Since promotion

[Harold]

If Reading fail, then the board will be to blame.

Why would they? It has been stated that the funds are available, so surely then it must be Hammond and Coppell who would be to blame for not spending it?

Harold gets it wrong again when attempting a fishing trip.

it says funds available, but we dont know how much!!

Reading do not and never have had a set transfer budget.

This may be so but if they had endless amounts of money then surely they would try and tempt gr8 players to the club. The fact is they are working to a budget which does not allow them to go and buy expensive players. So they have to go and take a chance on unproven raw talent in most cases.

[Behindu]

This may be so but if they had endless amounts of money then surely they would try and tempt gr8 players to the club. The fact is they are working to a budget which does not allow them to go and buy expensive players. So they have to go and take a chance on unproven raw talent in most cases.

I think they are working to a policy, rather than a budget. There is a difference.

In answer to Schards original point I think the problem is drawing the line at 'since promotion'. It ignores the black hole that was RFC before promotion. Is it fair to exclude costs incurred before we hit the financial jackpot ? And is there any evidence that the club are sitting on £50 million in unspent cash ?

My view is that the club committed to compete in the Prem, which they have done. They didn't commit to spending X million on players. From all accounts we haven;t missed out on many (any ?) players for financial reasons.

However IF the club decide to operate at a certain financial level and that is lower than the income they have then I would hope that they consider the fans and perhaps price cup games at a level that repays some of our investement, or spend money on facilities to benefit us (like better catering or some tarmac on the car park....)

[Wycombe Royal]

perhaps price cup games at a level that repays some of our investement

Depends on the opposition agreeing as well though.

[Woodcote Royal]

I suspect that rather than offering refunds to disgruntled fans, for whom an 8th place finish was not sufficient for their season tickets to represent excellant value for money, that the Chairman would be seriously tempted to revert to his plan "A" by hiking prices substantally next season, happy in the knowledge that local "rivals" Oxford United would be delighted accept those who refused to pay.

[Behindu]

perhaps price cup games at a level that repays some of our investement

Depends on the opposition agreeing as well though.

Indeed.
However I'm sure it would be possible to construct a suitable package that traded lower prices against higher attendance.

[Schards#2]

I suspect that rather than offering refunds to disgruntled fans, for whom an 8th place finish was not sufficient for their season tickets to represent excellant value for money, that the Chairman would be seriously tempted to revert to his plan "A" by hiking prices substantally next season, happy in the knowledge that local "rivals" Oxford United would be delighted accept those who refused to pay.

You seem to have posted this on the wrong thread as it doesn't address any of the points raised and spouts some crap about people not being happy with 8th place instead.

[readingfc_4_life_and_beyo]

I think it's brilliant. 8th in the league, a good and entertaining team, and a brilliant prospect for the future. If we stay up and are in this position next year, we'll all be thrilled with the signings. If we go down, with the accounts we have, the players (possibly) we'll have kept, and the parachute payments we'll receive, we'll be fine.

All this and I can only just afford the season ticket. Good times

[Woodcote Royal]

I suspect that rather than offering refunds to disgruntled fans, for whom an 8th place finish was not sufficient for their season tickets to represent excellant value for money, that the Chairman would be seriously tempted to revert to his plan "A" by hiking prices substantally next season, happy in the knowledge that local "rivals" Oxford United would be delighted accept those who refused to pay.

You seem to have posted this on the wrong thread as it doesn't address any of the points raised and spouts some crap about people not being happy with 8th place instead.

Don't worry, I placed my observations in precisely the place intended..................in response to yet more utter cr@p from your good self

[AbovetheI]

Simplistictly....

IN - in TV revenue, circa £65,000,000

OUT - in net transfers, circa £3,000,000

If it is so simple, why have you left out the biggest expense?

The cost Steve Sidwell has to pay to support his family?

[Ian Royal]

So what we actually have is:

IN - £65m
OUT - approx £23m in wages and signings + stadium costs, ancillery staff costs, general costs, previous seasons losses, budgeting for stadium expansion and money for new signings...

That looks like OUT should cover most of IN if you ask me. Nice try though Schards.



EDITED to be safely on the conservative side.

[Daniella]

I'm with schards on this one. The spin coming out from the club these days is complete bollox. We're looking to spend big bla bla bla, no we're not, we haven't. We aren't attracting anyone and we aren't bidding high enough for anyone. We charge too much for season tickets when we don't need the extra funds. Madejski bleats on about not paying players and clubs massive funds, and how we won't be held to ransome in the transfer market, he also moans how everyone in football these days is overpaid. So then what does he do? Charges the fans ridiculously high modern day prices. Hypocrite.

A club like reading will never sustain premiership status, thats the sad thing. Its all about money in this day and age, you have to spend big to remain big. Clubs with good intentions finish nowhere.

[The 17 Bus]

I believe that Mr Mad is spending to stay in the premier, we cannot do it with a 24k stadium so we are expanding, surely that is spending to stay in the prem, I would say the club is now on a sound financial base, after a few years of heavty losses, anyone think that is not a bad thing, and if Mr mad gets some of his loans repaid, so be it.

I hate the high prices and voted with my feet, perhaps others should think of doing the same if they do not like it, wether we like it or not we are actually competative on prices for the area and the league we are in,.

[Wycombe Royal]

Its all about money in this day and age, you have to spend big to remain big.

Just like Leeds.

[Mr Angry]

Its all about money in this day and age, you have to spend big to remain big.

Just like Leeds.

And Barnsley

And Bradford

And Sheffield Wednesday

etc etc etc etc etc etc

[wolsey]

Its all about money in this day and age, you have to spend big to remain big.

Just like Leeds.

And Barnsley

And Bradford

And Sheffield Wednesday

etc etc etc etc etc etc

But probably only after

Citeh

or Birmingham

or Sunderland

or Portsmouth

We've got some spending to do to catch that lot

[papereyes]

If reading dont sign many players this pre-season and do well, SC will be a genius again. If Reading fail, then the board will be to blame.

He's actually right here!

The first bit is fluff, but the second ...

IN - in TV revenue, circa £65,000,000

I'd also argue that a big chunk of IN hasn't been received yet, but am not sure how that would hold up.

[Only one Trevor Morley]

Personally, I'm happy to pay a bit more and Madjeski a bit less. Its Madjeskis funds that have paid for everything in the last 20 years - we'd be nothing without his bankrolling

In terms of the promise to fans that higher ticket prices would be invested in the team - . I think the wages have been increased and new contracts agreed. Virtually all of the squad is now nailed down for a while. Don't forget that when tickets prices went up we didnt know whether the squad needed strengthening. By and large it didnt. We've got the money to spend sa proved by the Scott Brown saga.

Season Ticket Prices are now frozen. Should they have gone down - perhaps - but given that madjeski will have taken a huge hit in terms of investment over the years is it too much to ask that we help in making his losses a slow puncture rather than a torrent.

[Daniella]

Its all about money in this day and age, you have to spend big to remain big.

Just like Leeds.

And Barnsley

And Bradford

And Sheffield Wednesday

etc etc etc etc etc etc

What about watford, leicester, southampton, norwich, crystal palace and ipswich?

All were prem sides who didn't spend much and look at them now. There are both sides of the scale so don't rattle off a couple of names and think it wins an argument lads, thats bollox. Times have changed since Sheffield Wednesday and Bradford went big spending, at that time no one else was. These days everyone is spending massive on wages. How do you think Pompey have just signed Nugent?
We're going to be left behind unless we can compete financially. We've already seen player's don't want to join a nice little club with good intentions. They want to challenge for honor's and get big pay packets. We can't even offer history which is the other factor which attracts players. The only way we can attract good player's to a club like us is money.

[Mr Angry]

I not arguing that we shouldn't spend any money - even Coppell has acknowledged that teams generally finish in the League depending upon how much they have spent, BUT I don't think we should spend outside our budget to try and chase success; 3 teams will get relegated even if every team spends £500M, and we have to accept (as has been mentioned before) that because of a number of factors we simply cannot compete against the likes of Villa and Everton in chasing players.

If teams like Sunderland, Wigan and Fulham want to spend above the odds for average players, good luck to them! The fact is that simply spending vast amounts on a player is no guarantee that you will get success. Its all about WHO you get and if they will fit into the squad in terms of personality and character as much as how good they are perceived to be.

As for the original argument at the start of this thread, its utterly facile.

[Stranded]

Watford spent shedloads under Vialli and are only just recovering, last season was too early for them to return really and they weren't going to make the same mistakes.

Leicester virtually went bust.

Ipswich spent shedloads after their first season (when they finished 5th without spending) and got relegated. They haven't recovered since.

The year the other 3 got relegated only Norwich spent less than £6m, which is admittedly not shedloads in today's market.