Selling club

[MmmMonsterMunch]

It's mildly amusing the we spent £700k on Murts 14 years ago yet won't even spend that now!

I have no issue with bargain buys at all...but if you buy 3-4 punts that don't turn out to be that good, then all of a sudden you're in a position where you could have actually just bought someone half decent in the first place.

[West Stand Man]

It's mildly amusing that so many people on here seem to know more about the prices that the club achieved than is in the public domain.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Murty did cost £700k though. He's said it himself.

[melonhead]

It's mildly amusing the we spent £700k on Murts 14 years ago yet won't even spend that now!

.

how much were mills, mcanuff,gorkss,ledge again?

all there or there abouts aint they?

[MmmMonsterMunch]

It's mildly amusing the we spent £700k on Murts 14 years ago yet won't even spend that now!

.

how much were mills, mcanuff,gorkss,ledge again?

all there or there abouts aint they?

Ok ok fair enough but in the main we do not spend that sort of money....

[melonhead]

, &

[Forbury Lion]

Does it annoy you that Reading are a selling club?

It will annoy me when we stop producing players that other clubs want to buy or sell flops on for less than we paid for them.

Other than Shaka Hislop to Newcastle for £1m, I believe we've only started selling players for big profits since we won promotion to the premier league.

[West Stand Man]

It will annoy me when we stop producing players that other clubs want to buy or sell flops on for less than we paid for them.

Other than Shaka Hislop to Newcastle for £1m, I believe we've only started selling players for big profits since we won promotion to the premier league.

Kerry Dixon
Lawrie Sanchez
Neil Webb

to name but 3.

[Wimb]

It will annoy me when we stop producing players that other clubs want to buy or sell flops on for less than we paid for them.

Other than Shaka Hislop to Newcastle for £1m, I believe we've only started selling players for big profits since we won promotion to the premier league.

Kerry Dixon
Lawrie Sanchez
Neil Webb

to name but 3.

Not to mention Ady Williams, Simon Osborn and Scott Taylor who we also made significant money (what was significant back then anyway) around the same time period.

[Royal With Cheese]

And Archie Lovell.

honerable mentions for George Friel and Naseem Bashir.

[Arch]

Steve Wood

[jazz]

Steve Wood

And Wicks to Chelsea.

[RepressedRoyal]

Of course we are selling club, that is the way it has to be unless some mad Arab is prepared to invest in us rather than a needy PL club such as Everton. The management at Reading are all big fans of the theories of Mathew Syed in the book Bounce, many of you will have read it, those of you haven't should do if you like sport, it is a great insight in to the beliefs in place at our football club. Basically there is a belief that natural talent does not exist, but that it is created by taking the right raw material and putting in hours of training and practice, Shane Long is a classic example.

Reading are in the business of creating a the right environment for raw talent to develop to a profitable level and sell them on to balance the books, they are running a business model to maximise income to balance the books, that doesn't bother me really, it is a good concept in my opinion. We like to create our own players who are hungry for career advancement, hence the dislike of loan players or buying in PL rejects or rivals players' on big wages in the hope they will be motivated to perform, ask Leeds and Leicester if this short term fix works.....in my opinion Matt Mills was not a 5 million pound player.

Any gambles that take place at Reading could be fatal, we only need to look at the disasters around us at Southampton (now recovered) Portsmouth (a complete joke) Oxford (just out of intensive care) and Swindon (see Oxford). We simply don't have the finance or support base to compete in the over hyped PL over a sustained period until we grow larger as a club, though apart from us long term die hards, for many of the Thames Valley middle classes who now follow Reading, it is just another hobby among many, a hobby that can easily be given up. We probably have 13,000 hard core supporters another 7,000 good time Charlies and 20,000 Daily Mail readers who go to play off finals to have a fantastic day out watching us lose as we cry in to our beer.

I hold no candle for Madjeski, he is not my type of guy, but I do believe the structure that Hammond and McDermott have created is a good one and possibly the only successful one available to us, Arsenal didn't head hunt Hammond because they are stupid and it wont be long before someone tags on to theories of McDermott and comes after him, rather that than blow money on dross the way Leicester have. The days of the PL were a huge over achievement, hopefully we might experience it again one day, but not at the price paid by the like of Charlton, Leeds, Bradford thanks very much.

I'd rather keep selling, however disappointing it feels to see our home made players move on!

[Franchise FC]

It will annoy me when we stop producing players that other clubs want to buy or sell flops on for less than we paid for them.

Other than Shaka Hislop to Newcastle for £1m, I believe we've only started selling players for big profits since we won promotion to the premier league.

Kerry Dixon
Lawrie Sanchez
Neil Webb

to name but 3.

You really are having a larrrrf.
Sanchez (£30k) and Webb (£80k) were all but free - big profits indeed.

Even Kerry Dixon only went for £150k plus another £25k when he played for England

[West Stand Man]

It will annoy me when we stop producing players that other clubs want to buy or sell flops on for less than we paid for them.

Other than Shaka Hislop to Newcastle for £1m, I believe we've only started selling players for big profits since we won promotion to the premier league.

Kerry Dixon
Lawrie Sanchez
Neil Webb

to name but 3.

You really are having a larrrrf.
Sanchez (£30k) and Webb (£80k) were all but free - big profits indeed.

Even Kerry Dixon only went for £150k plus another £25k when he played for England

Which at the time, for a Div 3 club, was a huge amount of money. You really must look at things in context. Remember that it was only recently that a player had been sold for £100k and even more recent that the first £1M player transfer happened. So, the case stands as presented m'lud.

[UrbieG]

More specifically, the Sanchez fee was probably something in the region of 3 times the average gate receipts at the time. I'd conservatively put that at around £1million in modern money.

[melonhead]

Of course we are selling club, that is the way it has to be unless some mad Arab is prepared to invest in us rather than a needy PL club such as Everton. The management at Reading are all big fans of the theories of Mathew Syed in the book Bounce, many of you will have read it, those of you haven't should do if you like sport, it is a great insight in to the beliefs in place at our football club. Basically there is a belief that natural talent does not exist, but that it is created by taking the right raw material and putting in hours of training and practice, Shane Long is a classic example.

Reading are in the business of creating a the right environment for raw talent to develop to a profitable level and sell them on to balance the books, they are running a business model to maximise income to balance the books, that doesn't bother me really, it is a good concept in my opinion. We like to create our own players who are hungry for career advancement, hence the dislike of loan players or buying in PL rejects or rivals players' on big wages in the hope they will be motivated to perform, ask Leeds and Leicester if this short term fix works.....in my opinion Matt Mills was not a 5 million pound player.

Any gambles that take place at Reading could be fatal, we only need to look at the disasters around us at Southampton (now recovered) Portsmouth (a complete joke) Oxford (just out of intensive care) and Swindon (see Oxford). We simply don't have the finance or support base to compete in the over hyped PL over a sustained period until we grow larger as a club, though apart from us long term die hards, for many of the Thames Valley middle classes who now follow Reading, it is just another hobby among many, a hobby that can easily be given up. We probably have 13,000 hard core supporters another 7,000 good time Charlies and 20,000 Daily Mail readers who go to play off finals to have a fantastic day out watching us lose as we cry in to our beer.

I hold no candle for Madjeski, he is not my type of guy, but I do believe the structure that Hammond and McDermott have created is a good one and possibly the only successful one available to us, Arsenal didn't head hunt Hammond because they are stupid and it wont be long before someone tags on to theories of McDermott and comes after him, rather that than blow money on dross the way Leicester have. The days of the PL were a huge over achievement, hopefully we might experience it again one day, but not at the price paid by the like of Charlton, Leeds, Bradford thanks very much.

I'd rather keep selling, however disappointing it feels to see our home made players move on!

you have posted a complete facsimile of what is in my head

[Extended-Phenotype]

^^ I like it. I really, really do.

I guess I personally just get frustrated when it feels we need something now, and the replacement seems so far from being up to task; made even worse when eventually someone comes good and we get such little time with them before they go.

We are of course a good team, but I can't help but wonder how much better we could be if a ready-to-play creative spark stepped into the team. While there are obviously some good reasons for the way we opperate, it is difficult to hide dissapointment when our raw chap stays raw, and proven ability joins somebody else!

Good stuff though, and something that has sunk in.

[Rob-Royal]

@repressedroyal - excellent post and sums us up perfectly.

You've described the football club very much with a business hat on and to a tee. We have a number of very like minded supporters at Reading, middle class, level headed and understanding of the financial aspects of todays modern game. Wow, how exciting is that?!

I am old school, I don't look at Reading Football Club as a business first, I look at is as a form of entertainment which I invest in and want to get value for money from but most of all to enjoy an experience with like minded fans on a match day (home or away) with a beer or 2, a sing song, slag the ref off and banter with oppo fans. The last thing on my mind watching a game is ' I really hope we sell Kebe to balance our books this year!' That sterile thought does nothing for me at all. Hence why it grates me that we nurture talent who finally get to make us get off our seats (after all isn't that what gets us excited on a match day?) only to see that talent then ply their trade elsewhere for other fans to enjoy! The Sigurdsson sale still gets my goat, that was one player who I would happily pay double every week to watch such was his talent which we barely got a glimpse of.

I accept the way the club is run, because I have to and it makes economical sense with longevity attached and yes we're looking after the business first & foremost, but as a fan going to the match on a Saturday afternoon, that is the furthest thought from my head...............

[Vic_Flange]

Selling Club indeed, we have come full circle.

If I was Sir John Madejski - I'd just say -FucK YOU Lot.

This club is for sale

Its "state the bleedin' obvious time" but that's what's needed sometimes

No sod will touch it

We're too close to London

Chelsea Arsenal Spurs et al

Everything is here - the stadium plus the hotel and the conference centre.

Yes the hotel and the conference, centre, its 2012 you morons. I have hired it myself for my own company and it is very worthy of the title "Berkshire Conference Centre"

You should thank God / Allah / Simon Cowel / Vic Flange / Kingsley Royal /Thor /whoever your god is we have SJM because otherwise we could quite easily go under. (as Port*mouth will surely and hopefully do soon or lately the filthy scum)

OK Rant over, the pubs are open, if they havent been turned into Tescos Express by the time Ive finished writing this