Reading fail to pay staff full salary

[URZZZZZZZZ]

This is true to a certain extent, but it hasn't stopped other clubs from continuing where they left off pre pandemic. Locally, Swindon, Oxford and Wycombe's attendances are all up compared to pre-pandemic levels, this is mainly down to having personnel in place doing the jobs.

As far as Swindon is concerned it's the new owner. Transformation is a model for any other club that's hit rock bottom.

Whilst we haven't hit rock bottom from an on the pitch point of view, we can't be far from it with our off field operations. Lowest attendances for 20 years, all retail output needing to be outsourced, swathes of empty hospitality seats on a matchday - we are miles off where we used to be and where we need to be.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Can't remember if it was under this shit show or the Thais.

Either way twice in a few years isn’t just poor, its piss poor.

We're terribly run. The sooner Dai oxf*rd off thd better

Terribly run we may be and Dais may be crap.

But you can't just ignore the crushing effects of Covid, the Cost of Brexit crisis and the strange WC timing in all this. These have been a very strange couple of years.

This is true to a certain extent, but it hasn't stopped other clubs from continuing where they left off pre pandemic. Locally, Swindon, Oxford and Wycombe's attendances are all up compared to pre-pandemic levels, this is mainly down to having personnel in place doing the jobs. The RFC staff base is completely down to the bare bones at the moment, which is inexcusable given the wealth we have behind the club on face value. It's an absolute drop in the ocean compared to the player related spending and could make tangible improvements to the way we are run - but nothing seems to be changing.

I think a lot of that has come down to redundancies during the pandemic as well as cost-cutting before we were inevitably slapped with sanctions, it's probably part of the reason as to why we lost our academy status and unfortunately I think these were always going consequences amid the backdrop of the sanctions, it was never going to be just as simple as 6 points off, a couple of immediate restrictions etc (although I'm not suggesting you're saying that by the way), there was always going to be repercussions.

As much as that responsibility falls down on the head of the owners, that's the consequences that they, and subsequently we, have to deal with. I think we would be better off with better owners if we were up for sale, even with the improvements we looked to have made over the last 6 months or so by putting a bit more of a footballing structure in place. As much as many lament someone like Mike Ashley, given our circumstances I'd bite your hand off for an owner like that now.

[Lower West]

This is true to a certain extent, but it hasn't stopped other clubs from continuing where they left off pre pandemic. Locally, Swindon, Oxford and Wycombe's attendances are all up compared to pre-pandemic levels, this is mainly down to having personnel in place doing the jobs.

As far as Swindon is concerned it's the new owner. Transformation is a model for any other club that's hit rock bottom.

Whilst we haven't hit rock bottom from an on the pitch point of view, we can't be far from it with our off field operations. Lowest attendances for 20 years, all retail output needing to be outsourced, swathes of empty hospitality seats on a matchday - we are miles off where we used to be and where we need to be.

New owner. Engaged with media and local community. Stands on terraces with away fans at games whenever possible. Settled historic debts. Appointed a CEO who is a lifelong Swindon fan. Monthly meeting between the club and external parties, the minutes of which are published in full. Any issues raised by supporters from ticket pricing, catering to stewarding are openly discussed. Meaning that supporters have full transparency over the internal workings of the club and most importantly the clubs financial position. Currently negotiating purchase of the ground which is owned by the council. The deal is to be structured so that the ground is subsequently owned 50% by him and 50% by the supporters in trust. There'll always be a football club on the site. Once this is achieved next phase will be the planning of redevelopment and upgrading. Brought catering within the ground in house to maximise the revenue for the club.

You could say a younger version of SJM. Easy to appreciate why he is successful with his own business.

[Horsham Royal]

I'm reserving judgement till I know what caused the non-payment and whether everything's now been paid.
Flys in the face of guilty till proven innocent, but hey ho.

[blythspartan]

I'm reserving judgement till I know what caused the non-payment and whether everything's now been paid.
Flys in the face of guilty till proven innocent, but hey ho.

I am with you on this. I didn’t get paid on time a while ago due to someone in payroll not pressing go on the BACS run.

We don’t really know what’s happened but if it becomes a more regular occurrence we’d have major problems. I’d rather we had a new owner but at least Dai has taken a bit more interest lately and hasn’t left us up shits creek yet.

[Linden Jones' Tash]

I'm intrigued.

If someone had £150M burning a hole in their pocket, why buy a mid table Championship club?

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I'm intrigued.

If someone had £150M burning a hole in their pocket, why buy a mid table Championship club?

There are obviously reasons for it, the old cliche from previous/current owners is that you don't go into football clubs to make money. It's got to come down to wanting to be involved, mixed in with a bit of ego etc.

I suppose you could ask the same question about a lot of football clubs at our level.

[Snowflake Royal]

I'm reserving judgement till I know what caused the non-payment and whether everything's now been paid.
Flys in the face of guilty till proven innocent, but hey ho.

You know innocent until proven guilty is only a thing in criminal trials right?

And it's already proven they didn't pay staff in full. Given we know first team players got 80% and Academy players got 0%, this isn't someone failing to press a button, it's a conscious decision following a cash flow problem. And it's the second payment failure in a few years.

Does why make any difference? It's a sign the club isn't being run properly.

Combined with the club not engaging with STAR and putting itself in a crippling financial position involving years of transfer embargos and a points deduction, it's all pretty damning.

[URZZZZZZZZ]

As far as Swindon is concerned it's the new owner. Transformation is a model for any other club that's hit rock bottom.

Whilst we haven't hit rock bottom from an on the pitch point of view, we can't be far from it with our off field operations. Lowest attendances for 20 years, all retail output needing to be outsourced, swathes of empty hospitality seats on a matchday - we are miles off where we used to be and where we need to be.

New owner. Engaged with media and local community. Stands on terraces with away fans at games whenever possible. Settled historic debts. Appointed a CEO who is a lifelong Swindon fan. Monthly meeting between the club and external parties, the minutes of which are published in full. Any issues raised by supporters from ticket pricing, catering to stewarding are openly discussed. Meaning that supporters have full transparency over the internal workings of the club and most importantly the clubs financial position. Currently negotiating purchase of the ground which is owned by the council. The deal is to be structured so that the ground is subsequently owned 50% by him and 50% by the supporters in trust. There'll always be a football club on the site. Once this is achieved next phase will be the planning of redevelopment and upgrading. Brought catering within the ground in house to maximise the revenue for the club.

You could say a younger version of SJM. Easy to appreciate why he is successful with his own business.

Brilliant, so what we've agreed on in a roundabout way is that we need an owner who at least gives a little bit of a shit about us

[Horsham Royal]

I'm reserving judgement till I know what caused the non-payment and whether everything's now been paid.
Flys in the face of guilty till proven innocent, but hey ho.

You know innocent until proven guilty is only a thing in criminal trials right?

I like to think of it as a mindset - I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt.

it's a conscious decision following a cash flow problem.

Or crap software.

Does why make any difference?

To me, yes, if it's outside the club's control.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I'm reserving judgement till I know what caused the non-payment and whether everything's now been paid.
Flys in the face of guilty till proven innocent, but hey ho.

You know innocent until proven guilty is only a thing in criminal trials right?

it's a conscious decision following a cash flow problem.

Or crap software.

In fairness, I can see where Ian is coming from here. If it was a software issue, why would we only be able to pay 80% of our first team staff/players and 0% of our academy/players? It might very well be some odd software issue for all we know, it would just seem strange that we'd only be able to pay so much, rather than not being able to pay any at all until a certain date when our bank sanctioned it, and then paying everybody.

I suppose we don't know if it is a cash flow problem or not, but I can see why this would be discussed.

[Snowflake Royal]

You know innocent until proven guilty is only a thing in criminal trials right?

it's a conscious decision following a cash flow problem.

Or crap software.

In fairness, I can see where Ian is coming from here. If it was a software issue, why would we only be able to pay 80% of our first team staff/players and 0% of our academy/players? It might very well be some odd software issue for all we know, it would just seem strange that we'd only be able to pay so much, rather than not being able to pay any at all until a certain date when our bank sanctioned it, and then paying everybody.

I suppose we don't know if it is a cash flow problem or not, but I can see why this would be discussed.

We also choose the software we use. If it oxf*rd up, still on the club.

[Horsham Royal]

We also choose the software we use. If it oxf*rd up, still on the club.

So there's no possibility at all of the club doing appropriate due diligence with a supplier but that supplier still cocking up - that never happens in the real world?
Fair nuff.

[Snowflake Royal]

We also choose the software we use. If it oxf*rd up, still on the club.

So there's no possibility at all of the club doing appropriate due diligence with a supplier but that supplier still cocking up - that never happens in the real world?
Fair nuff.

We seem to be delving rather far into flights of fancy here.

[Horsham Royal]

We also choose the software we use. If it oxf*rd up, still on the club.

So there's no possibility at all of the club doing appropriate due diligence with a supplier but that supplier still cocking up - that never happens in the real world?
Fair nuff.

We seem to be delving rather far into flights of fancy here.

Without evidence as to what happened, agreed.

[Conservative_dad]

Obvs not great not paying the u21 but realistically most are about 19 years old. Doubt they’ll have mortgages and families to support like the senior players

When billionaires cannot find the money to pay wages then respect goes out of the window. A retrograde step in terms of rebuilding the club. Concern must be the the club is struggling to adhere to the agreed financial business plan. Further trimming of the current budget might be necessary.

Cutting the cloth, as the late SDR used to say.

He's still pulling the strings in Cyberspace somewhere!

[Forbury Lion]

Agree they should have done more for the U21s but I also wouldn't trivialise the seniors - if you got 80% of your pay would you also consider it no big deal?

It would certainly start alarm bells ringing as this could be a sign of things to come, but most of us, myself included can get by with 20% of their monthly wages being deferred a week where as those on low salaries may struggle with 0% of their salary.
Should have paid everyone on basic youth salaries 100% and then maybe deferred an extra 1%-5% of the senior squad's wages to cover it - I can't imagine they won't be any more or less pissed off at having 21%-25% deferred instead of 20%.
Maybe 20% is a magic number which the PFA can live with?

[Weymouth Royal]

Agree they should have done more for the U21s but I also wouldn't trivialise the seniors - if you got 80% of your pay would you also consider it no big deal?

It would certainly start alarm bells ringing as this could be a sign of things to come, but most of us, myself included can get by with 20% of their monthly wages being deferred a week

Post of the day!

We're in a fuel/food/energy/poverty crisis so most would be absolutely dandy...

[Green]

Agree they should have done more for the U21s but I also wouldn't trivialise the seniors - if you got 80% of your pay would you also consider it no big deal?

It would certainly start alarm bells ringing as this could be a sign of things to come, but most of us, myself included can get by with 20% of their monthly wages being deferred a week

Post of the day!

We're in a fuel/food/energy/poverty crisis so most would be absolutely dandy...

Quite! Glad things are so cushy in the Forbury Lion household.

[PieEater]

Transferring funds from abroad isn't as trivial as a normal payroll run. The transfer is presumably from Yuan to Sterling, that rate changed about 2% on the day so whatever amount they calculated would have been short a day later.

Combine that with the lack of any matchday income this month and you can see why some incompetent beancounter messed up this month.