Confrimed - Abbey and Holmes going

[tmesis]

Even if we get to July this time round, with Dai in charge, would anyone risk buying a season ticket?

[WestYorksRoyal]

McIntyre has released his goodbye message on Instagram and Twitter.

I stay on social media to keep up to date, but I must say I hate the football fans on there. Calling him Judas etc., when he's been a servant in our toughest times and has secured an excellent move for his career while he is a new Dad. If you're joining in with this, or used to taunt Derby about going bust or abused a load of teenage players after conceding a late equaliser at Orient then you deserve everything Dai is putting you through as a fan as far as I'm concerned. Go and join all the dickheads from other clubs and create a new team we can sell to Bassini, Dai, Anderson, Chansiri etc.

[Snowflake Royal]

Moore, Joao, Meite and Puscas

+ Tom ince who i understand was on big money
+ andy carroll
+shane long
+ junior hoilett
+ scott dann
+ nabby sarr

+ the loan signings of
rahman
hendrick
loum
lumley
casedai
fornah

People always count the exits, never the incomings.

Smith
Wing
Knibbs
Savage
Button
Elliott
Dean
Rushesha

We would have been paying very little for Casadei, Fornah and other loanees.

I can’t see their wages being high, but didn’t we owe a lot of money earlier in the season for unpaid loan fees?

High no, but they still exist and they won't be peanuts

[Orion1871]

He's certainly not a judas. The only ones to blame for this are Dai and Pang.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

McIntyre has released his goodbye message on Instagram and Twitter.

I stay on social media to keep up to date, but I must say I hate the football fans on there. Calling him Judas etc., when he's been a servant in our toughest times and has secured an excellent move for his career while he is a new Dad. If you're joining in with this, or used to taunt Derby about going bust or abused a load of teenage players after conceding a late equaliser at Orient then you deserve everything Dai is putting you through as a fan as far as I'm concerned. Go and join all the dickheads from other clubs and create a new team we can sell to Bassini, Dai, Anderson, Chansiri etc.

I'd have kept him as cover but he's apparently not been happy since being dropped early season. Forget the local boy sentiment but not sure how much more we could have expected to get for him if the £75k is true as he's OOC in the summer and is now a bench warmer and also injury prone playing for a L1 side in the relegation zone.

Looks like Pompey fans reckon they've signed the next Beckenbauer

[OLLIE KEARNS]

McIntyre has released his goodbye message on Instagram and Twitter.

I stay on social media to keep up to date, but I must say I hate the football fans on there. Calling him Judas etc., when he's been a servant in our toughest times and has secured an excellent move for his career while he is a new Dad. If you're joining in with this, or used to taunt Derby about going bust or abused a load of teenage players after conceding a late equaliser at Orient then you deserve everything Dai is putting you through as a fan as far as I'm concerned. Go and join all the dickheads from other clubs and create a new team we can sell to Bassini, Dai, Anderson, Chansiri etc.

He is a genuine Reading fan who had the misfortune to build a solid career at the club at the worst possible time. I’ve seen him many a time in the away end when he’s been injured and I witnessed at close hand his complete and utter joy, the joy of a fan, when he scored that goal at Sheffield United. I personally wish him every success in the rest of his career.

[blythspartan]

I wish TMac well, even if it’s just for that moment at Sheff U. Pompey fans seem to be delighted with his signing and who knows maybe playing for a team not battling against relegation will do him a world of good.

Honestly, I don’t want to see any of our players leave but the transfer business has been sensible so far. Apart from Abbey weren’t the others all transfer listed in the summer? If we lose anymore I will be oxf*rd off.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Also interesting now that the 4 players who are rumoured to have spoken out after the Port Vale away game, Carroll, NGW, Holmes & Mcintyre, and were subsequently dropped for ages, have now been sold/left.

Likely Selles and Bowen have had more to do with all this than they are letting on....

[Clyde1998]

Every time we have ever had a discussion about our wage bill it has been wildly underestimated compared to the next set of accounts.

Following PL relegation people said almost every year we must have halved our wage bill because a couple of high profile players left, and yet it was continually between £24m and £44m a year until about the last season or two when the FL really hit us with the financial behaviour bat. Even then it only went down to about £12m - £16m.

Yeah we've taken big slices off it with Moore, Meite and Joao going. But it's the extreme of optimism to think we've cut it as far as some of these figures suggest.

Moore, Joao, Meite and Puscas were reported as being paid £125k per week collectively by the Athletic in September, so that is a saving of £6.5m p.a., by saying goodbye to them, plus Ince and Sarr among others. The same article said our wage bill was now £700k a month; it didn't specify if that was playing staff or all our operations. Since then, Ejaria and Holmes have been moved off the wage bill with McIntyre imminent. Last bit of info is that Pand and Odell told STAR and SBWD that we have the 3rd highest running costs in L1.

No idea where this all leaves us, I'd guess £8m or so p.a., on player wages, but it's the staff costs, academy costs, Bearwood etc that is more of a black box.

I think that's the bit that needs clarity. Is Bearwood a money pit? Did we maybe spend all of the income from season tickets in the first part of the season, and we are losing £1.2 million a month now, because the only income is away tickets and individual game tickets?

We might never find out the reason, but it seems unbelievable to think we'd need to increase our crowds to 36,000* to break even with this squad.

* £14,000,000 / 23 games / £25 a ticket = 24,000 fans, + 12000 we are already getting.

The academy will be a major reason we have high running costs for a L1 club. Only ourselves at Derby have a Category One academy, whilst only five have a Category Two academy (Barnsley, Charlton, Fleetwood, Peterborough and Wigan). The rest are Category Three, excluding Wycombe who don't have an academy. The exact cost of the academy is hard to know, as estimates for a Category One academy seem to range from £2.8m per season to £10m p/a.

The Swansea chairman said, in 2020, a Category One academy cost them a 'net' £3m per season. I'm guessing that means £3m more than a Category Two academy. Costs seem to have gone up since then though.

Merchandise sales and other matchday related income (including streaming of midweek matches) will also be coming in, possibly some sponsorship money depending on how deals have been structured. This will be limited compared to what we would've got in merchandise, season ticket, sponsorship and broadcasting money before the start of the season.

This season, we've sold Puscas (~£1.5m), Holmes (~£500k), Abbey (?) and likely McIntyre (~£75k); so that's at least another £2m.

As a rough calculation for the money we'd need to generate to break even this season:
£14m (rough club costs) - ~£1.7m (L1 broadcasting revenue) = £12.3m.
£12.3m - £2m (transfer income) = £10.3m
£10.3m / 12,000 average attendance = £858 per average fan in revenue per season to break even (including sponsorship revenue, tickets, merchandise sales, etc).

Based on the previous four sets of accounts (since 2017-18; excluding 2020-21), our average commercial revenue (merchandising, sponsorship) has been 21.5% larger than our average matchday revenue. Assuming that ratio is kept up, that takes our revenue per average fan requirement (to breakeven) to £387.47 with 12,000 fans.

That adjustment with different levels of average attendance is:

1. 10,000 - £464.96
2. 12,000 - £387.47
3. 14,000 - £332.11
4. 16,000 - £290.60
5. 20,000 - £232.48
6. 24,000 - £193.73

Matchday costs would increase with increased attendances (more stewarding, etc.) and the matchday to commercial revenue ratio would likely change, but it's illustrative that breaking even with £14m costs is potentially achievable with enough supporters coming in.

That said, we haven't managed that remaining £10.3m in revenue in the Championship (matchday + commercial) in the four seasons I looked at - the previous accounts showed £8.3m and it's likely both areas have seen a decline in revenue this season.

[Clyde1998]

Statement on the club website regarding McIntyre: https://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/2024/j ... e-Departs/

Best of luck to him.

[genome]

And in the space of a couple of weeks, the only players who I had any kind of affinity to, as they were boyhood Reading fans, are gone.

Definitely feels like only administration will bring the club back in any sort of form we recognise

[genome]

Anyone criticising the players is dim as fcuk by the way

[Hound]

On a personal level it’s definitely a shame with TMc. Obvs a good guy and will remember him well for that

Has had potential as a player but I do think lack of pace and height do make him difficult to find a spot in the team for. Not young anymore either. Still absolutely best of luck to him and hope he does well for Pompey

[tmesis]

but it's illustrative that breaking even with £14m costs is potentially achievable with enough supporters coming in.

Yes, but that's breaking even with a £14 million in costs. Our expenditure is our total income this season + another £14 million.

Barring something quite incredible, I'd say that figure has to be expenditure per month, not loss per month.

[Sutekh]

I wonder what time today the club will announce the departure of Smith and/or Azeez for undisclosed, but believed to be derisory, fees?

[Stranded]

I wonder what time today the club will announce the departure of Smith and/or Azeez for undisclosed, but believed to be derisory, fees?

They like making announcements late in the day, so 5pm. Earnshaw will start putting it out there around lunchtime.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Budget restrictions in the Champ were about £8k a week.

He'll have never been on a huge salary as we picked him up from Barnsley fairly cheap when they were relegated. They certainly wouldn't have been paying him lots.

But probably still one of the highest remaining earners at the club.

Where have you got £8k a week from? That wasn't the case in summer 2022 was it, possibly the year before but not Ince's first summer?

It was average wage for the Champ, which was about £8k.

£3k a week for 30 players works out to less than £5m a year. There's no way last year's restriction was £3k.

Yeah but we also had players that were on £15k a week, affecting our average. And, although they are loose reported figures, the players who agreed deals during the summer of 2022 all seem to be reported around £3k a week. Can't speak necessarily for the loan players, but Holmes, Yiadom, Long etc were all reported to be earning around £3k a week.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

On a personal level it’s definitely a shame with TMc. Obvs a good guy and will remember him well for that

Has had potential as a player but I do think lack of pace and height do make him difficult to find a spot in the team for. Not young anymore either. Still absolutely best of luck to him and hope he does well for Pompey

McIntyre, if he can stay fit, will do fine alongside another CB, in a system or a general back 4 that can cover his weaknesses a bit. We've never really had the system or individuals that have allowed him to do so, and of course his injury record.

I think he might do well at Pompey, I wouldn't be surprised if they looked to utilise him as a holding midfielder, although that's because I've always thought he could do a decent job there. If you need a good tackler to literally just sit and protect your CB's whilst shifting the ball to the more creative footballers in the team, he would do well.

[Wycombe Royal]

I think he might do well at Pompey, I wouldn't be surprised if they looked to utilise him as a holding midfielder, although that's because I've always thought he could do a decent job there. If you need a good tackler to literally just sit and protect your CB's whilst shifting the ball to the more creative footballers in the team, he would do well.

However when we used him there he never convinced, and did not look as comfortable as Craig does in the same role.

I think part of his weakness is that he wanders and does not have positional discipline. That's not so much of an issue when playing in a creative attacking role, but often left us exposed at the back without the pace to recover.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Ideally he would play on the left of a back 3, or alongside a pacey CB in a back 4 who can cover him. His strength is his ability to help build play from the back which we desperately miss in our team.

There's a good player in there, quite possibly a Championship one. We just didn't consistently see that here, through a mix of injuries, playing out of position and the club's malaise. What he really needs is an extended run in the team in a settled position, which I see as CB. Not LB or DM. I hope it works out for him at Portsmouth, but I suspect it won't if his squad role is utility man off the bench.