You pay peanuts...you get...one of us?

[Cypry]

I suspect that paying expenses might cause the role to no longer meet the requirements of an internship...

[PieEater]

Shameful exploitation of someone desperate to get on in life.

Bastards.

I know this sort of thing happens in business all the time, but at the very least you would think they would pay expenses.

he gets a free home and away season ticket tbf.....

I read it as they had to pay to get themselves to away games as there's no travel expenses!

The advertisement says the job “will require the successful applicant to work unsociable hours”, including attending every home and some away games. But it adds: “This role is unpaid and includes no travel expenses

[Dai Brainbocs]

Absolutely stinks, and also means the club won't necessarily get the person best able to do the job.

[Jay o/]

All the papers seem to be at us with this now, and yet it's come out today Wigan and Swansea are also looking for interns, and more than one compared to us wanting one. Must be a quiet day in the news world.

[Wimb]

I imagine they mean travel expenses to get to the stadium or training ground. Chances are they'll get a seat up there with the media team or someone along those lines when they do go away.

Don't understand the massive ho-har. It's an opportunity to get a foot on the ladder in an industry where there are far more applicants than vacancies. If you want a dream job you usually have to go through work experience/internship etc. It's not ideal but Reading are far from the only club doing this and far from the only industry where this is relatively commonplace.

As Brendy says, you get to watch games for free which is decent and having that sort of experience on your CV would be great.

Even so, maybe just don't sign Sheppard/Williams etc and spend the money there

[P!ssed Off]

Unpaid Internships are a pisstake. Unless it is a tiny company that can literally not afford another member of staff (even then expenses should covered) there is no excuse for unpaid internships.

What is Reading's excuse? Paying them £10k a year or more would make no difference to their finances. They are not paying the worker because they don't have to, it is exploitation.

[Toon Toon Blue army]

The club has had 15+ unpaid interns working for them on a part fime or full time basis across their analyst and sports science departments this season.. So this is nothing new

[Toon Toon Blue army]

I'll also add the vast majority of clubs will take on unpaid interns every year. Some will advertise, some will have links to local universities so go through them. I know Man Utd do a lot with PHD students.

It's not uncommon for clubs, including us, to literally double the size of some of their departments with unpaid interns then just a new batch in each year

[Wimb]

If somebody wants the job they will apply. If they don't, they won't. What's the problem?

The problem is that it's immoral.

No it isn't.

If you go into a shop and they have a TV for sale for £10,000, but several other shops have several other TVs for sale for around £400, nobody is making you buy the one £10,000.

If somebody wants to get into sport / football badly enough then they will weigh up all the factors and make a judgement as to whether they can afford to go a year without pay, on the basis that they will be doing a job they enjoy, and will get longer term benefit from future salaries. If they don’t want it that much they won't apply, it's really very simple.

Nobody is being forced to apply for this job.

This ^^^^^

It doesn't strike me as a full-time through the week job either. It looks the type of job you can do a few hours of across the week and easily balance it up with another part-time job.

Likewise you've got to believe that they'd be able to get a lift up to games with the other support staff for away games.

I'm not a great fan of how football works and while I'd love to see someone being paid for this, It's absolutely common place and without knowing exactly how much work and personal expense is involved I don't think it's fair to slag it off.

If you want a career doing this, which I think plenty of football fans would, I don't think it's wrong to expect a little sacrifice.

So yeah, not ideal but the outrage seems way OTT here.

[P!ssed Off]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013 ... id-interns

People claim that they are embarrassed by the club because we sacked our underperforming manager. I'm more embarrassed by this.

[Libertine]

Every one complaining about this clearly doesn't understand business in today's world. There'll will be a long list of applicants, because it is a fantastic career opportunity.

Everybody thinks the world owes them a living. Sometimes, you have to go out and suffer some hardships for a while, in order to look at the long term employment prospects. I know some people who have spent nearly three years working as an unpaid intern, just to get a chance to work in the industry they want to be in for their entire career. And if they work hard, they'll eventually make back what they missed out on for those years and some. This is quite common practice in the US.

Some people need to get over themselves.

No! The world doesn't owe anyone a living but an employer sure as hell owes every employee pay for work done on behalf of the employer. Even slaves back in pre-abolition days got something for the work they did, which isn't saying anything at all in defense of slavery.

It seems Wigan Athletic and Reading are two teams who have been doing this unpaid work scheme, and their owners are Whelan and Madejski. Go figure...

[lightning strikes]

It's a bloody disgrace and an embarrassment. demo at the ground.

[Cripple Creek]

An absolute disgrace which reflects appallingly on Reading Football Club. Refusing to pay expenses or pay, even a piddling amount, for the expertise gained during a degree by a debt-ridden student is exploitation pure and simple and absolutely shameful. The fact that other clubs are behaving similarly (if that is the case) isn't really relevant.

[Westwood52]

I imagine they mean travel expenses to get to the stadium or training ground. Chances are they'll get a seat up there with the media team or someone along those lines when they do go away.

Don't understand the massive ho-har. It's an opportunity to get a foot on the ladder in an industry where there are far more applicants than vacancies. If you want a dream job you usually have to go through work experience/internship etc. It's not ideal but Reading are far from the only club doing this and far from the only industry where this is relatively commonplace.

As Brendy says, you get to watch games for free which is decent and having that sort of experience on your CV would be great.

Even so, maybe just don't sign Sheppard/Williams etc and spend the money there

This stinks-so much for the "Reading Way"-not even paying travelling expenses !There is some doubt as to whether internships are even legal-given the minimum wage-but everyone just turns a blind eye to it, as there is no alternative for these kids.There are a number of Clubs who apply this policy although TBF West Brom are paying £8k for next season-surely given the amount of money being wasted by RFC they could afford at least this plus travelling expenses to away games ?

I know of so many graduates going down this route-and the employers and their universities just hang them out to dry.

Forget about there being a job at the end of it-it is just a case of getting something for nothing.Already some 25% of young people in this country are unemployed and RFC come up with this crap. It just sums up the RFC experience.I really do despair of this club. Rant over.

[PieEater]

Don't understand the massive ho-har. It's an opportunity to get a foot on the ladder in an industry where there are far more applicants than vacancies. If you want a dream job you usually have to go through work experience/internship etc. It's not ideal but Reading are far from the only club doing this and far from the only industry where this is relatively commonplace.

Just because it's commonplace doesn't make it right. It's downright exploitation.

They are bastards for expecting desperate young people to do it for nothing, and contemptible uttercunts for not paying any expenses.

[royal67]

An absolute disgrace which reflects appallingly on Reading Football Club. Refusing to pay expenses or pay, even a piddling amount, for the expertise gained during a degree by a debt-ridden student is exploitation pure and simple and absolutely shameful. The fact that other clubs are behaving similarly (if that is the case) isn't really relevant.

I couldn't agree more. A perfect demonstration of the clubs tight arse attitude. Makes me puke.

[creative_username_1]

If somebody wants the job they will apply. If they don't, they won't. What's the problem?

The problem is that it's immoral.

No it isn't.

If you go into a shop and they have a TV for sale for £10,000, but several other shops have several other TVs for sale for around £400, nobody is making you buy the one £10,000.

If somebody wants to get into sport / football badly enough then they will weigh up all the factors and make a judgement as to whether they can afford to go a year without pay, on the basis that they will be doing a job they enjoy, and will get longer term benefit from future salaries. If they don’t want it that much they won't apply, it's really very simple.

Nobody is being forced to apply for this job.

this

[MeMeMe]

The word we are all looking for is 'exploitation'. RFC & others are clearly exploiting the kudos / work experience this position potentially gives and also the current economic environment / jobs situation.

Yep, nobody is forced to take that job, and I really hope nobody applies, or at least applies and negotiates a minimum wage plus expenses.

[Alexander Litvinenko]

Don't understand the massive ho-har. It's an opportunity to get a foot on the ladder in an industry where there are far more applicants than vacancies. If you want a dream job you usually have to go through work experience/internship etc. It's not ideal but Reading are far from the only club doing this and far from the only industry where this is relatively commonplace.

Just because it's commonplace doesn't make it right. It's downright exploitation.

They are bastards for expecting desperate young people to do it for nothing, and contemptible uttercunts for not paying any expenses.

It (not just this but all unpaid internships) is also massively discriminatory.

If you need do do one of these to get a start on the career ladder, it effectively means that only those kids from nice affluent homes, who have parents who can afford to keep them while they're working for nothing, can take up these offers.

So that means that many under-privileged kids - no matter how good their skills might be - are effectively denied the chance to get the same career start, because they just can't afford to do work for nothing.

[Once were Biscuitmen]

They can't force anybody to take this job.

If this ended up being your first step into a paid, professional statistical analysis for a top, professional club then anybody would look back and consider it a great move.