Madejski being booed yesterday

[Platypuss]

I repeat: Madejski didn't want the stadium named after him.

Oh please.

[BobKnows]

madejski should be booed for a number of reasons not for that

Well I can only conclude that we have massively differing ideas of how a club should be run, and what it means to be a fan. I am just hoping that a noisy minority don't sway any big decisions by the people that actually DO run Reading FC.

[Far Canal]

dave whelan has spent millions and millions of this own cash ut dosent see the need to spread his name accross his stadium

Your right, Dave Whelan, who owns JJB, has done nothing to spread his name across the JJB stadium.

Dave Whelan doesn't own JJB.

True, but he did hold a 29% stake until he sold his shares 8th June 2007.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JJB_Sports

[voice of reason]

Believe it or not the accounts I am referring to is not a Championship Manager style bank balance of 5 million etc . I saw a simplified profit and loss account, are you aware of what one of those is? It basically shows what is going in and out of business leaving an operating profit. Which was, in our first season in the PL, just over 5 million. You really don't have a clue do you?

Our first season or to the end of March 2007?

I believe it was based on a fiscal year which had run May 2006 to June 2007. I know this is not consistant with the standard tax year of April to March but I assume Football Clubs produce reports to a different timescale to give a better representation of the clubs affairs over the course of a football season.

[RoyalBlue]

I repeat: Madejski didn't want the stadium named after him.

Oh please.

Well I suppose you can fool someone all of the time!!

Maybe the discussion went something like this.

NH: 'Mr Chairman, sir, I've had a brilliant idea........ How about we name this wonderful new stadium after you? That way your name will live on throughout history.'

JM: 'Howe, that's an absolutely ridiculous idea. I'm far too modest a person to allow that. I'm not doing any of this for me, it is for the wonderful people of Reading. I want to put something back into the community and the stadium should be about them. However, I can see how pleased you are with your idea and I wouldn't want to disappoint you after all of the wonderful work you have put into getting the stadium built on time and within budget ... so go on then.'

It was interesting hearing David O'Leary describing the last years at Villa under Doug Ellis, on Goals on Sunday, this am. He could well have been talking of where RFC stands today!

What's more, it sounds as though Ellis was succeeded by a very good chairman/owner from a footballing point of view.

That's an interesting point. What Ellis did for Villa was to make them virtually debt-free (I think they had a relatively small overdraft when Ellis sold). What that allowed the new owners to do was to buy Villa for whatever the price was in the knowledge that they wouldn't have to service lots of debt.

I know numpties like O'Leary were moaning about Ellis, as, indeed, were the Villa fans. But look where they are now! They are quite possibly one of the most financially healthy clubs in the PL and are well poised to make a real attempt to break into the 'Big Four'. Maybe if Ellis had spent the money that O'Leary wanted him to spend, they would have ended up like O'Leary's other club!!

Madejski has done and continues to do a good job at Reading. He has a manager who he knows will get the best out of the team while spending as little as possible, and he has also funded big transfers where he has been persuaded by Coppell. We are in the process of rebuilding this season, and I will be happy to be playing as we are playing, with a good mixture of Youth and Experience and show that we are capable of making a promotion push in the next couple of years. Mind you, if it happens this year I'll be even happier!!

What the 'numpty O'Leary' actually said this morning was that Ellis was a really nice guy and initially a very good Chairman to work for. However, he had decided he had had enough and wanted to sell the club and get out. Because of this, he wouldn't release even very moderate sums of money for transfer fees. O'Leary said he didn't blame him for this because when you are looking to sell your house you don't rush out and spend lots of money on new windows, carpets and curtains. However, the consequence of this was that the club started sliding backwards and supporters got really frustrated and angry.

Spot the similarity?

Apparently, the club is now going forward big time because they have a Chairman who is in it for the football as well as business and is prepared to invest significant money in strengthening the team.

And BTW, I seem to remember that, when he was flogging season tickets, our own Chairman was referring to an immediate return to the PL not making a promotion push in the next couple of years (IMO Coppell will not stay long enough to see that through).

[West Stand Man]

I'd say supporters ARE investors, in as much as the lower the support, the lower the lack of spending on merchandise etc, the less funds available to the club to buy players/pay wages/make refurbishments.

Sometime there is a difference of opinion,sometimes factual error. In this case I think you are just wrong. Investors strictly invest to make a profit. We spend, not invest, our money. You might argue that you invest time in the club, but even that is a dubious use of the word. As a parallel, you might spend £100 a week at Tesco, but you are still not an investor as your purchases do not give you a share in the business.

[RoyalBlue]

I'd say supporters ARE investors, in as much as the lower the support, the lower the lack of spending on merchandise etc, the less funds available to the club to buy players/pay wages/make refurbishments.

Sometime there is a difference of opinion,sometimes factual error. In this case I think you are just wrong. Investors strictly invest to make a profit. We spend, not invest, our money. You might argue that you invest time in the club, but even that is a dubious use of the word. As a parallel, you might spend £100 a week at Tesco, but you are still not an investor as your purchases do not give you a share in the business.

But the Chairman of Tesco does not try to tell us how to support his business, expect us to continue backing him and his business, no matter how shyte it performs, and does not step out in front of us seeking our 'spontaneous' applause!

[NWL Royal]

Tesco without 20,000 people will still perform to a standard whereby they probably still make record profits. Reading FC would virtually be nothing without 20,000 supporters. Theres a big difference between Tesco and Reading FC.

[brendywendy]

supporters dont expect, and arent entitled to any return on an investment.
its like being a really heavy opera fan, going every week, and then expecting the opera house you frequent to book pavarotti next week, just cos youyve bought so many tickets(obviously since he died this would be problematic.)it doesnt work liek that.

like i said on another thread, personality and hair wise i hate the bloke
but i cant slate the bloke for what he has done with this business, and by association our football club.

saying it was SC who did it all, and madejski did nothing is silly, the ten years since building our stadium (and moving from what was a wonderful ground full of character to us, but to every one else was a shed.)have shown step by step, steady rebuilding, consolidation and progress, increased gates from single figure thousands to 20 oddK, increased the quality of football and player at the club, up to a top half championship, to run away record breaking champions, and got us to the prem for two amazing years finishing 8th at the peak, something id never thought would be achieved, ever.

this has all been achieved because madejskis money sustained us, when we could have gone bust, his loans built the ground, and his business sense sees us now more than able to cope with relegation through sound financial management-we could very well be one of the few relegated sides to show a profit in our first year down.not only that but the management team he has put together seems to be bloody amazing all told.
we have our problems, we arent perfect, he definatly isnt, but i just dont think the bloke deserevs to be bood.

and he knows teh fickle nature of our support, and knows of the possibility we wont applaud, or even boo before he comes out, he still does it because for some reason he thinks it important to do his bit in creating a good atmosphere, hopefully he may stick to just one appearance in future

[Spudulika]

He takes our fan base as idiots so he should not be given any respect with the way he's been acting recently.

Given that a lot of the current moaners are, I think he's been amazingly tolerant.

People really need to get a bit of perspective here - Madejski is the reason we are where we are today, a club with good chances of returning to the premiership in the next few years rather than one of the clubs facing an uncertain future such as Luton etc. During his reign at the club, he's been entirely consistent - he's a businessman and tries to run Reading as a business (though his post-promotion town centre celebrations suggest there's more to it than that). This means we don't always work in the same way other clubs do which might mean we can't compete with the guys right at the top, but at the same time there's no risk of us getting into a situation like Leeds a few years ago.

And as a business, Reading is in sound shape - we don't have massive debts, we don't rely on owners pumping in millions just to keep us going, and the club hasn't imploded after relegation from the Premiership. Despite the recent player sales we've managed to retain a good core of a team and can rebuild to take us forward again.

Sure, it's been a difficult year for the club, but because of the way the club is run it hasn't been a disastrous one.

[papereyes]

its like being a really heavy opera fan, going every week, and then expecting the opera house you frequent to book pavarotti next week, just cos youyve bought so many tickets(obviously since he died this would be problematic.)it doesnt work liek that.

However, if they were suggesting strongly that you'd get pavarotti (or someone alive ... ) every week but you wouldn't find out until you got there, and it was me in a thong, every week, you'd feel pretty aggreived.

I think the situation is nearer to the latter than the former.

If you're easily pleased and have lower standards than most, who knows what you'd say.

supporters dont expect, and arent entitled to any return on an investment.

And there, that's where you're wrong. Supporters do expect. They might expect different things from one another but there is a level of investment and approach which they are happy with.

People really need to get a bit of perspective here - Madejski is the reason we are where we are today

That's exactly right. A league higher than when we started but also a league lower that we easily could be but, as long as its a minor blip, the club can continue growing. After 10+ years of consistent, regular growth, taking a year off was just an unexpected detour for this fan.

[brendywendy]

its like being a really heavy opera fan, going every week, and then expecting the opera house you frequent to book pavarotti next week, just cos youyve bought so many tickets(obviously since he died this would be problematic.)it doesnt work liek that.

However, if they were suggesting strongly that you'd get pavarotti (or someone alive ... ) every week but you wouldn't find out until you got there, and it was me in a thong, every week, you'd feel pretty aggreived.

I think the situation is nearer to the latter than the former.

If you're easily pleased and have lower standards than most, who knows what you'd say.

supporters dont expect, and arent entitled to any return on an investment.

And there, that's where you're wrong. Supporters do expect. They might expect different things from one another but there is a level of investment and approach which they are happy with.

People really need to get a bit of perspective here - Madejski is the reason we are where we are today

That's exactly right. A league higher than when we started but also a league lower that we easily could be but, as long as its a minor blip, the club can continue growing. After 10+ years of consistent, regular growth, taking a year off was just an unexpected detour for this fan.

oh come on!!! we were never, and have never said we were going to buy pavarotti, the money was invested in a fair few somewhat lesser singers, and we payed double our wage bill the get them in as we couldnt afford him, even with the increase in ticket prices.
im sure half of madejskis moans about players wages are because he also feel aggrieved that he is unable to get extra quality in without paying over the odds in wages,

agree about you in a thong though

[West Stand Man]

I'd say supporters ARE investors, in as much as the lower the support, the lower the lack of spending on merchandise etc, the less funds available to the club to buy players/pay wages/make refurbishments.

Sometime there is a difference of opinion,sometimes factual error. In this case I think you are just wrong. Investors strictly invest to make a profit. We spend, not invest, our money. You might argue that you invest time in the club, but even that is a dubious use of the word. As a parallel, you might spend £100 a week at Tesco, but you are still not an investor as your purchases do not give you a share in the business.

But the Chairman of Tesco does not try to tell us how to support his business, expect us to continue backing him and his business, no matter how shyte it performs, and does not step out in front of us seeking our 'spontaneous' applause!

No, he employs marketing staff and advertising agents to do the same thing. You don't seriously believe that people just shop at Tesco because it is there do you? Anyway, that is irrelevant to the discussion on investors; we are NOT investors in the club, we are supporters.

[West Stand Man]

Tesco without 20,000 people will still perform to a standard whereby they probably still make record profits. Reading FC would virtually be nothing without 20,000 supporters. Theres a big difference between Tesco and Reading FC.

This is about as irrelevant as it gets. Reading has a very small number of investors - and JM is the principal one. I repeat, we don't invest we spend. If you' d prefer me to use a smaller business s a comparator (one with about 20,000 customers) I will, but it doesn't change the facts - sorry and all that.

[RoyalBlue]

Sometime there is a difference of opinion,sometimes factual error. In this case I think you are just wrong. Investors strictly invest to make a profit. We spend, not invest, our money. You might argue that you invest time in the club, but even that is a dubious use of the word. As a parallel, you might spend £100 a week at Tesco, but you are still not an investor as your purchases do not give you a share in the business.

But the Chairman of Tesco does not try to tell us how to support his business, expect us to continue backing him and his business, no matter how shyte it performs, and does not step out in front of us seeking our 'spontaneous' applause!

No, he employs marketing staff and advertising agents to do the same thing. You don't seriously believe that people just shop at Tesco because it is there do you? Anyway, that is irrelevant to the discussion on investors; we are NOT investors in the club, we are supporters.

It's entirely relevant. We are treated as customers of RFC, we are even told we are that. Of course the people don't shop at Tesco just because it's there. Their Chairman does employ the people you refer to but to promote the business not his personal image. He does not expect his customers to applaud him (or even seek it) nor is he stupid enough to ask his customers to keep paying for a product that is past it's sell by date, doesn't compete effectively with that of his competitors or is just shyte!

Tesco without 20,000 people will still perform to a standard whereby they probably still make record profits. Reading FC would virtually be nothing without 20,000 supporters. Theres a big difference between Tesco and Reading FC.

This is about as irrelevant as it gets. Reading has a very small number of investors - and JM is the principal one. I repeat, we don't invest we spend. If you' d prefer me to use a smaller business s a comparator (one with about 20,000 customers) I will, but it doesn't change the facts - sorry and all that.

If RFC's customers/supporters stop turning up and spending , the business that JM invests in would be worth bugger all. Who would want to place advertising etc. with it? Who would want to play in front of empty stands? Who would want to televise matches absolutely devoid of passion and atmosphere?

[papereyes]

oh come on!!! we were never, and have never said we were going to buy pavarotti,

Maybe, but maybe someone who could have held a tune.

[West Stand Man]

[quote="RoyalBlue"]


Ah, sorry, but you still can't get it can you. The similarity is all there, and the difference is that when you have a problem at Tesco you shop elsewhere. If the situation at RFC is a sh*t as some people seem to think then perhaps the time has come for them to put up and shut - by going somewhere else for their football. I stopped using Tesco a while ago because of their treatment of farmers and other producers. I haven't stopped supporting RFC since 1961 - but if I thought it was genuinely all going as wrong as you'd think from the negativity on here I'd have gone years ago. JM has EVERY right to stand and stir up support if he wants, I'd not recommend it to him as he isn't very good at it nd the effect is not that which he seeks but that doesn't remove his right to do it. Nor does it remove your right to ignore him (and boo him if that suits you - though why I can't imagine)

[rfc58]

Any business regardless of its nature is reliant on its paying customers, RFC are no different.

Any leader(s) of any business that doesn't at the very least "keep their finger on the pulse" of what their customer base is saying/doing etc, is playing a slightly risky game.

But hey, what do I know.

[Seaside Royal]

He's our chairman and he continues to do a good job in terms of success on and off the pitch. He's made heaps of mistakes along the way but non of them have ever put us in danger of going under they've just cost us time and money on route to where he's always said we belong, The Premiership.

From being an ex Evening Post ad salesman to building and selling an amazing business, Auto trader (Hurst Publishing) and pocketing 640 million in the process the man has done good!

I accept he's eccentric and that he says some bloody stupid things at times but he's a safe pair of hands as our Chairman.

Personally I wouldn't clap him but nor would I boo him, I have a little more respect for him than that.

[Arnie_Pie]

He's our chairman and he continues to do a good job in terms of success on and off the pitch. He's made heaps of mistakes along the way but non of them have ever put us in danger of going under they've just cost us time and money on route to where he's always said we belong, The Premiership.

From being an ex Evening Post ad salesman to building and selling an amazing business, Auto trader (Hurst Publishing) and pocketing 640 million in the process the man has done good!

I accept he's eccentric and that he says some bloody stupid things at times but he's a safe pair of hands as our Chairman.

Personally I wouldn't clap him but nor would I boo him, I have a little more respect for him than that.

Hear hear. I think the people who boo'd him should be ashamed. Ok, he might not have spent as much as we would have liked but Coppell always said there was money if he wanted it. If anyone is to blame it should be the management not the guy that baled us out of going under all those years ago. We would be no more if it was not for him and we should all respect him for that.