Is this the end for Madejski?

[Nameless]

My apologies that my posts do not meet with your approval, and please explain which part of my post is either ridiculous or unfounded, considering that the main point (Sir John's selling of the club to a Russian with no money) is fact quoted by Sir John himself, who also stated that "more thorough due dilligence" should have taken place.

Secondly if you dont like the posts then dont oxf*rd read them and bother yourself with replying you knob!

If you don't read a post how are you supposed to know whether it is worth replying to ?

And your posts don't need anyone's approval, but you can hardly find it surprising that people chose to respond to your posts. Over the years lots of people seem to have made the mistake of thinking HNA is a platform for making their personal statements, rather than a forum where responses and rebuttals are standard. I'm sure if you stick around you'll stop being so touchy about people not agreeing with you

SJM didn't sell to a Russian with no money. When he sold Anton had the backing of his multibillionaire father , who subsequently fell out with him and removed his funding (although by all accounts he did continue to put money into the club for some time after Anton quit). Obviously at that point it went badly wrong but the initial sale was not to a skint Russian, or anything approaching that.

[floyd__streete]

Madejski's comments about the trigger-happy nature of the shareholders was about the only thing of interest from the moribund press conference/interview snippets I have seen, particularly given how bewildered the new managerial incumbent came across as. We miss the transparency and honesty of our former owner.

Compare to duplicitious comments made by Nigel Howe on Radio Berkshire, accusing his former employer - remember Nige was once little more than JM's chauffeur! - of being "off the wall" and accusing him of using the press conference as a "platform" on which to "vent". Well, Nige, I think most of us appreciated something approaching honesty from someone close to the club, something we haven't had for 4 and a half years or so now. Mr Howe, I can assure you, has nothing but negative comments for his new employers behind the scenes! I had hoped that Nigel Howe could be the voice of reason in a chaotic regime but the only thing Nigel Howe cares about is Nigel Howe

[Terminal Boardom]

The daft old coot has always been a loose cannon when it comes to talking to the press. More so when he has had a bevvy or 3. That in one breath he says that he respects the decision to sack an underperforming manager but in the next saying that the same underperforming manager should have been given longer is anything but respectful. He is undermining the people who make the decisions and the sooner he crawls off into the sunset the better.

What matters more than anything is that the new manager is given time to exert his style and authority onto the playing group and then start to win games. Anything else is just window dressing.

[sandman]

The daft old coot has always been a loose cannon when it comes to talking to the press. More so when he has had a bevvy or 3. That in one breath he says that he respects the decision to sack an underperforming manager but in the next saying that the same underperforming manager should have been given longer is anything but respectful. He is undermining the people who make the decisions and the sooner he crawls off into the sunset the better.

What matters more than anything is that the new manager is given time to exert his style and authority onto the playing group and then start to win games. Anything else is just window dressing.

Yet you aren't prepared to give the previous manager that time.

[floyd__streete]

LOL @ having a pop at Madejski for giving a straight answer to a straight question and also accusing him of spin.

Yes, I am wholly unsurprised to see the usual mentalists queue up to have a pop at JM here. Those who are disrespectful of one of the most important positive influences in the entire long history of the club thoroughly deserve these current owners

[Sutekh]

Bewildered? Stam did not come across as bewildered, I thought he said all the right things in the right way and was as honest as you'd hope for.

JM's comments were utterly out of place and Nigel's remarks were justifiable.

[Sutekh]

LOL @ having a pop at Madejski for giving a straight answer to a straight question and also accusing him of spin.

Yes, I am wholly unsurprised to see the usual mentalists queue up to have a pop at JM here. Those who are disrespectful of one of the most important positive influences in the entire long history of the club thoroughly deserve these current owners

Agree that he is but that doesn't mean he gets a coconut every time...

[sandman]

LOL @ having a pop at Madejski for giving a straight answer to a straight question and also accusing him of spin.

Yes, I am wholly unsurprised to see the usual mentalists queue up to have a pop at JM here. Those who are disrespectful of one of the most important positive influences in the entire long history of the club thoroughly deserve these current owners

Not only their disrespect to Madejski but also the previous incumbent as manager.

This club didn't have a successful history before the likes of Madejski, Coppell and McDermott turned up. These men should be lauded and for what they've done.

Not belittled and insulted.

[One8Seven1*]

Like him or not, he shouldn't have said that yesterday. The players that have just left have been very vocal about the instability at the club hindering us last season, and SJM hasn't helped matters.

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned, but SJM wasn't supposed to be in the presser. There were four seats set up and none were for him.
I wouldn't expect that will sit well with the owners either.

[Terminal Boardom]

The daft old coot has always been a loose cannon when it comes to talking to the press. More so when he has had a bevvy or 3. That in one breath he says that he respects the decision to sack an underperforming manager but in the next saying that the same underperforming manager should have been given longer is anything but respectful. He is undermining the people who make the decisions and the sooner he crawls off into the sunset the better.

What matters more than anything is that the new manager is given time to exert his style and authority onto the playing group and then start to win games. Anything else is just window dressing.

Yet you aren't prepared to give the previous manager that time.

I would never have reappointed BMcD in the first place. That was always going to end up badly.

[Sutekh]

The daft old coot has always been a loose cannon when it comes to talking to the press. More so when he has had a bevvy or 3. That in one breath he says that he respects the decision to sack an underperforming manager but in the next saying that the same underperforming manager should have been given longer is anything but respectful. He is undermining the people who make the decisions and the sooner he crawls off into the sunset the better.

What matters more than anything is that the new manager is given time to exert his style and authority onto the playing group and then start to win games. Anything else is just window dressing.

Yet you aren't prepared to give the previous manager that time.

I would never have reappointed BMcD in the first place. That was always going to end up badly.

Agree with that comment on BM not being appointed in the 1st place, but having been appointed he should have been granted the time to do something with the squad.

[The Quiet Man]

I would expect that SJM was behind the move with Hammond and Howe to bring back McDermott. McDermott had a well paid job with Arsenal and only quit that job for RFC. He has stated that he would only have done that for RFC and on receiving personal requests to do so, he wasn't interested in managing anybody else. 6 months later with at best half a transfer window he is gone I expect SJM feels a bit guilty about that and has taken the opportunity in public to distance himself from that decision. As for Howe he will be here as long as it takes to get the property deal done with the council for the car park development and must know he is on borrowed time.

I expect that if SJM was to stop entertaining visiting directors it would just expose further the absentee landlords (property developers) we have now acquired.

As to the future the press conference didn't set at rest any worries about transfer funds and no real clue as to what will happen to the Academy where plans which have gone quiet. Oh and Paddy the Thais did not pay off the debts they rolled them over and consolidated them, they are still there in the form of rearranged loans - should they get cold feet they will still need paying off.

Also wonder whether the move towards Monaco financing is the first step to a franchise operation with the club being formally separated from the real estate and for sale with a view in the longer term to paying stadium rent to an overseas owner/agent combination, a sort of Watford lite - be worth keeping a eye on that option should we really crash and burn on the pitch this season.

[Nameless]

Isn't it pretty standard for clubs to be separate legal entities to their grounds ? In fact wasn't RFC like this under SJM ?
It means that if the club goes into administration the ground is not an asset that can be taken away by the creditors.

However your point about the possibility of the ground being owned by an entirely separate landlord and charging the club a market rent would be a concern. The other implication is that the landlord may have control of the non footballing income streams from using the ground on non match days.

[Dixeyroyal]

LOL @ having a pop at Madejski for giving a straight answer to a straight question and also accusing him of spin.

Yes, I am wholly unsurprised to see the usual mentalists queue up to have a pop at JM here. Those who are disrespectful of one of the most important positive influences in the entire long history of the club thoroughly deserve these current owners

Not only their disrespect to Madejski but also the previous incumbent as manager.

This club didn't have a successful history before the likes of Madejski, Coppell and McDermott turned up. These men should be lauded and for what they've done.

Not belittled and insulted.

If you look through the thread there are not many that are actually insulting SJM, many just pointing out that his comments yesterday (in their opinion) were misguided and disrespectful to the new man sitting next to him.
We all know that SJM and Mcdermott had a great relationship and no one is in any doubt that SJM probably had a hand in McDermotts return however, SJM when in charge was always the first to quote doing things the "Reading Way" which always included not using the media as a forum for his own displeasure.

In fact I clearly remember one such SJM press conference when he used the line "cut our cloth accordingly" (or something like that) when talking about available transfer funds, followed by the line "A press conference is not the forum for me to offer my opinion on the value of prospective employees to Reading FC"

IMO his comments were not constructive and against everything he preached as an owner, no disrespect from me, just amazement that he chose such an environment to make his feelings known.

[paddy20]

I would expect that SJM was behind the move with Hammond and Howe to bring back McDermott. McDermott had a well paid job with Arsenal and only quit that job for RFC. He has stated that he would only have done that for RFC and on receiving personal requests to do so, he wasn't interested in managing anybody else. 6 months later with at best half a transfer window he is gone I expect SJM feels a bit guilty about that and has taken the opportunity in public to distance himself from that decision. As for Howe he will be here as long as it takes to get the property deal done with the council for the car park development and must know he is on borrowed time.

I expect that if SJM was to stop entertaining visiting directors it would just expose further the absentee landlords (property developers) we have now acquired.

As to the future the press conference didn't set at rest any worries about transfer funds and no real clue as to what will happen to the Academy where plans which have gone quiet. Oh and Paddy the Thais did not pay off the debts they rolled them over and consolidated them, they are still there in the form of rearranged loans - should they get cold feet they will still need paying off.

Also wonder whether the move towards Monaco financing is the first step to a franchise operation with the club being formally separated from the real estate and for sale with a view in the longer term to paying stadium rent to an overseas owner/agent combination, a sort of Watford lite - be worth keeping a eye on that option should we really crash and burn on the pitch this season.

Oh. Do we know who the loans are with then or are they loans from the Directors?

[Ian Royal]

Nigel Howe admits he was left stunned by Sir John Madejski’s ‘remarkable’ comments during Jaap Stam’s press conference on Monday.

Having welcomed the Dutchman to Reading, Madejski decided to take the opportunity to criticise the club’s owners' decision to fire previous boss Brian McDermott after just six months in charge.

He said: “I wish that Brian had been given a bit longer but the shareholders decided it was time for a change.

“I respect the shareholders’ decision even though I didn’t agree with the decision that Brian shouldn’t have stayed longer."

The co-chairman’s awkward comments came while he was sitting just inches away from shareholder Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth, who owns 25 per cent of the club along with Sasima Srivikorn and Narin Niruttinanon.

Sitting on the other side of Thanakarnjanasuth was Howe, who was clearly unimpressed by the timing of Madejski's outburst.

“I thought that was a remarkable statement - even by Sir John’s standards,” Reading’s chief executive told BBC Radio Berkshire.

“But Sir John we know has a tendency to be a bit off the wall at times.

“I think probably because he wasn’t part of the selection process, because as we know he’s not part of the running of the club on an active basis anymore, he probably felt he wanted to vent himself and he was given a platform to do so.

“I would have hoped he would have picked a different forum to do that.”

http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/footb ... r-11469836

Well quite. I don't disagree with what he's said, but absolutely not the forum to do it in and he's making us and himself look stupid.

[Nameless]

I believe that any external loans (Vibrac for example) will have been paid off, and obviously SJM has had any outstanding loans repaid. SJM used to convert debt to equity meaning he got more and more of the club shares in his control.
But the new owners won't just have signed cheques and waved goodbye to their cash. That would be stupid. Tony Fernandes may write off millions used to fund QPR but most owners wouldn't just throw their cash away.
The debt will still be there, I think it's harder to track now the ownership is more complex. There would be no point them converting the debt to equity because they own all the equity already ! If REP goes ahead it will be interesting how much is used to repay directors loans before dividends are paid (which I believe would go partly to RFC (wholly owned by the consortium) , and partly to the consortium who own the rest of the development company.

[Ian Royal]

I believe that any external loans (Vibrac for example) will have been paid off, and obviously SJM has had any outstanding loans repaid. SJM used to convert debt to equity meaning he got more and more of the club shares in his control.
But the new owners won't just have signed cheques and waved goodbye to their cash. That would be stupid. Tony Fernandes may write off millions used to fund QPR but most owners wouldn't just throw their cash away.
The debt will still be there, I think it's harder to track now the ownership is more complex. There would be no point them converting the debt to equity because they own all the equity already ! If REP goes ahead it will be interesting how much is used to repay directors loans before dividends are paid (which I believe would go partly to RFC (wholly owned by the consortium) , and partly to the consortium who own the rest of the development company.

I think Fernandes has only written that off because it was that or see the club go down the pan and get nothing. Or something similar anyway.

[The Royal Forester]

Whether, or not, Sir John made those comments in the right place, he said what he practiced throughout his time at Reading FC. He always gave the manager, whoever it was, time to build their own team, not sacking them after six months. If Jaap is a success he will be poached by a Premier League club who have sacked their own manager. If he is not a success (and probably won't be, unless he is allowed to build his own team), these owners will start to look around for a replacement. Since SJM became the owner 25 years or so ago, our club has spent less time in the lower two divisions than they spent out of them during the previous 100 years. That is a fact, that seems to have escaped many of the supporters that have only seen Reading play at the Mad. Stad. I remember, when he took over a near bankrupted club, and said he wanted to take the club to the top tier of English football, many, including me, laughed and said "he's in dreamland". After fulfilling that ambition and finding how much it cost to keep us there at the time his wealth dwindled, he became disillusioned with the way football had changed over the years, is it surprising that he decided to sell up? When you are moaning about SJM just remember him and Roger Smee, If it wasn't for those two people, this club would not be in exsistence.

[Nameless]

If it was owed to him then he'd have been daft calling it in and destroying his own club !
I think he did it because it meant they had a chance of getting back on an even footing wrt ffp.
In the same way Chelsea have benefitted from having an owner with so much money that he could not care about getting it back, so QPR have benefitted from spending huge sums they didn't have and then just making the debt disappear.
It's not fair on other clubs, but on the other hand if a rich guy wants to blow his fortune on a football club then why not...