TSI - The Promises, Policies & Progress Thread

[Royal91]

For me I am using the stadium expansion as an indicator for the level of investment this guy has!

+1, no expansion equals no money

What a load of rubbish. The expansion can quite easily be built without Anton's money, and be a debt like almost everything else. It doesn't prove there is money there or not. Also, how can the costly upgrade of the Academy to Cat 1 status, and a new training ground not prove there is financial backing? Some football fans really do have some funny expectations.

I'm using the stadium expansion as an indicator, for the reason it's physical evidence! Yes training grounds are tangible as well but they are not in the public eye! That debt has to be repaid and only someone with enough money will want to service it! Everyone can tweak their training ground ECT but how many stadium expansions do you see every year in football?? The capacity of 38000 which has been banded around is a serious size.

!Top 10 capacity!

[Royal91]

In addition boosting up the training facilities are in place for a long term strategy, which is obviously the longevity of the club with continuation of youth player development. Whereas a stadium expansion is an immediate short term goal (if we stay up). Which coincides with his 5 year plan! You would not build an expansion of that calibre and size if he wasn't serious about competing in the EPL!

[SPARTA]

We wont see an expansion to 38,000. We will increase the East Stand only (30,500) and that will more than do us.

Anton's dreams of bringing fans in from Swindon, Oxford, London and Bristol are all utter fantasy. If we're lucky we will get a few hundred here and there. There will never be a need for 38,000 here, not unless silly money was invested in the team, and we've been told that wont happen.

[RoyallyFcuked]

Your mum

Does she regret it?

[Cobi]

Next summer Anton will complete the buy out of the club for the agreed £25m. He's absolutely laughing!!

If we stay up, then with the new TV deal the club is worth in excess of £120m. Is he regretting it? No, no I don't think he is.

More concerning for us is that he may decide to cash in and make a nice profit, and then God knows who we end up with.

[Royal91]

We wont see an expansion to 38,000. We will increase the East Stand only (30,500) and that will more than do us.

Anton's dreams of bringing fans in from Swindon, Oxford, London and Bristol are all utter fantasy. If we're lucky we will get a few hundred here and there. There will never be a need for 38,000 here, not unless silly money was invested in the team, and we've been told that wont happen.

I'm not disagreeing, 38,000 would be ridiculous. But the old report from when we were last in the EPL, stated that it would be increased to around 38000. Maybe it would go to 30000 first!

http://origin-www.readingfc.co.uk/stati ... 006,00.pdf

[Cobi]

We wont see an expansion to 38,000. We will increase the East Stand only (30,500) and that will more than do us.

Anton's dreams of bringing fans in from Swindon, Oxford, London and Bristol are all utter fantasy. If we're lucky we will get a few hundred here and there. There will never be a need for 38,000 here, not unless silly money was invested in the team, and we've been told that wont happen.

I'm not disagreeing, 38,000 would be ridiculous. But the old report from when we were last in the EPL, stated that it would be increased to around 38000. Maybe it would go to 30000 first!

http://origin-www.readingfc.co.uk/stati ... 006,00.pdf

The club announced the expansion will be done in two stages. Stage 1 is the east stand, bringing the capacity to around 30,000. Stage 2 is the north and south stands, bringing total capacity to around 38,000.

[SPARTA]

We wont see an expansion to 38,000. We will increase the East Stand only (30,500) and that will more than do us.

Anton's dreams of bringing fans in from Swindon, Oxford, London and Bristol are all utter fantasy. If we're lucky we will get a few hundred here and there. There will never be a need for 38,000 here, not unless silly money was invested in the team, and we've been told that wont happen.

I'm not disagreeing, 38,000 would be ridiculous. But the old report from when we were last in the EPL, stated that it would be increased to around 38000. Maybe it would go to 30000 first!

http://origin-www.readingfc.co.uk/stati ... 006,00.pdf

It's always been planned as a two step process.

[Simon's Church]

If we stay up, then with the new TV deal the club is worth in excess of £120m.

Bit of a moot point though really isn't it.

[urz13]

As I mentioned on a previous thread (I think it was the Zaha one) I recently went to a dinner party which Howe and his new partner also attended. Naturally the topic turned to RFC, and there were a few interesting things Nigel said.

McDermott moans a lot about referees was one, but the other was that he moans about the new owners, constantly.
He says that Anton knows nothing about business and only wants to expand the stadium becuase it would look 'cooler', and that his top 10 dream is pretty much impossible. Nigel also said that McDermott believes Boris only bought the club for Anton as a plaything, to 'get him out of the house more' and that Boris is unlikely to ever invest enough to become a top 10 side either. The England internationals we supposedly negotiated with: one was Shorey, the other was Adam Johnson. And we tried to get Zaha on deadline day but they wanted too much.

That's all the info really, make of it what you will.

[ankeny]

Depressing if true

[Handsome Man]

Not true though

[grey_squirrel]

Not true though

although I wouldn't say there was anything unbelievable about any of that.

[SPARTA]

As I mentioned on a previous thread (I think it was the Zaha one) I recently went to a dinner party which Howe and his new partner also attended. Naturally the topic turned to RFC, and there were a few interesting things Nigel said.

McDermott moans a lot about referees was one, but the other was that he moans about the new owners, constantly.
He says that Anton knows nothing about business and only wants to expand the stadium becuase it would look 'cooler', and that his top 10 dream is pretty much impossible. Nigel also said that McDermott believes Boris only bought the club for Anton as a plaything, to 'get him out of the house more' and that Boris is unlikely to ever invest enough to become a top 10 side either. The England internationals we supposedly negotiated with: one was Shorey, the other was Adam Johnson. And we tried to get Zaha on deadline day but they wanted too much.

That's all the info really, make of it what you will.

Yes I'm sure Nigel Howe was that open with you.

[RoyalBlue]

As I mentioned on a previous thread (I think it was the Zaha one) I recently went to a dinner party which Howe and his new partner also attended. Naturally the topic turned to RFC, and there were a few interesting things Nigel said.

McDermott moans a lot about referees was one, but the other was that he moans about the new owners, constantly.
He says that Anton knows nothing about business and only wants to expand the stadium becuase it would look 'cooler', and that his top 10 dream is pretty much impossible. Nigel also said that McDermott believes Boris only bought the club for Anton as a plaything, to 'get him out of the house more' and that Boris is unlikely to ever invest enough to become a top 10 side either. The England internationals we supposedly negotiated with: one was Shorey, the other was Adam Johnson. And we tried to get Zaha on deadline day but they wanted too much.

That's all the info really, make of it what you will.

If Yam Yam really did say things like this, then he should be fired immediately. It is not acceptable that a senior employee should say such things to anyone outside of the club (he probably shouldn't be saying it inside the club either). Never been a great fan of 'No idea' but will be completely against him if this is true.

If what URZ claims is untrue, then I would not blame Howe at all if he got his lawyers involved.

[sandman]

As I mentioned on a previous thread (I think it was the Zaha one) I recently went to a dinner party which Howe and his new partner also attended. Naturally the topic turned to RFC, and there were a few interesting things Nigel said.

McDermott moans a lot about referees was one, but the other was that he moans about the new owners, constantly.
He says that Anton knows nothing about business and only wants to expand the stadium becuase it would look 'cooler', and that his top 10 dream is pretty much impossible. Nigel also said that McDermott believes Boris only bought the club for Anton as a plaything, to 'get him out of the house more' and that Boris is unlikely to ever invest enough to become a top 10 side either. The England internationals we supposedly negotiated with: one was Shorey, the other was Adam Johnson. And we tried to get Zaha on deadline day but they wanted too much.

That's all the info really, make of it what you will.

Would that be the same Nigel Howe who once said Reading "could be as big as Arsenal"?

[Jay o/]

It's almost believable with the exception that the only reason for the expansion is because it will look good. It's basic business sense to see more seats at this level means more money coming through the door. Yes it'll look nice, and the east stand will be the biggest single tier stand in the UK which will be a nice claim (until Liverpool get their new stadium), but something has clearly been made up or lost in translation if the gaffer really does think the only reason Anton wants the expansion is because it'll look cool.

My personal opinion is if we stay up with the new tv deal then we are worth something like £140m next summer. add an expansion, new training ground and academy to category one status, and the value goes through the roof and we could see a quick sale and nice profit for Anton. I'd like to think he's got our best intentions at heart, but I fear that's not the case. Football is riddled with money men with hidden agendas, and now we're owned by some.

[SPARTA]

As I mentioned on a previous thread (I think it was the Zaha one) I recently went to a dinner party which Howe and his new partner also attended. Naturally the topic turned to RFC, and there were a few interesting things Nigel said.

McDermott moans a lot about referees was one, but the other was that he moans about the new owners, constantly.
He says that Anton knows nothing about business and only wants to expand the stadium becuase it would look 'cooler', and that his top 10 dream is pretty much impossible. Nigel also said that McDermott believes Boris only bought the club for Anton as a plaything, to 'get him out of the house more' and that Boris is unlikely to ever invest enough to become a top 10 side either. The England internationals we supposedly negotiated with: one was Shorey, the other was Adam Johnson. And we tried to get Zaha on deadline day but they wanted too much.

That's all the info really, make of it what you will.

If Yam Yam really did say things like this, then he should be fired immediately. It is not acceptable that a senior employee should say such things to anyone outside of the club (he probably shouldn't be saying it inside the club either). Never been a great fan of 'No idea' but will be completely against him if this is true.

If what URZ claims is untrue, then I would not blame Howe at all if he got his lawyers involved.

Agreed on both points.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I'm not sure if it was a good idea to post this info on here.....

[Ups and Downs]

Nigel Howe is the one who is always telling my Dad things about Reading that it sounds like he shouldn't. Howe used to do jobs for the firm my Dad works at. I mentioned a few of them on here without outing Howe, but it was him. May as well say it now. Loose lips cost lives, but Nigel Howe doesn't seem to give a shit. Those chaps are all the same.