Madejski's comments to BBC Radio Berkshire

[clauski]

So, our aspirations are what exactly? To spend £100m on players to settle for being a UEFA cup contender? Perhaps £50m on players in order to hover in medicority in 12-16th place in the Prem? So say we spend £100m and get that UEFA spot, then what next?

Who will pay for all of this? A £100m squad will command wages per year at a minimum of £30m.

Does a crowd of 25,000 and TV rights bankroll this? I don't think it does.

Well, given WE earned £30.6m last year from TV rights alone I think it does (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/ ... 934447.ece). As a Top 10 club that would be nearer £40m, and that's before all the gate income, sponsorship, corporate income etc.

I'll take a future where I can take my son to footie week in week out with him hopefully doing the same, as a trade off against Reading gambling millions away to become a Braford City or a Leeds United, who if you remember both nearly went out of business as a result of their money madness.

Or a Bolton who have been a successful Premier league club for the last 7 years, or a Portsmouth for the last 5. All we are asking for is a bit of ambition. This summer we have taken £8.5m in transfer fees. This season we get £11.4m in parachute payments. We've invested £600k of this. What kind of business reinvests such a small proportion of its income on new assets?

[PEARCEY]

Really good posts on here from Clauski and SKB...its good to see both sides of the argument and you have both managed to articulate them...hats off...makes a change from some of the abusive stuff on HNA

[Northern Git]

he also said in the programme that there was money to spend if copps asked for players

he was basically replying to concern from the more reationary fans saying youve stole all our cash
just saying there is very little, and we spent all we had in the prem years-as confirmed by the club accounts

get over yourselves

Hi brendywendy - back to the same old same old discussions about the report and accounts again!

I know the last set of published accounts, covering season 2006 - 2007, has been published (and shows an operating profit of around £6,000,0000) but has the last set of accounts, covering 2007 - 2008, come out yet?

Your post implies they have.

Only ask because I now have away of getting hold of the three relevant sets (RFC, Hotel & Holding company) without paying for them when they are published.

[Super Kevin Bremner!]

A business that's attempting to redress the losses of the past 15 years will not invest heavily until that objective is fully met.

Regards Bolton, the words Bolton and success should never be mentioned in the same sentence. They are an ugly club with an ugly tradition of bullying, mediocre football that has snuck them into Europe once and nearly gotten them relegated several times.

Portsmouth is a given - their fans are genuinely enjoying the Prem, so I kind of take your point there, but assuming they don't strengthen anymore now the purse strings are tight, what do you think will happen to the club should Crouch/Defoe not fire on all cylinders?

[79Royal]

If we have surplus cash and their are players available that want to come to us for a price that reflect their market value that will also improve the team then I am sure we will buy them. These kind of players are very hard to come by unfortunately. In the last 3 years Madejski has always allowed money to be available on players like Lita, Seol, Bikey, Kebe, Cisse, Noel Hunt and Fae. Spending lots of money like all Reading fans seem desperate for us to do does not always guarentee a brilliant player and instant sucess, it is a MASSIVE gamble as Fae has proved. 2 years ago Steve Coppell turned a mediocre Championship side into the best side the Championship as ever seen, for less than 1.5 million.

Anyway this whole argument about blaming Madejski for us not making big money signings and especially those of you saying he should just sell up is mental. Madejski has been saying for years he would happily sell up to anyone who will take the club forward and provide plenty of financial backing for the team. Problem is there are only a few people in the world willing to do things like that and most of them, with the exception of QPR tend to buy clubs like Chelsea! He has never claimed to be the next Roman Abramovic he has always said he would not just continue to bank roll the club, instead he would do his upmost to make the club self sufficient and able to survive without constant injections of cash, to ensure our long term survival!

Anyone that is critical of John Madejski is absolutly nuts. He has done pretty miraculous things for this club e.g building us a brand new stadium and investing in infrastructure that has enabled the club to flourish, incrased our fan base massively and helped us to attract the players that took us to the top tier of english football for the first time in our history.

I agree with all of what you say, but I will criticise him. The things that grate me about Madejski are a) his tendancy to whinge about the cost of running a football club, when we all know it's an expensive business to be in and everyone is in the same boat. He should just get over it and accept it. And most of all b) the spin he puts on everything he says and the mixed messages that keep on coming out of the club. All I want is a fair appraisal of what our expectations should be for this season and as yet, I don't think we've had that from the chairman. I think Coppell has been subtly saying all pre-season that if the current squad can keep free of too many injuries and play to their very best, then we are good enough to go up. What we don't have is real quality in depth in our squad, which we could have if the chairman released enough money for us to bring the players in. Whether it's right or wrong to be conservative with our money, I guess we'll find out at the end of the season. I just wish Madejski was clearer in his communications with the fans.

[Denver Royal]

So, our aspirations are what exactly? To spend £100m on players to settle for being a UEFA cup contender? Perhaps £50m on players in order to hover in medicority in 12-16th place in the Prem? So say we spend £100m and get that UEFA spot, then what next?

So you thought Mr Mad was an idiot and/or you never believed him when he said 'We're serious about Europe'?

I'll take a future where I can take my son to footie week in week out with him hopefully doing the same, as a trade off against Reading gambling millions away to become a Braford City or a Leeds United, who if you remember both nearly went out of business as a result of their money madness.

Nobody is saying go mad. Most people are talking about getting 2 players in...a left back or a winger, and maybe a tall striker. That makes us Leeds?

[Royal Rother]

And can I add that any profit would have been after any loans had been repaid.

Loan repayments are not an overhead of a business so do not have an impact on the Profit made, therefore the above statement is completely incorrect.

If the club made a profit of £20m then there will have been surplus funds that may have enabled JM to take some repayments on his loans to the club; to be absolutely clear on this, loan repayments do not have an impact on the Profit.

I usually explain this once every couple of months - twice in 3 days is pushing it a bit, but I suppose, unfortunately, it is the hot topic once again!

[Big Ern]

This interview really summed up my frustration with the club I love and have supported for 22 years, and further showed that the best thing for Reading FC would be for Madejski to fook off..although that is easier said than done.

Many have argued that the best thing about Madejski is that he runs a very financial stable ship...however if we have no money left after the huge amounts we have had in Sky money and recent transfer fees, not to mention higher gate receipts etc, then that blows that argument out the water.

Yet more backtracking at the club after Hammond claimed the money from the Kitson and Shorey transfers 'would be made available to spend.' So no chance of the new players we so desperately need then as all the money has been lost in the mystical maze that is Reading FC's finances. It is now obvious...as some predicted and who were immediately shot down by the RTG brigade, that we will not be signing anymore players....all we will get is more excuses as to why we are not doing so, all courtesy of the text alert messages, If we are to believe Madejski we are the only club to spend 2 years in the Premiership, and then be penniless after hardly spending anything while we were there. I didn't buy it then, and nothing the club has said has come close to convincing me otherwise.

All in all it is the signs of a Chairman that has lost interest in the club, and although he's still happy to take his 'round of applause' before a game, he is not prepared to give us the leadership or the ambition to take this club forward. Maybe he realises that a Premiership football club is not as saleable an asset he thought it would be, but one thing is clear, unless we produce our own players in the near future, this club is going nowhere fast under Madejski, and as we stand still, other clubs, and I am not mentioning the likes of Wolves, Derby etc, but the likes of Bristol City, will overtake us. You just have to look at what the 3 clubs promoted to the Premiership have done in the transfer market to see how conned the fans have been through the years and I for one am tired of this conveyer belt of bullshit from the club.

While many have said he has done great things for the club and saved us from going out of business, it is equally plausible that our success was a by-product of his ultimate aim with the club of buying it, increasing the assets and then selling it off for a huge profit after using the clubs money to fund this investment in Stadium etc.. But, regardless of that, Madejski is adding no value to the club, and is in fact holding it back and as Madejski knows all too well, a business is not a charity, and maybe there are some being to charitable with their high opinion and expectations of him and I fear it will only lead to further disappointment.

We all want the same on here and that is a successful Reading Football Club, however I fear we are living in a fools paradise if we believe Madejski is the man to deliver that now.

[Bucks Dave]

But Big Ern, Mr M has said for a long while now that he will sell the club to someone who wishes to put more money into it. He will actually do what you want!! In our championship record season we actually lost £6M and our profit in our equally recordbreaking first premiership season was £6M. Thus for the two best seasons I will probably ever know in my lifetime - and I have supported since 1962 - all we did was break even.

Everyone quotes Portsmouth but there have been far far more clubs put into long term trouble by spending beyond their means. Coppell repeatedly says there is money available for the right players, criticise for not capturing those players or the wrong players by all means but demanding the chairman goes is just plain daft.

[rfc58]

One thing puzzles me, IF we are so skint after our flirt with the PL, how come he hasn't done the obvious, and got the stadium sponsored like other grounds are ?

Money is money after all !

Now, I wonder why !!!

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

it is equally plausible that our success was a by-product of his ultimate aim with the club of buying it, increasing the assets and then selling it off for a huge profit after using the clubs money to fund this investment in Stadium etc..

given that he bought the club in 1990, an era when even top clubs changed hands for peanuts (Michael Knighton "bought" Man Utd for £10 million in 1989) it seems absurd to suggest he would have thought he could have got £50 million or so from selling Reading at some time in the future.

[Royal Lady]

Why is it absurd to have thought that? In all probability, irrespective of what he paid for us in 1990, he was hoping to make a big profit - he's certainly not in this game for the love of football.

[kwik-silva]

I agree with Royal Lady, he would've forseen a profit, maybe not this big, but definatly a profit. I'm not sure why he hasn't got the stadium sponsored

[rfc58]

I agree with Royal Lady, he would've forseen a profit, maybe not this big, but definatly a profit. I'm not sure why he hasn't got the stadium sponsored

I have asked the question of the stadium being sponsored, as I stated, if "the PL money" has gone, and according to JM it has, surely he would sell the name, after all, its only a name !!!

But I wonder why he hasn't !

[kwik-silva]

I agree with Royal Lady, he would've forseen a profit, maybe not this big, but definatly a profit. I'm not sure why he hasn't got the stadium sponsored

I have asked the question of the stadium being sponsored, as I stated, if "the PL money" has gone, and according to JM it has, surely he would sell the name, after all, its only a name !!!

But I wonder why he hasn't !

It was in reply to your question I guess its because he's stuck up, and doesn't really want to admit that theres absolutely no money left, and he wants to leave his legacy

[rfc58]

I agree with Royal Lady, he would've forseen a profit, maybe not this big, but definatly a profit. I'm not sure why he hasn't got the stadium sponsored

I have asked the question of the stadium being sponsored, as I stated, if "the PL money" has gone, and according to JM it has, surely he would sell the name, after all, its only a name !!!

But I wonder why he hasn't !

It was in reply to your question I guess its because he's stuck up, and doesn't really want to admit that theres absolutely no money left, and he wants to leave his legacy

That is one reason I will take the "we are skint" comments with a huge pinch of the white stuff.

JM is many things, but stupid is certainly not one of them. I think he knows full well the public are not HP, and are questioning his speech.

Some might say he doesn't need to explain anything to us, but anyone in the entertainment business will realise, that the paying public do actually have a choice.

As`I said, its his ball, he can do with it as he pleases, but I'd say its a tad naive to assume that punters will continue to hand over their hard earned just because they love the club.

But hey, what do I know !!

[kwik-silva]

I think it'll all depend on this season, Madejski was talking about selling up last season, so, if we get into the PL will he try again?? If not, I think he'll have to start releasing money for transfers (if thats the reason we're not buying) and give 100% of sales straight to the manager, if we're still languishing in the CC then, I think he might wait a season, but how long will he wait until he sells up??

[Northern Git]

That is one reason I will take the "we are skint" comments with a huge pinch of the white stuff.

JM is many things, but stupid is certainly not one of them. I think he knows full well the public are not HP, and are questioning his speech.

Some might say he doesn't need to explain anything to us, but anyone in the entertainment business will realise, that the paying public do actually have a choice.

As`I said, its his ball, he can do with it as he pleases, but I'd say its a tad naive to assume that punters will continue to hand over their hard earned just because they love the club.

But hey, what do I know !!

Correct there, this is after all the man who left the country for 18 months to avoid paying tax when he sold his share of Auto Trader Group. So we can asume that his financial and tax advise is still pretty hot.

As he has total control over the club and holding company he can (totally within the law) make the figures look pretty much as he wants.

And you and I and everyone else on here will never know where or how the income has been 'spent' - unless JM tells us - which he wont.

[Agent Balti]

I think it'll all depend on this season, Madejski was talking about selling up last season, so, if we get into the PL will he try again?? If not, I think he'll have to start releasing money for transfers (if thats the reason we're not buying) and give 100% of sales straight to the manager, if we're still languishing in the CC then, I think he might wait a season, but how long will he wait until he sells up??

Of course he'll try again if/when we get back to the Premiership. That's a given. Our 'stock' will have increased hugely should that be the case. Given that we did it once and have done it again this will prove our ability to come back....but in the way Madejski wishes, which is on a budget.

You could say he's effectively using RFC like the housing market. He's not going to invest in his property whilst the market has no buyers, he may as well sit tight, wait until the market is on the up and then try again.

Argument says that he shouldn't have been so bullish in wanting such a huge amount for RFC last season, he always indicated we had nibbles but nothing concrete. He has no option to wait until Reading make the Premiership again; he just won't eat into the money to do it.

[Super Kevin Bremner!]

So how many people ever thought we'd start a 2nd tier season as favourites to go up?

How many people, not having known 4 years ago what success was imminent, would have bitten someone's hand off if offered that.

And, who made that a reality? How did that become a reality?

By slowly building and empowering the likes of Coppell and Pardew to do a job however they wanted without going crazy with the cheque book.

It's a joke that people can even think about slating JM.

If I ever have millions of pounds then I'm buggered if I'll give a toss about how anybody thinks I should spend it.

And for the guy who replied that 'all we want is to get an LB and an RM in - not go mad with the money like Leeds', well you have missed the whole point of the thread. This isn't a 'why haven't we got the players in we need' debate, it's about Madjeski's attitude to the inappropriate way money is spent on the game.

And on that note, when we've needed to bring players in for certain positions in the past, we've done it, and almost always for sensible prices and with a successful outcome.

If you'd just seen 2.5m pissed down the drain on Greg Halford (albeit we got the money back) and then even more on Emerse Fae, then wouldn't you become synical about spending vast sums of cash?

Stand up and applaud JM's what I say.