Madejski's comments to BBC Radio Berkshire

[West Stand Man]

I think if clubs think Player X or Y is worth £150K a week, fine - but I hope they won't feel agrieved when I don't put any money in the bucket when their sugar daddy pulls the rug financially, and they are left destitute.

It is clear to me that there is a polarisation of thinking amongst Reading fans at this time, a polarisation created by the last 2 Years; generally the 2 camps are:

1, Spend whatever you need to do in order to achieve as much as possible and hang the potential consequences and

2, Spend what we can reasonably afford to achieve as much as we can.

I would rather support Reading in the Championship then have the future of the club put on the line by profligate and unsupportable expenditure in attempting to compete against Chelsea or Man Utd.

And this is the main point of this discussion, and one that has sadly been lacking in amongst all the peurile name calling - where does the club want to be in the future, and what will it do to achieve that goal.

It seemed to me that previously we had but one goal - get into the Premiership; once that was achieved there was little in the way of strategic thinking or planning as to how to achieve the next goal, simply because we didn't appear to have a next goal other than survival in the premiership. What the club needs to do, for its fans, its players and its staff is set out a clear set of goals for the future and then plan to achieve those goals.

Mr Mad likes to say that he wants to run RFC as a business - well, do so then.

Mr Angry being the calm voice of common sense - ! I can't fault a word of that post. A touch of calculated realism is needed, and we all need to know what the real aspirations are. I too would rather watch CCC football than see the club disappear. That, inevitably, means the odd yoyo sojourn back to the PL (since I also rather hope we'll win the CCC once in a while), but I am not happy to consider the club being so financially at risk that we lose it at some stage.

On a vaguely related note, I see that Man City have gone to the bank for a £30M loan on the back of future TV payments.Can you foresee the furore when that £30M is delivered by Sky/Setanta and fans expect to see it being spent again rather than used to 'pay off a loan'. Sounds a tad familiar.

[RoyalBlue]

he has done great for Reading Football Club. but the sooner he leaves the better!

If he goes the club dies

No it doesn't. It may change (for better or worse) but it will never die.

Football clubs are probably unique in that no matter how many seemingly mortal wounds they receive, they rarely die. Even those that do are usually reincarnated.

I am confident that no matter what happens, Reading FC will still be around long after the name Madejski has faded back into relative obscurity.

[Royal With Cheese]

I think if clubs think Player X or Y is worth £150K a week, fine - but I hope they won't feel agrieved when I don't put any money in the bucket when their sugar daddy pulls the rug financially, and they are left destitute.

It is clear to me that there is a polarisation of thinking amongst Reading fans at this time, a polarisation created by the last 2 Years; generally the 2 camps are:

1, Spend whatever you need to do in order to achieve as much as possible and hang the potential consequences and

2, Spend what we can reasonably afford to achieve as much as we can.

I would rather support Reading in the Championship then have the future of the club put on the line by profligate and unsupportable expenditure in attempting to compete against Chelsea or Man Utd.

And this is the main point of this discussion, and one that has sadly been lacking in amongst all the peurile name calling - where does the club want to be in the future, and what will it do to achieve that goal.

It seemed to me that previously we had but one goal - get into the Premiership; once that was achieved there was little in the way of strategic thinking or planning as to how to achieve the next goal, simply because we didn't appear to have a next goal other than survival in the premiership. What the club needs to do, for its fans, its players and its staff is set out a clear set of goals for the future and then plan to achieve those goals.

Mr Mad likes to say that he wants to run RFC as a business - well, do so then.

I really can't argue with what you've posted Mr Angry. However, the goals of the football club are not necessarily the goals of JM. To be honest, I would be happy with a long term goal of premiership survival. I don't think we have the finances to support anything else. Cup runs would be a bonus.

I looked at all the arguements on both sides over the last couple of days and have concluded that what Mr Mad says and what he does are two entirely different things. They serve his purposes first and RFC's second. I'm still not sure that's entirely a good thing. It's definately had a positivie effect on the club since he became Chairman and major shareholder.

[rfc58]

Haven't read most of the thread, well certainly not from pages 10 onwards, but I have questions that the budding businessmen on here might be able to answer.

Question 1 - If we are so skint, why doesn't he sell the name of the stadium to generate extra revenue ??

Question 2 - IF, and I mean if we flog Doyle, can someone please explain to a thicko how this policy is good business. I cannot see the benefit of selling your assets.

OK, if they flog Kitson, Doyle, Shoey and rake in say 12million, or whatever they get, short term the benefits are obvious, cash available for debts etc, but how many businesses have been successful when you sell off all your prized assets, restricting the opportunity to once again be successful, I should imagine if we are still a CCC club in say 3 years, we won't be enjoying 19,000 crowds week in/week out, so the revenue generated etc will be severely dented.

Without expecting us to bid/buy Ronaldo, surely investing in the playing side wisely will enhance our chances of success, and success brings in cash.

The long term future of the club is/was looking rosy, as all the future punters (the kids) had (sort of) stopped being Man U/Chelsea/Arsenal and started to wear our shirt, and if they get the bug, they are the paying public of tomorrow.

[BR2]

Just a few comments on what has already been said.
Even the most loyal of Royals are backing the chairman mainly on what he has done in the past (quite rightly) but they are now questioning things-the absolute belief has disappeared.
The same goes for our manager-whereas most of what he did and said in the record-breaking year and in our first Premiership year were unquestioned but within the past year there are so many mixed messages that we have lost that belief.

That is where I think we are at the moment-the fans no longer trust the chairman,the manager or indeed anybody at the club to tell the absolute truth.
As Vision has said on a number of occasions he would prefer us to have a consolodation period in The Championship with our youngsters given every chance to prove themselves-if we had been told that pre-season by the club it would have been hard to accept but at least honest.
Oldies like me haven't got another 40 years or so that a lot of you hopefully have of watching RFC to come and feel that a greater effort should have been made to keep us in The Premiership and the expansion of the stadium should have started midway through the promotion season in the knowledge that the cost would have been covered by a two year stay in The Premiership and the facility would be there forever.

As Angry and others have said here and some of us in the Squad topic-what is the short,medium and long-term aim of our club?
Ialso would have preferred the long struggle for survival in The Premiership with the occasional cup run and watching some of the best players in the world rather than cheap victories against sides like Plymouth which really gave me no great pleasure other than seeing a winger for the first time in 20 years or so running at a defender.

The chairman and staff have (for the moment)lost the faith and loyalty built up over many years because trust can take a long time to build but a very short time to lose.
Time for a rallying call from the club I reckon plus the announcement of a signing or two like Ben Watson or Andy Surman to show that we are making a serious challenge this season and not just allowing our club to be asset-stripped for what eventual gain?

[Royal Rother]

When assessing staffing issues one of the most commonly used and accurate adages in business is that no-one is irreplaceable.

Although they have an asset value, players are, first and foremost, staff.

Loyalty being a pretty fanciful myth in football, if the amount of money offered for that asset is, given current circumstances, more than it is worth to us then we sell it.

At the time we were offered £5-6m for Hunt last year, the club decided he was worth more than that to us, so we didn't sell.

If we are offered £8m to Doyle, I would rather expect us to sell him and find a replacement like Mooney. Damned good business really.

[Royal Rother]

Time for a rallying call from the club I reckon plus the announcement of a signing or two like Ben Watson or Andy Surman to show that we are making a serious challenge this season and not just allowing our club to be asset-stripped for what eventual gain?

Asset Stripping
The process of buying an undervalued company with the intent to sell off its assets for a profit. The individual assets of the company, such as its equipment and property, may be more valuable than the company as a whole due to such factors as poor management or poor economic conditions.

[Geekins]

They're talking about it on the BBC Sport blogs now:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher ... tml#035131

Thanks for that S'star, good read.

[The 17 Bus]

Personally I would like JM to stay at RFC, I do not believe we need a billionaire chairman to keep a Premier League Club going, we did ok, we messed up second season, but I believe we can establish RFC in the prem with similar strategies to what we used last time

[kwik-silva]

They're talking about it on the BBC Sport blogs now:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher ... tml#035131

Thanks for that S'star, good read.

Yeah thanks, it was a nice article, until I got to the bottom and read this:

Looking at the bigger picture can it really be right that a footballer in the second tier of the English game earns so much for playing football when so many other people in unquestionably important professions, people who save lives, or educate children or serve the public in so many other ways, earn a pittance in comparison?

Why does he regulate that to the second tier? Why not the player in the top division...

[BR2]

Time for a rallying call from the club I reckon plus the announcement of a signing or two like Ben Watson or Andy Surman to show that we are making a serious challenge this season and not just allowing our club to be asset-stripped for what eventual gain?

Asset Stripping
The process of buying an undervalued company with the intent to sell off its assets for a profit. The individual assets of the company, such as its equipment and property, may be more valuable than the company as a whole due to such factors as poor management or poor economic conditions.

In the context of football clubs at the higher levels the major assets are the players(more so than the stadium or equipment) and asset stripping is taking those players (at a price)thereby reducing the efficiency of the organisation (best workers gone).
I accept your definition of asset stripping in the real world and in business and should have used a different expression such as "buying the best players".
Regrettably we all know that if you continue to sell your best players it becomes the road to nowhere such as has occurred with the likes of Southampton,Leicester,Norwich,Ipswich,Coventry who have always sold their prize assets and have struggled for years to replace them.

[Dirk Gently]

Haven't got time to post too much right now, but can I say that - categorically and unequivocally - JM has not taken any money out of the football club over recent years, including in the form of loan repayments.

Also, the football side of the club continues to operate as a PL-setup. This includes the training ground facilities, use of ProZone, etc.

[brendywendy]

its not asset stripping to sell your best players when their price offered is above what they are really worth-buying cheap and selling expensive isnt asset stripping, its great business

[Dirk Gently]

Time for a rallying call from the club I reckon plus the announcement of a signing or two like Ben Watson or Andy Surman to show that we are making a serious challenge this season and not just allowing our club to be asset-stripped for what eventual gain?

Asset Stripping
The process of buying an undervalued company with the intent to sell off its assets for a profit. The individual assets of the company, such as its equipment and property, may be more valuable than the company as a whole due to such factors as poor management or poor economic conditions.

In the context of football clubs at the higher levels the major assets are the players(more so than the stadium or equipment) and asset stripping is taking those players (at a price)thereby reducing the efficiency of the organisation (best workers gone).
I accept your definition of asset stripping in the real world and in business and should have used a different expression such as "buying the best players".
Regrettably we all know that if you continue to sell your best players it becomes the road to nowhere such as has occurred with the likes of Southampton,Leicester,Norwich,Ipswich,Coventry who have always sold their prize assets and have struggled for years to replace them.

I'd argue with that in our case - the value of such a large area of land right next to the motorway is potentially very substantial. Whereas players have a book-life of 3 - 4 years as assets, land is much more valuable.

[RoyalBlue]

Haven't got time to post too much right now, but can I say that - categorically and unequivocally - JM has not taken any money out of the football club over recent years, including in the form of loan repayments.

Also, the football side of the club continues to operate as a PL-setup. This includes the training ground facilities, use of ProZone, etc.

I would suggest that only John Madejski and his accountants can really make such a categoric & unequivocal statement. Are you either of those?!

Smart accountants are much like accomplished magicians/illusionists. They can make you see/believe what they want you to do (and all within the law of the land).

its not asset stripping to sell your best players when their price offered is above what they are really worth-buying cheap and selling expensive isnt asset stripping, its great business

When you then don't replace them with players of a similar quality then you are asset stripping. And that is not great business for a football club that claims to want to make a quick return to the PL.

[Geekins]

Thanks for the information about the prozone Dirk. When Wolves came down, they got rid of that straight away to save money. Let's hope we still invest in the squad though.

[brendywendy]

Haven't got time to post too much right now, but can I say that - categorically and unequivocally - JM has not taken any money out of the football club over recent years, including in the form of loan repayments.

Also, the football side of the club continues to operate as a PL-setup. This includes the training ground facilities, use of ProZone, etc.

I would suggest that only John Madejski and his accountants can really make such a categoric & unequivocal statement. Are you either of those?!

Smart accountants are much like accomplished magicians/illusionists. They can make you see/believe what they want you to do (and all within the law of the land).

its not asset stripping to sell your best players when their price offered is above what they are really worth-buying cheap and selling expensive isnt asset stripping, its great business

When you then don't replace them with players of a similar quality then you are asset stripping. And that is not great business for a football club that claims to want to make a quick return to the PL.

do you mean replace them with palyers of the quality equal to that of the sold players were when we bought them, or when we sold them?
the 1st is achievable, and realistic
the second is unnachieveable and not the model which we work to anyway
if we can find some more shoreys, kitsons, doyles, littles, hunts, sonkos, etc etc at low prices, make them into very good players, then sell at a profit, ill be happy

[clauski]

Without reading every page of this thread or seeing any accounts I take from this:

- Surprise that we would only have made £6m profit across the course of last year. £30m+ of TV income plus gates, advertising and corporate revenue is a lot of money. Even with high wages, a bigger background staff and a few stadium repairs I'm not sure what other running costs could add up to this?

- Wonder as to whether we simply misinvested money last year. The capital the club does have being spent on training grounds, press centres and the like that were perhaps not as urgent as may have been thought and offer little financial return. Maybe it would have been a better business decision to invest £5-£10m on the playing side in order to create a team that would keep us in the Premier League and hence bring added turnover of £22m per year from TV alone compated to relegation? Then we would have had the money for other investments.

- Puzzlement as to where we are now and what the current mission statement, goals and objectives of the football club are. I don't think it's clear to anyone including players, fans or even prospective signings. Yes we may be good enough to go back up but we don't appear to be actively chasing it. And what is the plan then?

- Question as to whether it is not only players who are obsecenely overpaid but also Directors of Football? (Not just at this club but anywhere - I'm not sure what value they have added?)

[brendywendy]

6 million in profit was in the 1st year when the TV money was less, but we got more for finishing 8th
2nd year books aint out yet, but id assume wed get more TV money, and less prize money

but while our income increased-our wage bill also doubled from around 15 million to 30 million in that 1st year i think,plus all the players we bought, so its not hard to see where the money goes

i would estimate that we made around 10M last year-but it could be less, or more
i dont know, the books arent out

[Man Friday]

its not asset stripping to sell your best players when their price offered is above what they are really worth-buying cheap and selling expensive isnt asset stripping, its great business

Who for? JM? He's obtained a lot of positive publicity from his association with RFC. I do hope that he's not intending to collect back everything he's "loaned" to the club. That would be improper in the circumstances.