Summer transfer policy

[Agent Balti]

Leicester were taken over fairly recently by wealthy owners who are clearly willing to 'speculate'. How do you think they got a manager like Eriksson?

What RFC don't do (anymore) is 'speculate' with marquee signings. To use Madejski's oft used term. "It's washing its own face."

Whether we like it or not, there's zero point getting huffy about it. We can't change it or demand any different. Vote with your feet if you're disgruntled. It is what it is. As an industry, football plays itself to a loss. RFC are trying not to run at a loss. It's as simple as that.

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

...as long as Madejski doesnt expect the manager to perform miracles every season......to move forward you need to invest .....very few teams stay the same ......last season Reading over-achieved but that was mainly down to BMc's efforts and not from the support given to BMc in team investment.....

this season without any investment the team are destined to the mid table as most on here predicted at the start of last season......quality players leaving , need to be replaced .....by quality players to even stand still ....all imho

[marcusopp]

buying cheap hasn't let us down has it? the club were prepared for this and unlike with Sigurdsson we have plenty of time to bring in a replacement.

where is all the money going does concern me though. im not convinced about this on going deficit we have to keep finding money for since relegation. we have made an unbelievable amount from player sales, and there was also the parachute payments. wages should be back in check, and we certainly don't spend large amounts in transfer fees.

im happy to trust in Hammond and McDermott but i do wonder where the money goes now.

I think you'll be suprised just how much it costs to run a club. £4m is a drop in the ocean of the annual player wages (incl bonuses), that's where the money will end up. Remember, McAnuff and HRK have signed new deals, therefore an increase in wages. No one has bid on schlong yet, so if we sign hi he'll expect a large hike in pay.

[Barry the bird boggler]

It works for now but there is a very real danger that it will stop working because others make signings that are better than the players we're left with and the rough diamonds we sign and bring through the academy. It happened after the first PL when that team reached it's pinnacle, we failed to build properly on a solid base and were left behind by the teams who finished below us.

This team has reached it's pinnacle with the Play Off final it remains to be seen what fate will befall this team.

Supposedly the League chairman have voted to introduce new financial rules for 2012/13 that should see things at least level out a bit over the course of time. If things are applied properly then Reading should be one of the least affected by the changes.

[STAR Liaison]

buying cheap hasn't let us down has it? the club were prepared for this and unlike with Sigurdsson we have plenty of time to bring in a replacement.

where is all the money going does concern me though. im not convinced about this on going deficit we have to keep finding money for since relegation. we have made an unbelievable amount from player sales, and there was also the parachute payments. wages should be back in check, and we certainly don't spend large amounts in transfer fees.

im happy to trust in Hammond and McDermott but i do wonder where the money goes now.

the money has gone to the players. Apparently last season the wage bill was over budget (and we needed the sale of Gylfi to balance the budget at the start of the season).

As posted on another thread:

Following the end of season progress STAR asked if the financial position had changed from this time last year. It has not and the playing manager has a budget he needs to keep within – it is his decision whether to sell one star player or several less valuable players to have a larger and deeper squad. RFC is still in the position of being self-sustaining and any expectation of the Chairman increasing the funding is completely unrealistic. It is an amazing fact in the current economic climate that there is still an assumption that wages will rise again this season from players and agents.

[STAR Liaison]

Policy is simple...... make PROFIT as with any business.

I think RFC is a well run business, shrewd investments turn into long term financial gain

It works. Pity some of the dumbasses on here cannot work this out.

As a Reading fan what would you prefer - profit or promotion?

And how much would you put in the bucket to save the club? I want to support the club and watch football not follow so many other supporter trusts in fund raising to stop the club going out of business.

[Wycombe Royal]

to move forward you need to invest

But as in business to invest you either need to re-invest profits, raise more captial or take on debts. We don't have profits, we can't raise capital and the banks won't lend to football clubs.

[Avon Royal]

It works. Pity some of the dumbasses on here cannot work this out.

As a Reading fan what would you prefer - profit or promotion?

And how much would you put in the bucket to save the club? I want to support the club and watch football not follow so many other supporter trusts in fund raising to stop the club going out of business.

That's right, if we had a season where we made a loss but got promoted then we'd all have to chip in to save the club. Bloody Sky tightarses.........

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

to move forward you need to invest

But as in business to invest you either need to re-invest profits, raise more captial or take on debts. We don't have profits, we can't raise capital and the banks won't lend to football clubs.

Wycombe - agree with what you are saying but surely not all the profit from the sales we are making/going to be makingthis summer are going to be used to fill the once a year black hole ? ....I think what im trying to say is where do the club stand with regard to ambition.....if they arent then thats abs fine as well but please just tell the fans that and not the opposite ...we have a great manager and a good squad of players but chairman can t expect them to come up trumps every season .......all imho

[Row Z Royal]

And yet...

You have to spend big to replace big players. Reading are trying to do it on the cheap again. McDermott has been given a budget that reflects this.

That is utter bollocks.

How much did we spend on Gylfi?

http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=100568&p=2674237#p2674237

/like

[Wycombe Royal]

to move forward you need to invest

But as in business to invest you either need to re-invest profits, raise more captial or take on debts. We don't have profits, we can't raise capital and the banks won't lend to football clubs.

Wycombe - agree with what you are saying but surely not all the profit from the sales we are making/going to be makingthis summer are going to be used to fill the once a year black hole ? ....I think what im trying to say is where do the club stand with regard to ambition.....if they arent then thats abs fine as well but please just tell the fans that and not the opposite ...we have a great manager and a good squad of players but chairman can t expect them to come up trumps every season .......all imho

We have no idea what the "black hole" is this year and we also do not know what transfer budget McD had already been given prior to Mills being sold. Of course the club is ambitious, but there are different ways and methods of realising your ambition. We don't do it by spending lots of money but that is the only method that fans seem to think shows ambition. They are wrong.

[brendywendy]

As a Reading fan what would you prefer - profit or promotion?

And how much would you put in the bucket to save the club? I want to support the club and watch football not follow so many other supporter trusts in fund raising to stop the club going out of business.

That's right, if we had a season where we made a loss but got promoted then we'd all have to chip in to save the club. Bloody Sky tightarses.........

such a moronic argument.

the problem comes when you spend the money, dont get promoted, then have to deal with it.
do you go one spending for two, three,four years trying to get up and justify the investment?
against many teams who have more money to throw around than we do?
you just dont make any sense at all.

[royal67]

No, they avoid a loss.

Try to.

^^^ This.... ^^^

[brendywendy]

the finances as i see them:

we were looking like losing 4 million a year.
we sold sigurdsson for 7 million, meaning the 4 million was sorted, and we reinvested the remaining 3 million in transfer fees, wages, and loans for some much needed defenders/experience.
this worked and we improved on the performance we had with sig in the team,making the playoffs

this time round, the wage bill has been reduced, so the black hole is reduced this year. maybe to ~2 or 3 million?
we sell mills for 5 million, after other payments to donny etc leaving us with 1-2 million profit on the deal? so id imagine that means we can spend the 1-2 million on transfer/wages of new CB to replace him.
i believe any further sales(long-7m) will mean that we will keep some for the next seasons black hole, but we should then be able to spend the 4-5 million left over on a striker & LB(+wages)
leaving us finacially secure for years, more than able to cope with player transitions, probably with a stronger squad over all, and remaining totally competetive.


you also have to look t McDs/NHs actions over this.which show total control over the situation imo
mills has been offered a new contract, but not a huge one.McD probably knew he wanted out/wanted shot of him himself- he wasnt his player, and isnt really a McD type of player.
he gets a replacement in early last january so we wouldnt be scraping around for something in the summer-giving him enough time to bed in, get to know the quad, and start pushing his way in, and lets matt go for a huge profit when he had 1 year left, wanted out, and made maximum possible profit on him


i just dont get whats not to like about that(given that we do reinvest much of this money)

[Avon Royal]

And how much would you put in the bucket to save the club? I want to support the club and watch football not follow so many other supporter trusts in fund raising to stop the club going out of business.

That's right, if we had a season where we made a loss but got promoted then we'd all have to chip in to save the club. Bloody Sky tightarses.........

such a moronic argument.

the problem comes when you spend the money, dont get promoted, then have to deal with it.
do you go one spending for two, three,four years trying to get up and justify the investment?
against many teams who have more money to throw around than we do?
you just dont make any sense at all.

Is that how you live your life? Never doing anything risky because of what might happen if it goes wrong? Life is about taking risks. Business is about taking risks. Football is about taking risks. Dare to dream every once in a while.

Promotion to the premiership is worth in the region of £100m. That is a lot of £4m loss-making seasons...............

[No Fixed Abode]

No matter how you try and justify you're love for the club, you're still being fleeced a bit.

[ZacNaloen]

Why do you repeat the same mantra every year Avon Royal?


Last year after spouting off about this shit we ended up doing better than the year before.

I suppose if you keep it up, one day you'll be right. Broken clock etc

[Avon Royal]

Why do you repeat the same mantra every year Avon Royal?

I don't know, I guess I just care more.

[Snowball]

Promotion is NOT "worth 100 Million" or anything like it.

If a club goes up for one season it will "make" approx 90 Million, including 4 years' parachute payments.

It will also, probably, improve gate receipts and merchandising profits.

However, it will treble it's wage bill. On average Prem wages are 3.5 x Championship wages.



RFC spent a lot of money to get to the Prem and in two years made 12M total. They the LOST money
despite parachute payments because they had high wage-earners etc.


If it is such a dream scenario, why are there so many ex-Premiership sides in the Championship, League 1 etc

Charlton (Premiership > League 1)
Sheffield United (Premiership > League 1)

Ditto Southampton, Leicester, Leeds, now on the long haul back.

[Avon Royal]

Promotion is NOT "worth 100 Million" or anything like it.

If a club goes up for one season it will "make" approx 90 Million, including 4 years' parachute payments.

It will also, probably, improve gate receipts and merchandising profits.

Sounds like something worth £100m to me.

I didn't say that it wouldn't be spent on anything..............