Confimred new owners of Raeding Footbal Club

[SPARTA]

So, as many suspected, despite having left the board, it looks very much like Samuelson is still heavily involved in the sale.

Yet still the gullible hang onto and swallow every word that they are fed by club & chairman without opening their eyes and questioning what the sub text might be.

Samuelson is also being linked to the consortium wanting to buy us.. great.

[multisync1830]

So, as many suspected, despite having left the board, it looks very much like Samuelson is still heavily involved in the sale.

Yet still the gullible hang onto and swallow every word that they are fed by club & chairman without opening their eyes and questioning what the sub text might be.

He was brought in to broker a deal , that is what he does, it makes sense he's still around in an advisory manner especially as Boris needs a representative local to the action.

[PieEater]

"When Reading were promoted it had to rely on the resources it had," he said.
"It did not get any extra investment from Anton Zingarevich which it expected. The only way to bolster the team was to borrow money. Loans were arranged and secured on Premier League payments.
"The hope was Anton would be able to arrange additional finance, which he said he would do, the club had hoped to expected to move on some players which did not happen. Underneath the top tier of players the market was very dead last summer.

So why did we make better signings when we were relegated (Drenthe, Bridge, Williams) than we made in the Prem?

[multisync1830]

Anton Zingarevich 'saddened' by Reading plight

Former Reading majority shareholder Anton Zingarevich is "saddened" by the Championship club's situation, but a takeover is close, according to departing director Chris Samuelson.
Zingarevich bought 51% of Reading in May 2012 and had been due to complete a full takeover in October last year.
However, the Russian pulled out of the deal and the club have been looking for new investment ever since.
"Anton is very disappointed," Samuelson told BBC Radio Berkshire.
"He is still a big supporter of Reading Football Club. However, circumstances change, but he still feels a great warmth and is sad he did not deliver and let the stakeholders down."
Samuelson, whose exit from the board was announced this week, confirmed the club were around £20m in debt and any new owner should expect to make an initial £50m investment.
However, after receiving several firm offers, he said the club's lenders, who were now brokering a deal for Reading, were close to finalising terms.
"Sir John (Madejski - Reading chairman) has handed power over the lender," added Samuelson. "I hope the lender realises that the value of this club is little more than the deficit today when you consider all the parameters.
“
The hope was Anton would be able to arrange additions finance, which he said he would do, the club had hoped to expected to move on some players which did not happen
”
Chris Samuelson
"I'm aware of one party who are producing proof of funds as we speak. They have submitted an offer with a timescale of it to be done very fast.
"They are an investment company and have substantially deep pockets. They have offered to clear the debt, buy the hotel and invest in the team so they can challenge for promotion and invest in Bearwood (new training ground and academy). They are serious contenders."
Samuelson also confirmed the interest of Indian businessman Mohit Burman, who is part-owner of IPL cricket team Kings XI Punjab, adding: "Whether they realise the extent of money needed to invest in Reading FC, I am not sure."
Since Zingarevich became involved with the club in January 2012, Reading have been promoted to the Premier League and relegated back to the Championship.
Promotion to the top flight in 2012 earned the Royals an estimated £90m, with half of that money coming from television-related revenue, but they missed out on an immediate return to the Premier League this season.
Samuelson said their debt was "generated by the residue of being in the Premier League", and also revealed why Zingarevich had withdrawn his interest in the club.
"When Reading were promoted it had to rely on the resources it had," he said.
"It did not get any extra investment from Anton Zingarevich which it expected. The only way to bolster the team was to borrow money. Loans were arranged and secured on Premier League payments.
"The hope was Anton would be able to arrange additional finance, which he said he would do, the club had hoped to expected to move on some players which did not happen. Underneath the top tier of players the market was very dead last summer.
"Anton told me he had some issues of his own back in Russia and that is why he found himself in the awkward position of not having the money for the remaining 49% and the money to finance the team. There was a compromise agreement reached with (his father) Boris Zingarevich to help finance the club

Wow ok so the club is now being run by an American asset management company . I didn't think things would peak so suddenly

[Esteban]

So, as many suspected, despite having left the board, it looks very much like Samuelson is still heavily involved in the sale.

Yet still the gullible hang onto and swallow every word that they are fed by club & chairman without opening their eyes and questioning what the sub text might be.

At least he's given some insight to what happened. We were promoted, AZ couldn't produce the funds, we weren't able to move on players we wanted to, we arranged loans against future payments, went down, took some risks which failed to pay off and now we're stuck with loans we cannot easily service.

As always with these things, no one person is to blame. A series of errors, unexpected changes and market forces have conspired against us. AZ is culpable as the owner, but not entirely to blame. Sounds like a lot of people, and yes, Madejski included, made mistakes, all of which add up.

[Lovely hot donuts!]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27735136

So much in that article that I need some time to digest it before I can form a coherent opinion on the state of affairs, by which time, they may well have changed again.

[Lower West]

As always with these things, no one person is to blame. A series of errors, unexpected changes and market forces have conspired against us. AZ is culpable as the owner, but not entirely to blame. Sounds like a lot of people, and yes, Madejski included, made mistakes, all of which add up.

Reading are no different to any other Championship club. Championship Clubs are reckoned to be spending 106% of their revenue on players wages. Only 3 clubs get promotion every year. There's a crash on the way. I'd prefer that Reading stabilise. Than chase the madness football now is. Where money alone buys success.

[Royal Ginger]

I'm not sure why everyone hates Samuelson so much. The way I see it was he worked with what he was given. I'm not being facetious, I'm honestly not sure I have a grip of it all. Could someone anti-Samuelson explain why he is personally vilified, or is it just because he's linked to AZ?

[Agent Balti]

I'm not sure why everyone hates Samuelson so much. The way I see it was he worked with what he was given. I'm not being facetious, I'm honestly not sure I have a grip of it all. Could someone anti-Samuelson explain why he is personally vilified, or is it just because he's linked to AZ?

I'm of the same thinking. It's the perception from the 20k per month that us as fans took an objection to. Maybe rightly as it seems an obscene amount for little perceived 'visible' return.

I think you're right in that he's inextricably linked to AZ...ergo, a bad egg. I'm not so sure. It wasn't his money that failed to be delivered after all.

[Schards#2]

"Handing over power to the lender" is extremely disconcerting. With SJM dealing with things you know there is someone in there with the clubs best wishes at heart. With a bank, who knows.

[Zana Badawi]

I'm not sure why everyone hates Samuelson so much. The way I see it was he worked with what he was given. I'm not being facetious, I'm honestly not sure I have a grip of it all. Could someone anti-Samuelson explain why he is personally vilified, or is it just because he's linked to AZ?

His name first came up in Private Eye.
Here is a rather brief summary of it from two years ago.

http://www.footballeconomy.com/content/ ... ver-doubts

I have a scan of the piece somewhere - if I can find it then ill fish it out - but if I remember it implicates him in previous business deals that are a) borderline legit and b) profitable to him. I remember at the time thinking that the Private Eye piece was more implication than fact, mind you.

[Cape Town Royal]

How noble of our Anton..

Quote "I'm still a fan.."

Well as a fan just disappearing for 9 months and then talking through your advisor is not what you call leadership..

I accept modern business can be fraught in relation to finance, but at potentially the 11th hour before the sale to come out and say all this through his sidekick smacks of BS if you ask me unless of course this is CS way of trying to woo the fans should he manage to get on the board under new owners..

What does he expect, us all to say "well you tried your best and when you next come to watch a game we'll buy you a hot dog at half time"..

All this stuff about wanting to sell players (i guess to raise funds)... who?? None of those at the club were on serious high wages (apart from Pog). The only one that we would have really got a BIG offer for would have been McCarthy. Even Le Fondre was never going to drive a massive offer, because yes he scored but he could not hold a place in a team that went down weakly.. Add to that we bought in at least two players last season on big wages so if we were needing to reduce the wage bill why bring in Drenthe and Bridge who were both probably on more than those they replaced. Also why give improved offers to HRK who really had done little to justify a large pay rise (and this season has proved he wasn't), when we had just gone down and he was under contract anyway..

venting finished...............







Last season was a complete and utter waste of a great opportunity to get back up..

[Terminal Boardom]

"Handing over power to the lender" is extremely disconcerting. With SJM dealing with things you know there is someone in there with the clubs best wishes at heart. With a bank, who knows.

So, those that loaned the money have the say on who takes over the ownership. Since when does a bank give a oxf*rd as long as they get their money back? They could, effectively, sell the club to anyone. Selling to an Investment Group does not make me want to run naked through Forbury Gardens in celebration.

[TBM]

If we got £90m when promoted - how are we now £20m in debt.......

[Extended-Phenotype]

mplayers mmwages uummmmttt

[loyalroyaldaz]

Where's Ian Royal ?

[Extended-Phenotype]

I think he just went to the toilet. He'll be back in a minute.

[Extended-Phenotype]

If we got £90m when promoted - how are we now £20m in debt.......

In all seriousness, if we got 90m when promoted why did we need to borrow and why was Anton worried about not putting in money in?

[Colin Cheeselog]

If I was offered £20k p/m to do my job I would definitely turn it down, just in case some internet mongs thought it was too much.

[Mr Angry]

If we got £90m when promoted - how are we now £20m in debt.......

In all seriousness, if we got 90m when promoted why did we need to borrow and why was Anton worried about not putting in money in?

Cash flow.

The clubs don't get a big cheque for £90M on day 1 of the season. I can quite easily imagine big cheques going out, especially using borrowed money (on the back of expecting funds to come in). Suddenly those funds don't come in and you're are servicing debt and very quickly, it all goes tits up.

What is happening to us has happened to any number of clubs in the past and will happen to more clubs in the future; the big question is how does the club get out of it? As always, you reduce costs and increase income - the first is obvious (bye bye more players, hello cheaper less effective players) the second is ownership.

My expectations for the next couple of seasons at least are pain and probably disappointment; as fans our expectations HAVE to change - simply staying up next season (as odd as it may sound right now) is the first priority. Do not expect us to be challenging for promotion or you will end up getting very very frustrated.