Summer Rebuild

[Hoop Blah]

RFC is owned by three people according to http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/thai-consortium-buys-reading-football-club-1466760

The consortium, led by businesswoman Khunying Sasima Srivikorn, 25% holding, was first announced an interest in buying the Royals in July.

Srivikorn will become co-chairman with Madejski. The rest of the club was purchased by Khun Narin Niruttinanon who acquired 50% and Khun Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth, who bought the remaining 25%.

No sign of Samrit.

Reading between the lines the implication is that Niruttinanon is holding 25% for Samrit who was getting a bit of heat during the fit and proper tests. By holding I might mean there's an agreement between them over who's paying or that Niruttinanon just picked up the slack to save the deal when Samrit backed off.

[WoodleyRoyal]

this is very well and good but i guess what i wan't to know and probably many others do too, what is the best and worst case here.

Best case, Reading FC are not implicated we carry on all is good

Worst case? What if our worst fears come true and somehow B.I.G is linked to us and Reading FC is implicated, what then? What happens to the supposed £50m of shares that has supposedly been put down as collateral?

How are the football league going to take this, fines, docked points, expulsion?

[Duke the Dog2]

Isn't it Samrit who's in hot water for offering equity in RFC (and other stuff) to someone that he didn't actually have to give (and they didn't check)!?

As others have pointed out Samrit didn't actually come on board, although who knows what "arrangements" there are between the "Partners" who own the club.

Other than grubbying the name if the club are we actually affected at all by this or have I missed something? Although I suppose it makes you wonder what else is going on.

[Forbury Lion]

This might be better for Club Policies.

It already is viewtopic.php?f=2&t=127388&start=100

[winchester_royal]

Go to companies house, look at our shareholders

RFC UK INVESTMENT CO LTD (director Mrs Khunying Sasima Srivikorn - before she was involved it was Mr Taweesuk Jack Srisumrid (01/07/15 - 10/07/15)
GPT UK INVESTMENT CO LTD (director Narin Niruttinanon)
GPT FOOTBALL INVESTMENT LTD (director Narin Niruttinanon - before she was involved it was Mr Anthony Trevor Bates (01/07/15 - 10/09/15)
UNIVERSAL FICO LTD

No sign of Samrit there, but;

GPT FOOTBALL INVESTMENT LTD - Previous Names
Big UK Investment Co. Ltd Changed on 11 September 2014

The Bangkok post article http://www.bangkokpost.com/lite/news/58 ... -fund-scam suggests that in the suspected fraud one item offered as collateral was equity shares of the Reading Football Club worth £50 million (2.6 billion baht) with other articles suggesting there were falsified bank guarantees, which may or may not have included the equities for Reading.

Mentions earlier in the year he was detained and threatened over it http://www.nationmultimedia.com/nationa ... 61635.html

And it looks like Samrit himself has had assets frozen along with shares in Promise Insurance, worth about Bt71 million. Plus bank accounts of Promise Insurance and Police United FC have been suspended suspended for 10 days too. Both accounts have cash of about Bt43 million.

So if Samrit is being chased for money..... http://www.nationmultimedia.com/nationa ... 61885.html

“Moreover, we will try to track down the rest of the money that came from OTEP”, Seehanat said. He said the suspects may have hidden a huge sum of assets acquired through ill-gotten gain." <--

Whilst it's just media sources, it doesn't sound great..............

Pretty clear what happened.

'Big UK Investment Co, Ltd' was set up by Samrit as a UK company with which to purchase RFC.

After FA questioning he had to pull out.

Narin decided he'd quite like to take the extra 25%

Deal already set up so that 4 investment vehicles purchase 25% and more efficient to keep it that way

Narin buys Samrit's shares in Big UK Investment Co. Ltd, removes Tony Bates as a director (company house shows this) and then changes the name.

Samrit was clearly involved (financially at least) at the start, but nothing to suggest he is now, and we are completely protected from him financially. He has no holding in RFC.

The worry is that if the other owners are implicated by this, but tbh they all (well Sassy and Narin at least) seem far too smart to get involved in that shit.

[Ian Royal]

That's entirely logical. But it's also quite optimistic. It's not illogical to go with the line mafff suggested which is that Samrit wasn't going to pass muster, so got someone with a cleaner name to step in, but he's still playing puppet master. Which would be supported by his facebook and twitter spoutings since the deal about us.

[winchester_royal]

That's entirely logical. But it's also quite optimistic. It's not illogical to go with the line mafff suggested which is that Samrit wasn't going to pass muster, so got someone with a cleaner name to step in, but he's still playing puppet master. Which would be supported by his facebook and twitter spoutings since the deal about us.

It's possible, I suppose, but based on the business success that we know Sassima has had, and suspect Narin has had based on what I can find, I consider it unlikely that they'd agree to buy a football club just to be puppets to some jumped up little kid who doesn't have anything like the money or history of success that they do.

[Ian Royal]

Sassima I'll grant you all the way.. don't know enough (anything) about the Narin guy to be as optimistic.

Also, once burned twice shy for me.

[winchester_royal]

Well, either way, the point still stands. Samrit has no financial holding in the club, so in that respect at the very least we are protected from him.

[Platypuss]

That's entirely logical. But it's also quite optimistic. It's not illogical to go with the line mafff suggested which is that Samrit wasn't going to pass muster, so got someone with a cleaner name to step in, but he's still playing puppet master. Which would be supported by his facebook and twitter spoutings since the deal about us.

But the person he got to step in was already buying 25% independently of Samrit, so he can't really be viewed as a puppet.

Can we keep discussion on this in Club Policies now please.

[linkenholtroyal]

on another note I have heard that karacan hasn't got many options, the offers he has had are from clubs in worse positions than reading and he doesn't really want to leave, he is just playing hard ball on a second year offer on the contract, I think its similar from Kelly hes been offered 1 yr and he would prefer 2. TBH do we carry on playing hard ball with the 1 yr contract on the table. I don't think the wage offered is the problem it is the length of time for both. if they are both willing to take the paycut for 2 years it makes sense to just sign them. Karacan for once looks fit again and Kelly is good cover and he would only be 33 when that contract would end and he puts a shift in. seems like a no brainer to me.

[Hoop Blah]

on another note I have heard that karacan hasn't got many options, the offers he has had are from clubs in worse positions than reading and he doesn't really want to leave, he is just playing hard ball on a second year offer on the contract, I think its similar from Kelly hes been offered 1 yr and he would prefer 2. TBH do we carry on playing hard ball with the 1 yr contract on the table. I don't think the wage offered is the problem it is the length of time for both. if they are both willing to take the paycut for 2 years it makes sense to just sign them. Karacan for once looks fit again and Kelly is good cover and he would only be 33 when that contract would end and he puts a shift in. seems like a no brainer to me.

Of course the length of the contract important.

If we've offered Karacan £10k a week on a 1 year deal that's £520k the club is committed to pay regardless of his ability and fitness after two years of injury. If we give him a second year we double that commitment to over £1m.

If, as the club obviously fear after the likes of Little; Roberts and Ferdinand, he doesn't get back to where he was we're stuck with having to pay a player we can't play or just isn't up to it.

He's not after 2 years instead of 1 because he likes even numbers....

[linkenholtroyal]

on another note I have heard that karacan hasn't got many options, the offers he has had are from clubs in worse positions than reading and he doesn't really want to leave, he is just playing hard ball on a second year offer on the contract, I think its similar from Kelly hes been offered 1 yr and he would prefer 2. TBH do we carry on playing hard ball with the 1 yr contract on the table. I don't think the wage offered is the problem it is the length of time for both. if they are both willing to take the paycut for 2 years it makes sense to just sign them. Karacan for once looks fit again and Kelly is good cover and he would only be 33 when that contract would end and he puts a shift in. seems like a no brainer to me.

Of course the length of the contract important.

If we've offered Karacan £10k a week on a 1 year deal that's £520k the club is committed to pay regardless of his ability and fitness after two years of injury. If we give him a second year we double that commitment to over £1m.

If, as the club obviously fear after the likes of Little; Roberts and Ferdinand, he doesn't get back to where he was we're stuck with having to pay a player we can't play or just isn't up to it.

He's not after 2 years instead of 1 because he likes even numbers....

but with the current budget and wages available could we really do any better for what they have been offered

[Hoop Blah]

but with the current budget and wages available could we really do any better for what they have been offered

I've no idea what they've been offered or what else we can get for that money.

What I do know is that doubling the length of the contract is in effect paying them more money and isn't the irrelevance you suggest.

[linkenholtroyal]

but with the current budget and wages available could we really do any better for what they have been offered

I've no idea what they've been offered or what else we can get for that money.

What I do know is that doubling the length of the contract is in effect paying them more money and isn't the irrelevance you suggest.

But surely this is how we have ended up in the mess we have, with our senior players being out of contract and us getting no fee for them and losing the senior members of our team, think of it another way, karacan has a blinder of a season and then get stolen off us at the end of next season for nothing for a better offer, which could happen

[Forbury Lion]

but with the current budget and wages available could we really do any better for what they have been offered

I've no idea what they've been offered or what else we can get for that money.

What I do know is that doubling the length of the contract is in effect paying them more money and isn't the irrelevance you suggest.

But surely this is how we have ended up in the mess we have, with our senior players being out of contract and us getting no fee for them and losing the senior members of our team, think of it another way, karacan has a blinder of a season and then get stolen off us at the end of next season for nothing for a better offer, which could happen

The club presumably have looked at the risk and feel there is more risk of being stuck with an injured player on the wage bill in year 2 than there is of Jem having a blinder of a season.

[Hoop Blah]

But surely this is how we have ended up in the mess we have, with our senior players being out of contract and us getting no fee for them and losing the senior members of our team, think of it another way, karacan has a blinder of a season and then get stolen off us at the end of next season for nothing for a better offer, which could happen

You can't offer players contracts you can't afford though, especially when, in Karacan's case, they're injured and taking 6 months longer to get back into training than you thought.

IMO Federici was never going to sign a new contract with us unless we went up because he wanted to go back to the Premier League from the moment we got relegated, hence his come and get me pleas at the time.

[Ian Royal]

It's not really offering more money though is it. It's offering a commitment to pay money for longer, which is quite different. This is on an assumption that our wage offer is competitive for mid-Championship range, in which case barring relegation it's what we'd have to pay any replacement in a year anyway. At least.

So the concern is that we'd be committed to paying him for 2 years versus the risk of him sitting on the treatment table for long periods of that time / no longer being worth a place in the matchday squad. His injuries haven't particularly been an indication of perma-crocked player, and he seems to have recovered from them - even though it took much longer than expected. He put in some decent performances at the end of the season. So it's not quite the same risk as someone who's getting on and has an underlying niggling injury problem along the lines of Roberts or Ferdinand.

There's also a morale factor to be considered in that he's a popular figure with fans and players and all we've had (confirmed) recently is bad news. Agreeing a contract would be sending a positive message.

So if the only issue is one year versus two, and there aren't any underlying medical issues we can't be aware of... playing hardball on it seems counter-productive to me.

[Royal Rother]

Of some relevance when talking about 2 year contracts is the fact that Pog will definitely be off the payroll by the time the 2nd year kicks in.

[Hoop Blah]

It's not really offering more money though is it. It's offering a commitment to pay money for longer, which is quite different. This is on an assumption that our wage offer is competitive for mid-Championship range, in which case barring relegation it's what we'd have to pay any replacement in a year anyway. At least.

Of course it's more money, certainly as far as what the club have to be able to afford to pay.

£1m > £500k, it's pretty simple and it's why a player wants a two year contract over one. If he shares the clubs niggling doubts about his ability then he wants a bit of security and to maximise every penny from this that he can. I don't blame him for that either but he's not worried about a 2 year deal because he can't afford to relocate next year or is worried about moving his kids out of school in 12 months time!