CONFRIMED: Takeover collapsed; Back to square one

[tmesis]

TV money is vastly different for a start.

Income in the Championship is roughly £14m - £16m a season. In L1 we haven't seen the accounts yet, but somewhere between £8m and £10m seems about right. A Cat 1 academy costs about £2m a year.

There's a reason only us and Derby had one in L1, iland it's because we didn't immediately downgrade on relegation in the hopesof bouncing back.

I'm sure I've seen stuff implying a Category 1 academy is closer to £5 million a year in total.

Me too, but not from anything or one reliable, and that's a ludicrous figure for even a top Championship club to afford.

Maybe, but it would be some way to explaining why we are still losing a fortune, despite having good crowds and a team that's not meant to be all that highly paid.

[Snowflake Royal]

I'm sure I've seen stuff implying a Category 1 academy is closer to £5 million a year in total.

Me too, but not from anything or one reliable, and that's a ludicrous figure for even a top Championship club to afford.

Maybe, but it would be some way to explaining why we are still losing a fortune, despite having good crowds and a team that's not meant to be all that highly paid.

Every year people massively underestimate how much our squad costs.

There's this weird myth that our wage bill is small, yeah for a Championship club, but we got relegated.

Smith, Wing, Knibbs, Savage and Elliott are unlikely to be on small L1 wages. Button is going to be on decent. Yes Ejaria has gone, but we'll have to have paid up a lot of his contract to July. We don't have a particularly small squad.

Even at £1k a week, which is certainly very believable for a lot of our Academy graduates is over £50k a year.

I expect a lot of our senior squad are on £3k to £6k comfortably.

It's very easy to get to an estimated wage bill of £4m-£5m ignoring paying off historic transfers and wages. And I suspect its higher. That's half or more of our income right there.

It's only a couple of seasons ago it was over £20m. Yes we've lost a lot of high earners, but it's just not realistic to think we're anything but a fairly big L1 wage bill.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

Me too, but not from anything or one reliable, and that's a ludicrous figure for even a top Championship club to afford.

Maybe, but it would be some way to explaining why we are still losing a fortune, despite having good crowds and a team that's not meant to be all that highly paid.

Every year people massively underestimate how much our squad costs.

There's this weird myth that our wage bill is small, yeah for a Championship club, but we got relegated.

Smith, Wing, Knibbs, Savage and Elliott are unlikely to be on small L1 wages. Button is going to be on decent. Yes Ejaria has gone, but we'll have to have paid up a lot of his contract to July. We don't have a particularly small squad.

Even at £1k a week, which is certainly very believable for a lot of our Academy graduates is over £50k a year.

I expect a lot of our senior squad are on £3k to £6k comfortably.

It's very easy to get to an estimated wage bill of £4m-£5m ignoring paying off historic transfers and wages. And I suspect its higher. That's half or more of our income right there.

It's only a couple of seasons ago it was over £20m. Yes we've lost a lot of high earners, but it's just not realistic to think we're anything but a fairly big L1 wage bill.

Given that pretty much everyone who wasn't an academy graduate was signed under deals that had to be authorised by the EFL, I think our wage bill isn't going to be massive. Who's left on a Championship contract - Yiadom?

[Snowflake Royal]

Maybe, but it would be some way to explaining why we are still losing a fortune, despite having good crowds and a team that's not meant to be all that highly paid.

Every year people massively underestimate how much our squad costs.

There's this weird myth that our wage bill is small, yeah for a Championship club, but we got relegated.

Smith, Wing, Knibbs, Savage and Elliott are unlikely to be on small L1 wages. Button is going to be on decent. Yes Ejaria has gone, but we'll have to have paid up a lot of his contract to July. We don't have a particularly small squad.

Even at £1k a week, which is certainly very believable for a lot of our Academy graduates is over £50k a year.

I expect a lot of our senior squad are on £3k to £6k comfortably.

It's very easy to get to an estimated wage bill of £4m-£5m ignoring paying off historic transfers and wages. And I suspect its higher. That's half or more of our income right there.

It's only a couple of seasons ago it was over £20m. Yes we've lost a lot of high earners, but it's just not realistic to think we're anything but a fairly big L1 wage bill.

Given that pretty much everyone who wasn't an academy graduate was signed under deals that had to be authorised by the EFL, I think our wage bill isn't going to be massive. Who's left on a Championship contract - Yiadom?

This isn't true. There weren't any restrictions last season other than whether we had paid our tax bill and were able to make signings at all.

The signings that had to be approved under that level of FL scrutiny were in the Championship and the limit was about £8k a week. Which is a big L1 salary.

It's not about Championship contracts.

[WestYorksRoyal]

I would assume our 1st team wage bill is top 6 L1, but not ridiculous and something we should be able to manage with 14k fans or so a week. Like others, I can't signings like Wing, Knibbs and Smith pushing us beyond this.

The issue is the cost of maintaining our academy and infrastructure. Scholarship contracts, coaching staff, groundsmen at Bearwood etc.,. The sort of thing it's hard to trim around the edges; it needs a strategic decision whether it's worth it or not, a decision that's not being made due to uncertainty.

[kwik-silva]

Every year people massively underestimate how much our squad costs.

There's this weird myth that our wage bill is small, yeah for a Championship club, but we got relegated.

Smith, Wing, Knibbs, Savage and Elliott are unlikely to be on small L1 wages. Button is going to be on decent. Yes Ejaria has gone, but we'll have to have paid up a lot of his contract to July. We don't have a particularly small squad.

Even at £1k a week, which is certainly very believable for a lot of our Academy graduates is over £50k a year.

I expect a lot of our senior squad are on £3k to £6k comfortably.

It's very easy to get to an estimated wage bill of £4m-£5m ignoring paying off historic transfers and wages. And I suspect its higher. That's half or more of our income right there.

It's only a couple of seasons ago it was over £20m. Yes we've lost a lot of high earners, but it's just not realistic to think we're anything but a fairly big L1 wage bill.

Given that pretty much everyone who wasn't an academy graduate was signed under deals that had to be authorised by the EFL, I think our wage bill isn't going to be massive. Who's left on a Championship contract - Yiadom?

This isn't true. There weren't any restrictions last season other than whether we had paid our tax bill and were able to make signings at all.

The signings that had to be approved under that level of FL scrutiny were in the Championship and the limit was about £8k a week. Which is a big L1 salary.

It's not about Championship contracts.

Were there no restrictions? We were told we had to sign up to a business plan last summer after breaking the previous one, you would assume that that did have some restrictions - though we never found out what they were if so.

[Snowflake Royal]

Given that pretty much everyone who wasn't an academy graduate was signed under deals that had to be authorised by the EFL, I think our wage bill isn't going to be massive. Who's left on a Championship contract - Yiadom?

This isn't true. There weren't any restrictions last season other than whether we had paid our tax bill and were able to make signings at all.

The signings that had to be approved under that level of FL scrutiny were in the Championship and the limit was about £8k a week. Which is a big L1 salary.

It's not about Championship contracts.

Were there no restrictions? We were told we had to sign up to a business plan last summer after breaking the previous one, you would assume that that did have some restrictions - though we never found out what they were if so.

We had to comply with our overall wage budget, but not individual deals.

We have several clubs on record that they couldn't compete with us in the transfer market on wages for players like Wing and Smith.

[The Royal Forester]

This isn't true. There weren't any restrictions last season other than whether we had paid our tax bill and were able to make signings at all.

The signings that had to be approved under that level of FL scrutiny were in the Championship and the limit was about £8k a week. Which is a big L1 salary.

It's not about Championship contracts.

Were there no restrictions? We were told we had to sign up to a business plan last summer after breaking the previous one, you would assume that that did have some restrictions - though we never found out what they were if so.

We had to comply with our overall wage budget, but not individual deals.

We have several clubs on record that they couldn't compete with us in the transfer market on wages for players like Wing and Smith.

Didn't the other half of Lewis Wing say he took a pay cut to come to Reading, the longer contract being a part of the reason? If we are paying less than Wycombe. as the Wanderers are not the biggest payers by a long way, so many other clubs could have offered more.

[Sutekh]

Were there no restrictions? We were told we had to sign up to a business plan last summer after breaking the previous one, you would assume that that did have some restrictions - though we never found out what they were if so.

We had to comply with our overall wage budget, but not individual deals.

We have several clubs on record that they couldn't compete with us in the transfer market on wages for players like Wing and Smith.

Didn't the other half of Lewis Wing say he took a pay cut to come to Reading, the longer contract being a part of the reason? If we are paying less than Wycombe. as the Wanderers are not the biggest payers by a long way, so many other clubs could have offered more.

QPR wanted him but he chose struggling at Reading over being cr@p in west London. Perhaps that shows how far QPR's finances must have fallen.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

This isn't true. There weren't any restrictions last season other than whether we had paid our tax bill and were able to make signings at all.

The signings that had to be approved under that level of FL scrutiny were in the Championship and the limit was about £8k a week. Which is a big L1 salary.

It's not about Championship contracts.

Were there no restrictions? We were told we had to sign up to a business plan last summer after breaking the previous one, you would assume that that did have some restrictions - though we never found out what they were if so.

We had to comply with our overall wage budget, but not individual deals.

We have several clubs on record that they couldn't compete with us in the transfer market on wages for players like Wing and Smith.

Every single deal, including loans, had to be approved by the EFL. There was a ceiling on individual contracts.

I haven't got the pettiness to go back and find the exact quote from Bowen, so will have to rely on yours, and my memory.

[Crusader Royal]

Were there no restrictions? We were told we had to sign up to a business plan last summer after breaking the previous one, you would assume that that did have some restrictions - though we never found out what they were if so.

We had to comply with our overall wage budget, but not individual deals.

We have several clubs on record that they couldn't compete with us in the transfer market on wages for players like Wing and Smith.

Every single deal, including loans, had to be approved by the EFL. There was a ceiling on individual contracts.

I haven't got the pettiness to go back and find the exact quote from Bowen, so will have to rely on yours, and my memory.

There was a point where we had an average wage agreed with the EFL and an overall wage cap and a limit on squad size. No new signings or new contracts could push us above either figure. Not entirely sure how the breach of the average wage worked but it did mean there were restrictions on both individual and squad wages. Have lost track of exactly when this was in place !

[Snowflake Royal]

Were there no restrictions? We were told we had to sign up to a business plan last summer after breaking the previous one, you would assume that that did have some restrictions - though we never found out what they were if so.

We had to comply with our overall wage budget, but not individual deals.

We have several clubs on record that they couldn't compete with us in the transfer market on wages for players like Wing and Smith.

Every single deal, including loans, had to be approved by the EFL. There was a ceiling on individual contracts.

I haven't got the pettiness to go back and find the exact quote from Bowen, so will have to rely on yours, and my memory.

That was 100% the case, but in our last Championship season.

After which Bowen assured us there were no restrictions and there would be no more problems.

[Snowflake Royal]

We had to comply with our overall wage budget, but not individual deals.

We have several clubs on record that they couldn't compete with us in the transfer market on wages for players like Wing and Smith.

Every single deal, including loans, had to be approved by the EFL. There was a ceiling on individual contracts.

I haven't got the pettiness to go back and find the exact quote from Bowen, so will have to rely on yours, and my memory.

There was a point where we had an average wage agreed with the EFL and an overall wage cap and a limit on squad size. No new signings or new contracts could push us above either figure. Not entirely sure how the breach of the average wage worked but it did mean there were restrictions on both individual and squad wages. Have lost track of exactly when this was in place !

Championship relegation season.

[Stranded]

50 days until the new season starts.

Be very surprised if we have new owners or any new players in by then.

Also likely to have Noel Hunt in charge as Selles gets fed up and walks.

[Stranded]

Also, I assume pre-season training must start in the next week or so, given the first friendly is just 15 days away.

[Franchise FC]

Also, I assume pre-season training must start in the next week or so, given the first friendly is just 15 days away.

All renewed season ticket holders will be named in the squad for the first friendly … should mean we’ll have a couple of subs, at least

[Sutekh]

Also, I assume pre-season training must start in the next week or so, given the first friendly is just 15 days away.

Players likely to be back on 1st July, hopefully that will start concentrating the spotlight more onto getting the club sold.

[LUX]

At least we’ve got the enjoyable distraction of that exciting England team to cheer us up.

[72 bus]

Also, I assume pre-season training must start in the next week or so, given the first friendly is just 15 days away.

All renewed season ticket holders will be named in the squad for the first friendly … should mean we’ll have a couple of subs, at least

Season ticket sales are 13% up on the same time last season. some folks back the club despite the uncertainty.

[Hound]

At least we’ve got the enjoyable distraction of that exciting England team to cheer us up.

Reminded me quite a lot of many Reading performances over the last decade or so (less so last season). Zero energy, half hearted pressing, midfield bypassed and overly negative. A great watch!