Thames Sports Investment

[soggy biscuit]

Did you notice he said, "The owner, Anton."

Probably just wanted to make sure no one thought he meant Anton Ferdinand because he has been in the news quite a bit recently

[Man Friday]

Gave £40M?

As you say 51% for £25M so more to come. Plus the level of fame he got, honours etc. do not come cheap. Have you seen how much it costs to buy airtime on Sky and National TV?

And the value of the hotel? What's more that hotel probably would not have ended up in that location and at that cost but for the deal the council did for the ground it stands on, on the basis that it was going to be used by the football club.

And I think you will find the correct spelling is 'paid'.

Still I'm happy with the fact that we now have new investors, so won't moan too much, albeit that it concerns me that ownership of the hotel is not part of the deal.

Mind you, I guess if the owner(s) of the hotel was ever to cause problems for the football club, a few thousand football supporters could do a great deal to deter customers!

How much interest could he have earned on £40m? How much quicker would he have got his peerage and recognition by putting that money into high profile charities etc?

The ingratitude of some of the cnuts on here astounds me. SJM wasn't justing giving us free money and being 100% altruistic when he saved our arses and handed us the best times the club has ever seeen?

Boo fcuking hoo.

I'm unimpressed. Someone has managed to outdo Kes's "RattLOLed" on the poor comeback stakes.

[Ian Royal]

I'm surprised you can spell "unimpressed" with the quality of thought you seem capable of.

[Uke]

Did you notice he said, "The owner, Anton."

I noticed he said "Anton, the owner"

[Royal Rother]

Gave £40M?

As you say 51% for £25M so more to come. Plus the level of fame he got, honours etc. do not come cheap. Have you seen how much it costs to buy airtime on Sky and National TV?

And the value of the hotel? What's more that hotel probably would not have ended up in that location and at that cost but for the deal the council did for the ground it stands on, on the basis that it was going to be used by the football club.

And I think you will find the correct spelling is 'paid'.

Still I'm happy with the fact that we now have new investors, so won't moan too much, albeit that it concerns me that ownership of the hotel is not part of the deal.

Mind you, I guess if the owner(s) of the hotel was ever to cause problems for the football club, a few thousand football supporters could do a great deal to deter customers!

How much interest could he have earned on £40m? How much quicker would he have got his peerage and recognition by putting that money into high profile charities etc?

The ingratitude of some of the cnuts on here astounds me. SJM wasn't justing giving us free money and being 100% altruistic when he saved our arses and handed us the best times the club has ever seeen?

Boo fcuking hoo.

I'm unimpressed. Someone has managed to outdo Kes's "RattLOLed" on the poor comeback stakes.

Your post is totally unrelated to the 2 that preceded it.

In reality IR highlighted RB's stupidity then ground him into the dirt.

[Red]

[Dare to Dr£am]

Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

[Vision]

As I said on another thread it seems a Burnley fan has as much of a handle on how I feel about Madejski as anyone on here

As much as he can seem like a complete, self centered c*ck on many occasions, Madejski has been an absolutely phenomenal chairman for them. He really, really has.

Probably overstating the case slightly on both points but I couldn't argue with the jist of it.

[melonhead]

...and Sir John hasn't got anything from his association with Reading Football Club? I would contend that he's got his return many times over.

how has he gothis return many times over?
he gave the club 40 million, he sold half of it for 25........


or are you valuing his "fame" at 25 million quid?


either way, you goty what you payed for, he got what he payed for.
not sure what your problem is

Gave £40M?

As you say 51% for £25M so more to come. Plus the level of fame he got, honours etc. do not come cheap. Have you seen how much it costs to buy airtime on Sky and National TV?

And the value of the hotel? What's more that hotel probably would not have ended up in that location and at that cost but for the deal the council did for the ground it stands on, on the basis that it was going to be used by the football club.

And I think you will find the correct spelling is 'paid'.

Still I'm happy with the fact that we now have new investors, so won't moan too much, albeit that it concerns me that ownership of the hotel is not part of the deal.

Mind you, I guess if the owner(s) of the hotel was ever to cause problems for the football club, a few thousand football supporters could do a great deal to deter customers!

lol at your arguments being so moribund that you need to correct my spelling

lol at honours and "fame" being worth 25 million

& lol at you in general.


hes spent "40 million", and will recieve 50 million and a hotel in return-good luck to the man
even if it was only 20 million on the stadium, he also spent years covering our losses- which were up to about 6 million a year before we went up.
- so whatever profit he takes is probably about fair for working 20 years without pay while building this club from nothing, to possibly on the verge of greatness.

[melonhead]

Have you conveniently forgotten all the philanthropic soundbites that he came out with in the early days? The numerous mentions of just how much money it was costing him and how he didn't expect to see it back? Talks of gifts? Or do you just not have a memory?

I bet you still hold to the belief that he really didn't want to have the stadium named after him and argued for some time with the person who did supposedly come up with the idea!

This may have been a symbiotic relationship and may continue to be so. However, to suggest there was never any consideration of personal advancement is, in my mind, just dumb. Incidentally, just for completeness, I believe there were other people expressing interest in the club at the time Madejski came in. Maybe he was by far the best on offer but that doesn't mean only he would have saved the club.

I would suggest that even this latest turn, despite being good for the club, also holds benefits for the chairman. I do thank him for taking this step but I will still not break out into applause on demand next time he does the parade.

it did cost him at the time- 5-6 million a year- i dont know how easy you think it is for a business man to just lose that much money every year, but i am quite happy that he now sees a return on it.

the only Gift i ever remember him talking about was leroy lita- and i actually doubt he meant it as in 1 million quid he never expected back. what kind of nutjob gives 1 million quid away?

will you be as anti when Anton sells up for a big profit?

as for the name of the stadium- the people involved all tell it that way- and im happy to go along with that rather than the deranged mind guesses of some rabidly bitter HNA poster.

who on here has ever suggested he did any of this without a thought about personal advancement or profit?
there is no need to make arguments up you know

the bloke deserves all the applause he gets.

[Wimb]

When Madejski took over the club we were a mid-table third tier side with average gates of under 5,000 in stadium that was over 90 years old and who just years before had been on the verge of merging with Oxford.

Now we've not finished outside the top 30 in the country for 10 years and play in a 24,000 all seater stadium where some fans moan that we 'only' get 16,000+ a week.

How many other clubs in a similar position 20 years ago can say they've made the same progress? Bolton, Fulham and Wigan are about the only two that spring to mind and over 20 years they've hardly had THAT much more glory have they.

Three promotions, three play-off finals, four cup quarter-finals, England internationals playing for our club, Reading players appearing in World Cups, finishing 8th in the Premier League and just 2 relegations in over 20 years and still some fans moan.... pathetic really.

[Svlad Cjelli]

Indeed, but the vast majority of the investment there was in infrastructure - stadium, training ground, etc. And that's actual "investment "- where there is a return because the actual value of the club and its tangible assets has increased.

From that point on, there's not really any return on "investment" possible - from now on any money that's put into the club is really just "spent" - not "invested".

SJM is astute enough to have spotted that the only way to make money is to take a small club and turn it into a medium sized one, then sell it. Turning a medium sized club into a big club is a completely different financial proposition altogether - and also a mug's game. I can't imagine why anyone would want to try this or could possible argue that they could make money out of it.

[Pepe the Horseman]

they're

[ZacNaloen]

There's plenty of room for improvement in this club with regards to increasing revenue, worth and assets.

Things that will increase the sale value of the club in order of value

A) Stable Premier League Club
B) 38,000 Seater stadium
C) A Better Class of Academy

even if they don't achieve C you are probably in for a return on your 40 million even if you spend 50 million of his own money getting there, in the playing squad or on the stadium because the club will be worth more than 90 million.

It won't be easy, but I suspect this is his business plan.

The only struggle will be finding someone who wants to spend that sort money, but who knows what the economic situation will be then.

[ZacNaloen]

they're

Err...

[FiNeRaIn]

lmfao. wow.

[Dare to Dr£am]

they're

L L

[Maguire]

they're

I almost did this earlier but thought people might not "get" it

[M0J0]

they're

Bit cold on that riverbank is it not?

[Royal Rother]

There's plenty of room for improvement in this club with regards to increasing revenue, worth and assets.

Things that will increase the sale value of the club in order of value

A) Stable Premier League Club
B) 38,000 Seater stadium
C) A Better Class of Academy

even if they don't achieve C you are probably in for a return on your 40 million even if you spend 50 million of his own money getting there, in the playing squad or on the stadium because the club will be worth more than 90 million.

It won't be easy, but I suspect this is his business plan.

The only struggle will be finding someone who wants to spend that sort money, but who knows what the economic situation will be then.

Probably been said before somewhere in the 90 pages but if, as some suggest, SJM only ever did it for the publicity maybe that's what floats AZ's boat...?

Maybe he wants to own a PL club as it's a sure fire way to raise his profile overe here, but most are riddled with debt and would still be too expensive / risky.

So he gets his advisors to look at the Championship and what do they find?

A good number of poorly run debt ridden clubs and perhaps the odd one or 2 with well established management in all areas, little debt and a good, consistent record in the last few years where the desired culture of financial prudence and long-term strategy is already well established so nothing much would need changing. (And yes, RFC is one of those rare clubs...) Then he looks further and sees that RFC has a (relatively) new 25,000 stadium, with the structure and planning permission in place to expand to 38,000, and has a Chairman with integrity who has long-announced his desire to hand over the reins...

And bugger me if he hasn't already got a connection with Reading...

A perfect fit.