Madejski's comments to BBC Radio Berkshire

[brendywendy]

the accounts are transparent and available for the 1st year
2nd years must be out soon

any profit we make on player sales this year that isnt reinvested in new players will only go to offset the loss we will be making in this division at the end of the season.

it does seem to me that we are clearly looking at, and trying to sign players
hopefully thatll work out.

i think the club is quite consistent in its statements, and transparent in its financial dealings

i realise that you lot arent, but i think you are wrong wrongedy wrong wrong.

[Platypuss]

i think the club is quite consistent in its statements, and transparent in its financial dealings

Are you drunk?

Undisclosed fees <> transparency.

And as for the first point.

[brendywendy]

i think the club is quite consistent in its statements, and transparent in its financial dealings

Are you drunk?

Undisclosed fees <> transparency.

And as for the first point.

good argument plat.

those undisclosed fees do end up in the accounts at the end of the year you know

[Royal Lady]

He's right though Bendy!! How can you say they're transparent in all their dealings, if they don't disclose how much we get for a player? AND their statements aren't consistent at all. Saying we can have the proceeds from the sales of players is rubbish, if we don't know how much those proceeds are and if we are then told in the next breath that footballer's wages and fees are obscene and we have no money - because we've spent it all on refurbishment.

My last argument still stands - if we only received the money we were due for the second season in the Prem, at the END of last season - how come we've spent it all already?? And what, besides the mega store has it all gone on??

[Platypuss]

i think the club is quite consistent in its statements, and transparent in its financial dealings

And as for the first point.

good argument plat.

Ok. You've asserted we're consistent in our public statements. Back up that assertion.

[torbayroyal]

Am I missing the point here?

There is a lot of money in the premiereship.
You have to pay top money for top players.
We wouldnt pay "Premiereship inflated wages" so we lost Sidwell.
We are now back in the championship earning a lot less money.
Where is the business sense in that?

Does JM put the cheapest oil in his show cars?

Is it really that simple? I doubt it but there is an argument that if we had paid Sidwell more we would still be in the premiereship and financially better off.

I am using Sidwell as an example but really it means failure to attract top players because of our wage structure.

[premiership_bound]

From the post and this makes more sense.. in my opinion

John Madejski has told supporters that Reading are not about to pay large transfer fees or offer high wages to new signings.

Royals’ boss Steve Coppell is in the hunt for a new left-sided player.

There is money available following the sale of Dave Kitson and Nicky Shorey, who together netted the club around £8.5million.

Royals also received £11m in parachute payments following their relegation from the Premier League.

But although Madejski has given the green light for new additions, he warned that the club is not awash with money.

The chairman no longer subsidises the club and Reading are repaying millions of pounds in loans.
Madejski told the Evening Post: “There is money to spend. People think there is an enormous trough of money, which is not true.

“We have a very large squad and we lost £22m when we came down so we have to cover our costs. We have done an awful lot of work around the ground.

“Over the past three years we’ve spent everything that we’ve had. We try to run the club well and it is a great model, but players earn very large salaries – too high.”

Reading’s 2-0 victory over Plymouth was watched by 19,202 fans and the chairman added: “I was happy with the size of the crowd, and particularly pleased with selling 14,000 season tickets in the current economic climate. There are hard times out there, but after this latest win, hopefully we can sell a few more.”

Royals have taken four points from a possible six and appear to have shaken off the disappointment of relegation.

“I don’t think we experienced a real sense of doom and gloom,” insisted Madejski.

“The boat has been shaken up a bit which was inevitable, but I just think the attitude in the camp is very positive and has been for weeks with the culmination of Steve Coppell staying at the request of the fans.

“To start the season with an away draw and a win is great. We certainly looked the better side against Plymouth in my opinion and there were some great performances from some of the players.”

[Dirk Gently]

Am I missing the point here?

There is a lot of money in the premiereship.
You have to pay top money for top players.
We wouldnt pay "Premiereship inflated wages" so we lost Sidwell.
We are now back in the championship earning a lot less money.
Where is the business sense in that?

Does JM put the cheapest oil in his show cars?

Is it really that simple? I doubt it but there is an argument that if we had paid Sidwell more we would still be in the premiereship and financially better off.

I am using Sidwell as an example but really it means failure to attract top players because of our wage structure.

The point where your argument breaks down is that there's no guarantee that if we'd paid more money we would have stayed in the PL - and in that case there would be real financial problems now. Ask Norwich, ask Ipswich, ask Southampton, ask Leicester .....

[brendywendy]

:| He's right though Bendy!! How can you say they're transparent in all their dealings, if they don't disclose how much we get for a player? AND their statements aren't consistent at all. Saying we can have the proceeds from the sales of players is rubbish, if we don't know how much those proceeds are and if we are then told in the next breath that footballer's wages and fees are obscene and we have no money - because we've spent it all on refurbishment.

My last argument still stands - if we only received the money we were due for the second season in the Prem, at the END of last season - how come we've spent it all already?? And what, besides the mega store has it all gone on??

hes not right-it wasnt even an argument- i said i was happy with the consistency and transparency of the club, and i am, thanks.

you can say its rubbish if you like, but it dont make it so!- i dont like to argue with you-its like rowing with my mum ......so ill make my statement, again, and leave it at that.im sure we are all bored of the circular arguments, so youll be pleased to hear i wont say it again after this.....
i think what you are saying is rubbish too-more of you say it, and you say it louder, but it dont make it correct

the undisclosed fees will be included in the figures for player sales/purchases in the accounts at the end of the year. FACT

the moneys available-its been said over and over and over again by manager, DOF chairman, and chief exec-im not sure how you can argue for inconsistency when weve got a quote list as long as your arm all saying exactly the same thing repeatedly. FACT

coppell hasnt spent it ....yet. and its purely his decision.....but it does look like we are trying hard to bring 1 or 2 players in before the window closes. FACT

JM didnt say we didnt have money, or he wouldnt spend it-quite the opposite in fact-yet again he said he will back SC to buy players in if he wants them, its just that he wasnt going to pay our players more than what we do now (17-20 kpw?) and that 150M a week is obcene-not sure how thats really disagreeable. FACT

if we had bigger gates, paying more money per ticket in the prem, 15-20 M extra in the 1st year from TV/prem money(30+M in 2nd year) and only made a 6M profit........
and we are now charging much less per ticket, and having fewer through the gates, and only getting 11 million parachute, instead of 20-30 million in the prem
-its clear to me that we need to hold on to alot of this money from player sales in order just to break even-as we know JM doesnt want to bankroll us any more. FACT

im pretty sure the loan repayments are clear in the accounts of either the club or the holding company too if you want to look for them.just because JM doesnt come out and give you the figures every week doesnt mean they arent there.

my case has been put-mock it and call it rubbish as much as you want, id prefer it if you gave coherent and non confrontational argument to try and persuade me differently-but thats possibly too much to ask.
im frankly sick of the indignant "wheres all our money" and "JM is robbing us blind" shite that passes for argument here.

i think thats pretty clear, and transparent-at least to me
so now ill leave it to other better qualified to argue with you, like dirk etc

but IMO i currently think that collectively you lot have the combined financial acumen of a field of barley
though ill happily admit that it may turn out that its me who has been befuddled and confused by the clubs book keepers, and i look forward to you convincing me that this is so.

[brendywendy]

good argument plat.

Ok. You've asserted we're consistent in our public statements. Back up that assertion.

thank you-thats much better

im not going to drag them up quote for quote

but i dont see how you can argue in the face of the evidence you know is out there in the EP, the chronicle, the BBC and the OS
there are literally tens of quotes going back over this year and last from people at every level of this club, principly JM, SC, NH, NH that there is money available for transfers, but coppell has chosen not to spend it, and im frankly flabberghasted you could see this as inconsistent.

im also not sure how you can say JM statements have differed at all, from day one, at all on the subject of wages/cost of running a football club/his ability or inclination to bankroll obcene spending

[Royal Lady]

I'm not arguing with you Bendy - just saying! And cheers for likening me to your mum!

[brendywendy]

I'm not arguing with you Bendy - just saying! And cheers for likening me to your mum!

my mum is lovely


and beautiful!

and i was only talking in terms of how arguing with her makes me feel
so dont take it too hard


its gone all quiet.......

platypuss and everyone else are busy cutting and pasting huge swathes of contradictory club statements for me!

[Kevin Doyles Right Foot]

So my predictions of us signing one from scotland, one from africa/france, and an oldie from this division may be thrown out of the window

[Southbank Old Boy]

brendy, I think part of the problem with Madejski's statements is that we don't know how in what terms he's talking about when he says the players earn too much etc.

You've quoted 17-20k. I would guess that our top earners are now on around 13-17k. Thats our top earners who we were told were on about 25k last season, and that will be a select few (Sonko, Harper,, Doyle and Hunt I think). The rest of the first teamers will now be on somewhere near 10k should think (the likes of Murty, Hahnemann, Ivar, Convey, Lita) with the rest of the squad players on less.

Madejski will always say they're on too much and be attempting to drive down the wage bill, and rightly so, but in relative terms are these wages high? I don't think so considering the numbers we see through around in the media. We'll rightly be one of the top payers in the league this season because our players have proven their worth and earned the higher wages over the last few seasons, but when Madejski talks of astronimical costs he is still, by his nature, talking about what he thinks should be the numbers involved and he's always played down income and played up the costs.

As for the books being transparent. Yes they are to an extent, but they are so far out of date and complicated to the layman that they mean very little. As you say, the latest available figures are for the financial year up to June 2007. What I think some people are asking for is a brief summary of the clubs financial position for the present as opposed to the past. That's quite unlikely to happen though!

[Seal]

This thread reminds me why I was right to quit my grad job at PwC some years ago.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

No one knows the truth except JM and his FD. Pretty pointless debating what we might or might not have spent.

[sawyers left arm]

Finally people are realising what this bloke is about. Madejski is filling his pockets to go and when he walks and is bought out he will have made a profit. Good business I suppose but I just want rid of him asap.

[kwik-silva]

I don't mind if Madeski 'fills his pocket' with what he is 'owed'. He's invested in this club, and he does deserve to get his money back, but it all seems a little too suspicious. I don't think the club is truthful and transparent with their accounts. Another point is why are there undisclosed fees in football?? Theres no point in having them, so why bother?

[Jerry St Clair]

The chairman no longer subsidises the club and Reading are repaying millions of pounds in loans.

To who? Madejski?

[Man Friday]

I will repeat it for effect:
"The chairman no longer subsidises the club and Reading are repaying millions of pounds in loans"....to John Madejski.

This couldn't be clearer - we are repaying JM the money he had invested (cf with other owner benefactors). JM's no mug - he has no intention of lining the pockets of thicko footballers (as he and one or two others on here see them) at his own expense. As for buying Leroy...he knows that he will sell at a profit and as Leroy was his own purchase he is "entitled" to the receipts from his sale. What a businessman! No wonder I live in a shed in a cow field.

[Southbank Old Boy]

I will repeat it for effect:
"The chairman no longer subsidises the club and Reading are repaying millions of pounds in loans"....to John Madejski.

This couldn't be clearer - we are repaying JM the money he had invested (cf with other owner benefactors). JM's no mug - he has no intention of lining the pockets of thicko footballers (as he and one or two others on here see them) at his own expense. As for buying Leroy...he knows that he will sell at a profit and as Leroy was his own purchase he is "entitled" to the receipts from his sale. What a businessman! No wonder I live in a shed in a cow field.

The Leroy transfer was funded by one of his loans. Madejski won't get the receipts from his sale. He may well get his loan back at some point, but that is slightly different, he's not going to be taking the profits to any sale.