The Thank You Madejski thread

[Reading4eva]

Thorough all this mess which seems to have finally come to an end last night there is one man who has kept us floating throughout last season. A man who tried to cover the mess as much as he could, when he was working under awful conditions.

With the new Thai owner coming in, it's fairly safe to say that the end of his tenure could well be confirmed over the next couple of days.

Love him or hate him (but can't see why you would unless your Paloma Faith), Madejski has been brilliant for our club. Had he not come in, we could of been at Elm Park still which would of been a disaster waiting to happen in this era of glitzy stadiums and money men. He kept us one of the most financially stable clubs in football and got us to the Premier League as Champions twice (although the second time we now know was helped by money which our co-owner didn't even have).

I think he took some drastic action to get Samuelson who it's clear as day to see, has been terrible for our club out before the sale. He knew after his mistake and let's be fair he hasn't made many, was a bad egg and a nightmare waiting to happen. It's a lot better that we had Sir John wrestling the ships controls from time to time when Samuelson was around as he could of done what he wanted if they owned 100% of the club!

So thank you Sir John. On a parting note I hope the new owner builds a statue of you outside the stadium but please let it be called the RedBull Wonga Durex whatever Stadium for the good of the club. It'll always be the Mad Stad to me.

[rfc58]

Can't disagree. I have been critical in the past, when he's been too cautious when a little bit of investment at key times could have kicked us on, but as an outsider, they way he's handled this crisis as been first class.

[akranes]

Would much prefer to see a statue of a giant red bull can, with madejski standing on top of it cradling an upset full grown anton zingarevich in his arms but I agree with the sentiment.

He has changed the club and got it to where it is today (minus the recent finance issues)! Thank you.

[Wycombe Royal]

Some recent mistakes aside, he has been one of the best owners and Chairman a club could ever hope to have. He is, and will always be, a legend for what he has achieved with little old Reading.

[winchester_royal]

Uh oh, I hear the angry footsteps of Royal Blue approaching..

[Millsy]

I'm a bit slow in the alleged news, and have to read up on the goss, but whoever takes over, whatever happens, and whatever I may have said about Sir John in the past, I want in on the first page to say a huge THANK YOU to this great man, who has done so much for Reading.

Thank you John Madesjki. It'll be a sad day when you go.

[fruits]

Just wish the official site would put something, for the momemt we only have the word of Charlie Watts that the deal has gone through. I heard nothing on Radio Berkshire. Have asked Ady Williams on Twitter if he knows anything.

As interesting as ladies football may be , it pales into insignificance when the future of my club is hanging by a thread.

[Kitsondinho]

Just wish the official site would put something, for the momemt we only have the word of Charlie Watts that the deal has gone through. I heard nothing on Radio Berkshire. Have asked Ady Williams on Twitter if he knows anything.

As interesting as ladies football may be , it pales into insignificance when the future of my club is hanging by a thread.

Charlie Watts is just drumming up support for his paper.......

[John Peel]

Just wish the official site would put something, for the momemt we only have the word of Charlie Watts that the deal has gone through. I heard nothing on Radio Berkshire. Have asked Ady Williams on Twitter if he knows anything.

As interesting as ladies football may be , it pales into insignificance when the future of my club is hanging by a thread.

I presume it's because even if it DID go through last night, there is still a fair bit to go until it can classed as a done deal and approved by the League.

[John Peel]

Love him or hate him you say? Please say if you say if you're latter. Whatever his faults we would still be a Leyton Orient if it weren't for that man buying us in 1990.

[SPARTA]

Appreciate him for getting us as far as he did, but he reached his peak here in 2007 and he's been holding us back ever since. He'll always be fondly thought of, but he took an uncharacteristic gamble with the Zingarevich's largely due to his own financial problems, and we were very close to paying a very heavy price for that. If we have got lucky with this new owner, then it largely saves SJM's reputation, and he can leave (continue as president) with some integrity. We may well owe him a great deal of gratitude for keeping Samuelson away from this football club. His last actions as Chairman could well be his most important.

I still favour a statue of SJM together with Steve Coppell, as they were at Leicester; and I'm fully behind stadium rebranding, as that could bring in excess of £700k per season, and under FFP that will give us more scope to compete with the top Championship teams - and it's worth considerably more in the Premier League.

[Will95]

Love the man, love what he's done, it'll be sad to see him go, but it's time and has been for a few years now. The Anton/TSI sale looked good to everyone at first so I don't think we can blame SJM for that, it's not his fault it went tits up.

OUT for a stadium rename though, but 100% IN for a statue of him and Coppell.

[USA_Loyal_Royal]

SJM has done so much for this club and he deserves all of our respect and gratitude, and i for one, am forever grateful. Thank you Sir John!

[andrew1957]

SJM has done so much for this club and he deserves all of our respect and gratitude, and i for one, am forever grateful. Thank you Sir John!

Quite right.

There are some fans who really need a reality check. SJM has been great for our town and RFC in particular. Yes he has made mistakes - most notably in taking AZ at face value, but all of us could have made that one. AZ said all the right things and appeared a perfect fit and SJM was clearly fooled into thinking the same. BUT he has then stuck with it through what I suspect has been a torrid 9 months or so (we can only guess at all the issues behind the scenes with Samuelson etc) and frankly without him the club would be in a horrible mess.

I am sure he would not have wanted to pass on the club in the way that he has been forced to and who knows if the new owners will be better than AZ or worse - BUT I trust SJM completely to choose the best possible option for the club of those available at this time.

Only time will tell if the prospective new owner will be good or bad for RFC, but SJM will always remain a legend in my book.

[Angry Shed Sex]

Madejski will probably be the only person in Reading Football Club history to make money out of it as an operation upon sale. For that I have mixed emotions. He has undoubtedly been a positive force but the shambles of the past couple of years and his bizarre sell on clauses have left a bad taste in some supporters mouths.

At the end of the day he was always a businessman first and a football club owner second. Most people realise that his priorities are in that order and in that order only.

So saying this, his business led decisions have, in general, proved to be the correct ones. The appointment of McGhee, Pardew, Coppell, and McDermott raised eyebrows but all proved successful. The move to the new ground was pivotal in us getting to the position we now find ourselves in.

For this, and this alone, I thank him. It has been a relationship where both parties have benefitted enormously.

[Terminal Boardom]

to the whole thread and to what football has become.

[Royal Biscuitman]

Sir John Madejski is a club legend, He has done more for the club than any before and quite possibly any who follow (ask me again after we win the Premiership or Champions League) and deserves to be celebrated with all those who held grudges letting bygones be bygones. I hope he is able to enjoy his retirement from Reading FC ownership in peace.

As for the new owner, well time will tell.... after Anton and the TSI fiasco, I think we should show some caution and restraint before singing the guys praises. I actually like the Reading way of doing business sensibly and I hope we invest in the academy more than anything else.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Did great things for us in the early days but lost interest, stopped investing, missed some golden opportunities for progress, watched us go stale and then sold us to any Tom, Dick or Anton the minute he could. Hung about after the Anton mess for his own benefit so no applause from me there either. He may have brought us the good times and I’m grateful for that but by 2006 he wanted out and I think the club could’ve kicked on even further had he handled things differently. As it stands his reign has ended just as we’ve been rescued from the brink of utter disaster.

So a bit of a mixed bag for me but I wish him all the best.

[floyd__streete]

Thanks for lumbering us with who we can only assume is another conman

[Focher]

Thanks for lumbering us with who we can only assume is another conman