Worried Supporters.

[Vision]

Not at all worried.

If we are on the decline and end up in the lower leagues for a while so be it. I pay my entrance fee and if I feel that the players have given their all and provided some entertainment, I don't care what league we are in.

I believe that we have created a bit of history in recent years and that sooner or later someone will realise the potential of the club and be prepared to put some investment into it. Reading is a major town close to London and I am sure that must carry some weight.

Much rather support Reading than a team like Arsenal or Man United. The ups and the downs are what make supporting your home town/local club so great.

You're not a football club owner are you ? ...

You would think it would carry some weight, but then, the rich owners went for Leicester and Derby, Middlesboro and others. Maybe us being close to London doesn't make any difference whatsoever. What are the factors that these investors are really looking at and where do they rank. Just how attractive are we in reality? Being a big town close to London hasn't really helped us thus far or has it?

Not sure what your point is here. Derby and Middlesboro are owned by life long supporters of their club.

Also truth be told we don't know how wealthy our owners actually are combined. Just because they haven't invested large amounts of money into the playing side doesn't necessarily mean they couldn't.

[bobby1413]

Not at all worried.

If we are on the decline and end up in the lower leagues for a while so be it. I pay my entrance fee and if I feel that the players have given their all and provided some entertainment, I don't care what league we are in.

I believe that we have created a bit of history in recent years and that sooner or later someone will realise the potential of the club and be prepared to put some investment into it. Reading is a major town close to London and I am sure that must carry some weight.

Much rather support Reading than a team like Arsenal or Man United. The ups and the downs are what make supporting your home town/local club so great.

You would think it would carry some weight, but then, the rich owners went for Leicester and Derby, Middlesboro and others. Maybe us being close to London doesn't make any difference whatsoever. What are the factors that these investors are really looking at and where do they rank. Just how attractive are we in reality? Being a big town close to London hasn't really helped us thus far or has it?

What are the differences between Leicester, Derby, Boro and Reading - I mean in terms of the places? As far as I'm aware they are of similar size with the exception of Leicester I believe is bigger.

I think you're right that our geographical location doesn't seem as important as we may think. I think we are a club that could be an attractive investment opportunity, after all we did get investment from the Thais. We're a club which over the past 10 years has had some decent success overall and we are far better known as a result.

I think we are as attractive as any other club at our level, no more and no less.

[Hoop Blah]

I think we are as attractive as any other club at our level, no more and no less.

If I was a significantly rich person looking to buy a football club then I guess location would have a part to play, and we're pretty well blessed in terms of proximity to London and Heathrow, but I don't think that is that big a deal when these people will probably be traveling by helicopter or private jet into the midlands or north east.

What would be a bigger pull for me, if I wasn't a Reading fan, would be the fan base and potential for the club to generate a bit of it's own revenue and not need constant bailing out from me. That would mean fan base would probably mean a lot more so why buy a Reading when you could go for a Leeds, Villa or Birmingham?

[Top Flight]

Good point Hoop Blah.

[linkenholtroyal]

Just to point out to various statements on here, they did spend 2.5 million on a loan for vydra so they aren't exactly spending no money and probably have spent 3 million on other transfers and loans this season. It isn't that they havnt spent the money, it is just in the wrong way and on the wrong players, if anyone is to Blaim it is Steve Clarke and his scouting network. Which will have influenced these transfers/loans. McDermott has made 3 signings so far.
Rakkels- solid signing for the money and has the potential to be a great player for reading.
Evans- a real coup and one for the future a terrific signing.
Kermorgant- with the limited funds available do any of us think we could have done better.

I can't say the same for Clarks signing, only 2, Quinn and mcshane I really rate. The rest were poor decisions made by a crap management team led by Clarke.

This is mcdermotts chance now and if the 3 signings he has made so far are anything to go by if he has the same resources Clarke had to throw away last season, I believe we are in for an exciting year next year.

[Longhorn1970]

I think we are as attractive as any other club at our level, no more and no less.

If I was a significantly rich person looking to buy a football club then I guess location would have a part to play, and we're pretty well blessed in terms of proximity to London and Heathrow, but I don't think that is that big a deal when these people will probably be traveling by helicopter or private jet into the midlands or north east.

What would be a bigger pull for me, if I wasn't a Reading fan, would be the fan base and potential for the club to generate a bit of it's own revenue and not need constant bailing out from me. That would mean fan base would probably mean a lot more so why buy a Reading when you could go for a Leeds, Villa or Birmingham?

The most sense on here for quite some time ...

[Mr Optimist]

Could we just be a vehicle to try to get large amounts of money out of Thailand for the owners? A big project like Royal Elm Park with loads of different entities and contractors involved could create a perfect disguise. If R E P is going too slow or will be scaled back due to planning permission problems or objections, maybe they are getting itchy feet and looking for another way.

Ownership of institutions like British football clubs provides an element of protection, just look at Mr Abamovich.

Hope I am wrong and they have more straightforward intentions, but the question that I continue to ask is that can't be answered is why Reading if that is the case, surely not for our car park alone!

[loyalroyaldaz]

Isnt Hogwood also up for development?
Thats another nice chunk of prime real estate.....

[One8Seven1*]

Just to point out to various statements on here, they did spend 2.5 million on a loan for vydra so they aren't exactly spending no money and probably have spent 3 million on other transfers and loans this season.

They didn't put in any of their money though, and we will be paying off the Vydra loan for a couple more seasons yet.

[linkenholtroyal]

Just to point out to various statements on here, they did spend 2.5 million on a loan for vydra so they aren't exactly spending no money and probably have spent 3 million on other transfers and loans this season.

They didn't put in any of their money though, and we will be paying off the Vydra loan for a couple more seasons yet.

I doubt it the sales of Blackman, sa and hector will have more than covered that, all I was just trying to say was McDermott can put a better squad together with half the money Clarke threw away.....

[Ian Royal]

Just to point out to various statements on here, they did spend 2.5 million on a loan for vydra so they aren't exactly spending no money and probably have spent 3 million on other transfers and loans this season.

They didn't put in any of their money though, and we will be paying off the Vydra loan for a couple more seasons yet.

I doubt it the sales of Blackman, sa and hector will have more than covered that, all I was just trying to say was McDermott can put a better squad together with half the money Clarke threw away.....

Someone is having to cover our colossal wage budget though, and they had to take on considerable debts just to land us.

[linkenholtroyal]

Our wage bill can't be anywhere near the size of this time last year or 2 years ago, debt I appreciate, but I am sure there will be money to spend and if so Brian will make the best of whatever budget he has.

[Ian Royal]

Our wage bill can't be anywhere near the size of this time last year or 2 years ago, debt I appreciate, but I am sure there will be money to spend and if so Brian will make the best of whatever budget he has.

Really? Yeah we lost Pearce Jem pog and Fed. But we kept Williams, Gunter and McCleary and signed Al-Habsi, McShane, and Quinn none like to be cheap.

It was still over £30m at last accounts which is about double a sustainable Chump budget. But for a one off non cash income injection we'd have lost about £9m that year.

I can't see this season's being below about £23m and that would be optimistic.

[bobby m's syrup]

You're not a football club owner are you ? ...

You would think it would carry some weight, but then, the rich owners went for Leicester and Derby, Middlesboro and others. Maybe us being close to London doesn't make any difference whatsoever. What are the factors that these investors are really looking at and where do they rank. Just how attractive are we in reality? Being a big town close to London hasn't really helped us thus far or has it?

Not sure what your point is here. Derby and Middlesboro are owned by life long supporters of their club.

Also truth be told we don't know how wealthy our owners actually are combined. Just because they haven't invested large amounts of money into the playing side doesn't necessarily mean they couldn't.

population wise, what is normally seen as Greater Reading, i.e town plus the bits clung onto by Wokingham and the Haystacks in Newbury or wherever is around 240K . The Reading/Wokingham urban area around 320K. Middlesbrough is smaller, Derby around par with Greater Reading and Leicester in front with 330K, but including large semi urban areas on its boundaries. Not much between any of them really.

[linkenholtroyal]

Our wage bill can't be anywhere near the size of this time last year or 2 years ago, debt I appreciate, but I am sure there will be money to spend and if so Brian will make the best of whatever budget he has.

Really? Yeah we lost Pearce Jem pog and Fed. But we kept Williams, Gunter and McCleary and signed Al-Habsi, McShane, and Quinn none like to be cheap.

It was still over £30m at last accounts which is about double a sustainable Chump budget. But for a one off non cash income injection we'd have lost about £9m that year.

I can't see this season's being below about £23m and that would be optimistic.

Pearce 20k a week
Jem 20k a week
Pog reported 40 k a week
Feds reported 20k per week
McShane, Al Hanson and Quinn probably on a combined 40 k a week. So 60 k per week difference also drenthe and Kelly probably 30k , if you take Hector's wage and black mans off as well, and sa, 35k per year, add rakkels and Evans 15k ish and keemorgant 20k. So overall we are 90 k per week better off at this point without the loan players so..... 90k x 52 is 4680000. Off the wage bill. With Hal and cox going as well I think we will find the wage bill is actually pretty low now.

[Ian Royal]

Our wage bill can't be anywhere near the size of this time last year or 2 years ago, debt I appreciate, but I am sure there will be money to spend and if so Brian will make the best of whatever budget he has.

Really? Yeah we lost Pearce Jem pog and Fed. But we kept Williams, Gunter and McCleary and signed Al-Habsi, McShane, and Quinn none like to be cheap.

It was still over £30m at last accounts which is about double a sustainable Chump budget. But for a one off non cash income injection we'd have lost about £9m that year.

I can't see this season's being below about £23m and that would be optimistic.

Pearce 20k a week
Jem 20k a week
Pog reported 40 k a week
Feds reported 20k per week
McShane, Al Hanson and Quinn probably on a combined 40 k a week. So 60 k per week difference also drenthe and Kelly probably 30k , if you take Hector's wage and black mans off as well, and sa, 35k per year, add rakkels and Evans 15k ish and keemorgant 20k. So overall we are 90 k per week better off at this point without the loan players so..... 90k x 52 is 4680000. Off the wage bill. With Hal and cox going as well I think we will find the wage bill is actually pretty low now.

Lets double your £4.5m to be generous. That would still leave it at about £24m, which is still way too high and probably lower than it actually is.

[Victor Meldrew]

Just to point out to various statements on here, they did spend 2.5 million on a loan for vydra so they aren't exactly spending no money and probably have spent 3 million on other transfers and loans this season. It isn't that they havnt spent the money, it is just in the wrong way and on the wrong players, if anyone is to Blaim it is Steve Clarke and his scouting network. Which will have influenced these transfers/loans. McDermott has made 3 signings so far.
Rakkels- solid signing for the money and has the potential to be a great player for reading.
Evans- a real coup and one for the future a terrific signing.
Kermorgant- with the limited funds available do any of us think we could have done better.

I can't say the same for Clarks signing, only 2, Quinn and mcshane I really rate. The rest were poor decisions made by a crap management team led by Clarke.

This is mcdermotts chance now and if the 3 signings he has made so far are anything to go by if he has the same resources Clarke had to throw away last season, I believe we are in for an exciting year next year.

Blimey, you are easily pleased.
Weren't McShane and Quinn freebies whereas Rekels cost quite a few Shekels and Kermorgant £500,000 for a 34 year-old?
None of those 2 nor Evans have done enough yet IMHO to show that they are up to much.

Hopefully (if he still has a job) Brian will do better in the summer window but giving Gunter a new contract for 3 years added to the 3 signings above doesn't fill me with great hope.
So far, not so good.

[linkenholtroyal]

Really? Yeah we lost Pearce Jem pog and Fed. But we kept Williams, Gunter and McCleary and signed Al-Habsi, McShane, and Quinn none like to be cheap.

It was still over £30m at last accounts which is about double a sustainable Chump budget. But for a one off non cash income injection we'd have lost about £9m that year.

I can't see this season's being below about £23m and that would be optimistic.

Pearce 20k a week
Jem 20k a week
Pog reported 40 k a week
Feds reported 20k per week
McShane, Al Hanson and Quinn probably on a combined 40 k a week. So 60 k per week difference also drenthe and Kelly probably 30k , if you take Hector's wage and black mans off as well, and sa, 35k per year, add rakkels and Evans 15k ish and keemorgant 20k. So overall we are 90 k per week better off at this point without the loan players so..... 90k x 52 is 4680000. Off the wage bill. With Hal and cox going as well I think we will find the wage bill is actually pretty low now.

Lets double your £4.5m to be generous. That would still leave it at about £24m, which is still way too high and probably lower than it actually is.

I may be wrong but I can't see how we are spending 24 million a year on wages now other than the few player such as Williams and Norwood, most of the team is academy product none of which I should think are on anything over 10k obits may be the only exception, I wish we could find the exact breakdown of what players are on.

[Ian Royal]

http://star-reading.org/index.php/news/

As of the 2014 / 15 accounts, our staff costs (presumably predominantly player wages) were £33.3m. To put that in context, I believe that means that last season our wage bill was approximately the same to finish 19th in the Championship, as it was finishing 18th in the Premier League in 2007/08.

I don't see how we can possibly have reduced that by about a third in one season.

FWIW I remember having the exact same conversations about a year ago, saying our wages couldn't have come down that much and must be sky high. People said then that we'd let go lots of high earners and made savings - oh no, as it turns out £34m down to £33m.

[RoyalBlue]

Just to point out to various statements on here, they did spend 2.5 million on a loan for vydra so they aren't exactly spending no money and probably have spent 3 million on other transfers and loans this season. It isn't that they havnt spent the money, it is just in the wrong way and on the wrong players, if anyone is to Blaim it is Steve Clarke and his scouting network. Which will have influenced these transfers/loans. McDermott has made 3 signings so far.
Rakkels- solid signing for the money and has the potential to be a great player for reading.
Evans- a real coup and one for the future a terrific signing.
Kermorgant- with the limited funds available do any of us think we could have done better.

.

Rakkels - reportedly the owners' signing.
Evans - one of many 'talented' youngsters released by the big clubs. One for the future? Maybe, maybe not. Seen nothing so far to suggest that he will be a real gem.
Kermorgant - would probably been better spending the limited funds on another 'one for the future'.