Time to button it, John Madejski

[The 17 Bus]

JM helped RFC get to where it is today, fact.

Without JM we would be in the lower leagues, not fact.

JM has treated RFC the same as most of the institutional buyers, it is to make him money, he is not a fan like Whelan, and will not throw money at RFC if he cannot see a return, he gets frustrated because in football there is always a risk, it is the human factor, and in business those that succeed usually remove the human factor and go for the bottom line.

Perhaps it is time for JM to do something truely philanthropic, hand the club over to some sort of trust, and hand the reins over to his daughter, as was once mooted in the past.

You do not need the £100m JM so how about it?

[Stranded]

It makes me a bit sick actually.

If it were not for JM we'd still be watching us play at home to Macclesfield at Elm Park, at best. The other options don't really bare thinking about.

Yet the first time in over a decade of fairly sustained growth, development and, yes ambition, things are not quite going well and suddenly it's a massive blame culture.

If it's not the chairman's fault, it's the manager's fault - we haven't spent enough etc, etc....

A lot of Reading fans are turning into the sort of big headed, I want it all now fans that (going by tons of threads on here) we all used to hate. That is the biggest shame at the moment not the fact we may go down.

[Tilehurst Mike]

Expectations Pre season:
1. Build/consolidate on last season's superb debut seasn in Premiership
2.Sign 3/4 QUALITY players in summer transfer window (striker, rt midfielder and two defenders)
3.Look forward to stadium expansion plans moving forward.
4.have a decent cup run
5.If we are struggling by xmas, sign 3/4 QUALITY players, preferably English with PREMIERSHIP experience in the January transfer window.
6.Realistically expect to finish 12th-14th

Reality

1.haven't enjoyed the season much at all and we seem to be moving backwards rapidly
2.No significant summer transfers that gave me the 'WOW' factor. You get what you pay for and some of our recent signings have been woeful.
3.Looks like these will be shelved unless we stay up
4.Do we really care about the cups--based on Cooments from Kitson/Coppell/Club. Realistically its the only thing we have a chance of winning in the top flight.
5.We sign an unknown czech and even more obscure unknown guy playing in DIv 2 French footaball BFD! Where was the right sided midfielder and quality defender(s) we were crying out for
6.8 losses on the spin--a club record and shipping goals by the load. 1 goal scored in 2008. Totally woeful.

Blame Madjeski, Blame Coppell, Blame the Board--you takes your choice. Woeful management at any level irrespective of who controls the purse strings!!

[NWL Royal]

Were you complaining when big John took over the club, kept us in a healthy state, and built us a new ground?

You can't please anyone. The more you get, the more you want.

[NWL Royal]

..but yeah, I wouldn't mind a few new quality signings

[Halifax 4-1]

So when John Madejski took over the club in the old Division 3 with the dilapidated (but loved) Elm Park and started pumping money in to prop up the club, do you really think he thought "this club is going to make me millions"?

The hotel is there to help make income for the club and media centre is part of the extra expense of running a Premiership club due to the leagues high profile.

The latest set of accounts showed a small profit for the first time since I do not know when. Few if any owners give their money to a club, we are a business and live or die by the steward ship of the chairman. If we are relegated we will still be strong financially to mount a new challenge. Spending millions does not guarantee survival, three clubs have to go down regadless of how much they have spent.

Give the Chairman a break, he has guided us to the most successful period of our history.

[Derbyshire Royal]

I dont for one minute think that JM is just pocketting the cash. I do think that the sky money and (parachute payments?) will allow the club to rebuild and come back stronger.

It would have been nice to have stayed up, I dont think we will, but it wont be the end. Personally I think its great where we are and I even managed to catch one premiership game this year, something I NEVER thought I would see as a Royals fan.

For teams like us it will always be a rollercoaster as we dont have the vast sums that the "big" boys have. So if we do go down I just hope that we can stop the rot and keep those good players and come back next year. If we dont manage to keep them then I reckon we may have a few years rebuilding to do before we hit the top league again.

[royal tee]

It makes me a bit sick actually.

If it were not for JM we'd still be watching us play at home to Macclesfield at Elm Park, at best. The other options don't really bare thinking about.

Yet the first time in over a decade of fairly sustained growth, development and, yes ambition, things are not quite going well and suddenly it's a massive blame culture.

If it's not the chairman's fault, it's the manager's fault - we haven't spent enough etc, etc....

A lot of Reading fans are turning into the sort of big headed, I want it all now fans that (going by tons of threads on here) we all used to hate. That is the biggest shame at the moment not the fact we may go down.

There really is an awful lot of dross on this board but every once in while there is a stand out post that keeps me coming back.

Very well said.

[Dr Hfuhruhurr]

It makes me a bit sick actually.

If it were not for JM we'd still be watching us play at home to Macclesfield at Elm Park, at best. The other options don't really bare thinking about.

Yet the first time in over a decade of fairly sustained growth, development and, yes ambition, things are not quite going well and suddenly it's a massive blame culture.

If it's not the chairman's fault, it's the manager's fault - we haven't spent enough etc, etc....

A lot of Reading fans are turning into the sort of big headed, I want it all now fans that (going by tons of threads on here) we all used to hate. That is the biggest shame at the moment not the fact we may go down.

Am I allowed myself to place myself into the camp 'Madejski is doing the right thing but, maybe ironically, it wont ensure us Premiership survival?'. In that way the Chairman doesnt get criticised.

[Dai Brainbocs]

For me the tipping point was when the club indicated it wasn't interested in Europe and prioritized the summer South Korea friendlies. I think this broke a fundamental bond of trust which it will take many years to restore.

I agree wth Dr H. In the longest-term view, some clubs RFC's size will secure premiership status but in doing so find they have totally wrecked themselves in the process, when the bubble bursts and the circus of overseas money leaves town. In time RFC could be well placed to return and thrive in a financially sensible top flight - IF it can restore the bond of trust with its customers.

[Vision]

Lets be honest, who apart from Dave Whelan or Jack Walker in English football in recent times has transformed a backwater football club in the way that Reading has been transformed under JM ?

Its a quite remarkable acheivement and the fact that he's still trying to it whilst balancing the books and leaving some sort of secure legacy is to his credit.

It doesn't make him above reproach or criticism of course and I've no doubt when/if he does leave he will have earned a pretty penny from his time with us. Surely though, it also doesn't warrant some of the vitriol and accusations that are thrown his way by some who have been watching the benefits of his actions over the last 15 years or so.

[Spud]

This conversation always reminds me of 'what have the Romans done for us' sketch from Life Of Brian. You sort of respect whats been done for you but just feel deep down you've not been treated right.

[Hoop Blah]

Lets be honest, who apart from Dave Whelan or Jack Walker in English football in recent times has transformed a backwater football club in the way that Reading has been transformed under JM ?

Its a quite remarkable acheivement and the fact that he's still trying to it whilst balancing the books and leaving some sort of secure legacy is to his credit.

It doesn't make him above reproach or criticism of course and I've no doubt when/if he does leave he will have earned a pretty penny from his time with us. Surely though, it also doesn't warrant some of the vitriol and accusations that are thrown his way by some who have been watching the benefits of his actions over the last 15 years or so.

I totally agree.

Madejski has been a god send for this little club and we owe him a massive debt of gratitude for what he's done.

Nobody really knows how much freedom he's given Coppell to strengthen his squad this season or last but the indications are that he's stumped up enough cash to give Coppell a chance. Have we used that cash well? It doesn't appear so from the outside.

I'm sure strap posted the 2007 wage bill somewhere recently, and it was something like £26m. If you compare that to the published wage bill for '06 for the likes of Villa (£26m), Blackburn (£33), Bolton (£28m), Middlesborough (£29m), West Ham (£28m), Wigan (£20m), Charlton (£33m) then we're not miles away from the rest, even taking a inflationary hike for those clubs from '06 to '07. We're by no means a top payer, but we are in and around the same ball park for the lower half of the spending table.

I do wish we'd see a little less chest thumping and preaching from club staff though. We know what needs to happen, and all this spouting off in the media does very little to improve the situation.

[NWL Royal]

ONE JOHN MADEJSKI, THERES ONLY ONE JOHN MADEJSKI!

[Leamington Royal]

I think the way JM has built this club 'brick by brick' has gained Reading's success some credibility that other clubs around us don't have. Teams like Wigan and Fulham have got where they are because a generous millionaire has splashed spare cash on transfer fees and wages. JM has built an infrastructure which means that, with or without his support in the future, RFC will be in a stable financial footing relegation or no relegation.

JM has earned the right to say what he wants. Some people on this site should also stop making assumptions about what JM is thinking or planning to do in the future. You don't know, so don't imply you do.

[CMRoyal]

In my opinion there were various models John Madesjki could have followed when the team reached the Premiership:-

1. The one many clubs tried and failed in the earlier Premiership years – let’s call it The Sheffield Wednesday Method. This involves making no plans at all for the drop, signing expensive long-term players' contracts which do not break or reduce if the club is relegated, noisily going on about establishing the club as a top six side then, when the club goes down, either going bust or limping along for years saddled with an unpayable debt.

2. The next model is the one that seems to be in favour amongst some members of this forum, and was followed by some clubs after they survived a single season in the Premier League. This is The Bradford City Method, and involves throwing out years of prudence, gambling vast sums of money, and paying £50,000 a week in wages on establishing yourselves in the Premier League (supposedly). Bradford City tried it, still got relegated and were left with having to honour Benito Carbone's £2m a year contract (amongst others), and the club ended up in administration. Ipswich are only just now recovering from a similar madness after finishing 5th in 2001, spending big on supposedly established players, tumbling out of the division and going into (“temporary”) administration.

3. Then there’s the Norwich City Method whereby you don’t plan to go down but you make damn sure you remain solvent if you do - you give the manager money to strengthen but only enough to keep the books balanced if relegation were to happen. Hopefully players (and staff) are on divisional pay and the more expensive ones free to go if they so desire. With the parachute payment, (relatively) low wage bill and the continued support of loyal fans, in theory the club doesn’t then have to sell too many first-team squad members.

Now, in all honesty, what size of club do we think we are? Are we a Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal? Undoubtedly not. An Everton, Aston Villa or even a West Ham United? How about a Bolton, Birmingham, Sunderland, Pompey, Boro or a Blackburn? Not yet, but that’s the next step, and it’s taken/taking time for teams of that stature to even hope for a medium-term Premier League existence.

No, Reading FC is still in the Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich, Bradford, Norwich (WBA, Watford) category in terms of size and ambition, and has decided to mould itself around the better, more realistic (pragmatic even) methods those clubs employ in an attempt to establish themselves at the next level. We all want that sooner rather than later, but everywhere are examples of how difficult that can be, and how disastrous the consequences if progress is rushed. To that end, John Madejski has my continued support.

[Platypuss]

Pompey, Middlesbrough, Bolton and Blackburn used/ are using which method?

[Hoop Blah]

No, Reading FC is still in the Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich, Bradford, Norwich (WBA, Watford) category and has decided to mould itself around the better, more realistic (pragmatic even) methods those clubs employ in an attempt to establish themselves at the next level. We all want that sooner rather than later, but everywhere are examples of how difficult that can be, and how disastrous the consequences if progress is rushed. To that end, John Madejski has my continued support.

Are you saying we in all three of your models then?

I'm struggling to make sense of your post.

[CMRoyal]

No, Reading FC is still in the Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich, Bradford, Norwich (WBA, Watford) category and has decided to mould itself around the better, more realistic (pragmatic even) methods those clubs employ in an attempt to establish themselves at the next level. We all want that sooner rather than later, but everywhere are examples of how difficult that can be, and how disastrous the consequences if progress is rushed. To that end, John Madejski has my continued support.

Are you saying we in all three of your models then?

I'm struggling to make sense of your post.

Apologies, I meant category as in size of club. Will edit.

[Dirk Gently]

A sensible and well-reasoned post, CM, but I think the major issue is that you can't slavishly follow a specific business model - you have to be flexible enough to adapt your strategy as circumstances change, and this is what hasn't really happened.

When we - against all odds and expectations - stormed the Championship and then finished 8th in the PL having spent very little, perhaps that was the time to take advantage of the changed situation and adapt the business model slightly, instead of slavishly sticking to the "brick by brick" model.

And that means spending more money than we have spent - not throwing money away on the likes of Carbone, but when there is clearly a sizable amount of money coming in, and even those teams resigned to the drop (like Derby) are spending more than us, then people are entitled to question where all the money is going. There's a mid-point between spending virtually nothing and putting the club's future in jeopardy, and I think we've been much too close to the former than to the latter.

Ultimately, if we're talking about business models, perhaps we ought to use the adage that it costs a lot more to attract a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. I think that if we go down it will cost us a lot more to replace the existing players, that we will inevitably lose, with suitable players for another promotion - and so it will ultimately cost us a lot more to get back to the Premier League than it would have cost us to ensure a much, much better chance of staying stay up this year.