Arab takeover interest reported on tribalfootball.com

[Ian Royal]

If SJM is willing to sell, the chances are good that he is confident they aren't a dodgy bunch of feckers out to asset strip us and will actually be in the club's best interests.

no thats aready been done

1) Learn to quote properly
2) Go ask a few other clubs about asset stripping and see if they think it's been done to us.
I'm sure Dirk could give you some good pointers on who to ask.

[winchester_royal]

I'm sure, if we as a club turn out like Chelsea, we'd all go and support other teams.

Dunno about you, but I'm a Reading fan, not a 'team's which exist sensibly within their means' fan.

Regardless of cirumstance I will continue supporting RFC, and if you can't say the same then you ain't a real fan.

[ElmParker]

I'm sure, if we as a club turn out like Chelsea, we'd all go and support other teams.

Dunno about you, but I'm a Reading fan, not a 'team's which exist sensibly within their means' fan.

Regardless of cirumstance I will continue supporting RFC, and if you can't say the same then you ain't a real fan.

Ah, the old ‘if [insert action or thought of which you disapprove], you aren’t a real fan’ claim. It’s the last resort of the scoundrel.

Deciding who is and isn’t a real fan is a pointless debate.

What I would say, however, is that I know a number of fans of Top 4 teams who’ve turned their backs on the teams they loved in recent years.

I know several Chelsea fans along with a couple of Liverpool and Man U fans who’ve all put aside lifetimes of supporting their teams because they’re sick of the ticket prices/player behaviour/club ownership/club debt/loss of touch with the fans/general changed atmosphere. Delete as appropriate.

It may be a function of the ownership (or perhaps of the superlative football) or it may be a coincidence, but I don’t know any Arsenal fans who’ve done the same.

[It Is What It Is]

If this deal happens, first home game i'm SO dressing up, no matter how many of you say it is bordering racist haha ;D

[Dr Hfuhruhurr]

Im not overly sure I give a shit to be honest.
An owner is just an owner.

[ankeny]

You can’t stop time. But you can examine ‘progress’. One of the things I considered might happen when RFC moved from Elm Park to its more business-friendly surroundings was that the possibility of success would increase (borne out to be true) but that as the next generation of fans came in, they would embrace the same mentality you could see in other clubs supporters elsewhere.

I have little time for those of the newer fans who seem to think it’s clever or smart to deride the older fans or those that may not have been brought up in times where football and your local football club appeared to have a much different meaning than it seems to now.

There’s a reason for that, of course. Many of them have not tasted a club, a culture of football, a meaning of the world ‘locality’ and ‘place’ that for many fans, made their association with their club deeply emotional and meaningful. Or, for those with short attention spans or the cretins that use the phrase ‘I’m not reading all that’, something they cared about. At all. In any way.

And what I feared would happen has. In comes a generation of ‘bleaters’ and ‘whiners’ who look with the fixed glazed eye of the junkie at the table of disgusting gluttons who made their own market in conjunction with the whoredom of Sky and others. An absolute shit-house world in relation to the once fantastic sport we had on offer in this country. Cheap, affordable to all, accessible, and played by men, watched by more adult crowds, by ‘real’ people.

Then you see Manchester City, who like Mr. Creosote, expand their belt and move their newly-bloated belly to ‘the table’ to gorge with the others. Another corpulent greed-merchant sidles up to the truffles and the foie-gras feasting. Funded by money nothing to do with Manchester, or the north-west, and with no agenda related to that city other than trading easily on the back of its substantial, and decent support. Possibly, with an agenda of using City as a marketing tool back in the Middle East.

I’m not saying that football should be all about local altruism and the ‘community’. It has to sustain itself. But what is important to the fans that have seen the sport before it became what it is now – a fully-plasticised vehicle for blatant marketing and profit crossed with the pantomime – is that it has roots in its town or city, or its place, its region.

You ‘newbies’ can deride some of us ‘dinosaurs’ all you like. But age-wise, you have grown up in a society where you may have spent most of your formative years in front of a screen, or ‘cuddling’ each other in the street, wearing toddler-style clothing and thinking that ‘branding’ is something integral to sport. Or you have watched much of your games from the floor in bars, looking up at a screen again. Occasionally you will come to games, and ‘participate’, if you can. Waving your arms up and down to Tom Hark, holding up your pieces of plastic, sucking it all up as good consumers.

Then you will spout the ‘racist’ card , if someone dares to say something along the line of ‘I’d rather Reading were relegated than be owned by Arabs’. A semantic jumped upon because that is what has made football, and seemingly England, these days, the anaesthetised and PC-obsessed shell it has become today.

What would be wonderful would be if you could be taken back in time for a week, to a time when the sport ‘belonged’ to us, the fans. Yes, it was occasionally violent, and dirty, and people swore. But it belonged to its towns and cities, and places and regions. Now? Small enclaves these days. Dying out. Soon to be gone. But that meant something, to many people.

The question remains, what on earth do ‘Arabs’ have to do with Reading Football Club? Nothing, in old terms. In the modern, whored-out plate of spineless, anodyne shite this sport has become, fully-marketed and segmented up into its various revenue streams and outlets. Probably, everything.

But don’t pull the race card on older fans who have seen the sport in its other form, and who probably have seen and experienced more ‘racism’ than you’ve ever seen and will do in your bedroom-cossetted, sports-bar punctuated lives.

‘I’m not reading all that!’

Maybe if people had an attention span longer than a flea’s cock these days, you wouldn’t have a ‘customer-base’ prepared to whore its arse to all-comers so we can ‘sit’ at the same table as the other bloaters in the Premiership.

I’ll go a step further. I’d rather not have a club at all if what it was meant to be was some ‘financial-churn’ device for balance sheets. Wherever the owners come from. It’s already plastic enough.

I don’t want Arabs at Reading. Not because I’m a racist. Because they are simply nothing to do with the area or town at all. At least Madejski is and was.

Those that remain will get what they deserve. A whore of a football club that is nothing more than a vehicle for agents and players to exploit and an organisation that has no more feel for a town, an area and its people than Microsoft or Oracle. Faceless, passionless, shite. Still, I can see you all now, sat around the new ‘owners’ as they don the club shirt and baseball cap, shaking hands, nodding and grinning excitedly at your pictures in the Evening Scrote.

Good grief.

That my freinds,is a the top post on any subject ever,read it and savour it

[Friday's Child]

While I like the sentiment associated with the "way football used to be" and the points that Ian H makes, there is of course both a limit and a middle-ground. Yes I want my club to see success, but I want grass-roots success not Chelsea/Man City style "buy what you want".

Then I would not like to see my club relegated, but the reality is that in a saturated industry where balance sheets and capital injection do matter, you have to ask whether if there were 91 "rich Arab owners" in the league, how would you feel coming 92nd in the league due to a lack of ability to invest appropriately, but "hey we got someone local in charge" who purports to being Billy Bob from the Fish and Chip Shop who lives in Zinzan Street but loves the club dearly and wants to see fans love their club as much as he does.

I have resigned myself to an industry where capitalism rules - both football as my sport-of-choice and investment banking as my career-of-choice - one has to ask whether it is possible to meet the demands of a changing industry like football, but yet still remain both unique and not a "sell out" in the Chelsea/Man City guise. Personally I think it can happen, and the key lies not with just the ownership structure and the objectives of the shareholders, but of how we execute on what we want the club to be. This is where supporter groups, similar to something like Amnesty International as a pressure group, can enforce the strongest financial company to embrace social responsibility. For me, this is the future - you take financial management as a given and build on it by embracing social responsibility. Grass roots football through a flourishing academy, participation in local events and investments in local people and projects, and contribution to the overall culture and desire for people to live in and have an affinity with an area.

That to me is the future of this industry that has already changed beyond that which you would like it to be, Ian. I would suggest embracing it and working out how to be both competitive and unique. That is what I want this club to be - not a Chelsea/Man City or a real local-locals club focusing on how football used to be - I want my club to be Reading, a competitive club with high ambitions but a proper soul.

[PremAddict]

If it makes you feel better you can blame sky, football as a local institution went the way of the dinosaur in the top leagues ages ago.

It's all about making money and having a shiny poodle.

Or the current trend, finding an ugly duckling and turning it into a swan through cosmetic surgery and a bit wallet.

You do realise, right, that we aren’t ever going to win the Premiership or be in the Champions’ League?

Why not? Most certainly not now, but who knows what will happen in the next 25-50 years? Never write us off.

Apologies, let me clarify. We live in a world of limitless possibilities where, occasionally, even the most bizarre and unlikely things can transpire.

However, Reading winning the Premiership or being in the Champions’ League is so unlikely – such a vanishingly small possibility – that to use it as a guiding principle or a yard-stick by which the club’s progress is measured would be as bizarre and foolish as, say, a Bulgarian choosing who to vote for in a local council election based on which candidate was promising to make Bulgaria richer and more economically successful than China or the US.

Ok, since you brought the US into it.

From a US perspective having "grown-up" on the franchise concept, I think the EPL is not a place where there's real money to be had except for a few. I don't buy the idea that it's good business to try and turn an "ugly duckling" into a swan as there's really no good financial protection for the investment. Read: relegation.

Football in the top leagues would appear to be very much a zero-sum game when it comes to the return on your investment. Currently MU, Arsenal, 'Pool, and Chelsea occupy the coveted spots not from just a "who can win the league?" perspective but from a very important sports marketing perspective. Leagues just don't have the capacity to support much more than 4-5 clubs as big money earners - even worldwide where you have to compete with the Barcas and Inters. Even the NFL has its "rich clubs" but there are only a few. Again, the market just can't support more than a few.

Then you have to talk about the battle for talent. Again, where is the financial incentive? Read: no draft. Read: No salary cap.

Suppose you get 10-15 really deep-pocketed investors in English clubs. Now suppose those clubs all end-up in the EPL. How does this not end-up a battle of attrition fighting for the same talent, each willing to outdo his competition? Without effective controls on spending and without better controls to who gets what talent, some more enterprising and better-run or managed clubs will "sneak" into the coveted EPL spots at the expense of the "big 15" and then its big trouble.

So, I think all of this big money detached foreign investment in English clubs is a bad bad thing. Like stated earlier by others, it erodes the hometown feel and without the financial controls, will erode the competitive spirit of the league that big money has already done to the EPL.

You folks that are Reading natives and/or have been following the club for decades have your own opinions for why or why you would like to be in the EPL, the chance that Reading has at actually winning there, and at what cost.

All I can say is that it is out of control and the whirlwind ride that fans of some of these acquired clubs are currently enjoying has a tendency to drop you off at the worst place and in the worst way.

[strap]

I have worked in the Middle East directly for an Arab governement, and have come into contact with a number of high level types. Let me tell you - if this story has any truth in it, and Mr Mad signs a deal, we are in trouble. Not immediately. Oh no. In the first instance, it will be all sweetness and light, look at my new toy, I paid xx million for my club, boasting to his mates etc etc. Then his half-half-brother who has a few billlion more stashed away, will buy, say, Fulham, for £20M more than our man paid for RFC. This will really piss our man off, and he will lose interest rapidly! If he has enough dosh, he'll spend more on signing Rude van Nostril Burger, and until his mate trumps that he'll be relatively happy. Then his mate will buy Tevez and bring Ronaldo back , and our man will get the hump and piss off the the States and look at buying a baseball team or something, letting dear old RFC fall apart in double quick time.

It's all a case of my yacht's bigger than yours, my dick is bigger than yours, my girlfirends are more blonde than yours, my football club cost me more than yours, my manager is Ron Manager who used to play for England, who's yours? You know the routine.

Seriously Mr Mad, what happened to all your Far Eastern mates? I have also worked for a Japanese company, and whilst they have other issues, at least they are fairly honest! Cruel race the Japs, but honest! AND tend to look at acquisitions from a very long term viewpoint.

As I said elsewhere, it is STILL never boring supprting this club of ours!! Wonder how long we can call it that!?

Whilst we'll never see the PL again whilstever Mr Mad's at the helm, remember to be careful what you wish for!

[Ian Herring]

Dear Friday's,

I appreciate your more reasoned approach. I fully realise I am probably I am an 'extremist' in my views. Or maybe, fundamentalist. I think the thing that bothers me is the way that fans have been almost 'kettled' as they are in anti-capitalist protests by the police, down a sidestreet, for example, whereby their most vocal or 'proactive' participants are placed into a place you (intelligently) describe here - whereby the fans may believe they have a voice and an active role, but in reality, as always, money talks, and they can say nowt, as they are stuck up a bloody cul-de-sac. Almost cynically, where they can then be 'maintained' and in whatever term, condescended to.

It just seems to me that money leeches. Passion. Interest. Brotherhood. Identity.

Yet, there have been a few 'alchemic' times where the two parties have met and convened, at times of success, obviously. If anyone saw a recent clip on youtube of Dylan Kerr after our promotion confirmation against Brighton at EP back in the 90's, for instance, his confirmation of understanding the connection of what had been achieved by the players and the club, and what it meant to the people of the town and the area, at that time was clearly on display. And latterly, the suddenly spontaneous celebrations of Steve Coppell and Madejski at Leicester, and the look on Grame Murty's face. Add to that the jubilation at Brentford in 2002. If that could be bottled and mixed? What kind of volatile force would that be?

What I see is 'old' passion derided and scorned as old hat. New business 'sensibilities' offered as some kind of alternative. Were someone to mix the two, as has happened by 'glorious mistake' a time or two at Reading? Happy days!

I think that is why I'd rather spend six or seven weeks watching sage growing in an unknown person's herb garden, than see the on-pitch 'realisation' of a business plan. Or at least, some curled leaf parsley.

Having just witnessed several thousand graduates mime the staged directions of a yuppy screaming at them on Channel Four exhorting them to 'act out' karate chops in business suits, somehow grimy, rain-lashed nights at EP with the stink of unused fried onions does still hold a modicum of appeal.

There's some connection there somewhere.

Pass the algorithms.

I can, of course, choose no longer to attend games. But, football attracted me first and foremost because it was passionate. Not 'thought out'.

And in that, in all its aspects, at least in its top-end, professional form, it seems to be missing the point these days.

Example: Birmingham versus Aston Villa, a 'proper' local derby - Sunday just gone. A traditional 'football' city, not just a town. Empty seats. Nearly fifty quid a ticket?

Then it seems that a 'new breed' of fans have come in. Those that are consumers, not of passion. They can take or leave.

It just does not seem appropriate. If I were to be 'accountantly', rather than 'old school'.

Maybe it is time for fans such as myself to step aside.

While I like the sentiment associated with the "way football used to be" and the points that Ian H makes, there is of course both a limit and a middle-ground. Yes I want my club to see success, but I want grass-roots success not Chelsea/Man City style "buy what you want".

Then I would not like to see my club relegated, but the reality is that in a saturated industry where balance sheets and capital injection do matter, you have to ask whether if there were 91 "rich Arab owners" in the league, how would you feel coming 92nd in the league due to a lack of ability to invest appropriately, but "hey we got someone local in charge" who purports to being Billy Bob from the Fish and Chip Shop who lives in Zinzan Street but loves the club dearly and wants to see fans love their club as much as he does.

I have resigned myself to an industry where capitalism rules - both football as my sport-of-choice and investment banking as my career-of-choice - one has to ask whether it is possible to meet the demands of a changing industry like football, but yet still remain both unique and not a "sell out" in the Chelsea/Man City guise. Personally I think it can happen, and the key lies not with just the ownership structure and the objectives of the shareholders, but of how we execute on what we want the club to be. This is where supporter groups, similar to something like Amnesty International as a pressure group, can enforce the strongest financial company to embrace social responsibility. For me, this is the future - you take financial management as a given and build on it by embracing social responsibility. Grass roots football through a flourishing academy, participation in local events and investments in local people and projects, and contribution to the overall culture and desire for people to live in and have an affinity with an area.

That to me is the future of this industry that has already changed beyond that which you would like it to be, Ian. I would suggest embracing it and working out how to be both competitive and unique. That is what I want this club to be - not a Chelsea/Man City or a real local-locals club focusing on how football used to be - I want my club to be Reading, a competitive club with high ambitions but a proper soul.

[Focher]

Dear Friday's,

I appreciate your more reasoned approach. I fully realise I am probably I am an 'extremist' in my views. Or maybe, fundamentalist. I think the thing that bothers me is the way that fans have been almost 'kettled' as they are in anti-capitalist protests by the police, down a sidestreet, for example, whereby their most vocal or 'proactive' participants are placed into a place you (intelligently) describe here - whereby the fans may believe they have a voice and an active role, but in reality, as always, money talks, and they can say nowt, as they are stuck up a bloody cul-de-sac. Almost cynically, where they can then be 'maintained' and in whatever term, condescended to.

It just seems to me that money leeches. Passion. Interest. Brotherhood. Identity.

Yet, there have been a few 'alchemic' times where the two parties have met and convened, at times of success, obviously. If anyone saw a recent clip on youtube of Dylan Kerr after our promotion confirmation against Brighton at EP back in the 90's, for instance, his confirmation of understanding the connection of what had been achieved by the players and the club, and what it meant to the people of the town and the area, at that time was clearly on display. And latterly, the suddenly spontaneous celebrations of Steve Coppell and Madejski at Leicester, and the look on Grame Murty's face. Add to that the jubilation at Brentford in 2002. If that could be bottled and mixed? What kind of volatile force would that be?

What I see is 'old' passion derided and scorned as old hat. New business 'sensibilities' offered as some kind of alternative. Were someone to mix the two, as has happened by 'glorious mistake' a time or two at Reading? Happy days!

I think that is why I'd rather spend six or seven weeks watching sage growing in an unknown person's herb garden, than see the on-pitch 'realisation' of a business plan. Or at least, some curled leaf parsley.

Having just witnessed several thousand graduates mime the staged directions of a yuppy screaming at them on Channel Four exhorting them to 'act out' karate chops in business suits, somehow grimy, rain-lashed nights at EP with the stink of unused fried onions does still hold a modicum of appeal.

There's some connection there somewhere.

Pass the algorithms.

I can, of course, choose no longer to attend games. But, football attracted me first and foremost because it was passionate. Not 'thought out'.

And in that, in all its aspects, at least in its top-end, professional form, it seems to be missing the point these days.

Example: Birmingham versus Aston Villa, a 'proper' local derby - Sunday just gone. A traditional 'football' city, not just a town. Empty seats. Nearly fifty quid a ticket?

Then it seems that a 'new breed' of fans have come in. Those that are consumers, not of passion. They can take or leave.

It just does not seem appropriate. If I were to be 'accountantly', rather than 'old school'.

Maybe it is time for fans such as myself to step aside.

While I like the sentiment associated with the "way football used to be" and the points that Ian H makes, there is of course both a limit and a middle-ground. Yes I want my club to see success, but I want grass-roots success not Chelsea/Man City style "buy what you want".

Then I would not like to see my club relegated, but the reality is that in a saturated industry where balance sheets and capital injection do matter, you have to ask whether if there were 91 "rich Arab owners" in the league, how would you feel coming 92nd in the league due to a lack of ability to invest appropriately, but "hey we got someone local in charge" who purports to being Billy Bob from the Fish and Chip Shop who lives in Zinzan Street but loves the club dearly and wants to see fans love their club as much as he does.

I have resigned myself to an industry where capitalism rules - both football as my sport-of-choice and investment banking as my career-of-choice - one has to ask whether it is possible to meet the demands of a changing industry like football, but yet still remain both unique and not a "sell out" in the Chelsea/Man City guise. Personally I think it can happen, and the key lies not with just the ownership structure and the objectives of the shareholders, but of how we execute on what we want the club to be. This is where supporter groups, similar to something like Amnesty International as a pressure group, can enforce the strongest financial company to embrace social responsibility. For me, this is the future - you take financial management as a given and build on it by embracing social responsibility. Grass roots football through a flourishing academy, participation in local events and investments in local people and projects, and contribution to the overall culture and desire for people to live in and have an affinity with an area.

That to me is the future of this industry that has already changed beyond that which you would like it to be, Ian. I would suggest embracing it and working out how to be both competitive and unique. That is what I want this club to be - not a Chelsea/Man City or a real local-locals club focusing on how football used to be - I want my club to be Reading, a competitive club with high ambitions but a proper soul.

its also time for you to get your quotes in the right place you old piss ridden shit.

[RobRoyal]

How does "nightmare scenario for any self respecting FOOTBALL CLUB" constitute racism?

How about we nail down why an Arab takeover of Reading constitutes a "nightmare scenario for any self respecting FOOTBALL CLUB"?

And also, why does FOOTBALL CLUB have to be capitalised?

[Focher]

How does "nightmare scenario for any self respecting FOOTBALL CLUB" constitute racism?

How about we nail down why an Arab takeover of Reading constitutes a "nightmare scenario for any self respecting FOOTBALL CLUB"?

And also, why does FOOTBALL CLUB have to be capitalised?

firstly its constitutes a nightmare scenario because an arab, American, Russian etc has no connection with Reading, they have no passion for the town or what RFC stands for. They would have absolutely no problem in walking away and leaving us potless.

As for your 2nd point, that highlights the fact we are a Football Club, and football is the main priority at the club, not some random outsider using our name to gain fame and bigger status in front of his or her rich friends.

I don't understand your problem with such a simple statement i really don't.

[Once were Biscuitmen]

Fantastic! if this goes through all the camera phone toting Mongs and dual season ticket holders from the prem years will be back.

[TFF]

Fantastic! if this goes through all the camera phone toting Mongs and dual season ticket holders from the prem years will be back.

God forbid. Can you imagine how noisy it could get in there?

[Mr Irascible]

Dear Friday's,

I appreciate your more reasoned approach. I fully realise I am probably I am an 'extremist' in my views. Or maybe, fundamentalist. I think the thing that bothers me is the way that fans have been almost 'kettled' as they are in anti-capitalist protests by the police, down a sidestreet, for example, whereby their most vocal or 'proactive' participants are placed into a place you (intelligently) describe here - whereby the fans may believe they have a voice and an active role, but in reality, as always, money talks, and they can say nowt, as they are stuck up a bloody cul-de-sac. Almost cynically, where they can then be 'maintained' and in whatever term, condescended to.

It just seems to me that money leeches. Passion. Interest. Brotherhood. Identity.

Yet, there have been a few 'alchemic' times where the two parties have met and convened, at times of success, obviously. If anyone saw a recent clip on youtube of Dylan Kerr after our promotion confirmation against Brighton at EP back in the 90's, for instance, his confirmation of understanding the connection of what had been achieved by the players and the club, and what it meant to the people of the town and the area, at that time was clearly on display. And latterly, the suddenly spontaneous celebrations of Steve Coppell and Madejski at Leicester, and the look on Grame Murty's face. Add to that the jubilation at Brentford in 2002. If that could be bottled and mixed? What kind of volatile force would that be?

What I see is 'old' passion derided and scorned as old hat. New business 'sensibilities' offered as some kind of alternative. Were someone to mix the two, as has happened by 'glorious mistake' a time or two at Reading? Happy days!

I think that is why I'd rather spend six or seven weeks watching sage growing in an unknown person's herb garden, than see the on-pitch 'realisation' of a business plan. Or at least, some curled leaf parsley.

Having just witnessed several thousand graduates mime the staged directions of a yuppy screaming at them on Channel Four exhorting them to 'act out' karate chops in business suits, somehow grimy, rain-lashed nights at EP with the stink of unused fried onions does still hold a modicum of appeal.

There's some connection there somewhere.

Pass the algorithms.

I can, of course, choose no longer to attend games. But, football attracted me first and foremost because it was passionate. Not 'thought out'.

And in that, in all its aspects, at least in its top-end, professional form, it seems to be missing the point these days.

Example: Birmingham versus Aston Villa, a 'proper' local derby - Sunday just gone. A traditional 'football' city, not just a town. Empty seats. Nearly fifty quid a ticket?

Then it seems that a 'new breed' of fans have come in. Those that are consumers, not of passion. They can take or leave.

It just does not seem appropriate. If I were to be 'accountantly', rather than 'old school'.

Maybe it is time for fans such as myself to step aside.

While I like the sentiment associated with the "way football used to be" and the points that Ian H makes, there is of course both a limit and a middle-ground. Yes I want my club to see success, but I want grass-roots success not Chelsea/Man City style "buy what you want".

Then I would not like to see my club relegated, but the reality is that in a saturated industry where balance sheets and capital injection do matter, you have to ask whether if there were 91 "rich Arab owners" in the league, how would you feel coming 92nd in the league due to a lack of ability to invest appropriately, but "hey we got someone local in charge" who purports to being Billy Bob from the Fish and Chip Shop who lives in Zinzan Street but loves the club dearly and wants to see fans love their club as much as he does.

I have resigned myself to an industry where capitalism rules - both football as my sport-of-choice and investment banking as my career-of-choice - one has to ask whether it is possible to meet the demands of a changing industry like football, but yet still remain both unique and not a "sell out" in the Chelsea/Man City guise. Personally I think it can happen, and the key lies not with just the ownership structure and the objectives of the shareholders, but of how we execute on what we want the club to be. This is where supporter groups, similar to something like Amnesty International as a pressure group, can enforce the strongest financial company to embrace social responsibility. For me, this is the future - you take financial management as a given and build on it by embracing social responsibility. Grass roots football through a flourishing academy, participation in local events and investments in local people and projects, and contribution to the overall culture and desire for people to live in and have an affinity with an area.

That to me is the future of this industry that has already changed beyond that which you would like it to be, Ian. I would suggest embracing it and working out how to be both competitive and unique. That is what I want this club to be - not a Chelsea/Man City or a real local-locals club focusing on how football used to be - I want my club to be Reading, a competitive club with high ambitions but a proper soul.

its also time for you to get your quotes in the right place you old piss ridden shit.

What a fantastic contribution to the debate! Why do you resort to such depths? I would rather support park football than consider myself a fellow fan of the likes of you.

[Focher]

What a fantastic contribution to the debate! Why do you resort to such depths? I would rather support park football than consider myself a fellow fan of the likes of you.

Ian would never have a go at me like that, my assesment was bang on (as Charlie said to Maverick whilst arguing by her car in top gun), what i said almost amounted to 'i love you', in a mong type of way.

[Fezza]

Im not overly sure I give a shit to be honest.
An owner is just an owner.

What he said....

If we get a money bags owner we'll be in the same position as half the clubs in the Prem (therefore doomed to mid table mediocrity, due to not having the attractive name of say Man Utd or Liverpool). If pushed I'd rather owners from the Middle East as they are less likely to asset (we'd need to buy some first) strip us than the Yanks.

At the end of the day I am happy if true or not. No matter what division, I will be wanting us to win with the same passion once the season starts.

Do I want us to be the best club in the world according to the press? Frankly I couldn't give a rats bollock what they think. If we were playing Forest Green each season I'd still think we were better than anyone else.

[Deathy]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2635779/Reading-set-for-80m-takeover.html

READING could become the next English club taken over by Arab money-men.

Royals chairman John Madejski is understood to be close to agreeing an £80million deal to sell the Championship club to a Middle Eastern consortium.

Multi-millionaire Madejski, who made his fortune through Auto Trader, took control of the club in 1990.

But he has been looking to sell since they were relegated from the Premier League the season before last.


GOODBYE JOHN!!! TAKE YOUR COMPLEMENTARY PREMIER LEAGUE BRICK!!

I welcome our new Muslim owner!!

I'm leaking!

We're not worth anything like £80m though.

Im not overly sure I give a shit to be honest.
An owner is just an owner.

What he said....

If we get a money bags owner we'll be in the same position as half the clubs in the Prem (therefore doomed to mid table mediocrity

Gutted.

[Barry the bird boggler]

And that's worse than what we have now, how exactly?