Stoke show RFC how to run a Real Football Club

[Royal Rother]

to my mind "Where's the money gone", and "We need new players" type discussions are absolutely pointless at this time and disrespectful to the club's ethos

Are you for real?!?!?

Avon, let's face it, you don't understand the club's ethos so there's no way you can respect it.

[Royal Lady]

Of course, if more people like Mr Rother actually went to games, instead of thinking they have the divine right to slag off everyone who dares to criticise the club, we'd have more money coming in for a start and they'd see what it is, first hand, that many people are unhappy with.

[Arch]

It's actually a very mundane right.

[Royal Rother]

I don't slag people off, I merely use a combination of words that politely illustrate their naivety and stupidity.

Anyway, if more people like Royal Lady actually took an accounting / business course instead of slagging off our multi-millionaire owner from a position of ignorance we'd probably have a little more sense posted on this board.

[FiNeRaIn]

Its sad that we are continuously talking about finances - the reason we are is because people are fed up of seeing our best players sold and us not replacing them. You are stupid if you think that every single club who adopts this approach won't have a large majority of fans that are completely and utterly pissed off with it. Reading fans have probably been way more reasonable than most. Could you imagine other clubs who have asset stripped as much as us? They would be demonstrating outside their grounds to remove the chairman and board. The RTG's complaining all the time should remember that other clubs fans have and will continue to be a LOT WORSE than reading fans in this regard.

No one has been asking us to go and spend 5-6 million on a player as a replacement, however when you sell your best players it weakens the team, if you weaken the team and then sell your best player again the next season...it gets even weaker...see a pattern here? That's exactly what reading have done. They shouldn't need to keep hold of all these funds but thanks to some AWFUL club management in the prem we are still suffering despite not investing then either. Financially we have been really, really badly run so I wish people would stop with this " well run club" nonsense. A clubs not well run if it pays a bunch of average players near to breaking point and then has to sell its best players 3 seasons in a row to apparently balance the books. I really don't see a light at the end of the tunnel because if 1/2 of our players really come on this season and we start to build a platform for next year...they'll get bought, the money will be banked and we'll be back to square one again.

I honestly wish they would cap wages and take buying players out of the game, or at least force teams to play at least 6 players from their youth academy in every game.

[AthleticoSpizz]

....and just how did our "best players" become our "best players"?

We certainly didn't sign them as such.....


....so no, when it comes to selling time, we are not so badly ran as some on here rant and rave about


just give in to it, and accept that football is a business.....and in our case it isn't a bottomless pit....yet we remain a viable business



despite it all, we've had good and very good seasons




Its football, enjoy, don't bust a blood vessel about it (leave that to the bankers)

[Cypry]

I really don't see a light at the end of the tunnel because if 1/2 of our players really come on this season and we start to build a platform for next year...they'll get bought, the money will be banked and we'll be back to square one again.

Unless the reason that they're sitting on the Mills/Long money is because it means that we won't need to sell next Summer, and can make a big push with an established side in 2012/13?

At the end of the day, there are two possible reasons that i can see for hanging on to the bulk of the cash:

1) It fills next years "black hole" and reduces the need to sell players.
2) It's going to be used to pay down some of the clubs debts.

Whatever Madejski says in his interview after the game on Saturday could be very revealing in respect of the above - I'll be surprised if the "black hole" has increased this year above the £4M quoted last year.

From my perspective, I'll be disappointed and angry if SJM is shown to be pulling the income from the sales of Mills and Long from the club, but history suggests that's unlikely....as it is, I'll wait until the transfer window shuts next week and see what happens before I start chucking my toys about....

[Arch]

From my perspective, I'll be disappointed and angry if SJM is shown to be pulling the income from the sales of Mills and Long from the club....

Just as a point of interest, I can see why you would be disappointed, but why would you be angry. He has lent the club several million dollars and he's now seventy. Do you think he's never entitled to be paid back?

[Cypry]

From my perspective, I'll be disappointed and angry if SJM is shown to be pulling the income from the sales of Mills and Long from the club....

Just as a point of interest, I can see why you would be disappointed, but why would you be angry. He has lent the club several million dollars and he's now seventy. Do you think he's never entitled to be paid back?

I get that, and have no problem with him being paid back in a structured way that minimises the impact on the competitiveness of the club, but if it were to transpire that this years black hole is filled and the remainder of the Long / Mills money is "helping SJM out in hard times" then that would demonstrate to me that he is less committed to the club than we've been previously led to believe...

[Avon Royal]

Anyway, if more people like Royal Lady actually took an accounting / business course instead of slagging off our multi-millionaire owner from a position of ignorance we'd probably have a little more sense posted on this board.

Fair point.

After all, we all have to have done our UEFA badges in order to be able to comment on the performance of the team................

[Royal Rother]

[Royal Lady]

:lol:

I don't slag people off, I merely use a combination of words that politely illustrate their naivety and stupidity.

Anyway, if more people like Royal Lady actually took an accounting / business course instead of slagging off our multi-millionaire owner from a position of ignorance we'd probably have a little more sense posted on this board.

I presume you speak to the women in your family like you speak to me? I pity them.

I don't slag off JM - I'm questionning this "well run business" model - fair play our debts are small in comparison to other clubs - but we're not reinvesting enough to allow us to compete properly and if this continues we'll be a well run business in League One or below - except we won't be that well run because our revenue will fall dramatically. IMO.

[Royal Rother]

Indeed - just as I don't "slag off everyone who dares to criticise the club".

Would I be right in thinking the fact that I was merely parodying your previous post on this thread went over your head?

[brendywendy]

you only need to look at the posh result at teh weekend to see that a club that sells its best players every year, can still out compete, quite massively, teams that buy 10 new players a season

[PEARCEY]

From my perspective, I'll be disappointed and angry if SJM is shown to be pulling the income from the sales of Mills and Long from the club....

Just as a point of interest, I can see why you would be disappointed, but why would you be angry. He has lent the club several million dollars and he's now seventy. Do you think he's never entitled to be paid back?

He can surely be paid back by selling the club at a healthy profit. Perhaps he's being a bit greedy in what he wants for the club. If we are so well run and ambitious surely a business consortium would have come in and taken the club off him by now.

[Royal Rother]

Perhaps he IS being greedy. And perhaps he has received the right offers from the wrong people and, for the sake of the long-term future of the club (and therefore the fans), won't do business with them.

[brendywendy]

if he wants the money hes put in back, plus a little profit for the ten+ years of utter grief and constant abuse from fans, then i say fair play to him.

[PEARCEY]

Christ. This is fast becoming the Rotherwendy show on here.

[brendywendy]

been away for a couple of days, just trying to catch up with the post count

[Royal Rother]

Just being polite PEARCEY!