Confimred new owners of Raeding Footbal Club

[royalgrumpy]

As far as I can tell the financial fair play rules are there to make sure clubs remain self sufficient, which is absolutely right imo. For sure it will mean that the smaller clubs will get penalised if they try to compete financially with the bigger clubs, but they shouldn't be trying to. Oxford will never be able to compete with a club/brand the size of Arsenal, that's just the way of the world, and if FPP stops over ambitious chairmen putting their clubs in danger of potential insolvency through the pursuit of an impossible dream then good.

I agree they're a step in the right direction to keep clubs afloat but it's a shame that's coming at the expense of totally shutting the door on any club daring to dream they'll compete with the very best.

Agreed. There's still nothing stopping another club doing a Reading with regards to a new owner building a new stadium, that then attracts more supporters and increases revenue, which in turn means you can compete at a more competitive level. Sadly though for the most part it does mean if you're a little club, the chances are you will always remain so. We can count ourselves lucky to a certain extent with having a top end Championship set-up. Once the FPP kicks in fully and it's more of a level playing field, we will have just as good a chance of winning promotion to the Premier League as anyone else in this division. The Cat 1 academy also comes into it's own then as well. That could make a massive difference against relatively similar sized opponents.

[Wimb]

As far as I can tell the financial fair play rules are there to make sure clubs remain self sufficient, which is absolutely right imo. For sure it will mean that the smaller clubs will get penalised if they try to compete financially with the bigger clubs, but they shouldn't be trying to. Oxford will never be able to compete with a club/brand the size of Arsenal, that's just the way of the world, and if FPP stops over ambitious chairmen putting their clubs in danger of potential insolvency through the pursuit of an impossible dream then good.

I agree they're a step in the right direction to keep clubs afloat but it's a shame that's coming at the expense of totally shutting the door on any club daring to dream they'll compete with the very best.

Yep, but for me that's where the PL should look at distributing more of their revenues to the lower leagues, that will then give clubs in the lower reaches to build.

In many ways it almost makes you support the idea of a breakaway Premier League setup with two divisions and no relegation out of it. It would enable clubs to try new things and blood younger players without the fear of financial catastrophe. Again though, such an idea would kill the dream for many.

[Victor Meldrew]

Exactly and you begin to wonder what's the point?

For me it just seems silly to now have Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal in the same league structure as Oxford, Reading and Swindon.

I applaud the intent behind the various financial fair play rules but if anything they'll just cement the monopoly rather than break it up.

But it has always been like this.
The wealthiest clubs have always bought the best players and even when Forest stepped up a level they had to be the first English club to spend £1 million on an English player.
All the clubs are looking to their academies (we have been a bit slow to join in)to produce players because it is the most inexpensive way to build a team.

Going back to the buyout I was told yesterday that the process has moved nearer-the info came from a source involved at board level of another club in this division.
We shall see.

As Hampshire Royal said earlier this has been a tremendous decade for our club and we have done something that other little clubs like Bradford, Barnsley, Oxford, Swindon and Northampton have done in the past by spending unexpected time at the top level but now at this crossroads we will just have to sit and wait to see whether we follow those teams to the lower levels through lack of investment or if through serious work with young players stretching the net far and wide plus some purchases now and again of proven individual players we consolidate and build a team (as happened under Coppell but not under Brian) good enough to stay there.
Lessons presumably will have been learned from the two relegations or will they as all the old school of Mr Mad and his cronies will by then have moved on.

Topics like these are always fun and I think they and this web-site make us feel more involved with our club but really we have no say in what happens so can only just sit and observe as the future unfolds.

[Hampshire Royal]

My opinion as to why football in this country is no longer on 'a level playing field' is because the gate receipts are no longer shared between home and away clubs. Since the PL started (22 years ago), there have only been five winners of the league - Man U, Arsenal, Man C, Chelsea and Blackburn. Man U and Arsenal have always been top clubs, Blackburn won in one of the early years, but have struggled pretty much ever since. Chelsea and Man C won due to absolutely phenomenal amounts of money being injected into them. The years when Forest won the European Cup, gate money was shared (I think it was 67%/33%). Those days are gone. Sky pretty much controls the TV rights and sell their product overseas. They can only sell if the very top clubs are always on TV. How many people in Malaysia, for example, would pay money to watch Reading v Blackburn? There is an English pub in Geneva showing English football. When the top clubs are on, the pub is packed. When I went one time to watch a Reading match it was no more full than any other bar.

Teams like Reading have a choice (well it's not really a choice, but you know what I mean) we can either stay at or around the top of the Championship playing OK football against OK teams, or get promoted into the PL and play against the very best in the country and struggle and will, eventually, get into crippling debt and/or be relegated. Unless the 'new owners' are prepared to throw the sort of money at us that Chelsea and Man C have had, we will never have a chance to challenge in the PL.

We have benefitted greatly from SJM's stewardship and his cloth-cutting has served us extremely well. Portsmouth have always been a bigger club than us, but they tried to chase the dream and borrowed heavily to do it. Look where they are now, and where they will probably remain for the foreseeable future. As for us, I think we are at the best level we can hope for in the current climate - Top Championship or bottom PL. We don't have to look very far to see where our erstwhile rivals like Swindon, Oxford, Brentford or Wycombe are. I would take our situation before any of these clubs.

[Reading4eva]

I believe that smaller clubs are making inroads gradually. For example, Morecambe were nothing before they moved to their new arena. AFC Wimbledon are trying to do what the previous version couldn't and build a stadium and a big one of that in Merton (although I think that'll go up shitcreek if they go down). Wigan built from a non league club and no one knows what Fleetwoods potential is

[SPARTA]

Going back to the buyout I was told yesterday that the process has moved nearer-the info came from a source involved at board level of another club in this division. We shall see.

That's interesting because today's Star newspaper claims SJM has signed an exclusivity agreement with a buyer and the take-over could happen next month.

http://t.co/B0ziZPe3X7

Starsport understands chairman John Madejski has signed an exclusivity agreement to sell the club, having claimed a previous deal with Russian businessman Anton Zingarevich has become null and void.

But it is believed he now has found new buyers who could be in place by March after stumping up the estimated £25m asking price.

[Pepe the Horseman]

It's Vince.

[ZacNaloen]

[floyd__streete]

What about that bloke who used to be at Scunthorpe. Got them playing decent football at a level above their norm.

They were relegated str8 back in their first season in the Championship and only narrowly survived their first season when he took them straight back up.

If not him, how about that bloke who took Southampton from League 1 to the Premiership with a team built around academy graduates.

.....and one of the biggest wage bills League 1 and the Championship has ever seen.

Nigel Adkins is hardly Dario Gradi

[From Despair To Where?]

Still, considering Scunthorpe only spent 3 seasons between 1968 and 2005 above the 4th tier, I'd say having them consistently in the 2nd tier or fighting for promotion from the 3rd tier is a pretty decent achievement.

Regardless of the money available at Southampton, he still achieved back to back promotions with a team made up largely of academy players and lower league journeymen. I only really see Raidhi Jaidi, Kelvin Daivs and maybe David Connolly with any real Premiership experience from those 2 squads.

[1871 not 1998]

Going back to the buyout I was told yesterday that the process has moved nearer-the info came from a source involved at board level of another club in this division. We shall see.

That's interesting because today's Star newspaper claims SJM has signed an exclusivity agreement with a buyer and the take-over could happen next month.

http://t.co/B0ziZPe3X7

Starsport understands chairman John Madejski has signed an exclusivity agreement to sell the club, having claimed a previous deal with Russian businessman Anton Zingarevich has become null and void.

But it is believed he now has found new buyers who could be in place by March after stumping up the estimated £25m asking price.

I don't know if Victor is reliable on here but that's a big coincidence if not. Also quite a punt from the Star if it's just BS. If we have signed an exclusivity agreement then we can't be far away from hearing something official.

[Norfolk Royal]

The Star exclusively reveal we've signed an exclusivity agreement.

Hmmm, anyone else saying this?

[floyd__streete]

Still, considering Scunthorpe only spent 3 seasons between 1968 and 2005 above the 4th tier, I'd say having them consistently in the 2nd tier or fighting for promotion from the 3rd tier is a pretty decent achievement.

Regardless of the money available at Southampton, he still achieved back to back promotions with a team made up largely of academy players and lower league journeymen. I only really see Raidhi Jaidi, Kelvin Daivs and maybe David Connolly with any real Premiership experience from those 2 squads.

Fair enough, as we all know a shed-load of money doesn't guarantee success (does make it a darn sight more likely though).

[RoyalBlue]

Since 2003 we have been in the Prem for 3 seasons, we have been promoted as Champions in the Championship twice, we have been in the Championship Play Offs three times, have finished seventh in the Championship once and ninth twice.
I could cope with bumbling along like that.

+ 1

I would rather we invested in the team when we were in premiership and were an established premiership side. Yes things could be worse but they could also have been a lot better. We missed two golden chances to do that. I doubt we will have those again for quite a while

+1 A fantastic opportunity to strengthen our hold in the PL went begging. The size of that missed opportunity is now being emphasised by the likes of Swansea, Stoke and Southampton.

[Ian Royal]

Can you perhaps answer the question of "invest what?" seeing as it went unaswered last time.

[winchester_royal]

Can you perhaps answer the question of "invest what?" seeing as it went unaswered last time.

The billions we made being promoted. Durrr.

[Ian Royal]

Can you perhaps answer the question of "invest what?" seeing as it went unaswered last time.

The billions we made being promoted. Durrr.

Shhh. I'm asking a legitimate question I want to see them answer.

[PremAddict]

I would rather we invested in the team when we were in premiership and were an established premiership side. Yes things could be worse but they could also have been a lot better. We missed two golden chances to do that. I doubt we will have those again for quite a while

What exactly does "established" mean in this day and age? Echoing other recent posts on this thread, outside the top 5 or 6, every other club is potential relegation fodder.

I've stated on other threads that cover this similar topic, that I find the level of competition at the C'ship level more interesting than that of the PL and generally I find the "US way of doing things" with salary caps, drafts, etc. creates better competition. That said, as long as relegation is an option, no real business person will view funding a PL club as a viable business - just a plaything.

[Victor Meldrew]

In reply to 1871 who wrote:-
I don't know if Victor is reliable on here but that's a big coincidence if not. Also quite a punt from the Star if it's just BS. If we have signed an exclusivity agreement then we can't be far away from hearing something official.[/quote]

Victor ,in my view, is very reliable and not prone to idle speculation so if he posted that he had heard something then I know that he heard it.

[Sutekh]

I don't believe it.