TAKEOVER *NOT* CONFIMRED

[Elm Park Kid]

Is Mike Ashley the best possible owner to return us back to the 'Reading way' and recreate the glory days? Probably not.

Is he a good option for now - definitely yes.

Maguire was on BBC Berkshire this morning saying that Ashley 'lacks ambition' - ie, he's not going to pour in vast amounts of his own money to catapult us up the leagues. Well . . . this might be controversial . . . but, good. Dai's problem was thinking he could buy success, regardless of how poorly the club was run, and then had a tantrum when it didn't work. If Ashley is thinking that with some careful management and spending he can get Reading back into the Championship on the cheap and then sell up for profit - fair enough.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Is Mike Ashley the best possible owner to return us back to the 'Reading way' and recreate the glory days? Probably not.

Is he a good option for now - definitely yes.

Maguire was on BBC Berkshire this morning saying that Ashley 'lacks ambition' - ie, he's not going to pour in vast amounts of his own money to catapult us up the leagues. Well . . . this might be controversial . . . but, good. Dai's problem was thinking he could buy success, regardless of how poorly the club was run, and then had a tantrum when it didn't work. If Ashley is thinking that with some careful management and spending he can get Reading back into the Championship on the cheap and then sell up for profit - fair enough.

I suppose it depends what he buys at in regards of making a profit. If he can run us sensibly and leave the footballing decisions to the football people at the club, and actually create a strategy at the club that is sensible, then I can certainly see things going well with him.

[WestYorksRoyal]

I guess the question is how he makes a profit. Let's say bare minimum is to have us mid table Championship - our club is simply too big to be a sustainable L1 club and will always have a big operating expense base with its facilities unless we see brutal cuts.

So let's say we get to the Championship and stabilise. We produce good academy players for the first team who we sell on for good money. Do you reinvest the bare minimum to protect your Championship position, and put most of the transfer revenue in your bank account? Or do you reinvest it substantially knowing that it can bring the riches of the PL, but can be lost? His record at Newcastle suggests the former, and the extent of parachute payments these days is so great he may conclude that it's not worth trying to compete with them.

[blythspartan]

Is Mike Ashley the best possible owner to return us back to the 'Reading way' and recreate the glory days? Probably not.

Is he a good option for now - definitely yes.

Maguire was on BBC Berkshire this morning saying that Ashley 'lacks ambition' - ie, he's not going to pour in vast amounts of his own money to catapult us up the leagues. Well . . . this might be controversial . . . but, good. Dai's problem was thinking he could buy success, regardless of how poorly the club was run, and then had a tantrum when it didn't work. If Ashley is thinking that with some careful management and spending he can get Reading back into the Championship on the cheap and then sell up for profit - fair enough.

At the moment survival is paramount for me. If Ashley can stabilise the club and pay the bills on time I’ll be happy with that.

I think with a sensible owner and a manager who knows what they’re doing we can get back into the Championship and there are lots of good examples of well managed clubs thriving. Ipswich and Luton are two that spring to mind.

[Stranded]

I guess the question is how he makes a profit. Let's say bare minimum is to have us mid table Championship - our club is simply too big to be a sustainable L1 club and will always have a big operating expense base with its facilities unless we see brutal cuts.

So let's say we get to the Championship and stabilise. We produce good academy players for the first team who we sell on for good money. Do you reinvest the bare minimum to protect your Championship position, and put most of the transfer revenue in your bank account? Or do you reinvest it substantially knowing that it can bring the riches of the PL, but can be lost? His record at Newcastle suggests the former, and the extent of parachute payments these days is so great he may conclude that it's not worth trying to compete with them.

You make a profit by building the club up to a point where someone else will be willing to pay you more than you paid/invested or increase revenues so that dividends can be paid on shares held.

Naturally in the meantime you would make a call on what you do in the interim i.e. if we make a profit in a year, he may decide to take some back but the plan has to be (as Bowen seems to be planning on doing) bring in young players free/cheap, who we can sell on a year or two later for a decent fee. X% if that gets reinvested in the playing squad - do it right and the quality of younger player you can bring in improves, the team improves, wages improve, fees improve. Profits eventually ensue.

As said elsewhere, is Ashley going to suddenly bankroll a side capable of running through L1 and the Champ, no but we don't need that now - we just need to be run as a normal football club and see what happens. If L1 is our level for a while, so be it but with the right model, there is no reason why we can't return to the Champ in a relatively small period of time.

[Elm Park Kid]

I guess the question is how he makes a profit. Let's say bare minimum is to have us mid table Championship - our club is simply too big to be a sustainable L1 club and will always have a big operating expense base with its facilities unless we see brutal cuts.

So let's say we get to the Championship and stabilise. We produce good academy players for the first team who we sell on for good money. Do you reinvest the bare minimum to protect your Championship position, and put most of the transfer revenue in your bank account? Or do you reinvest it substantially knowing that it can bring the riches of the PL, but can be lost? His record at Newcastle suggests the former, and the extent of parachute payments these days is so great he may conclude that it's not worth trying to compete with them.

First of all, i'd say that being a mid-table Championship club who is selling off their academy players for good money is enough of an ambition for me right now.

Second, the Championship is a league where no one is making money. No one. If Mike Ashley's business plan is to somehow be a mid-table Championship team whilst taking money out of the club then, again, fair play to him because that would require a genius level of business skills.

Thirdly, As far as i'm aware, Ashley never took any money out of Newcastle. It's a bit of a myth that Newcastle fans have maintained. In fact, i'm sure that Maguire said that he had invested over £100m during his time as owner.

[Winston Biscuit]

I wouldn't expect for a moment Ashley would look to start throwing money around. But he would stabilise the club in terms of paying bills on time which then allows us to get back into the transfer market putting us back on a par with others in the division.

For me, as long as someone can remove the hurdles which mean we are currently uncompetitive then its a huge step forward. It then really comes down to whats happening on the pitch and the training ground, the same as anyone else we are up against

[72 bus]

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/f ... w-28005825

[Norfolk Royal]

I've read some utter tosh about this situation on X etc over the last day or so.

A club in our position should be biting Mike Ashley's hands off as an owner, that's blatantly obvious to anyone with a minimum of common sense.

The issue is whether the current owner will sell to him.

[Elm Park Kid]

I've read some utter tosh about this situation on X etc over the last day or so.

A club in our position should be biting Mike Ashley's hands off as an owner, that's blatantly obvious to anyone with a minimum of common sense.

The issue is whether the current owner will sell to him.

The question is whether a certain football agent has arranged for a certain amount of money to be placed in an envelope and left on his doorstep if a certain bullshitting businessman has a bid accepted.

[Hiram K Hackenbacker]

I've read some utter tosh about this situation on X etc over the last day or so.

A club in our position should be biting Mike Ashley's hands off as an owner, that's blatantly obvious to anyone with a minimum of common sense.

The issue is whether the current owner will sell to him.

I agree

[WestYorksRoyal]

I've read some utter tosh about this situation on X etc over the last day or so.

A club in our position should be biting Mike Ashley's hands off as an owner, that's blatantly obvious to anyone with a minimum of common sense.

The issue is whether the current owner will sell to him.

One of them literally just posted, without irony, that this will end with us forever languishing in the bottom 6 of the PL. Fcuk me, how will we cope?

[Dirk Gently]

Is that what we've really come to? Welcoming a scumbag like Mike Ashley in because all the available alternatives are even worse?

God help us as a club!

[Elm Park Kid]

Is that what we've really come to? Welcoming a scumbag like Mike Ashley in because all the available alternatives are even worse?

God help us as a club!

Welcome to modern football.

We tried to get a couple of Hollywood stars to buy us out and make a documentary but we didn't have enough lovable underdogs living in the town.

[blythspartan]

Is that what we've really come to? Welcoming a scumbag like Mike Ashley in because all the available alternatives are even worse?

God help us as a club!

Who would you prefer?

[windermereROYAL]

Is that what we've really come to? Welcoming a scumbag like Mike Ashley in because all the available alternatives are even worse?

God help us as a club!

Because Elon Musk and Bill Gates aren`t interested.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Is that what we've really come to? Welcoming a scumbag like Mike Ashley in because all the available alternatives are even worse?

God help us as a club!

Welcome to modern football.

We tried to get a couple of Hollywood stars to buy us out and make a documentary but we didn't have enough lovable underdogs living in the town.

Tbf, I think we'd take Sauron as owner if he we thought it would bring success. Got loads of resources from pillaging the planet and seems to take a long term view to achieve his goal of world domination. Plus would have a keen eye on games.

[Orion1871]

Is that what we've really come to? Welcoming a scumbag like Mike Ashley in because all the available alternatives are even worse?

God help us as a club!

Welcome to modern football.

We tried to get a couple of Hollywood stars to buy us out and make a documentary but we didn't have enough lovable underdogs living in the town.

Reading Elvis has let the side down badly here.

[Stranded]

Is that what we've really come to? Welcoming a scumbag like Mike Ashley in because all the available alternatives are even worse?

God help us as a club!

Welcome to modern football.

We tried to get a couple of Hollywood stars to buy us out and make a documentary but we didn't have enough lovable underdogs living in the town.

Tbf, I think we'd take Sauron as owner if he we thought it would bring success. Got loads of resources from pillaging the planet and seems to take a long term view to achieve his goal of world domination. Plus would have a keen eye on games.

Are we really fussed about success at the moment or just having a club?

[blythspartan]

Welcome to modern football.

We tried to get a couple of Hollywood stars to buy us out and make a documentary but we didn't have enough lovable underdogs living in the town.

Tbf, I think we'd take Sauron as owner if he we thought it would bring success. Got loads of resources from pillaging the planet and seems to take a long term view to achieve his goal of world domination. Plus would have a keen eye on games.

Are we really fussed about success at the moment or just having a club?

Exactly!