Madman: Your time is Uppppppppppp

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

Yellowcoat - you arent the clubs accountant by any chance ?? - you do seem to be batting off every financial question as if you have the knowledge of whats lies beneath..

not saying for one minute that what you are saying is correct however...but you do seem to be defending the clubs finances to the hilt here.....when there are very valid, and a number of unanswered questions, as to how the club has gone from a club with a future, to a club looking ominously in the other direction....

[Royal Lady]

I think the problem lies with the Reading Football Club plc and Reading Football Club "holdings" or whatever they're both called. It would be far easier for us fans if the Football Club had a completely separate set of accounts to those of the hotel etc.

[Yellowcoat]

I am no longer involved with the club in any way but have been company secretary to several businesses, and a charity, and have run a small local council. Unlike Royal Blue I can understand why a bank would call for a reduction in loans and overdraft in the current financial climate. He views everything about RFC from the the stance of personally hating SJM so although he will not admit it that colours his views. I try to understand what is going on and do not think the fans are being lied to. Too many people make assumptions about the income and expenditure which are wrong.

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

I think the problem lies with the Reading Football Club plc and Reading Football Club "holdings" or whatever they're both called. It would be far easier for us fans if the Football Club had a completely separate set of accounts to those of the hotel etc.

TBH RL - not sure why they ever combined the many factions of the set-up ..maybe to confuse the taxman god knows...the club was always an indepenedent entity before incumbent chairman took the reins...now the whole thing is muddied and maybe a good way of him making it difficult for the fan to see whats happening to the money and where its going !!!

Why on earth would anyone combine a football clubs finance with a hotels?? when the only connection is a few bricks and the same owner..oh i see why now !!!

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

I am no longer involved with the club in any way but have been company secretary to several businesses, and a charity, and have run a small local council. Unlike Royal Blue I can understand why a bank would call for a reduction in loans and overdraft in the current financial climate. He views everything about RFC from the the stance of personally hating SJM so although he will not admit it that colours his views. I try to understand what is going on and do not think the fans are being lied to. Too many people make assumptions about the income and expenditure which are wrong.

Fair enough Yellowcoat - thankyou for your honesty...but do you understand why fans wonder about the finances sometimes ?

[ROKERITE]

The biggest mistake Sir John has made is allowing himself to be swayed by a few short-sighted fans. If he'd stuck to his guns and given his full backing to Rodgers, the future for Reading would be a lot brighter.

Rokerite= tommy smith in disguise

Something tells me that you would have even waxed lyrical about the hapless tenure of your own Terry Butcher and Mick Buxton.....

No, in nearly fifty years of supporting Sunderland, Butcher is THE most inept manager we've had; not my least favourite but a man who, I said at the time of his appointment, was a ridiculous choice. It's astonishing that he's still managing over fifteen years later, though it is in Scotland. Buxton was a different kettle of fish. He didn't seem such a crazy choice when he got the job; it just became apparent once he'd been with us a little while.
Neither of those two bear any comparison with Brendan Rodgers; a manager who will in due course achieve the promotion to the PL at Swansea City that he would have done at Reading, if he hadn't been sacked precipitately.

[howser]

We were led to believe that the Rodgers, sacking, resigning was due to a conflict of views over strengthening the side, McD was appointed as he could see that the fundamental parts were in the right place but just needed tweeking, but, after the good finish to last season it was obvious to most that we needed some new faces to increase the momentum from last season, however in all reality that was never going to happen under the present regime, thus the problems we are facing, if this season continues to go not in the right direction then who comes in ?? as any replacement, with any credibility, would want some transfer money to bring some new life to the team. Irrespective of what has happened with the clubs finances, we have gone downhill, and the management dont seem to have too many concerns about that, sadly,.

I do agree that the Reading FC PLC to Reading holdings thing will allows money to be moved out of the clubs footballing side of things to bolster up other investment losses.

I also think that the owner will be left to rue the day he got rid of Rodgers, he would have done well with us but he didnt have the support of Madejski, as will no manger we have, whoever they are.

[Alan Partridge]

Rodgers had Madejski's support it was others around Jm who didn't like Rodgers.

He was an utter disaster. Too inexperienced for a rebuild job and tried to play Rolls Royce football using the engine and parts of a Reliant Robin.

He went his tenure without a recognised right back, signed some utter crap and the results were there for all to see. God knows what would have happened had he been given more time to put his influence on this lot. The shackles were off as soon as he went and bar the odd hiccup here and there the confidence and freedom in the teams play was evident. #

Rodgers *might* do ok at Swansea because it's all there for him. He doesn't have to do anything other than find them a bit of cutting edge from somewhere. He's taken that Sinclair who may work out for them but Swansea can't keep hold of their best players and don't really have the funds to take them onto the next level.

McDermott inherited a mess and he's had the fewest resources given to him since Jim and Mick in 1995.

If you dodn't improve your squad each year you've got serious problems and that's the situation Reading have now. A squad top heavy in central midfielders and goalkeepers and not enough of the important places. Centre half and centre forward. The two areas of the pitch that win you things.

[howser]

I accept what you say AP, but why cant the management see the need for new blood in the positions that you mention......................everybody else appears to be aware of our problems, can the only reason not be that Madejski isnt interested or that bothered about it.......but we musn't forget that he is determined to get us back in the top league...........my ass.

[Alan Partridge]

I accept what you say AP, but why cant the management see the need for new blood in the positions that you mention......................everybody else appears to be aware of our problems, can the only reason not be that Madejski isnt interested or that bothered about it.......but we musn't forget that he is determined to get us back in the top league...........my ass.

I don't disagree howser. Big squad at Reading and unless they get a few more off the wage bill i don't think you will see much in terms of new players. Absolutely need 1 centre half and 1 centre forward that is a proper target man hold it up style centre forward. Someone that can bully defenders and bring Sigurdsson into play a bit more as welll as get on the end of crosses from the two wingers.

Madejski has obviously said to them this year there is no leeway in the budget and £250k was it. First time in my memory Reading have made no signings of note. Also feel this squad/team is weaker than the one they had at the end of last season. Not very good to be honest.

[Terminal Boardom]

I accept what you say AP, but why cant the management see the need for new blood in the positions that you mention......................everybody else appears to be aware of our problems, can the only reason not be that Madejski isnt interested or that bothered about it.......but we musn't forget that he is determined to get us back in the top league...........my ass.

There. Is. No. Money. HTH

[howser]

I have been following this club since 1963, and even when we were in the bottom league, a few times, we have always attempted to improve our squad, some bad signings I admit, but at least we have made an effort.

Another confusing thing to me is that some present Prem clubs draw crowds of less numbers that we did when we were there, yet thay still manage to maintain their top league position, it just doesn't compute,anyway, thats how I see it from my northern outpost.

[loyalroyal4life]

Rodgers had Madejski's support it was others around Jm who didn't like Rodgers.

He was an utter disaster. Too inexperienced for a rebuild job and tried to play Rolls Royce football using the engine and parts of a Reliant Robin.

He went his tenure without a recognised right back, signed some utter crap and the results were there for all to see. God knows what would have happened had he been given more time to put his influence on this lot. The shackles were off as soon as he went and bar the odd hiccup here and there the confidence and freedom in the teams play was evident. #

Rodgers *might* do ok at Swansea because it's all there for him. He doesn't have to do anything other than find them a bit of cutting edge from somewhere. He's taken that Sinclair who may work out for them but Swansea can't keep hold of their best players and don't really have the funds to take them onto the next level.

McDermott inherited a mess and he's had the fewest resources given to him since Jim and Mick in 1995.

If you dodn't improve your squad each year you've got serious problems and that's the situation Reading have now. A squad top heavy in central midfielders and goalkeepers and not enough of the important places. Centre half and centre forward. The two areas of the pitch that win you things.

Well he has signed a decent player in scott sinclair and if he gets henri lansbury then fair play to him, think they will do ok

[Terminal Boardom]

You need to have a strong spine. Good keeper, good central defence, good centralmidfield, good strikers. We were relegated in 1987/88 because we lost Steve Wood, Kevin Bremner and Trevor Senior.

I defy ANYONE to convince me that we have a strong spine now.

[Northern Git]

So Yellowcoat, as someone who was 'involved in the club' would you care to speculate how JM is using RFC Holdings to support his other businesses (specifically his print business)?

Also how such support has / will be shown in the accounts past and future.

It's not a 'lets knock JM' question, just very interested.

[Terminal Boardom]

Thing is, with no money about, if BMcD was removed, who would want to come in knowing that funds for new players was non-existant? Also, which players would want to come if they knew that there was no visible sign of ambition?

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

Thing is, with no money about, if BMcD was removed, who would want to come in knowing that funds for new players was non-existant? Also, which players would want to come if they knew that there was no visible sign of ambition?

Marlon King???? ....sorry bad joke!...we dont do scum at the club

[under the tin]

Thing is, with no money about, if BMcD was removed, who would want to come in knowing that funds for new players was non-existant? Also, which players would want to come if they knew that there was no visible sign of ambition?

That's very pertinent.
Competitive sportsmen generally react very positively to the strenghtening of a team, because they want to be associated with success.
When the perception of these same people is that the team they are involved with is stagnating, that's when the talent drains away.
It is for this reason I am convinced that we will end up losing our box office players. We all understand that players are transient, and move on for a variety of reasons every year. What bothers me is that when I look at our playing assets, I see something that is akin to an MFI dining table.
There's a very thin veneer of quality, covering much cheaper materials.

[Yellowcoat]

Although clearly the latest accounts are not yet available I have seen no evidence that SJM has taken any money back out of RFC or transferred it to other outside companies. People have picked up on comments elsewhere and wrongly assumed this is taking place. I understand that RL and others get confused about the Holdings company but I feel this was set up to provide alternative income streams as the football club alone usually runs at a loss. However I would stress that any 'involvement' with the club was not on the financial side.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

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