Thames Sports Investment

[Barry the bird boggler]

Chronic says to expect a "hands on" Anton

READING chairman Sir John Madejski thinks Anton Zingarevich will demand more input into team affairs than he ever did.

Madejski is poised to hand over majority control of the club to the 29-year-old Russian tycoon who is close to completing a £25 million deal for a 51 per cent stake through his Thames Sports Investment company.

Madejski admits he has rarely been involved with matters on the pitch during his 21-year reign and only enters the sanctum of the dressing room to wish the team luck before kick-off.

But the 70-year-old expects football-loving Zingarevich will want to be regularly informed about first-team developments by manager Brian McDermott.

Speaking exclusively to the Chronicle, Madejski said: "Anton is a walking encyclopaedia of football. It's not going to be quite the same in the future because he will want to know what's going on in terms of the playing squad far more than I would have done.

"But that's fine, as long as he gets on well with the manager."

Madejski has nothing but admiration for McDermott and the job he has performed during his two years at the helm.

And he was so eager for Zingarevich to share the same level of respect he set up a meeting between the two in Milan only days before the proposed TSI takeover was announced.

The pair warmed to each other immediately and stayed up until the early hours talking football and discussing the future for Reading FC.

Zingarevich proved the trust he has in McDermott by rewarding the 50-year-old with a new three-and-a-half year contract last week, ending speculation linking the Reading boss with a move to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Madejski continued: "For me, the most important person at this club Anton got on with was the manager.

"That is why I took Brian to Milan to meet him. I just wanted Anton to know who the manager was at Reading Football Club and that we didn't want anything to change. I wanted to make sure that was indelible.

"They like the way our machine works, they like the ethos and they don't want to change anything."

As exclusively revealed in the Chronicle two weeks ago, Wolves saw McDermott as a potential candidate to take over from Mick McCarthy at Molineux. But Madejski never feared losing his manager in the same way he lost Alan Pardew to West Ham United in 2003.

"I always knew it would be a positive outcome," Madejski beamed. "I know my manager. With his strong ties to Reading I knew he wouldn't be going anywhere. We've got new owners coming in and a new contract is an opportunity for him to be paid what he's worth, or certainly more than he was being paid.

"To be fair, Anton had already promised to improve Brian's contract so the talk of Wolves really was no big deal. It certainly wasn't because of the impact of Wolves."

Reading will be bidding for a sixth consecutive league victory and clean sheet when they travel to Millwall this Saturday (3pm ko).

[ZacNaloen]

The headline and content of the article don't really jive.


But it is the Chronic.

[Pepe the Horseman]

[Terminal Boardom]

re: those concerned the tsi deal was in the balance

http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/NewsDet ... 41,00.html

Chris confirmed that future funds will be in place to strengthen the squad, and the first draft of the contract for their investment into the club was presented to all parties this week.

Believe it or not, when it comes to matters of this nature the club is fortunate to have someone of the calibre of SJM. Never in doubt in my opinion.

[philM]

The headline and content of the article don't really jive.


But it is the Chronic.

Jive?

[ZacNaloen]

yeh

[philM]

yeh

It could be a typo, I'm not trying to make you an escaped goat

[ZacNaloen]

[No Hoops]

Ok, first draught of contracts was 3 weeks ago and we have 3 weeks to go before the self imposed deadline for completion.

Something must be happening soon one would hope. Fingers crossed.

[Cobi]

There's no rush, No Hoops. When you look at some of these corrupt buyers that have got their hands on Pompey and others, it's hard to see how this would fail to go through.

TSI must be creaming themselves. The papers leak their takeover of the club, TSI provide money for new signings and we win 7 in a row not long after.

[Fox Talbot]

There's no rush, No Hoops. When you look at some of these corrupt buyers that have got their hands on Pompey and others, it's hard to see how this would fail to go through.

TSI must be creaming themselves. The papers leak their takeover of the club, TSI provide money for new signings and we win 7 in a row not long after.

I wonder if Mr Mad put a clause in saying 'price dependent on league position at date of signing final deal'. Be kicking himself if he didn't!

[Mr Optimist]

The only problem with that scenario would be TSI investing their money in the January transfer window to strengthen the team so that they drive the price they then pay for the club up!

[Turns8]

There will be no more news until it's all signed off....it's the Reading FC way of doing business...the fact that the TSI takeover was leaked, will make those involved even more shrewd about divulging further info until it's all done and dusted...

AZ has done his PR bit by turning up to the Burnley game, to prove he is real...what's to be worried about? Wouldn't be surprised if there has been a 'the team needs to concentrate and focus on the on-field business' statement filtered around the club...as in recent weeks all the focus appears to be centred around results on the pitch...

[Ian Royal]

Hard not to focus on the pitch when the last seven games read:

P7 . W7 . F10 . A1

[Snowball]

But we conceded.... McDermott OUT!

[RoyalBlue]

There's no rush, No Hoops. When you look at some of these corrupt buyers that have got their hands on Pompey and others, it's hard to see how this would fail to go through.

TSI must be creaming themselves. The papers leak their takeover of the club, TSI provide money for new signings and we win 7 in a row not long after.

I wonder if Mr Mad put a clause in saying 'price dependent on league position at date of signing final deal'. Be kicking himself if he didn't!

But by the same token no buyer would be stupid enough to proceed on that basis. The only thing in relation to league position that would really support a change in price would be a definate change in division, one way or the other!

[Tamworth_Royal]

Anybody who watched the “Football league show” tonight might have concerns with Madejski's body language.
He looked drawn, stating “deal isn’t done till it’s done”, gone was the beaming smile of a few weeks ago, the bloke looked pee’d off considering 7 on the trot before the interview he wasn’t happy.

Entering the second week of March and still no done deal.

Has or is it all going titties up? (Or in Royal Lady’s case down!, only joking RL x )
Anyone else notice ?

[FiNeRaIn]

Complete paranoia

I didn't get that impression at all, quite the opposite.

[Tamworth_Royal]

Complete paranoia

I didn't get that impression at all, quite the opposite.

Watch it again Finerain, I quote (Madejski) " All things going forward it should go through BUT your never sure till the deal is done and it's not done as I speak"

Is that confident done deal talk ???? and it's hardly paranoia, sounds huge doubt to me.

Two weeks into the month when the deal should of been done so what's the delay ?

[Friday's Legacy]

Anybody who watched the “Football league show” tonight might have concerns with Madejski's body language.
He looked drawn, stating “deal isn’t done till it’s done”, gone was the beaming smile of a few weeks ago, the bloke looked pee’d off considering 7 on the trot before the interview he wasn’t happy.

Entering the second week of March and still no done deal.

Has or is it all going titties up? (Or in Royal Lady’s case down!, only joking RL x )
Anyone else notice ?

you read far too much into things. he's been quoted a lot recently in saying the same thing, but that's just his usual careful approach. it's still possibly anton wont pass the fit and proper test, but come on, if the likes of portsmouth's many owners can, anton will. it's all going through fine. i'm sure well hear in the next few weeks that's it's done and dusted. certainly by the end of april if not sooner.

zingarevich was in attendance again today as well.