their holidays.

It's all very good and well giving them the benefit of the doubt like that, but why wasn't the sponsorship (with their own company) agreed sooner? Why are we seemingly the last football club in the football league still waiting to agree a transfer/wage budget? Why are we still without a number of coaching staff? It's all a bit amature really!

Just wondering where clubs publicise their budgets as I can't find a definitive list on line.
If there is no such list how do we know we are 'the last' to have such a budget ?

Is it like the claim that everyone else is signing players which was shot down when it was pointed out that only 5 or 6 Championship clubs had actually made a signing so far ?

Not disputing the need for Clarke to be able to firm up the deals he has lined up ASAP, just wondering about some of the claims made.....

Royal_jimmy wrote:

CholseyRoyal wrote:My guess is that our wage bill is still way too high to contemplate new signings yet. When you realise the Pog is on over £3M pa and Ferdinand not far behind, it shows just how huge it must be. We probably shall have to wait for at least one if not two more years before any rebuilding can start in earnest.

Charles Watts confirmed Pogrebnyak is not on anywhere near that. Ferdinand is nowhere near that either. The players we released has saved us maybe £4m off the wage bill too.

haven't we lost about 8 million in parachute payments from last year though?

Plus Charles Watts is a journo..he can't 'confirm' anything

melonhead wrote:

Royal_jimmy wrote:

CholseyRoyal wrote:My guess is that our wage bill is still way too high to contemplate new signings yet. When you realise the Pog is on over £3M pa and Ferdinand not far behind, it shows just how huge it must be. We probably shall have to wait for at least one if not two more years before any rebuilding can start in earnest.

Charles Watts confirmed Pogrebnyak is not on anywhere near that. Ferdinand is nowhere near that either. The players we released has saved us maybe £4m off the wage bill too.

haven't we lost about 8 million in parachute payments from last year though?

Didn't Anton use all the parachute payments as collateral for a loan for himself and his hockey business or did that never come out or was not true?

Think that's supposed to be a secret. He's since left said hockey business in the lurch too! Whatacunt he is!!

Coppelled_Streets wrote:Think that's supposed to be a secret. He's since left said hockey business in the lurch too! Whatacunt he is!!

Aren't they in an even worse state than RFC. Lovely guy

royalp-we wrote:I'll give the club until July 1st before I start worrying - when most contracts come to an end and signings can officially be signed off. It isn't the Reading way to disclose signings prior.

The owners will not be disclosing our transfer kitty publicly. That would be a terrible idea.

They have obviously been discussing the coaching staff Clarke is on the verge of bringing in; and are no doubt finalising the budget (which is most likely changing constantly as sponsorship deals and next seasons commercial income is finalised).

See you all in a week or so; when I'm sure these pages will be splayed with abuse towards our owners because we haven't signed 6 or 7 senior players already - whilst the majority of the football world are still on their holidays.

The majority of the football world still on holidays? I guess that depends on your definition of the football world. I very much doubt that the majority of the following are still on their holidays: DOFs, Managers, Coaches, Agents.

Players may still be on their holidays but I bet they are not completely out of touch with their agents. What's more pre-season training must be very close to starting for most of them.

And injured players will have been at their clubs for the summer so we shouldn't have faced any difficulties at all!

winchester_royal wrote:Plus Charles Watts is a journo..he can't 'confirm' anything

Journalists can be pretty effective and accurate at confirming things. Yes, some speculate pretty wildly but other's have a good detective's knack of digging out evidence that allows them to accurately confirm what others are trying to keep out of the public domain.