Chairman Opinion Poll

[oldebiscuit]

We missed the chance of moving the club forward in a big way after the first year in the prem. Just missing out on europe and then not investing in good players that would come and help us. Yes we brought marek and cisse but we never replaced Sidwell and that was key as a gap in the middle of the field became more than we could deal with so we just stared to lump it. Sir John is a great chairman and has brought the club along way but then let us down at the moment of greatness

'Let us down' ?????? What planet do you come from?

[mad79]

We missed the chance of moving the club forward in a big way after the first year in the prem. Just missing out on europe and then not investing in good players that would come and help us. Yes we brought marek and cisse but we never replaced Sidwell and that was key as a gap in the middle of the field became more than we could deal with so we just stared to lump it. Sir John is a great chairman and has brought the club along way but then let us down at the moment of greatness

'Let us down' ?????? What planet do you come from?

The planat that can see that alot of players have been sold and no money spent replacing them just youth players that spent years at lower league clubs.

[Big Foot]

and then treated us to football with no passion

Did you attend any home games from the end of January 09 onwards? I'm struggling to think of 1 half of passionate, compelling football from those games - nevermind a full 90 minutes

[Royal Rob]

Until Reading were promoted to the Premiership John Madejski did a brilliant job. But now it is clear that investment is needed in the playing squad. Having recouped millions (Doyle £6.25m, Sonko £2.5m, Kitson £5m and Hunt £??m) in transfer fees we have seen just a fraction of this re-invested in the team. Indeed, when you add in the players we no longer have on the books (Little, Lita, Hahnemann, Murty, Duberry etc) it is fast clear that the squad is much leaner than this was. We've also swallowed millions in parachute payments yet this money has gone on just a handful of budget buys. It's not even as if we spent extravagant sums when we were in the top flight - we were making a hefty profit at the time.

There is clearly money in the pot - all this talk about the need to be frugal is overblown. Reading need a chairman that will release the purse strings.

So my opinion of the chairman = tosspot.

But at the end of the day, what's it got to do with you? It's entirely his money and down to him how he spends it. How would you feel if someone called you a tosspot because you didn't spend enough of your money on something they wanted you to spend it on?

I have every right to feel aggrieved. Reading Football Club's working capital - the money that bought and has paid the wages of Hunt, Doyle, Sonko and Kitson - was provided by me. My annual bill for match tickets, memorabilia, car parking (£8 a time) and Sky TV subscriptions is what has run Reading Football Club in the last few years. Gone are the days when JM was paying £200k per month to subsidise the club's losses. The star players supporters have helped pay for brought promotion and a bumper payday (more fans and crucially more TV money). But when those players we forked out for were sold that cash we first contributed was not been re-invested. Previously we would have said "Ahhh but Steve Coppell isn't a man who likes to spend big", but Brendan Rodgers hasn't been given the chance. This is demonstrated by the cringeworthy Tommy Smith debacle where the club are refusing to spend more than a fraction of the Kevin Doyle money.

John Madejski has been very good for Reading Football Club, but now he is slowing - if not halting - progress.

[Ian Royal]

We missed the chance of moving the club forward in a big way after the first year in the prem. Just missing out on europe and then not investing in good players that would come and help us. Yes we brought marek and cisse but we never replaced Sidwell and that was key as a gap in the middle of the field became more than we could deal with so we just stared to lump it. Sir John is a great chairman and has brought the club along way but then let us down at the moment of greatness

'Let us down' ?????? What planet do you come from?

The planat that can see that alot of players have been sold and no money spent replacing them just youth players that spent years at lower league clubs.

I'd avoid commenting on finances until you've been in full time employment and living away from mummy for a couple of years if I were you. Until then it's highly likely you have no clue what you're talking about.

[Royal Lady]

He does actually have a point. We have made a fair bit of money selling players and not spent much out on buying any in. Whatever the reasons behind his last highlighted point, he's actually factually correct.

[Ian Royal]

He does actually have a point. We have made a fair bit of money selling players and not spent much out on buying any in. Whatever the reasons behind his last highlighted point, he's actually factually correct.

You mean Doyle? He is certainly a lot of players.

[Royalee]

You don't like his political allegiances?

JM for Prime Minister. Taxes raised, little spent on improving services, budgets slashed...

Twat.

[Royalee]

Well maybe not so much a poll, as we're only a small voice, but I wonder what the general opinion is at present about our long standing chairman.

There's absolutely no doubting what he has done for us, where we would be without him etc, but a lot of what I hear at the moment and have heard in the last couple of seasons is a sense of frustration and 'we're now being held back'.

Are we? Is that fair? Do you feel John Madejski has taken this football club as far as he can?

We could do well and spend big with Peter Risdale.

[Jerry St Clair]

We missed the chance of moving the club forward in a big way after the first year in the prem. Just missing out on europe and then not investing in good players that would come and help us. Yes we brought marek and cisse but we never replaced Sidwell and that was key as a gap in the middle of the field became more than we could deal with so we just stared to lump it. Sir John is a great chairman and has brought the club along way but then let us down at the moment of greatness

There are a string of clubs that "tried to move forward" after a spell in the Prem, and came seriously unstuck. Bradford being the most comparable example to us.

Anyway, I'm sick of football clubs pissing millions away on transfer fees and wages. I'd prefer RFC to spend proportionately more on community projects as that, imho, is their primary purpose - being at the heart of their local community.

[fridays child]

I'd be interested to know how much was 'owed' to JM (I'd have thought the money he pumped in over the years were loans rather than gifts) before the start of 2005/06 season, and what the figure is now.

[Royal Rother]

objectionable man.

Odd - the only comments I've heard / read over the years can be summarised by saying that he's a somewhat eccentric gentleman with strong ideas, but I've never seen anybody get anywhere close to saying they dislike him.

Upset you did he?

[Royal Rother]

I'd be interested to know how much was 'owed' to JM (I'd have thought the money he pumped in over the years were loans rather than gifts) before the start of 2005/06 season, and what the figure is now.

Unless he's taken some out in the last year it is exactly the same as it was in June 2005.

Up to the last published accounts I believe I am right in saying that he has never taken a penny back from the loans he made to the club, or indeed taken any form of salary since he first came here.

So, as someone else pointed out, he was in the habit of pumping £200k per month in a few years ago, but when profits have been made, none of that has been taken back out.