CONFRIMED: Latest rumours Confrimed as Unconfrimed

[Lower West]

I don't even want millions of pounds invested. Just stability, the odd repair and improvement, a well run club.

there is a shortfall of around £10M per season for a club of Reading's size in League 1.

EFL would most likely view £10 million per annum operational losses as unsustainable. Precisely why football is in the mess it now finds itself.

[Snowflake Royal]

2 points off the playoffs with a game in hand. Publish the account get what ever needs to be done to get this through bring in 2/3 players in January and we could well end up in the championship next season. And then what? He’s already asking for 30 million. How much do championship clubs go for? West Brom were reportedly sold for 60 in feb. Huddersfield went for 40 in 2023 Birmingham went for 35. I don’t think dai is going to get more than 30 mill for us even if we were promoted

£50 million is the selling amount Dai wanted. Rumoured that Howe said there's no chance of anything more than £30 million for the club as it is.

The $132.5 million US investment for 40% of Ipswich will no doubt have piqued his interest. Have a horrible feeling that it's the £50m that he's holding out for.

£30m is pie in the sky let alone £50m. League One clubs don't go for £20m usually, let alone higher.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

2 points off the playoffs with a game in hand. Publish the account get what ever needs to be done to get this through bring in 2/3 players in January and we could well end up in the championship next season. And then what? He’s already asking for 30 million. How much do championship clubs go for? West Brom were reportedly sold for 60 in feb. Huddersfield went for 40 in 2023 Birmingham went for 35. I don’t think dai is going to get more than 30 mill for us even if we were promoted

£50 million is the selling amount Dai wanted. Rumoured that Howe said there's no chance of anything more than £30 million for the club as it is.

The $132.5 million US investment for 40% of Ipswich will no doubt have piqued his interest. Have a horrible feeling that it's the £50m that he's holding out for.

£30m is pie in the sky let alone £50m. League One clubs don't go for £20m usually, let alone higher.

They can do if the stadium and training facilities are taken into account. £30 million for Reading is a reasonable price.

On an unrelated point, some Indian consortium just paid £120 million for Hampshire CC.

[Clyde1998]

£50 million is the selling amount Dai wanted. Rumoured that Howe said there's no chance of anything more than £30 million for the club as it is.

The $132.5 million US investment for 40% of Ipswich will no doubt have piqued his interest. Have a horrible feeling that it's the £50m that he's holding out for.

£30m is pie in the sky let alone £50m. League One clubs don't go for £20m usually, let alone higher.

They can do if the stadium and training facilities are taken into account. £30 million for Reading is a reasonable price.

On an unrelated point, some Indian consortium just paid £120 million for Hampshire CC.

I think the training ground is probably most of the value of the club; the stadium would also be additive. The financial state of the club would deduct from the overall value.

I'd agree £30m for the club with the stadium and training ground included is a reasonable price for it.

[WestYorksRoyal]

I'm not sure the stadium is worth much by itself. The hotel and carpark have been stripped, so all you're left with is a ground so heavily protected it can't be repurposed for anything else. The only value you can generate is from the team.

If we were selling a stadium with the hotel and surrounding land, it would be a different matter. You could develop out of town bars, entertainment etc. and create a place built to make money on match day, plus potential events etc., and that's before you look at office and residential. Royal Elm Park would be a massive selling point, but it's not for sale.

Not particularly clever by the Thais to take it all either. These things are always worth more in aggregate than they are in separate parts because of the synergies they can generate.

[Crusader Royal]

In what way is the ground protected ?
Agreed a second hand sports stadium has a limited market so hard to price but the footprint is worth something even if you take out the costs of demolishing what’s there. The only real value of the ground though is as somewhere for the team to play.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

In what way is the ground protected ?
Agreed a second hand sports stadium has a limited market so hard to price but the footprint is worth something even if you take out the costs of demolishing what’s there. The only real value of the ground though is as somewhere for the team to play.

Isn't there a council covenant on it?

[retro royal]

I'd be more worried about the business rates on the stadium and the training ground, could be as high as £4m, that's enough to put most off, would love to know for sure how much our local councils are screwing us over

[Snowflake Royal]

Football club worth is based mainly around division, because that dictates income. A 24k seater stadium in L1 is worth less than in the Championship, because in L1 its half empty but you've still got to maintain it fully. It doesn't have much inherent value when it's somewhat protected from redevelopment and built on a shit tip of contaminated land. Yes the contamination was cleaned to the level required for sports facilities, but that's lower than tuings like housing.

Likewise a state of the art training ground doesn't really contribute to income. Its value is basically its redevelopment potential.

As a L1 club our facilities are as much burdens as benefits.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Bearwood has value that could be unlocked. Reduce our share of it and rent it out. Someone with NFL links could try making it into a base for touring teams, given its proximity to Heathrow and Wembley.

[Vision]

'preciate you. Remind me, where are you? Are we going to meet up for the playoff final?

Apologies for the late response , I’m in Dallas.

You’re Arkansas based?

Ah yeh, I did know that. Yeh, Northwest Arkansas, so about 5 1/2 hours from you. Have you watched any sport at Cosm yet?

No sporting events but have been to the colony a couple of times for food and entertainment

[72 bus]

Bearwood has value that could be unlocked. Reduce our share of it and rent it out. Someone with NFL links could try making it into a base for touring teams, given its proximity to Heathrow and Wembley.

We were granted planning permission for Bearwood on the basis that it can only be used by Reading football club.
This is what prevented Dai selling it off to Couhig buying it for Wycombe.

[Crusader Royal]

In what way is the ground protected ?
Agreed a second hand sports stadium has a limited market so hard to price but the footprint is worth something even if you take out the costs of demolishing what’s there. The only real value of the ground though is as somewhere for the team to play.

Isn't there a council covenant on it?

It’s listed as an Asset of Community Value but that’s no protection at all and could even be considered a negative. It just delays a sale process without preventing it.

[Crusader Royal]

Bearwood has value that could be unlocked. Reduce our share of it and rent it out. Someone with NFL links could try making it into a base for touring teams, given its proximity to Heathrow and Wembley.

We were granted planning permission for Bearwood on the basis that it can only be used by Reading football club.
This is what prevented Dai selling it off to Couhig buying it for Wycombe.

But could be challenged and altered. It didn’t prevent the sale, it just made it less appealing. The seller could get the restriction lifted even if it took a bit of time and money.

[Crusader Royal]

Football club worth is based mainly around division, because that dictates income. A 24k seater stadium in L1 is worth less than in the Championship, because in L1 its half empty but you've still got to maintain it fully. It doesn't have much inherent value when it's somewhat protected from redevelopment and built on a shit tip of contaminated land. Yes the contamination was cleaned to the level required for sports facilities, but that's lower than tuings like housing.

Likewise a state of the art training ground doesn't really contribute to income. Its value is basically its redevelopment potential.

As a L1 club our facilities are as much burdens as benefits.

If you can build on the car park you could just as easily build on the stadium land. Probably more expensive than building on farm land but do able. The REP plans include housing so contamination doesn’t seem a major concern.
And as I mention elsewhere the ACV doesn’t protect the ground in any meaningful way. I don’t think there are any other protections are there ?

[Snowflake Royal]

Football club worth is based mainly around division, because that dictates income. A 24k seater stadium in L1 is worth less than in the Championship, because in L1 its half empty but you've still got to maintain it fully. It doesn't have much inherent value when it's somewhat protected from redevelopment and built on a shit tip of contaminated land. Yes the contamination was cleaned to the level required for sports facilities, but that's lower than tuings like housing.

Likewise a state of the art training ground doesn't really contribute to income. Its value is basically its redevelopment potential.

As a L1 club our facilities are as much burdens as benefits.

If you can build on the car park you could just as easily build on the stadium land. Probably more expensive than building on farm land but do able. The REP plans include housing so contamination doesn’t seem a major concern.
And as I mention elsewhere the ACV doesn’t protect the ground in any meaningful way. I don’t think there are any other protections are there ?

None of this helps someone buying a football club. The assets of a liquidated club, maybe.

But why buy a club for £30m that's just going to lose you £10m a year. So you can get promoted and sell it for £50m? Or liquidate it and sell the assets for £20m?

We've had four serious offers from credible buyers and they keep collapsing because Dai's valuation is mental and he's impossible to work with.

[WestYorksRoyal]

To be fair, normal valuation rules don't seem to apply to football clubs. A business is normally valued based upon how much money it can generate, in which case >80% of clubs in England are worth £1. Clearly there are prestige reasons why investors are willing to part with their money, and given our location and recent PL history you'd hope they see something worth investing in.

Look at Everton. The Athletic ran a big article saying that despite them being a huge historical club, their financial mess was too great. Now they have a buyer. Someone thought it was worth it when cold hard rationality couldn't see it.

[The Cap]

Football club worth is based mainly around division, because that dictates income. A 24k seater stadium in L1 is worth less than in the Championship, because in L1 its half empty but you've still got to maintain it fully. It doesn't have much inherent value when it's somewhat protected from redevelopment and built on a shit tip of contaminated land. Yes the contamination was cleaned to the level required for sports facilities, but that's lower than tuings like housing.

Likewise a state of the art training ground doesn't really contribute to income. Its value is basically its redevelopment potential.

As a L1 club our facilities are as much burdens as benefits.

If you can build on the car park you could just as easily build on the stadium land. Probably more expensive than building on farm land but do able. The REP plans include housing so contamination doesn’t seem a major concern.
And as I mention elsewhere the ACV doesn’t protect the ground in any meaningful way. I don’t think there are any other protections are there ?

None of this helps someone buying a football club. The assets of a liquidated club, maybe.

But why buy a club for £30m that's just going to lose you £10m a year. So you can get promoted and sell it for £50m? Or liquidate it and sell the assets for £20m?

We've had four serious offers from credible buyers and they keep collapsing because Dai's valuation is mental and he's impossible to work with.

Is it worth retracting the word 'valuation' from that last sentence?

[mikey_1871]

The planning condition on the training ground could easily be varied, if there was good reason to. All it needs is an application to amend the planning permission, supported by justification.

The ground being an asset of community value does offer it an additional layer of protection, but as others have said this this can be worked around.

[Silver Fox]

Exactly, go to the planners asking to put a casino on the site and you'll rightly get knocked back, ask for the jacksonville Jaguars to train there and you'll get a thumbs up