Thames Sports Investment

[Royal Bison]

All this talk of massive investment, what's the betting that the takeover happens and it's the same old story, no budget etc etc

[mr_number]

I'm not sure whether to be excited or worried. It's definitely a good thing that he was educated in the area as it suggests he has some kind of tie, like SJM. I've got friends who went to Bradfield college, so will try to find out some info.

I just hope that SJM has stuck to his long term plan and sold to someone decent. I also hope it's cleared up quickly - this uncertainty is going to cause chaos on here.

Still, it might not happen... They probably put the statement on the website because they knew it would be in the press and wanted to keep the fans in the loop, which is nice.

[Norfolk Royal]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/200 ... yed/print/

Interesting stuff, Boris sounds like an extremely powerful man and is described as an oligarch.

The question is of course, how much money is in the sports holding company set up for investments such as Reading, which is as I understand it how this deal is being done.There appear to be other investors apart from Boris's son involved in the sports investment fund.

Either way, yippeee!

[dogzbollox]

Banner for Leicester match!

^^^This has got to happen^^^ - I have genuinely PMSL - clean pants please!

[robb the royal]

I can't work out whether I should be excited or not, but bearing in mind that Sir John has always said he will only sell the club to a suitable person, I have trust that the way we work won't change hugely. I think whoever it is (personally I'm not buying into the russian opinion of the mail) isn't going to come in an splash the cash. It will little old reading, a well run business, except with a bit more cash to spend on your £1 mill players...the kind of thing we need to get promoted.
Also, everyone on here is saying they don't want Sir John to go...great, i totally agree, but where is all the people who have been calling him to sell up at every opportunity for the last 3 years?

[muddyfeet]

Just woken up to this news, what the f is going on? Anyone care to summarise?!

[The Cube]

Boris Zingarevich has served as a director of Ener1, Inc. since June 2010. Mr. Zingarevich co-founded Ilim Pulp Enterprises in 1992, building it into the largest vertically integrated forest products company in Russia.

But who are the co-founders of the largest horizontally integrated forest products company in Russia? Shouldn't we be talking to them as well?

[leicsRoyal]

Just woken up to this news, what the f is going on? Anyone care to summarise?!

Sir John makes a statement that he has an interest in a TSI buying 49% of the club.

The Mail reckon it's the Ruski's.

Hob Nob in Meltdown

[Cypry]

Well done to the opening poster and those with brains large enough
to realise there could easily be a down side to this.


What WILL happen, you can virtually guarantee it, is much dissension at board level
and probably some silly buys (eventually), McDermott gone (eventually) if we are not
top three and looking likely.

You don't spend 40 Million and not "take over". This isn't REAL, people.

There's maybe a 1-2% chance it won't happen because Sir John actually MEANS it
when he says he wants a veto. But almost certainly the veto will turn out to be
unenforceable.

Clubs tend to have an ethos, be of a type. You don't just change that INSTANTLY
without a lot of blood.

As someone said, what about the Academy? If we start buying in a way which means
our kids don't come through, then within a year we won't be getting the same quality
into the Academy, the Academy's staff will be less happy and so on.

If you, the fans imagine (just for example) two top strikers coming in, a Premier-Quality AM,
a seriously decent CB, a left-back from Chelsea etc etc etc WHAT ABOUT THE CURRENT TEAM?

Why do you think the current team will be motivated? Think Karacan or Elwood will be, if the
"regime" starts talking about two new CMs? How about Hunt-Church-ALF-Shep etc?

We may get lucky. Spouses may stop cheating too.

Be careful what you wish for. I would so much have rathered Sir John win the lottery
and we continued as before with just a bit more cash.

And the source for the figure of £40M is a single article from the Daily Mail of all people - well, it must be true then...

As it stands the jury's out for me....
Until the details of the deal (which hasn't actually been finalised yet), including confirmation of who is actually behind it, are revealed then I'm not going to worry too much.

It might just be that SJM has sold the club on the principal that it's not actually a money pit (the £5M loss last year was largely down to the depreciation of assets which is effectively a paper only loss and doesn't affect the cash flow), and some careful investment might put the investor in a position to reap the rewards of promotion in a fairly short space of time....

Any talk of £40M is irrelevant until we know the structure of the deal - it could involve paying SJM back some of his directors loans (around £30M last year), leaving the club with significantly lower debt, and a small(ish) war chest which will fill the annual black hole and allow McD to avoid the annual rebuild when our best players leave, with some considered strengthening when and where needed - for a few years at least. From that perspective it could be an attractive investment proposition even for a minority shareholder, a relatively small initial outlay could result in a large return in a relatively short time frame. After all, we already have most of the infrastructure in place (unlike Everton if the DM article is to be believed - they were looking at a new ground - not cheap) so any investment would simply be in terms of restructuring debt and running the team itself.

Let's face it, we've been close to promotion even with the black hole filling and rebuilds, none more so that last year, and had we picked up 9 points in that horrendous run of losses in August/September and the following run of draws in October (which many put down mainly to the rebuilding in defence after the loss of Mills and Kish), then we'd be top of the table today.

I'll start to worry if and when things change significantly, but if SJM is to be believed then at present it's "steady as she goes" and hopefully that will not change...

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Just woken up to this news, what the f is going on? Anyone care to summarise?!

Sir John makes a statement that he has an interest in a TSI buying 49% of the club.

The Mail reckon it's the Ruski's.

Hob Nob in Meltdown

IT IS 51% FFS

[Archie's penalty]

Oligarchs are nasty, nasty men. As I said before, this could be good and could be very bad.

[Norfolk Royal]

Just woken up to this news, what the f is going on? Anyone care to summarise?!

Basically we're now the new QPR, if not the new Man City, and will be playing Champions League football within three years. You can go back to sleep now.

[West Stand Man]

Just woken up to this news, what the f is going on? Anyone care to summarise?!

Sir John makes a statement that he has an interest in a TSI buying 49% of the club.

The Mail reckon it's the Ruski's.

Hob Nob in Meltdown

So are you. I don't recall John Madejski mentioning a 49% figure (or another number, to be fair) anywhere?

[1871 Royal]

Will this mean we will finally get a substantial transfer kitty on Football Manager?

In all serious, if this was to happen I can only see it being a good thing for these reasons :

-I am sure that if SJM wasn't 1000000000000000000000000000000% sure this guy was right for the club he wouldn't even entertain the idea
-SJM and Hammond staying on will mean the club continues to be run as a business. Just with more money. When we spend £1m on a player we now might be able to spend £5m on a better player *no mills-o*.

I honestly don't think its a bad move.

And at this point in time I would like to say I have had a season ticket at the club since 98/99 season. *no gloryhunter-o*

I would also like to know where the 2020 Champions League final is being played



добро пожаловать на чтение

thats welcome to Reading in Russian by the way

[Norfolk Royal]

Boris Zingarevich has served as a director of Ener1, Inc. since June 2010. Mr. Zingarevich co-founded Ilim Pulp Enterprises in 1992, building it into the largest vertically integrated forest products company in Russia.

But who are the co-founders of the largest horizontally integrated forest products company in Russia? Shouldn't we be talking to them as well?

Do they mean horizontally integrated in the sense that the trees have all been chopped down?

[dogzbollox]

We love you Reading we do............. We love you Reading we do........ We love you Reading we do......Oh Reading we love you........... alternatively as follows:

a one .......a two ........a one two three four...all together now.......

делают мы любим Вас Читающий нас,.......... делают мы любим Вас Читающий нас, делают ...............мы любим Вас Читающий нас, делают ............О Чтение нас любит Вас

[leicsRoyal]

Just woken up to this news, what the f is going on? Anyone care to summarise?!

Sir John makes a statement that he has an interest in a TSI buying 49% of the club.

The Mail reckon it's the Ruski's.

Hob Nob in Meltdown

So are you. I don't recall John Madejski mentioning a 49% figure (or another number, to be fair) anywhere?

Sorry, that's what happens when you wake up to 15 pages of a thread that wasn't there when you last looked.

[West Stand Man]

You don't spend 40 Million and not "take over". This isn't REAL, people.

Oh dear, and you are usually so good at maths.

Firstly, the quote is that it values the club at £40M; You are bright enough to know that means that if he is buying a % share then he is not paying the full value of the club.

Secondly, even as a bald statement that is so wrong. If I spent £40M on shares in Man Utd I would not expect to 'take over' because I would be a minor shareholder. It is all proportional.

In this instance, though, point one is the driver. The Club is, apparently, valued at £40M; thus if he is buying 51% of it he is paying just over £20M for his share.

[West Stand Man]

Sorry, that's what happens when you wake up to 15 pages of a thread that wasn't there when you last looked.

Forgiven, it is all too easy to swallowed up in the conjecture generated by uninformed posters on here. It is amazing how a short statement by John M and an article in the Mail have become full of facts that are unsupported and, in the case of the statement, not even mentioned!

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

Will we be the next Pompey if this goes through or has Sir John Madejski's diligence been good enough not to see what he has created at RFC crumble below him?

The Zingarevich Stadium does not have the same ring to it as Mad stad!!