Dear Mr Chairman

[Z175]

I am normally on the side of SJM and the money men. However the sale of the Sig is for me the sad end of the financing of this club by SJM.

I would rather be self sufficient than owned by foreign billions. But if we do cut our cloth and endeavour to balance the books, why do we need our (possibly former) millionnaire chairman?

OF course there is no one else - I mean SJM had to be bullied and forced and tricked to buy us! Dreams of other locals Ricky Gervais/ Kate Winslet and Mr Bean will sadly not happen.

But a well run, balanced book club does pointedly not need a benefactor! It only needs him to guarantee debt/invest his own money.

We already have a supporters trust at reading. The idea of trusts came about when clubs fans started fearing a wimbledon-like fate and the eventual dream is surely fan ownership.

RFC fans are not numerous to buy the club of course. But SJM clearly DOES NOT want his investment back. He cannot sell the club but he cannot fund it. So why don't we ask him nicely to give it. He is evidently not immune to criticism and may find this attractive- the website is totally Glasnost orientated in its stories at the moment.

So come on John, be a hero to your town for one final, glorious time. Imagine the special announcement in front of the crowd, the chanting of one John Madejski, the permenance of your name on the stadium, the adoring masses,

For the one who gave us our club.

[Z175]

For the record I have been through our finances with a tooth comb and I believe everything the club have said is pointedly correct. (I'm an accountant )

To clarify the only accusations I would make over the recent disastrous finances would be against the likes of Stephen hunt and players agents - my view of the history is like this.

1 - Prior to promotion to the premierleague, Madejski funded the club with an increase in his loan of about 5m a season to cover the difference in what Reading paid their players and what we, the fans, will pay.

2 - In the premierleague Madejski decided to remunerate the team that finished 8th with a 50m wagebill to persuade them to stay, rather than spend this on new signings. The gamble failed and we finished 18th with some individuals not giving their all. He was rescued by the sales of Kitson and Shorey which paid of a small overdraft caused by the below budget (less sky money ) 18th finish.

3- Back in the championship under Coppell, Madejski took another gamble, most importantly to keep Coppell at the club. He maintained a ludicrously high near 30m wage bill, (as did Birmingham and Sheff Utd) and added the likes of Hunt and Tabb to try and keep the players to win promotion. Again the gamble failed. He was rescued by a firesale of the squad which paid off the massive wages these players had been paid to stay.

4- Finally, he went for Brendan Rodgers and gave him moderate funds in a final, last gamble with the remaining funds and was only rescued by Brian McDermott.

5- During all this SJM lost or gave up control over all his money in Station Hill - optional tale below in brackets
[ Unfortunately, SJM chose a bad moment to go into property in a big way. He has put some 20m into Station Hill, but more importantly banks have ploughed in some 80m. The security for this is no doubt SJM's personal assets (he is sole owner of Station Hill). I doubt he would use the club, but certainly all the cash he has available is probably at the mercy of the bank. Station Hill has already breached its banking deal and that 80m could be seized back at any time, although he is confident of a new investor and the bank would probably be silly to call in the debt before the development happens.]

6. Reading could choose to release most of their squad, or sell a major player or be sold to a rich sugar daddy. SJM decided to sell a player, and the club released hints about this over the last month.

7. SJM admits he does not need to own the club while he cannot fund it, and sells the shares to the supporters trust for £18.71.

[prostak]

Who have the involvement of some convicted fraudsters, right?

[Platypuss]

I'd imagine that if Mr Mad was also in the business of money laundering they're the kinds of deals be be after too.....

[westendgirl]

For the record I have been through our finances with a tooth comb and I believe everything the club have said is pointedly correct. (I'm an accountant )

To clarify the only accusations I would make over the recent disastrous finances would be against the likes of Stephen hunt and players agents - my view of the history is like this.

1 - Prior to promotion to the premierleague, Madejski funded the club with an increase in his loan of about 5m a season to cover the difference in what Reading paid their players and what we, the fans, will pay.

2 - In the premierleague Madejski decided to remunerate the team that finished 8th with a 50m wagebill to persuade them to stay, rather than spend this on new signings. The gamble failed and we finished 18th with some individuals not giving their all. He was rescued by the sales of Kitson and Shorey which paid of a small overdraft caused by the below budget (less sky money ) 18th finish.

3- Back in the championship under Coppell, Madejski took another gamble, most importantly to keep Coppell at the club. He maintained a ludicrously high near 30m wage bill, (as did Birmingham and Sheff Utd) and added the likes of Hunt and Tabb to try and keep the players to win promotion. Again the gamble failed. He was rescued by a firesale of the squad which paid off the massive wages these players had been paid to stay.

4- Finally, he went for Brendan Rodgers and gave him moderate funds in a final, last gamble with the remaining funds and was only rescued by Brian McDermott.

5- During all this SJM lost or gave up control over all his money in Station Hill - optional tale below in brackets
[ Unfortunately, SJM chose a bad moment to go into property in a big way. He has put some 20m into Station Hill, but more importantly banks have ploughed in some 80m. The security for this is no doubt SJM's personal assets (he is sole owner of Station Hill). I doubt he would use the club, but certainly all the cash he has available is probably at the mercy of the bank. Station Hill has already breached its banking deal and that 80m could be seized back at any time, although he is confident of a new investor and the bank would probably be silly to call in the debt before the development happens.]

6. Reading could choose to release most of their squad, or sell a major player or be sold to a rich sugar daddy. SJM decided to sell a player, and the club released hints about this over the last month.

7. SJM admits he does not need to own the club while he cannot fund it, and sells the shares to the supporters trust for £18.71.

Quite agree with 1 to 5 but not 6. If that was true why did Rasiak have to go, they would only have to wait a while and they could have kept a plan B striker. As a member of STAR I like 7 but maybe, also as a member of STAR, keep SJM to take the flak rather than fellow supporters

[Arch]

If JM's assets secure the Station Hill loans, it's unlikely he can give them away for anything less than market value if that.

[Victor Meldrew]

For the record I have been through our finances with a tooth comb and I believe everything the club have said is pointedly correct. (I'm an accountant )

To clarify the only accusations I would make over the recent disastrous finances would be against the likes of Stephen hunt and players agents - my view of the history is like this.

1 - Prior to promotion to the premierleague, Madejski funded the club with an increase in his loan of about 5m a season to cover the difference in what Reading paid their players and what we, the fans, will pay.

2 - In the premierleague Madejski decided to remunerate the team that finished 8th with a 50m wagebill to persuade them to stay, rather than spend this on new signings. The gamble failed and we finished 18th with some individuals not giving their all. He was rescued by the sales of Kitson and Shorey which paid of a small overdraft caused by the below budget (less sky money ) 18th finish.

3- Back in the championship under Coppell, Madejski took another gamble, most importantly to keep Coppell at the club. He maintained a ludicrously high near 30m wage bill, (as did Birmingham and Sheff Utd) and added the likes of Hunt and Tabb to try and keep the players to win promotion. Again the gamble failed. He was rescued by a firesale of the squad which paid off the massive wages these players had been paid to stay.

4- Finally, he went for Brendan Rodgers and gave him moderate funds in a final, last gamble with the remaining funds and was only rescued by Brian McDermott.

5- During all this SJM lost or gave up control over all his money in Station Hill - optional tale below in brackets
[ Unfortunately, SJM chose a bad moment to go into property in a big way. He has put some 20m into Station Hill, but more importantly banks have ploughed in some 80m. The security for this is no doubt SJM's personal assets (he is sole owner of Station Hill). I doubt he would use the club, but certainly all the cash he has available is probably at the mercy of the bank. Station Hill has already breached its banking deal and that 80m could be seized back at any time, although he is confident of a new investor and the bank would probably be silly to call in the debt before the development happens.]

6. Reading could choose to release most of their squad, or sell a major player or be sold to a rich sugar daddy. SJM decided to sell a player, and the club released hints about this over the last month.

7. SJM admits he does not need to own the club while he cannot fund it, and sells the shares to the supporters trust for £18.71.

You may have been through it all with a tooth comb but obviously not a fine tooth comb.
Yoru £50 million on wages was IIRC about £35 million-when you are already £15 million out I fear there is no point discussing the matter any further as you are clearly a creative accountant.

[Northern Git]

For the record I have been through our finances with a tooth comb and I believe everything the club have said is pointedly correct. (I'm an accountant )

To clarify the only accusations I would make over the recent disastrous finances would be against the likes of Stephen hunt and players agents - my view of the history is like this.

1 - Prior to promotion to the premierleague, Madejski funded the club with an increase in his loan of about 5m a season to cover the difference in what Reading paid their players and what we, the fans, will pay.

2 - In the premierleague Madejski decided to remunerate the team that finished 8th with a 50m wagebill to persuade them to stay, rather than spend this on new signings. The gamble failed and we finished 18th with some individuals not giving their all. He was rescued by the sales of Kitson and Shorey which paid of a small overdraft caused by the below budget (less sky money ) 18th finish.

3- Back in the championship under Coppell, Madejski took another gamble, most importantly to keep Coppell at the club. He maintained a ludicrously high near 30m wage bill, (as did Birmingham and Sheff Utd) and added the likes of Hunt and Tabb to try and keep the players to win promotion. Again the gamble failed. He was rescued by a firesale of the squad which paid off the massive wages these players had been paid to stay.

4- Finally, he went for Brendan Rodgers and gave him moderate funds in a final, last gamble with the remaining funds and was only rescued by Brian McDermott.

5- During all this SJM lost or gave up control over all his money in Station Hill - optional tale below in brackets
[ Unfortunately, SJM chose a bad moment to go into property in a big way. He has put some 20m into Station Hill, but more importantly banks have ploughed in some 80m. The security for this is no doubt SJM's personal assets (he is sole owner of Station Hill). I doubt he would use the club, but certainly all the cash he has available is probably at the mercy of the bank. Station Hill has already breached its banking deal and that 80m could be seized back at any time, although he is confident of a new investor and the bank would probably be silly to call in the debt before the development happens.]

6. Reading could choose to release most of their squad, or sell a major player or be sold to a rich sugar daddy. SJM decided to sell a player, and the club released hints about this over the last month.

7. SJM admits he does not need to own the club while he cannot fund it, and sells the shares to the supporters trust for £18.71.

Perhaps you would like to to point us in the direction of where in the accounts there is anything to back up what you have posted.

[phil in cornwall]

Dreams of other locals Ricky Gervais/ Kate Winslet and Mr Bean will sadly not happen.

Sadly?

[Z175]

admittedly, the figures are from memory rather than actual numbers. I will update with exact figures when I can be bothered. perhaps it was more like 38m. okay a difference but its a fact we were relegated with an ambitious wagebill.

the nature of the argument was more the point that millions have been spent and no longer exist. if you buy a copy of the accounts for station hill / rfc u will have the evidence .pm me ur email if you would like a copy.

I dont think fans could criticise star too much if there was a transparent system- currently people whinge but can't be bothered to help out- running the club would focus minds! its an amusing point though!

[Hoop Blah]

Relegated with an ambitious wage bill?

Whilst in the Premier League we made a profit in both seasons and were in the bottom 5 or so payers for wages. I think the balance was about right, bar the policy of having too many weak squad players instead of bringing in one or two improvements to starting eleven.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

I have it on good authority that RFC finances are to be added to the list of this site soon, http://www.football-finances.org.uk/

OK in that £38m wage bill does it say who earned what??? Without a breakdown of where it went snd to whom, we have no idea if some money was spent, £38mill is a lot of money, we had a cpl of players on 25k a week, many others were on a lot less, wasnt De La Cruz on £12k a week, and he had lots of experience. Coppell was on £1m, love to see a real break down of salaries, even if ppl are not named.

I also recall that there were no provisions for Directors tasking money, in which case any money they are paid must be in the wages part, and there was solid talk of Nigel Howe getting a £1million bonus when we got promoted.

[Schards#2]

I have it on good authority that RFC finances are to be added to the list of this site soon, http://www.football-finances.org.uk/

OK in that £38m wage bill does it say who earned what??? Without a breakdown of where it went snd to whom, we have no idea if some money was spent, £38mill is a lot of money, we had a cpl of players on 25k a week, many others were on a lot less, wasnt De La Cruz on £12k a week, and he had lots of experience. Coppell was on £1m, love to see a real break down of salaries, even if ppl are not named.

I also recall that there were no provisions for Directors tasking money, in which case any money they are paid must be in the wages part, and there was solid talk of Nigel Howe getting a £1million bonus when we got promoted.

Whenever there is some analysis of the accounts, there is always some ambiguity over which transfer receipts they include, whether they reflect the latest parachute payment and whether they involve the hotel.

I doubt we will ever see it but it would be interesting to see total incomings and outgoings from promotion to receipt of the last parachute payment due. Then it may be possible for the lay person to make an assessment of whether money has been redirected from the club.

[brendywendy]

dont think there was any ambiguity in the last two sets of accounts to be fair

[Hoop Blah]

That would be the same situation with all the reported wage bills though, so you should be comparing apples with apples across the industry. I can't imagine the likes of Howe and Hammond are on a disproportionate salary when compared to those in similar roles elsewhere.

As for the football finances site, don't they just take the latest account available? So it won't be anything that isn't already out there in the public domain anyway, just another person's view on what the books show.

[Schards#2]

dont think there was any ambiguity in the last two sets of accounts to be fair

So can you confirm how much and when we actually received the parachute payments as I can't glean this from the accounts.

[ZacNaloen]

Is it normal for accounts, or at least the ones made public, to show that sort of information?

Is it even relevant?

[brendywendy]

the accounts for the year that we recieved our last parachute arent out yet are they?


thats the only ambiguity- the 1 year lag in account pubication
but thats teh same in any business innit?

[Schards#2]

the accounts for the year that we recieved our last parachute arent out yet are they?


thats the only ambiguity- the 1 year lag in account pubication
but thats teh same in any business innit?

You tell me, I don't know, hence asking the question.

[brendywendy]

you run a business.thats why i asked you