Reading (A) Emirates F.A.Cup 4th rd, Jan 30th 3pm

[Welsh_Saddler]

Here we are at the dizzy heights of the 4th round of the oldest professional football cup competition and a trip to Reading, whose name will bring back fond memories of a day in Cardiff almost 15 years ago. I noticed a comment on another thread that labelled that 3-2 win as "fluked" :roll: ... in fact we gifted a goal to Reading courtesy of a Jimmy Walker misjudgment, and Reading gifted us a goal courtesy of a defender's backside - other than that the better footballing side won on the day. Who could forget the expression on the face of Tony Barras after he was helped off the field with concussion, only to be told he wasn't going to be allowed back on? And the image of Ray Graydon, trophy in hand, coming over to us and clearly mouthing "this is for you" :D :D

Anyway, back to the present......Reading are currently managed by Brian McDermott in his second spell with the club, and it must be said that his win percentage (34%?) doesn't compare favourably with his previous one (2009-13, 44%). Reading are currently in the lower half of the Championship table (15th), having won 2 (Bristol City and Blackburn Rovers) out of their last 10 games. Top scorer in League games is Matej Vydra with 6, and their 5 goal man Orlando Sa has just been sold to Maccabi Tel Aviv. However Bournemouth have been persuaded to part with Yann Kermorgant (undisclosed fee) so he may be the man to watch. It would be wrong to take too much notice of Reading's current indifferent League form though - remember that in the cup replay against Huddersfield they turned a 0-2 scoreline into a 5-2 win, so there's obviously character there. Reading's current form:

2 Jan Bristol City (H) Championship, Won 1-0
9 Jan Huddersfield Town (A) F.A. Cup 3rd round, Drew 2-2
12 Jan Derby County (A) Championship, Drew 1-1
16 Jan M.K. Dons (A) Championship, Lost 1-0
19 Jan Huddersfield Town (H) F.A. Cup replay, Won 5-2
23 Jan Sheffield Wednesday (H) Championship, Drew 1-1

Some people would say that our appearance in the 4th round of the F.A. Cup is a clear indication of "punching above our weight", and it is all too possible that Saturday's result will depend on which team turns up on the day. The Wembley experience is still very fresh in many minds. However, it should also be borne in mind that we have overcome 3 Championship sides already this season in a mixture of home and away fixtures......and all three of those sides are currently above Reading in the table. :wink:

I think the loss of George Evans has resulted to a deterioration in our effectiveness, and much depends on how well Sam Mantom can plug that gap - thus releasing Romaine Sawyers to maraud further upfield and supply the kind of assists he does so well, rather than filling in and firefighting at the back.

Let's be optimistic - I'll be quite happy with a 1-1 draw (Bradshaw) and an almost-full house back 'um for a replay.

[Cheesebag]

Hurrah... where's Biscuit tin?

[aaaae]

Hurrah... where's Biscuit tin?

I was enjoying the other thread! :cry: :wink:

We were learning about how you can fund a £50m investment in a new stadium from football income on crowds of 9K and council loans. It was fascinating!

[aaaae]

We have to beware Vydra. His main skill appears to be charging into defenders and throwing himself to the ground.

Earned a sending off and a penalty in the last couple of games. Dirty cheat.

[chestersaddler]

Remember that in the cup replay against Huddersfield they turned a 0-2 scoreline into a 5-2 win, so there's obviously character there.

A good comeback indeed, but helped by playing against 10 men for two thirds of the game.

I am not too confident about this one.

3-2 defeat in front of 12,344. Tom and Milan for us.

[SaddlerCrewe]

Hurrah... where's Biscuit tin?

I was enjoying the other thread! :cry: :wink:

We were learning about how you can fund a £50m investment in a new stadium from football income on crowds of 9K and council loans. It was fascinating!

It was interesting, all achieved by growing "organically".

I was also waiting to find out how they ran up £60 million of debt because they had a Russian chairman "who wouldn't spend anything"

[scott_powell]

2-0 Walsall. Easy win

[JonnyOwen]

I wasn't really following that thread but... were Reading fans getting upset that we don't find them an exciting draw? I mean Reading is nothing special, it's better than drawing a League 1 club but that's about it, much rather go to other clubs that are local or exciting.

fudge hell :lol:

I'll be there of course, think this will go to a replay. 1-1 draw.

[TheBiscuitMen]

Hurrah... where's Biscuit tin?

I was enjoying the other thread! :cry: :wink:

We were learning about how you can fund a £50m investment in a new stadium from football income on crowds of 9K and council loans. It was fascinating!

The Council gave Madejski the land for the stadium. He sold some of the land for retail usage. A combintnation of income from this and a loan, which was recouped once attendances weren't 9k, saw to pay for the stadium. No sugar daddy chairmen throwing money at the club. Until recently we've had one of the lowest spends in higher echelons of the football league and were probably, if not the, best run club in the country.

That all changed when Zingarevich came in and fudge everything however. His 'spending' was only to the detriment of the club and is the reason we have been in the lower half of the championship the last few seasons, which is fairly good going all things considered.

[chestersaddler]

Hurrah... where's Biscuit tin?

I was enjoying the other thread! :cry: :wink:

We were learning about how you can fund a £50m investment in a new stadium from football income on crowds of 9K and council loans. It was fascinating!

The Council gave Madejski the land for the stadium. He sold some of the land for retail usage. A combintnation of income from this and a loan, which was recouped once attendances weren't 9k, saw to pay for the stadium. No sugar daddy chairmen throwing money at the club. Until recently we've had one of the lowest spends in higher echelons of the football league and were probably, if not the, best run club in the country.

That all changed when Zingarevich came in and fudge everything however. His 'spending' was only to the detriment of the club and is the reason we have been in the lower half of the championship the last few seasons, which is fairly good going all things considered.

Please do not come onto this site using reasoned argument and civility :wink:

[aaaae]

Hurrah... where's Biscuit tin?

I was enjoying the other thread! :cry: :wink:

We were learning about how you can fund a £50m investment in a new stadium from football income on crowds of 9K and council loans. It was fascinating!

The Council gave Madejski the land for the stadium. He sold some of the land for retail usage. A combintnation of income from this and a loan, which was recouped once attendances weren't 9k, saw to pay for the stadium. No sugar daddy chairmen throwing money at the club. Until recently we've had one of the lowest spends in higher echelons of the football league and were probably, if not the, best run club in the country.

That all changed when Zingarevich came in and fudge everything however. His 'spending' was only to the detriment of the club and is the reason we have been in the lower half of the championship the last few seasons, which is fairly good going all things considered.

So why do the last published accounts show that the club owes Madejski £14.5m, a £1.5m increase from 12 months previous?

And if Reading are such well run club why the huge operating losses in each of the last five years of available accounts 2010-2014 adding up to a cumulative £47.9m? You're just hosing other people's money up the wall.

Terrible when facts get in the way of a cosy narrative isn't it?

[TheBiscuitMen]

Hurrah... where's Biscuit tin?

I was enjoying the other thread! :cry: :wink:

We were learning about how you can fund a £50m investment in a new stadium from football income on crowds of 9K and council loans. It was fascinating!

The Council gave Madejski the land for the stadium. He sold some of the land for retail usage. A combintnation of income from this and a loan, which was recouped once attendances weren't 9k, saw to pay for the stadium. No sugar daddy chairmen throwing money at the club. Until recently we've had one of the lowest spends in higher echelons of the football league and were probably, if not the, best run club in the country.

That all changed when Zingarevich came in and fudge everything however. His 'spending' was only to the detriment of the club and is the reason we have been in the lower half of the championship the last few seasons, which is fairly good going all things considered.

So why do the last published accounts show that the club owes Madejski £14.5m, a £1.5m increase from 12 months previous?

And if Reading are such well run club why the huge operating losses in each of the last five years of available accounts 2010-2014 adding up to a cumulative £47.9m? You're just hosing other people's money up the wall.

Terrible when facts get in the way of a cosy narrative isn't it?

Sorry I don't follow your narrative here. Do we have a sugar daddy chairman who has thrown money at our club giving us a shiny new stadium and splashing the cash OR are we in fact in debt to Madejski?

If you read my post above you'll note I said we were a well run club PRIOR to Zingarevich. PRIOR to Zingarevich is when the stadium and infrastructure was built and when we established ourselves as a top Championship club. PRIOR 2010 was when we were first in the Premier League with our record breaking team bought for next to nothing. PRIOR Zingarevich was when we were a well run club. I'm not sure which aspect of that you are struggling to grasp.

You also seem to have a very tentative grasp of debt. You are aware Manchester United, among every other club in the Premier League are in debit right? And on an even more macro scale, essentially every country in the world is in debt. Debt does not necessarily equal poorly run, so to use it as a proxy as you have isn't particularly insightful.

[Leatherman]

Here we are at the dizzy heights of the 4th round of the oldest professional football cup competition and a trip to Reading, whose name will bring back fond memories of a day in Cardiff almost 15 years ago. I noticed a comment on another thread that labelled that 3-2 win as "fluked" :roll: ... in fact we gifted a goal to Reading courtesy of a Jimmy Walker misjudgment, and Reading gifted us a goal courtesy of a defender's backside - other than that the better footballing side won on the day. Who could forget the expression on the face of Tony Barras after he was helped off the field with concussion, only to be told he wasn't going to be allowed back on? And the image of Ray Graydon, trophy in hand, coming over to us and clearly mouthing "this is for you" :D :D

Anyway, back to the present......Reading are currently managed by Brian McDermott in his second spell with the club, and it must be said that his win percentage (34%?) doesn't compare favourably with his previous one (2009-13, 44%). Reading are currently in the lower half of the Championship table (15th), having won 2 (Bristol City and Blackburn Rovers) out of their last 10 games. Top scorer in League games is Matej Vydra with 6, and their 5 goal man Orlando Sa has just been sold to Maccabi Tel Aviv. However Bournemouth have been persuaded to part with Yann Kermorgant (undisclosed fee) so he may be the man to watch. It would be wrong to take too much notice of Reading's current indifferent League form though - remember that in the cup replay against Huddersfield they turned a 0-2 scoreline into a 5-2 win, so there's obviously character there. Reading's current form:

2 Jan Bristol City (H) Championship, Won 1-0
9 Jan Huddersfield Town (A) F.A. Cup 3rd round, Drew 2-2
12 Jan Derby County (A) Championship, Drew 1-1
16 Jan M.K. Dons (A) Championship, Lost 1-0
19 Jan Huddersfield Town (H) F.A. Cup replay, Won 5-2
23 Jan Sheffield Wednesday (H) Championship, Drew 1-1

Some people would say that our appearance in the 4th round of the F.A. Cup is a clear indication of "punching above our weight", and it is all too possible that Saturday's result will depend on which team turns up on the day. The Wembley experience is still very fresh in many minds. However, it should also be borne in mind that we have overcome 3 Championship sides already this season in a mixture of home and away fixtures......and all three of those sides are currently above Reading in the table. :wink:

I think the loss of George Evans has resulted to a deterioration in our effectiveness, and much depends on how well Sam Mantom can plug that gap - thus releasing Romaine Sawyers to maraud further upfield and supply the kind of assists he does so well, rather than filling in and firefighting at the back.

Let's be optimistic - I'll be quite happy with a 1-1 draw (Bradshaw) and an almost-full house back 'um for a replay.

Where's the time gone? fudge me. :|

[aaaae]

Hurrah... where's Biscuit tin?

I was enjoying the other thread! :cry: :wink:

We were learning about how you can fund a £50m investment in a new stadium from football income on crowds of 9K and council loans. It was fascinating!

The Council gave Madejski the land for the stadium. He sold some of the land for retail usage. A combintnation of income from this and a loan, which was recouped once attendances weren't 9k, saw to pay for the stadium. No sugar daddy chairmen throwing money at the club. Until recently we've had one of the lowest spends in higher echelons of the football league and were probably, if not the, best run club in the country.

That all changed when Zingarevich came in and fudge everything however. His 'spending' was only to the detriment of the club and is the reason we have been in the lower half of the championship the last few seasons, which is fairly good going all things considered.

So why do the last published accounts show that the club owes Madejski £14.5m, a £1.5m increase from 12 months previous?

And if Reading are such well run club why the huge operating losses in each of the last five years of available accounts 2010-2014 adding up to a cumulative £47.9m? You're just hosing other people's money up the wall.

Terrible when facts get in the way of a cosy narrative isn't it?

Sorry I don't follow your narrative here. Do we have a sugar daddy chairman who has thrown money at our club giving us a shiny new stadium and splashing the cash OR are we in fact in debt to Madejski?

If you read my post above you'll note I said we were a well run club PRIOR to Zingarevich. PRIOR to Zingarevich is when the stadium and infrastructure was built and when we established ourselves as a top Championship club. PRIOR 2010 was when we were first in the Premier League with our record breaking team bought for next to nothing. PRIOR Zingarevich was when we were a well run club. I'm not sure which aspect of that you are struggling to grasp.

You also seem to have a very tentative grasp of debt. You are aware Manchester United, among every other club in the Premier League are in debit right? And on an even more macro scale, essentially every country in the world is in debt. Debt does not necessarily equal poorly run, so to use it as a proxy as you have isn't particularly insightful.

You are aware of the difference between operating profit and operating loss? Man Utd ran an operating profit of £117m in 2013-2014 alone, allowing them to comfortably service their debt. Reading on the other hand, not so much. They are tens of millions in debt and running huge operating losses. In fact the only reason they are still running is because of the largesse of people like, yes you guessed it John Madejski! Without his loans propping you up Reading football club would be heading for administration. The fact that you continue to deny this is comedy gold!!!

[TheBiscuitMen]

I was enjoying the other thread! :cry: :wink:

We were learning about how you can fund a £50m investment in a new stadium from football income on crowds of 9K and council loans. It was fascinating!

The Council gave Madejski the land for the stadium. He sold some of the land for retail usage. A combintnation of income from this and a loan, which was recouped once attendances weren't 9k, saw to pay for the stadium. No sugar daddy chairmen throwing money at the club. Until recently we've had one of the lowest spends in higher echelons of the football league and were probably, if not the, best run club in the country.

That all changed when Zingarevich came in and fudge everything however. His 'spending' was only to the detriment of the club and is the reason we have been in the lower half of the championship the last few seasons, which is fairly good going all things considered.

So why do the last published accounts show that the club owes Madejski £14.5m, a £1.5m increase from 12 months previous?

And if Reading are such well run club why the huge operating losses in each of the last five years of available accounts 2010-2014 adding up to a cumulative £47.9m? You're just hosing other people's money up the wall.

Terrible when facts get in the way of a cosy narrative isn't it?

Sorry I don't follow your narrative here. Do we have a sugar daddy chairman who has thrown money at our club giving us a shiny new stadium and splashing the cash OR are we in fact in debt to Madejski?

If you read my post above you'll note I said we were a well run club PRIOR to Zingarevich. PRIOR to Zingarevich is when the stadium and infrastructure was built and when we established ourselves as a top Championship club. PRIOR 2010 was when we were first in the Premier League with our record breaking team bought for next to nothing. PRIOR Zingarevich was when we were a well run club. I'm not sure which aspect of that you are struggling to grasp.

You also seem to have a very tentative grasp of debt. You are aware Manchester United, among every other club in the Premier League are in debit right? And on an even more macro scale, essentially every country in the world is in debt. Debt does not necessarily equal poorly run, so to use it as a proxy as you have isn't particularly insightful.

You are aware of the difference between operating profit and operating loss? Man Utd ran an operating profit of £117m in 2013-2014 alone, allowing them to comfortably service their debt. Reading on the other hand, not so much. They are tens of millions in debt and running huge operating losses. In fact the only reason they are still running is because of the largesse of people like, yes you guessed it John Madejski! Without his loans propping you up Reading football club would be heading for administration. The fact that you continue to deny this is comedy gold!!!

It's Madejskis loans? You mean the same Madejski who hasn't had financial ownership of the club for the last 3 and a half years?

You appear to have completely glossed over 2/3rds of my previous post in order to continue with your narrative that if it weren't for money bags madejski splashing the cash with his open cheque book reading would still be in league 1 playing in front of 6000 fans each week, and that the club are financially ruined because of his investment in the late 90's, none of which is vaguely true.

[Whaleoilbeefhooked]

Not entirely confident for this trip.

1-1 - Just hoping to see Sawyers, Rico & Bradshaw in the starting line up so close to the end of the transfer window.

[aaaae]

You also seem to have a very tentative grasp of debt. You are aware Manchester United, among every other club in the Premier League are in debit right? And on an even more macro scale, essentially every country in the world is in debt. Debt does not necessarily equal poorly run, so to use it as a proxy as you have isn't particularly insightful.

You are aware of the difference between operating profit and operating loss? Man Utd ran an operating profit of £117m in 2013-2014 alone, allowing them to comfortably service their debt. Reading on the other hand, not so much. They are tens of millions in debt and running huge operating losses. In fact the only reason they are still running is because of the largesse of people like, yes you guessed it John Madejski! Without his loans propping you up Reading football club would be heading for administration. The fact that you continue to deny this is comedy gold!!!

It's Madejskis loans? You mean the same Madejski who hasn't had financial ownership of the club for the last 3 and a half years?

The last published accounts (2014) show Madejski is owed £14.5m. We don't have the figures for your friendly Thai owners since they bought him out, but it appears that your new sugar daddies have already put somewhere near £50m into Reading FC.

You appear to have completely glossed over 2/3rds of my previous post in order to continue with your narrative that if it weren't for money bags madejski splashing the cash with his open cheque book reading would still be in league 1 playing in front of 6000 fans each week, and that the club are financially ruined because of his investment in the late 90's, none of which is vaguely true.

I take it then that you agree with me about servicing debt. I didn't address the other points because they were stupid, but if you insist -

Sorry I don't follow your narrative here. Do we have a sugar daddy chairman who has thrown money at our club giving us a shiny new stadium and splashing the cash OR are we in fact in debt to Madejski?

When a rich owner ploughs money into a football club, it appears on the books as a loan from said rich owner. It is exactly what Benham is doing at Brentford and it is exactly what Reading did in the late 90's. At that time, in what is now League 1, John Madejski and Dave Whelan at Wigan were hosing money up the wall on players. Reading the match programmes for our home against both teams I was aghast at the amount of cash they had spent, millions of pounds. Players that you bought like Martin Butler, a £750k buy from Cambridge, and Tony Rougier (one of our greatest goalscorers) £325k from Port Vale, Jim McIntye £440k from Dundee Utd, Nicky Forster £650k from Ipswich, Graeme Murty £750K from Charlton, Phil Whitehead £250k from Tranmere and players that you offered huge salaries to get them to join you like Jamie Cureton from Bristol City and our own Adrian Viveash.

You outspent everyone in the division and built a £50m stadium, just like Wigan & Brentford on the back of average league 1 gates. In 2000 your average gate was 8985. Where the hell do you think the money came from? Oh yes council loans and football income wasn't it? Delusional. The fact that the gamble paid off to a degree and you managed a couple of years in the Premier League to pay down some of the debt doesn't take away from the fact that you only got there because of your sugar daddy owner.

[scott_powell]

You also seem to have a very tentative grasp of debt. You are aware Manchester United, among every other club in the Premier League are in debit right? And on an even more macro scale, essentially every country in the world is in debt. Debt does not necessarily equal poorly run, so to use it as a proxy as you have isn't particularly insightful.

You are aware of the difference between operating profit and operating loss? Man Utd ran an operating profit of £117m in 2013-2014 alone, allowing them to comfortably service their debt. Reading on the other hand, not so much. They are tens of millions in debt and running huge operating losses. In fact the only reason they are still running is because of the largesse of people like, yes you guessed it John Madejski! Without his loans propping you up Reading football club would be heading for administration. The fact that you continue to deny this is comedy gold!!!

It's Madejskis loans? You mean the same Madejski who hasn't had financial ownership of the club for the last 3 and a half years?

The last published accounts (2014) show Madejski is owed £14.5m. We don't have the figures for your friendly Thai owners since they bought him out, but it appears that your new sugar daddies have already put somewhere near £50m into Reading FC.

You appear to have completely glossed over 2/3rds of my previous post in order to continue with your narrative that if it weren't for money bags madejski splashing the cash with his open cheque book reading would still be in league 1 playing in front of 6000 fans each week, and that the club are financially ruined because of his investment in the late 90's, none of which is vaguely true.

I take it then that you agree with me about servicing debt. I didn't address the other points because they were stupid, but if you insist -

Sorry I don't follow your narrative here. Do we have a sugar daddy chairman who has thrown money at our club giving us a shiny new stadium and splashing the cash OR are we in fact in debt to Madejski?

When a rich owner ploughs money into a football club, it appears on the books as a loan from said rich owner. It is exactly what Benham is doing at Brentford and it is exactly what Reading did in the late 90's. At that time, in what is now League 1, John Madejski and Dave Whelan at Wigan were hosing money up the wall on players. Reading the match programmes for our home against both teams I was aghast at the amount of cash they had spent, millions of pounds. Players that you bought like Martin Butler, a £750k buy from Cambridge, and Tony Rougier (one of our greatest goalscorers) £325k from Port Vale, Jim McIntye £440k from Dundee Utd, Nicky Forster £650k from Ipswich, Graeme Murty £750K from Charlton, Phil Whitehead £250k from Tranmere and players that you offered huge salaries to get them to join you like Jamie Cureton from Bristol City and our own Adrian Viveash.

You outspent everyone in the division and built a £50m stadium, just like Wigan & Brentford on the back of average league 1 gates. In 2000 your average gate was 8985. Where the hell do you think the money came from? Oh yes council loans and football income wasn't it? Delusional. The fact that the gamble paid off to a degree and you managed a couple of years in the Premier League to pay down some of the debt doesn't take away from the fact that you only got there because of your sugar daddy owner.

Im sorry but who actually cares? Non of this matters!

[Cheesebag]

You also seem to have a very tentative grasp of debt. You are aware Manchester United, among every other club in the Premier League are in debit right? And on an even more macro scale, essentially every country in the world is in debt. Debt does not necessarily equal poorly run, so to use it as a proxy as you have isn't particularly insightful.

You are aware of the difference between operating profit and operating loss? Man Utd ran an operating profit of £117m in 2013-2014 alone, allowing them to comfortably service their debt. Reading on the other hand, not so much. They are tens of millions in debt and running huge operating losses. In fact the only reason they are still running is because of the largesse of people like, yes you guessed it John Madejski! Without his loans propping you up Reading football club would be heading for administration. The fact that you continue to deny this is comedy gold!!!

It's Madejskis loans? You mean the same Madejski who hasn't had financial ownership of the club for the last 3 and a half years?

The last published accounts (2014) show Madejski is owed £14.5m. We don't have the figures for your friendly Thai owners since they bought him out, but it appears that your new sugar daddies have already put somewhere near £50m into Reading FC.

You appear to have completely glossed over 2/3rds of my previous post in order to continue with your narrative that if it weren't for money bags madejski splashing the cash with his open cheque book reading would still be in league 1 playing in front of 6000 fans each week, and that the club are financially ruined because of his investment in the late 90's, none of which is vaguely true.

I take it then that you agree with me about servicing debt. I didn't address the other points because they were stupid, but if you insist -

Sorry I don't follow your narrative here. Do we have a sugar daddy chairman who has thrown money at our club giving us a shiny new stadium and splashing the cash OR are we in fact in debt to Madejski?

When a rich owner ploughs money into a football club, it appears on the books as a loan from said rich owner. It is exactly what Benham is doing at Brentford and it is exactly what Reading did in the late 90's. At that time, in what is now League 1, John Madejski and Dave Whelan at Wigan were hosing money up the wall on players. Reading the match programmes for our home against both teams I was aghast at the amount of cash they had spent, millions of pounds. Players that you bought like Martin Butler, a £750k buy from Cambridge, and Tony Rougier (one of our greatest goalscorers) £325k from Port Vale, Jim McIntye £440k from Dundee Utd, Nicky Forster £650k from Ipswich, Graeme Murty £750K from Charlton, Phil Whitehead £250k from Tranmere and players that you offered huge salaries to get them to join you like Jamie Cureton from Bristol City and our own Adrian Viveash.

You outspent everyone in the division and built a £50m stadium, just like Wigan & Brentford on the back of average league 1 gates. In 2000 your average gate was 8985. Where the hell do you think the money came from? Oh yes council loans and football income wasn't it? Delusional. The fact that the gamble paid off to a degree and you managed a couple of years in the Premier League to pay down some of the debt doesn't take away from the fact that you only got there because of your sugar daddy owner.

Im sorry but who actually cares? Non of this matters!

I think it's brilliant... unfortunately the original discussion thread was locked so its come here.

we have basically a jumped up league one side that came into a bit of luck with a sugar daddy now thinking they are far superior to anyone else.

[scott_powell]

But who cares if they did or didn't have a sugar daddy owner? It doesn't add or take away from the fact that Reading are duller than a nuns w*** bank.

Love it or hate it they ARE superior to us at the moment and they ARE a bigger club. In terms of a team though I think we're on par, if not better. Let the players do the talking Saturday.

They're hardly acting like the Wolves/Villa scum do. We're ripping them so they're ripping us.

[aaaae]

Where's the fun in that? :mrgreen:

PS Scott, are you too young to remember the late 90's League 1 melting pot?

[scott_powell]

Where's the fun in that? :mrgreen:

PS Scott, are you too young to remember the late 90's League 1 melting pot?

I started going in 98 so yes

[aaaae]

Where's the fun in that? :mrgreen:

PS Scott, are you too young to remember the late 90's League 1 melting pot?

I started going in 98 so yes

Aha! Just wait til you're an old crumbly in 2030 debating the ins and out of the 2016 league 1 campaign with a Burton Albion fan after they win their 3rd champions league title on the bounce...

[Walsall_fan1992]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rp3toJ9cAQ

:lol:

[Mazza01]

You also seem to have a very tentative grasp of debt. You are aware Manchester United, among every other club in the Premier League are in debit right? And on an even more macro scale, essentially every country in the world is in debt. Debt does not necessarily equal poorly run, so to use it as a proxy as you have isn't particularly insightful.

You are aware of the difference between operating profit and operating loss? Man Utd ran an operating profit of £117m in 2013-2014 alone, allowing them to comfortably service their debt. Reading on the other hand, not so much. They are tens of millions in debt and running huge operating losses. In fact the only reason they are still running is because of the largesse of people like, yes you guessed it John Madejski! Without his loans propping you up Reading football club would be heading for administration. The fact that you continue to deny this is comedy gold!!!

It's Madejskis loans? You mean the same Madejski who hasn't had financial ownership of the club for the last 3 and a half years?

The last published accounts (2014) show Madejski is owed £14.5m. We don't have the figures for your friendly Thai owners since they bought him out, but it appears that your new sugar daddies have already put somewhere near £50m into Reading FC.

You appear to have completely glossed over 2/3rds of my previous post in order to continue with your narrative that if it weren't for money bags madejski splashing the cash with his open cheque book reading would still be in league 1 playing in front of 6000 fans each week, and that the club are financially ruined because of his investment in the late 90's, none of which is vaguely true.

I take it then that you agree with me about servicing debt. I didn't address the other points because they were stupid, but if you insist -

Sorry I don't follow your narrative here. Do we have a sugar daddy chairman who has thrown money at our club giving us a shiny new stadium and splashing the cash OR are we in fact in debt to Madejski?

When a rich owner ploughs money into a football club, it appears on the books as a loan from said rich owner. It is exactly what Benham is doing at Brentford and it is exactly what Reading did in the late 90's. At that time, in what is now League 1, John Madejski and Dave Whelan at Wigan were hosing money up the wall on players. Reading the match programmes for our home against both teams I was aghast at the amount of cash they had spent, millions of pounds. Players that you bought like Martin Butler, a £750k buy from Cambridge, and Tony Rougier (one of our greatest goalscorers) £325k from Port Vale, Jim McIntye £440k from Dundee Utd, Nicky Forster £650k from Ipswich, Graeme Murty £750K from Charlton, Phil Whitehead £250k from Tranmere and players that you offered huge salaries to get them to join you like Jamie Cureton from Bristol City and our own Adrian Viveash.

You outspent everyone in the division and built a £50m stadium, just like Wigan & Brentford on the back of average league 1 gates. In 2000 your average gate was 8985. Where the hell do you think the money came from? Oh yes council loans and football income wasn't it? Delusional. The fact that the gamble paid off to a degree and you managed a couple of years in the Premier League to pay down some of the debt doesn't take away from the fact that you only got there because of your sugar daddy owner.

unfortunately there are very few teams these days that the above doesn't apply to, its now standard practice in Football and in the end of the day they lived the Premier league dream!

A large number of fans don't judge a club on its financial merits or History, I think it hits home more to the Likes of Walsall because we have always lived within our means..

Anyway onto the game, ill be there but struggling to get excited for this and I imagine the same will apply for the Reading fans. Hopefully 1500+ turn out and we get to have a good sing song. Not confident on a result though 3-1 loss :(

[4143]

Im sorry but who actually cares? Non of this matters!

I feel that way about one sentence score predictions. This is far more interesting.

[scott_powell]

Im sorry but who actually cares? Non of this matters!

I feel that way about one sentence score predictions. This is far more interesting.

:roll:

[Cheesebag]

1-1 :mrgreen:

[Mazza01]

Over 1300 tickets sold in advance

[Cheesebag]

1500+ then... Excellent