Embargos, HMRC Payment defaults, non payment of wages, the usual under Dai Wrongge

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Unless there is a Premier League team in dire need of a state of the art training facility in the Thames Valley in the next month and with very high-powered property solicitors, Bearwood will not be sold quickly. Certainly not quickly enough to release funds for this season.

It takes longer than that to sell a vacant one bedroom flat in a Tilehurst retirement village.

Agree - any funds from sale of Bearwood before the end of the season is a complete non starter

[Snowflake Royal]

My gut tells me his pride his hurt and he just doesn't give a shiny fcuk especially with his reported other issues back in China.

He is potentially at the stage where he would rather take the business down rather than sell it on to someone else who could make a success of it. Possible that the only thing worse than running a failing business, is then seeing someone else take that business and make it successful.

Can't shake the feeling we are toast.

I agree about the toast part.

My heart is saying we’ll be saved, but my head knows Dai isn’t a normal rational person and he’s already killed 2 clubs. Also, the reality is that once we fold it’ll soon be forgotten and Sky will be dedicating several days to Liverpool fans mourning Klopp leaving.

Looking forward to Sky Sports News doing a countdown to us slipping out of existence, just as they did for Bury.

Have seen a few highlights of Bury games and it could be fun starting again but hard to see the positives. They of course do have a stadium that holds no more than 12k, so playing there is doable on crowds of 3 to 4k. Playing Ascot at the SCL is a non starter.

Was looking at options and maybe a ground share with Rams Rugby could be doable as a starting point - Old Bath Road holds 2k with 300 seats which would be fine in the very low tiers.

If we start out getting less than 4/5k then I'm not sure there's any point.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

If we start out getting less than 4/5k then I'm not sure there's any point.[/quote]

Why not? Maidenhead, Slough, Basingstoke; all get far less than 4K. I'm pretty sure most of their regulars would rather have that than no club at all.

I've been to all of those often and always enjoyed it.

[WestYorksRoyal]

If we start out getting less than 4/5k then I'm not sure there's any point.

Why not? Maidenhead, Slough, Basingstoke; all get far less than 4K. I'm pretty sure most of their regulars would rather have that than no club at all.

I've been to all of those often and always enjoyed it.[/quote]
None of these clubs are a former premier league club reborn. We should be aiming bigger.

[genome]

Forgive me as I know nothing about this stuff, but do we not enter administration which forces Dai to sell, before we just go out of business?

[tmesis]

Have seen a few highlights of Bury games and it could be fun starting again but hard to see the positives. They of course do have a stadium that holds no more than 12k, so playing there is doable on crowds of 3 to 4k. Playing Ascot at the SCL is a non starter.

I don't see why, unless we would still have to pay Dai £1.5 million a year.

If Macclesfield can get 3500 in the 9th tier, I see no reason why we wouldn't get double that at the same level.

[Stranded]

Forgive me as I know nothing about this stuff, but do we not enter administration which forces Dai to sell, before we just go out of business?

Only a secured creditor, the directors or I believe the company's bank can request administration. It won't really work for us as Dai could still block any deal to come out of it again i.e. a sale, as he is the main secured creditor.

So essentially, he sells or we get liquidated either soon, or as the only likely resolution of administration.

[Stranded]

Have seen a few highlights of Bury games and it could be fun starting again but hard to see the positives. They of course do have a stadium that holds no more than 12k, so playing there is doable on crowds of 3 to 4k. Playing Ascot at the SCL is a non starter.

I don't see why, unless we would still have to pay Dai £1.5 million a year.

If Macclesfield can get 3500 in the 9th tier, I see no reason why we wouldn't get double that at the same level.

There's why it isn't feasible - Dai owns it. If someone buys it and lets the new club play there for next to nothing then it isn't feasible.

Lets say it was doable and we were able to attract 4 to 5k to games - it would essentially mean mothballing 3 stands until such time as the club felt it could sell enough tickets to make it worth operating them.

[tmesis]

Lets say it was doable and we were able to attract 4 to 5k to games - it would essentially mean mothballing 3 stands until such time as the club felt it could sell enough tickets to make it worth operating them.

I think people seriously understimate the support a new optimistic Reading club could have - if it had a decent ground to play in.

I see no reason why we wouldn't draw far more than any other pheonix club

[Stranded]

Lets say it was doable and we were able to attract 4 to 5k to games - it would essentially mean mothballing 3 stands until such time as the club felt it could sell enough tickets to make it worth operating them.

I think people seriously understimate the support a new optimistic Reading club could have - if it had a decent ground to play in.

I see no reason why we wouldn't draw far more than any other pheonix club

When we first moved to the new stadium and when we won promotion up to the 2nd tier - we were getting 14k.

As a phoenix club moves through the divisions the crowd will grow but at CCL level, bar the odd game where people would come for the novelty value i.e. the derby game v Reading City or similar - getting much more than an average of 4 to 5k is a pipe dream.

For starters, there will be a lot of people who will simply walk away if the club dies as there would be no connection to the new club for them.

[Sutekh]

Lets say it was doable and we were able to attract 4 to 5k to games - it would essentially mean mothballing 3 stands until such time as the club felt it could sell enough tickets to make it worth operating them.

I think people seriously understimate the support a new optimistic Reading club could have - if it had a decent ground to play in.

I see no reason why we wouldn't draw far more than any other pheonix club

The new club would get a big support for the first few games which would then naturally die away as the fixture list realism starts to hit home - plus if results really aren't all that then that'll pretty much kill it not to mention the less than impressive facilities in the NL scene at the lower reaches.

A new ground would be required as, unless there's fairly well off football mad maniac with a screw loose who could acquire the SCL and fund its operational overheads for a few years, there's no way any new club could afford it.

[WestYorksRoyal]

The challenge is creating a club which feels like "our" club and is the undisputed successor. We saw with Bury a split in the fanbase on whether to resurrect the original club or start a new one - a dilemma we could face if there is an asset stripped Reading FC expelled from the EFL. I presume we'd choose a phoenix over giving Dai a penny for such a shell of a club.

The last thing you'd want is different fanbase cliques creating power dynamics; you'd want STAR, C1871, SBWD, Proud Royals, TTE and EPR all getting behind the same venture. Plus coverage from BBCRB, the Chronical etc., to signal to everyone this it is Reading's club. And if you get a couple of ex players or coaches involved to give it legitimacy, all the better. Get it right and we could get a good attendance in. AFC Wimbledon are the benchmark, and their attendances are at a similar level to the original club.

[tmesis]

Lets say it was doable and we were able to attract 4 to 5k to games - it would essentially mean mothballing 3 stands until such time as the club felt it could sell enough tickets to make it worth operating them.

I think people seriously understimate the support a new optimistic Reading club could have - if it had a decent ground to play in.

I see no reason why we wouldn't draw far more than any other pheonix club

The new club would get a big support for the first few games which would then naturally die away as the fixture list realism starts to hit home

That's never happened at other pheonix clubs.

A new ground would be required as, unless there's fairly well off football mad maniac with a screw loose who could acquire the SCL and fund its operational overheads for a few years, there's no way any new club could afford it.

Any they could afford to build a new stadium?

OK, there are other factors involved, mainly around use of the SCL, but it comes down to the question of whether the objective of any new club would be to get back to the EFL as soon as possible, which would require a 'professional' set-up from the outset, or whether it would just be a genuine non-league club in modest surrounding, with the long term objective of getting back to the football league, but just giving people a club to watch on Saturdays if they feel like it.

[tmesis]

AFC Wimbledon are the benchmark, and their attendances are at a similar level to the original club.

They had a decent ground to play in from the outset, which helps massively.

Clubs that have to genuinely start from scratch find it much harder.

[Snowflake Royal]

Why not? Maidenhead, Slough, Basingstoke; all get far less than 4K. I'm pretty sure most of their regulars would rather have that than no club at all.

I've been to all of those often and always enjoyed it.

Because we're recently a Championship club with an average attendance of 12k, who in good times average 17/18k.

If we can't get some enthusiasm for a fresh start to bring a big slice of them along we'll never get anywhere.

Maidenhead, Slough etc are all small NL clubs with an, until recently, Championship neighbour.

[Uke]

Are we not at the "Mike Ashley" stage yet? The one where he comes in a buys everything for 30p?

[Stranded]

Are we not at the "Mike Ashley" stage yet? The one where he comes in a buys everything for 30p?

The seller would have to be willing to sell it for 30p for that to happen. No sign of that at the mo.

[rabidbee]

Doesn't that only work when a club is in hock to the banks for tens of millions, and the new buyer takes on the debt? We're in debt to Dai.

[From Despair To Where?]

Why not? Maidenhead, Slough, Basingstoke; all get far less than 4K. I'm pretty sure most of their regulars would rather have that than no club at all.

I've been to all of those often and always enjoyed it.

Because we're recently a Championship club with an average attendance of 12k, who in good times average 17/18k.

If we can't get some enthusiasm for a fresh start to bring a big slice of them along we'll never get anywhere.

Maidenhead, Slough etc are all small NL clubs with an, until recently, Championship neighbour.

We've had a decade of unremitting shit and even when we were good under Stam, the football was stultifying. We've been haemorrhaging fans.

Taking 5 or 6 steps down the pyramid isn't going to turn this around, especially when a lot of our fanbase were weaned on much better. Old timers who remember Elm Park may be happy with slumming it but I fear a lot of our fanbase won't.

I make as many trips as I can to the SCL, but I don't even fancy a trip to Marine 3 miles up the road with Conference standard facilities In the North East Counties League. A 450 mile round trip to a phoenix club at a similar step doesn't fill me with enthusiasm.

[Snowball]

Why not? Maidenhead, Slough, Basingstoke; all get far less than 4K. I'm pretty sure most of their regulars would rather have that than no club at all.

I've been to all of those often and always enjoyed it.

Because we're recently a Championship club with an average attendance of 12k, who in good times average 17/18k.

If we can't get some enthusiasm for a fresh start to bring a big slice of them along we'll never get anywhere.

Maidenhead, Slough etc are all small NL clubs with an, until recently, Championship neighbour.

We've had a decade of unremitting shit and even when we were good under Stam, the football was stultifying. We've been haemorrhaging fans.

Taking 5 or 6 steps down the pyramid isn't going to turn this around, especially when a lot of our fanbase were weaned on much better. Old timers who remember Elm Park may be happy with slumming it but I fear a lot of our fanbase won't.

It's winning that pulls fans and a rebirthed Reading
would be a very, VERY large fish in the lower leagues