Official RFC Clownovic Day. The protest thread

[Snowflake Royal]

I am not sure of wording of the agreement with the EFL but I am pretty sure owners cannot do this. It is part of the deal for them on the fit and proper persons test. He could walk away but only if a suitable buyer was found. Think about how many clubs would have just died if a pissed off owner wanted to just up an leave? It doesn't happen because they aren't allowed to do it.

Really? If he decides to stop putting any money in, what can the EFL do? And how do you find a suitable buyer for a club with debts of over £230M?

He walks, we go into adminstration immediately. Then there needs to a settlement that covers the debts - if one can be made. An d buyer found for a club that's in financial tatters...

Our only debt is to him isn't it? We are, at least, relatively debt free to third parties.

Not sure if this makes him more or less likely to walk, as doing so will see him write off an immense amount of money - he would be better served trying to find a willing buyer who can pay him X for the club and the stadium and potentially agree a payment plan of any agreed debt.

But in short, we have no idea of the real picture despite it appearing to be a total mess.

Yep. He either loses the lot, or gets a buyer and makes some of it back. He can't stop owning the club without someone buying it or the club being liquidated.

To liquidate he'd have to deliberately avoid other buyers to dissolve us himself. And then he'd still own the stadium (which he couldn't do much with) and the training ground, which he probably could.

[NathStPaul]

There doesn't need to be violence to send a message. The protest against Terry Bullivant started with about 5 people running on to the pitch with a banner and just sitting down on the centre circle. Soon the entire Southbank was on with them just stood there making our voices heard, the end result was the chairman coming out and speaking to us and then subsequently a managerial change was made later the same day.

Not quite true. Several hundred on the pitch. Bullivant survived until after the next game - the one-legged goalie disaster at the Manor - and then resigned of his own accord. He heard the call 'Taxi for Terry' for the final time and went, thank the lord.

And then in the local press that week blamed it all on "internet troublemakers" on the [RoyalMail] email list.

We had Internet back then?

[Dirk Gently]

Not quite true. Several hundred on the pitch. Bullivant survived until after the next game - the one-legged goalie disaster at the Manor - and then resigned of his own accord. He heard the call 'Taxi for Terry' for the final time and went, thank the lord.

And then in the local press that week blamed it all on "internet troublemakers" on the [RoyalMail] email list.

We had Internet back then?

Not everyone - but a select few eraly adopters and technocrats...

HNA was founded in 1994. And there were several hundred on the [RoyalMail] list until it started dying when forums came along.

[Fox Talbot]

There doesn't need to be violence to send a message. The protest against Terry Bullivant started with about 5 people running on to the pitch with a banner and just sitting down on the centre circle. Soon the entire Southbank was on with them just stood there making our voices heard, the end result was the chairman coming out and speaking to us and then subsequently a managerial change was made later the same day.

Not quite true. Several hundred on the pitch. Bullivant survived until after the next game - the one-legged goalie disaster at the Manor - and then resigned of his own accord. He heard the call 'Taxi for Terry' for the final time and went, thank the lord.

And then in the local press that week blamed it all on "internet troublemakers" on the [RoyalMail] email list.

And we got relegated.

[Notts Royal]

There doesn't need to be violence to send a message. The protest against Terry Bullivant started with about 5 people running on to the pitch with a banner and just sitting down on the centre circle. Soon the entire Southbank was on with them just stood there making our voices heard, the end result was the chairman coming out and speaking to us and then subsequently a managerial change was made later the same day.
My protest preference would be to absolutely the same thing again. Get someone on the pitch once the injury time board goes up and just sit there, they won't be alone for long. Don't talk to the players, don't touch the players just sit there in silence and make a stand.

I remember this one when I was a kid & would hope for something similar. I remember it being non-violent but a strong statement, which is exactly what’s needed. Issue is, nowadays there’s so many young lads who want to cause trouble I’m not sure it would work.

Not against a clown protest, but for me it needs to be directed at the Board. Getting rid of Pauno is a short-term fix, but drastic changes are needed at the top. As it stands though, that short-term fix is becoming ever more critical

[biff]

Why don't we take a different tack and put all our efforts behind the Ding women's team in their FA cup game against WHU? COmbine it with a home game boycott? They definitely deserve our support, and would be a very obvious show of our dissintrest in the current bunch of pcunts in the mens side.

[Royal Ginger]

I can think of absolutely no way that we as a fanbase could possibly regret collectively dressing up as clowns in front of cameras or other teams’ fans. Thank you, vive la revelation, you’ve let us down again, etc etc.

[morganb]

Club 1871 posted on Twitter:

We want our Reading back

We want to see a commitment from the club to change the direction in which it is run and for this to be shared with fans

Protest details:

- 12th Feb, 1pm
- Outside main stadium entrance
- Bring noise, bring banners, bring yourselves

#ReadingFC https://t.co/vUoaBEeeXQ

(No mention of clown wigs)

[Dirk Gently]

Just for the avoidance of doubt, please can someone tell me when it actually was "our" club?

[NathStPaul]

We have far too many wet blankets who support the club for this to be successful but I applaud both Club 1871 and Elm Park Royals for trying.

Tilehurst Bellends as usual too scared of their own shadows to join in.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Club 1871 posted on Twitter:

We want our Reading back

We want to see a commitment from the club to change the direction in which it is run and for this to be shared with fans

Protest details:

- 12th Feb, 1pm
- Outside main stadium entrance
- Bring noise, bring banners, bring yourselves

#ReadingFC https://t.co/vUoaBEeeXQ

(No mention of clown wigs)

Much better idea than clowns/pants etc during the game. if we want to stay up we need to 100% back the team during the game. Talk Reading and other twitter sites also supporting this.

[hughsies no.1]

Can’t believe this is actually happening - personally can’t see what will be achieved by it other than p*ssing off an owner who has ploughed millions into the club and making him leave the club threatening our existence.

If anyone actually believes Pauno is being kept manager on merit by the owner they’re deluded, there are obvious repercussions if he’s sacked as it’ll go against the agreed business model with the EFL resulting in further points deductions.

When asked why this is happening the response is ‘we want to see where the club is going’ - well the club has been striving for premier league football for years, rolled the dice and spent the money and now facing the consequences of rolling that dice. Now we’ve agreed to an EFL plan to reset.

So Reading fans now think it’s wise to protest and p*ss off the owner who effectively holds the key to our future.

Interesting to see how this plays out.

[NathStPaul]

Wet blanket.

[hughsies no.1]

Wet blanket.

Bet all these Reading fans planning to protest weren’t protesting against the likes of Puscas, Joao, Rafael et al on huge salaries were signed - which has effectively led to where we are now…

Short memories, now results haven’t panned out and we the spending didn’t work the toys are coming out the pram.

Let’s just see where this leads…

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Wet blanket.

He has a point. What happens if Dai walks?

[NathStPaul]

Wet blanket.

He has a point. What happens if Dai walks?

He can't without leaving the club financially secure and I believe he would have to pay all debts before leaving. If he wants to do that then I'm all for it.

There are rules to stop owners doing this sort of thing, they have to agree all of this before buying a club. This idea that he can walk away whenever he likes is a complete myth.

[blythspartan]

Wet blanket.

Bet all these Reading fans planning to protest weren’t protesting against the likes of Puscas, Joao, Rafael et al on huge salaries were signed - which has effectively led to where we are now…

Short memories, now results haven’t panned out and we the spending didn’t work the toys are coming out the pram.

Let’s just see where this leads…

I believe the owners might actually sympathise with the fans to a degree, especially if FFP is preventing them from sacking Pauno. The fact that we’ll be protesting outside of the ground and not inside ruining the 150th anniversary celebrations gets my vote.

[hughsies no.1]

Wet blanket.

He has a point. What happens if Dai walks?

He can't without leaving the club financially secure and I believe he would have to pay all debts before leaving. If he wants to do that then I'm all for it.

There are rules to stop owners doing this sort of thing, they have to agree all of this before buying a club. This idea that he can walk away whenever he likes is a complete myth.

Happy for him to walk away?!

Were you happy when he was ploughing all the money in on transfers to try take us up?

[NathStPaul]

He has a point. What happens if Dai walks?

He can't without leaving the club financially secure and I believe he would have to pay all debts before leaving. If he wants to do that then I'm all for it.

There are rules to stop owners doing this sort of thing, they have to agree all of this before buying a club. This idea that he can walk away whenever he likes is a complete myth.

Happy for him to walk away?!

Were you happy when he was ploughing all the money in on transfers to try take us up?

Happy for the investment but not happy about the players bought or who he has trusted to do the recruitment. He is obviously a very naive man when it comes to footballing decisions and that has royally screwed us over in the longterm.

He has fcuked up big time, a message being sent to him is long overdue. The protests aren't designed to demand he sells up, they are in the hope he changes his approach to running the club. If he listens and we see improvements I'm sure he will win the majority over.

[Snowflake Royal]

Can’t believe this is actually happening - personally can’t see what will be achieved by it other than p*ssing off an owner who has ploughed millions into the club and making him leave the club threatening our existence.

If anyone actually believes Pauno is being kept manager on merit by the owner they’re deluded, there are obvious repercussions if he’s sacked as it’ll go against the agreed business model with the EFL resulting in further points deductions.

When asked why this is happening the response is ‘we want to see where the club is going’ - well the club has been striving for premier league football for years, rolled the dice and spent the money and now facing the consequences of rolling that dice. Now we’ve agreed to an EFL plan to reset.

So Reading fans now think it’s wise to protest and p*ss off the owner who effectively holds the key to our future.

Interesting to see how this plays out.

Nonsense. There are no cost implications of sacking him, we're already paying his contract regardless.

There are some implications of hiring replacements, but this is small in the grand scheme of things. And we've just lowered our wage bill.

The owner is at root of all our problems.