TSI - The Promises, Policies & Progress Thread

[Dare to Dr£am]

This thread is not for the player ins and outs. This is purely to track the progress of TSI and Anton Zingarevich's promises/vision for the club.

The promises, the plan:

+ 5 year plan to become a top 8 Premier League club
+ Long-term vision/plan/support of manager to achieve goal of top 8 consistency
+ Upgrade of the new training ground to the highest of standards
+ Academy upgraded to Cat 1 status, in line with Europe's top clubs
+ Madejski Stadium expansion to 38,000 to begin summer 2013 if Reading avoid relegation from Premier League
+ Stadium naming rights could be consideredto bring in extra revenue

Anton on his plans for the club:

"The key is basically to build the infrastructure. It's great as it is, but if you want to go to the next level, the key is to pay attention to your training ground, the Academy. And with the population, the people we have, this ground will become limited in a short space of time, so that's something we'll be looking to achieve."

"I know that Sir John was looking into expanding the Stadium in the Premiership, that's something we need to do because the potential here, we can become a top ten club in England, it's something we can all work on."

Anton on Brian:

"We sat down with Brian in Milan, and he said 'get me the players, I'll get you in the Premier League.' He joked about automatic promotion, we had a laugh about it! Genuinely, it's about the mentality, the whole group. Everybody is a winner here, they have done it in the past and that really made a difference to what we've just achieved.

"The staff, players, Brian, he was the pinnacle to it, the guy who managed the whole thing. I didn't want to take his attention away so didn't get involved too much, we've talked of course, we have a great relationship and I like working with him. It's great for everyone, they've done a great job and they should be proud."




* Any transfer news to be posted in UR&G

[Squelchy2507]

The promises, the plan:
...
+ 5 year plan to become a top 8 Premier League club
+ Long-term vision/plan/support of manager to achieve goal of top 8 consistency
...

Anton on his plans for the club:

"... that's something we need to do because the potential here, we can become a top ten club in England, it's something we can all work on."

So which is the aim you intend to measure against - top 8 or top 10 ?

[Barry the bird boggler]

Let's not get carried away, top 10 will do

[Royal With Cheese]

Top 17 would do fine!

[Forbury Lion]

Be interesting to see what SJM's 5 year plan was.

[Geekins]

Be interesting to see what SJM's 5 year plan was.

SELL SELL SELL

[Rex]

Be interesting to see what SJM's 5 year plan was.

SELL SELL SELL

That's three years covered.

[who are ya?]

Have we signed anyone yet

[M-U-R-T-Y]

Have we signed anyone yet

next week

[Mike Hunt]

In on the first page before it inevitably gets locked...

[Geekins]

Be interesting to see what SJM's 5 year plan was.

SELL SELL SELL

That's three years covered.

Decent Players
Cheap Merchandise
Piss watered beer

[Friday's Legacy]

http://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/sport ... mcdermott/

NEW Reading FC owner Anton Zingarevich believes Brian McDermott has all the skills to become a Premier League winner.

The 30-year-old Russian and McDermott have been getting on like a house on fire since they met back in January.

That meeting came when McDermott flew to Milan to seek assurances from Zingarevich about the club's future.

The mega-rich son of billionaire paper merchant Boris was in the process of launching his takeover, a move finally rubber stamped by the Premier League two weeks ago.

Zingarevich paid £25 million for a majority stake in the Royals through his Gibraltar-based Thames Sports Investment company and is expected to be sole owner within a year.

It proved to be a shrew investment as McDermott went on to lead Royals to the Championship title with promotion worth an estimated £90 million.

Now the 51-year-old is preparing to test his abilities in the top-flight for the first time as a manager, having been chief scout during Reading's previous two-year stint between 2006-08.

And Zingarevich has total faith in McDermott to succeed.

"I would say Brian and I have a very good relationship, we get on very well," revealed Zingarevich. "We've been pushing each other since January and I think we've settled in nicely. I understand what he wants and he knows what I want.

"Brian pays attention to every single detail. It's all about ensuring the atmosphere is right for the group of players. When you do that they want to play for you.

"That's been key to his success really. Everyone in that dressing room wants to play for him and one another.

"There is a great spirit here and Brian has played a major role in that. That is going to be so important for us next season."

While Reading are targeting a number of summer signings, Zingarevich insists McDermott could prove to be his best-ever investment.

The future of Royals' boss was thrown into doubt at the start of the year following an official approach from Wolves to become their new manager.

That prompted the meeting in Milan when Zingarevich and McDermott talked football well into the early hours.

McDermott was convinced by Zingarevich's commitment and future plans, and immediately signed a new contract until summer 2015.

"I guess he could be our best signing," added Zingarevich. "When I came here I knew he was certain to stay as manager. It was a good moment for us when we sat down and figured out what we were going to do.

"We've been working together for many months now and he's a good man."

The delays with takeover caused scepticism amongst some Reading supporters given Zingarevich and TSI's Chris Samuelson were both involved in the failed buyout of Everton back in 2003.

But Premier League and Football League investigators found no grounds for concern and gave TSI the go-ahead a fortnight ago.

Royals have since increased the number of board members from two to six with Zingarevich, Samuelson, TSI's Andrew Obolensky plus Royals chief executive Nigel Howe joining current members Ian Wood-Smith and chairman Sir John Madejski.

Madejski will remain in the role he has fulfilled since 1990 for at least another two years before becoming life president.

"It shows the new owners are not looking to come in and change everything," declared Madejski. "A lot of complications arose with the takeover because when we started this process we were in the Championship and now we're in the Premier League.

"We had to go through the owners and directors test again because we had only done it in the Football League. But I'm delighted it's done and dusted and we can move on now."

And Madejski is confident Zingarevich is the right man to lead Reading into a new era, given the ex-Bearwood College student's ties with the area.

"It takes away all the uncertainty of moving forward, this is absolutely terrific new for Reading," he insisted.

"I'm delighted with the new owner. I've liked Anton since the first moment I saw him and I know he will be a very good custodian of Reading Football Club.

"He has links with the area and this is just the kind of model we were looking for. "

[Bumblebee]

shrew investment

Top flight journalism from the ChronicLOLe again.

[ZacNaloen]

He's starting a rodent collection, an expensive field requires extensive investment

[Friday's Legacy]

The Daily Mail have had an interview planned with AZ for a couple of weeks. They were trying to tie him down when he returned to the UK last week. I don't know if they've sat down yet, but I'm hoping we hear a bit more about the clubs plans/intentions etc, rather than more of what we've already heard.

[SpaceCruiser]

especially since we've already signed Pogrebnyak who is a classy player.

Have we?

[SpaceCruiser]

I've not seen anything official.

[Ian Royal]

Well I'm not worried anymore, I was sceptical that the deal might not go through at all, but now that the deal has concluded, I am quite confident they will deliver on their promises, especially since we've already signed Pogrebnyak who is a classy player.

You'd better have a sit down. Don't want you getting dizzy, falling down and hurting yourself from this miraculous U-turn.

[maffff]

Lets put a notable point here about early backing.

Zingarevich has stressed that contrinuity is key. It has been announced in the media he has extended both McDermott and Gibbs to 2014. On McDermott's instructions he has extended every key member of staff until the same date. We have also pinned Hammond down to 2015 - although we never announce Hammond's contract. That's a +1 for continuity and stability.

Zingarevich has also said to McDermott that no matter what happens this season he will be the manager next year. If the worst thing happens and we break Derby's record, McDermott should be here come January 2014 provided we are making a credible attempt at bouncing back. If we stay up Zingarevich wants to see visible progress.

Another +1 should go to Zingarevich for backing McDermott in this window. There is no transfer fee, simply a 'right player for the right price' provided we don't completely break the wage budget outside of sensible structure (our 'wage cap' will be in/around/just over £40k). McDermott's frugal enough to know a bargain when he sees one and has been given free reign to try to get players like Pogrebnyak and make large bids for Rhodes and Sigurdsson (both of which would see us break our transfer record by several million). We need to see whether this approach remains.

Lastly, a at this stage +1 should go to Zingarevich for not interefering with McDermott and giving both him and Hammond free reign in the transfer window, along with massive kudos for his proactivity in supporting McDermott by making attempts to speak to players like Pogrebnyak and Sigurdsson personally to sell his vision for the club so far.

With money being ploughed into the academy, training ground and all around the stadium behind the scenes, 6 months in this is looking like we have the perfect owner.

[Bumblebee]

You're trying too hard.