Chairman Backing

[Svlad Cjelli]

This is always based on the argument that "we sell whoever......"

We don't - we are and have been in a situation where we can't prevent players from leaving. We either can't afford the money to keep them once they are at a certain level and we're at a lower level.

[Libertine]

I dunno what to make out of all of this. To me a fan should look at the "big picture". Where we were when he took over and where we've ended up. Based on that how can you not support SJM? But ever since we weren't able to get back up in the intervening years since we've come back down it seems some of the ambition he had in the past has dissapated. I don't know if it is the result of how the business of the game has been changing, not for the better, recently. Or if it is the bad economy, the impact of which on the chairman can be chronicled in the newsfelch post readingbedding made. Bottom line is the ambition that SJM had to raise his hometown team to the pinnacle of English football doesn't seem to be the same as it has been in the past. Or it could be that he is getting older. No matter what I would like to thank him for all of the excitement he has brought over the years but if he wants out I am fully supportive of his leaving and getting an owner, or owners, whom are committed to continue the upward progress of the club. But to criticize him, in the face of where he has brought us since he took over, is shortsighted imo...

[PremAddict]

Personally I prefer being competitive over being promoted. Maybe that's me being a Yank, but I like knowing every match has a potential of 3 points for us.

Sure I'd love for us to spend some money on recognized talent, but I like it even more when we spot talent and keep it as long as we can.

Of course, I have no where near the tenure of fandom for the Royals as some on here...

[prostak]

Personally I prefer being competitive over being promoted. Maybe that's me being a Yank, but I like knowing every match has a potential of 3 points for us.

Sure I'd love for us to spend some money on recognized talent, but I like it even more when we spot talent and keep it as long as we can.

Of course, I have no where near the tenure of fandom for the Royals as some on here...

If we were to wave our length of service cocks, I can boast of approaching 2 decades. And I agree entirely with you, and would say most long-term fans do. In fact, me and my internetz boyfriend papereyes were discussing exactly this on the way home from Bramall Lane. The plain truth is that it's very difficult for a club of our spending power to maintain Premier League status without taking on potentially terminal debt. The promoted teams of 2000/01 have probably managed this best - I'm unsure of Fulham and Blackburn's debt levels but they don't appear to have spent very much over the past decade. In all other cases with small teams, there has been an investor who is unconcerned about recovering his loans - see Eddie Davies at Bolton. Madejski is unwilling to make that sort of donation, and I don't blame him - there's no obligation to do so. Even if a club like us does go up, they have to endure the humiliation of at least 5 write-offs a season along with being punished if they field a team which reflects the unlikely nature of achieving a result.

We seem to be setting ourselves up as a kind of posh 1990s-model Crewe Alexandra, who may make a promotion challenge in a particularly good year but are content to maintain their current stature in the meantime. Maybe that's not ambitious enough for some, but I prefer it to supporting someone like Oxford United.

[loyalroyaldaz]

I reckom that Reading FC and John Madejski have been mutually beneficial to eachother but it is probably time for a change.
Indeed that would probably be best for both parties as well at the moment. It does appear that as a club we a bit in limbo at the moment, yes we are reasonably financially stable, but we are never going to increase revenue the way things are at the moment. I have been a season ticket holder for some 20 years now and loved every minute of it but make no mistake the two seasons we had in the premiership were the most enjoyable years. There are many on here who slag the big league off and yes it does have issues financially but you know what, its not my worry, i pay whatever the Club charge because i love football, love my town and love my football club. I couldnt give a toss what debt we have, who really would not want to see the likes of Arsenal, Manu and Chelsea at the Mad Stad week in week out.
Go ask their supporters if they give a toss about what debts the owners have, most of them wont care less because they are paying good money to see great footballers play the game they love.
yes its time for JM to move on, thanks for the Memories, enjoy the Kudos that your association with Reading FC has brought you and let someone else have a go.

And yes, i have less that a billion oxf*rd posts so tell me to oxf*rd of newbie, i dont give a oxf*rd !

[prostak]

The existence of FCUM suggests not all United fans 'don't give a toss' about debt.

[loyalroyaldaz]

The existence of FCUM suggests not all United fans 'don't give a toss' about debt.

Agreed, thats why i wrote "most" not "all"

[prostak]

If the team at the top can get several thousand people to be concerned enough about ownership to form an entirely new club, and you still think we ought to strive toward that at all costs, good luck to you.

[Big McC]

I'd just like honesty. Honesty about the ambitions of the club and honesty about the finances. If he did that I'd respect SJM a lot more.

[loyalroyaldaz]

If the team at the top can get several thousand people to be concerned enough about ownership to form an entirely new club, and you still think we ought to strive toward that at all costs, good luck to you.

Prostak, its just my opinionm, but lets not forget that i am not the one who is always stating our ambition to compete in the top flight so bring a friend with you to the next game am i ? nor am i the one trying to yet again take the piss out of the season ticket holders with this latest renewel bollox under the banner of "Showing your Allegience". Come on Sir John, do us a favour, move on and enjoy your no doubt free korma from one of the many Reading FC endorsed curry houses around the town now.

[seahawk10]

Personally I prefer being competitive over being promoted. Maybe that's me being a Yank, but I like knowing every match has a potential of 3 points for us.

Sure I'd love for us to spend some money on recognized talent, but I like it even more when we spot talent and keep it as long as we can.

Of course, I have no where near the tenure of fandom for the Royals as some on here...

I'm the same. I am very proud of how Reading operate. I think we are in position for long-term stability and are building our next promotion contender. It may not come this year or next, but I am confident that it will come. Although, I would not mind taking a few risks in the transfer market when the time is right.

Until then, buy low, sell high. Weather the storm of financial crisis that is bombarding too many clubs these days and wait for the right set of players to make our move.

[Libertine]

Personally I prefer being competitive over being promoted. Maybe that's me being a Yank, but I like knowing every match has a potential of 3 points for us.

Sure I'd love for us to spend some money on recognized talent, but I like it even more when we spot talent and keep it as long as we can.

Of course, I have no where near the tenure of fandom for the Royals as some on here...

LOL...that might be the difference in the 2 of us. I am a Red Sox fan, not a "Yank".

But seriously, now that I got my bad joke for this thread out of the way, maybe I don't have the standing to make the comment(s) I have. In terms of the length of my service length cock I am hung like a pimple, lol. But I am passionate about wanting to see the team do well, without jeopardizing the teams long term future. I said I really do agree with how the team's management has set out to build the squad even if I have been critical of them not taking the slight chance by buying the one striker which could have made the difference between promotion this year or not. Some people have argued, and convincingly imo, that promotion this year is not in the team's best interest. So an argument can be made that I am all wet in my observations on whether we should or shouldn't have "gone for it" this year, which I feel we should have.

Getting back to "standing". I admit in terms of being a fan I am the n00best of the n00bs. I have really not followed English football up to recently. I played the game when I was younger. I am a huge supporter of the USMNT (thank you Rob Green btw, lol). Recently, within the last 3 years, I decided I wanted to follow football in the country where the game was invented. I had many teams I could choose from in terms of whom to support. Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, etc? I chose Reading. Why? A mate of mine was a fan of the team, being a Reading native and all, and after I learned the history of the club I really liked what I learned. It would be easier to be a fan of one of the "Big Four". Their fans are used to people across the world supporting their team. Reading? Well of course they don't have the global following of those "storied" PL franchises. Bottom line is that I made my choice and for me that means no going back. Reading is my team and always will be....with the same type of passion I have for my beloved Boston Red Sox. And having lived through 1975, 1978, 1986, 2003 and the 86 years it took for them to finally win a championship again I know what patience and passion and heartbreak are all about.

As I said in my introductory post, on another thread, I am an opinionated SOB. If I cross the line I am willing to take whatever heat comes my way. In all reality I probably shouldn't have joined here. I should have observed and pulled for the team from afar. But I guess that just isn't me...when I support a team I do it with my heart and soul. And when you let your heart dictate how you what you believe, instead of your head, a person can sometimes be wrong for all the right reasons...

[Royal Rother]

It's good to have new posters who can string a sentence or 2 together, so a warm welcome fella!

[Libertine]

Thanks for the welcome and c'mon URRRZZZZZZ!!!

Well actually at times I've been told I can be a tad too verbose, lol. And I can be hardly readable at times with my 'merican form of the language.

[Libertine]

And as an aside, just to back-up my point from earlier on this thread about how the game is changing, I just read that the tickets for the UEFA Champions League Final, which will be held at Wembley this year, are going to run " £300, £225 and £150 plus a £26 "administration fee" ". That is just plain fcuking crazy!!!

[PieEater]

I bet the poll results are not quite what the OP intended.

[brendywendy]

I'd just like honesty. Honesty about the ambitions of the club and honesty about the finances. If he did that I'd respect SJM a lot more.

examples of financial mendacity please?


and i think you misunderstand what the word ambition means. it like a goal, something to aim for, something that you want. not something you categorically guarantee will happen.
you can aspire to be a prem team, and have the ambition to be as big as arsenal, & not achieve either.

[brendywendy]

If the team at the top can get several thousand people to be concerned enough about ownership to form an entirely new club, and you still think we ought to strive toward that at all costs, good luck to you.

Prostak, its just my opinionm, but lets not forget that i am not the one who is always stating our ambition to compete in the top flight so bring a friend with you to the next game am i ? nor am i the one trying to yet again take the piss out of the season ticket holders with this latest renewel bollox under the banner of "Showing your Allegience". Come on Sir John, do us a favour, move on and enjoy your no doubt free korma from one of the many Reading FC endorsed curry houses around the town now.

what a total bastard, knocking 20 quid off the price.money grabbing tosser..........

[brendywendy]

I bet the poll results are not quite what the OP intended.

but good to see none the less. sometimes the loudness of the shouters can detract from the fact that theres not that many of them

[savannah]

fair enough we are all entitled to our opinion but it does stagger me how many people would prefer a board who just throw money as the team. Unless we have an owner who is super-rich I don't see how getting an owner who invests more in the team would make Reading more successful. I love Reading, but if i was to invest all of my money in the club i would still want a return..