#SellBeforeWeDai (to someone fit and proper)“ supporters action group

[Ascotexgunner]

Thing for me is Dai took the cheaper option and ran away from his last two clubs and left them to fold. Don't think anyone knows our true debt but if it's horrific we could well end up with a long way further to fall.

[Snowflake Royal]

What are we wanting from a new owner if Dai sells up then?

Someone who pays players and staff on time and in full has to be a key priority, as well as hiring knowledgable people behind the scenes and giving them the power to make key decisions.

Someone who mandates we be run in a sustainable fashion, with a short, medium and long term strategy, with contingencies. Who takes an active interest in the running of the club, but who trusts and relies on the staff in post to do their job without getting in their way or thinking he/she knows better.

Someone who appreciates the need to buy low, develop and sell high where possible and give youth a chance.

Someone who will bring the club and its assets back under one unified ownership.

[Royal_jimmy]

The obligations are mainly to the playing staff, and those obligations have to be paid in full.

If the club is liquidated then all creditors are paid out of the sale of the club assets, but there aren't many of those.

Most disgusting of all is that football creditors get everything back or at least the priority over everyone else.

I think that's only true for administration, not liquidation.

With the way transfer fees are paid over a number of years, I wonder if we still are paying for some of our signings.

No chance other than maybe Puscas. And we'll have paid Inter fully off with our sale this summer. We've not signed a player for a transfer fee in 3 years

[The Royal Forester]

What are we wanting from a new owner if Dai sells up then?

Someone who pays players and staff on time and in full has to be a key priority, as well as hiring knowledgable people behind the scenes and giving them the power to make key decisions.

Someone who mandates we be run in a sustainable fashion, with a short, medium and long term strategy, with contingencies. Who takes an active interest in the running of the club, but who trusts and relies on the staff in post to do their job without getting in their way or thinking he/she knows better.

Someone who appreciates the need to buy low, develop and sell high where possible and give youth a chance.

Someone who will bring the club and its assets back under one unified ownership.

We had one like that before. Some "fans" complained that he wouldn't open his wallet enough, and wanted him out.

[Royal_jimmy]

I thought this was foolishness, wanting to get rid of an owner who is putting money into the club, albeit badly. Who is going to buy him out?

But the drip drip drip of financial bad news and incompetence just keeps coming, and we face a third season with points deductions. I'm 100% Dai out as of last night.

Administration, a 12pt penalty and a fresh start looks like the only way forward.

If you step back from the crisis, we still have loads of potential as a club. Stadium, training facilities, academy, large catchment area, relatively recent success.

A savvy investor would see the current crisis as an opportunity to make a bargain purchase, so I would expect interest.

and as a campaign, protests are just one element. We want to really showcase all that potential and try to help catch the eye of possible investors. Show what about the club makes it such a great investment opportunity, all the benefits of Reading (catchment area, ease of travel, major tech firms on doorstep etc etc...).

I think we have as much potential as Brighton do to be honest. Reading and the metropolitan area around is in the top 12 largest population wise in the UK. Reading is the largest town in the UK and bigger than a good percentage of cities population and infrastructure wise, as big as Sunderland and around the same size as Newcastle, it's 30 minutes from Heathrow and London, lots of big companies, recent success but arguably punching below it's weight now,

We could be a bigger club in future than teams like Burnley, Watford, Brentford and Luton who are all managing better than us. But no one sees that potential.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

If you step back from the crisis, we still have loads of potential as a club. Stadium, training facilities, academy, large catchment area, relatively recent success.

A savvy investor would see the current crisis as an opportunity to make a bargain purchase, so I would expect interest.

and as a campaign, protests are just one element. We want to really showcase all that potential and try to help catch the eye of possible investors. Show what about the club makes it such a great investment opportunity, all the benefits of Reading (catchment area, ease of travel, major tech firms on doorstep etc etc...).

I think we have as much potential as Brighton do to be honest. Reading and the metropolitan area around is in the top 12 largest population wise in the UK. Reading is the largest town in the UK and bigger than a good percentage of cities population and infrastructure wise, as big as Sunderland and around the same size as Newcastle, it's 30 minutes from Heathrow and London, lots of big companies, recent success but arguably punching below it's weight now,

We could be a bigger club in future than teams like Burnley, Watford, Brentford and Luton who are all managing better than us. But no one sees that potential.

Well, the Dai's did that's why they've pumped about £200m into the club and improving the infrastructure like the training ground for instance. It's just a shame they are pretty clueless on how to run a football club.

[SCIAG]

I think we have as much potential as Brighton do to be honest. Reading and the metropolitan area around is in the top 12 largest population wise in the UK. Reading is the largest town in the UK and bigger than a good percentage of cities population and infrastructure wise, as big as Sunderland and around the same size as Newcastle, it's 30 minutes from Heathrow and London, lots of big companies, recent success but arguably punching below it's weight now,

You've massively overestimated the size of Reading there.

Definitions are often somewhat arbitrary, and especially when we get to "urban areas". But the Reading urban area is the 23rd largest in the UK, not the 12th largest. The relative standing doesn't change much if you look at a stricter definition of city/town that excludes, for example, Wokingham.

The Tyneside urban area in 2011 had a population of 770,000 people. That's more than double the Reading urban area. Even if you look just at the boroughs (a bad way to measure anything that isn't directly relevant to the council), Newcastle's population is 50% bigger than Reading's.

It's probably right to say that Reading is the largest town, but the population is so close to Northampton's that it probably goes back and forth every time the university breaks up for summer.

[Clyde1998]

A few years back someone estimated the population which has each Football League club as their closest: link. We had the third largest population with us as their closest club.

That said, Voronoi diagrams only focus on 'as the crow flies' distances, rather than travel time. Also, it assumes each club has the same pulling power which isn't the case - someone from Salford is probably more likely to support Man Utd than Salford City.

The estimate assumes that 100% of the population is interested in football, which isn't true, and that interest in football is evenly distributed, which again isn't true. During the World Cup, YouGov ran a survey which showed only 19% of people in Britain are 'very interested' in watching football, with a further 20% fairly interested. People in Southern England were less interested than in any other area - aside from Wales.

I don't know if there are any firm estimates as to how many people support each club, but there's basically no correlation between size of 'catchment area' and average attendances over the past decade.

[under the tin]

A few years back someone estimated the population which has each Football League club as their closest: link. We had the third largest population with us as their closest club.

That said, Voronoi diagrams only focus on 'as the crow flies' distances, rather than travel time. Also, it assumes each club has the same pulling power which isn't the case - someone from Salford is probably more likely to support Man Utd than Salford City.

The estimate assumes that 100% of the population is interested in football, which isn't true, and that interest in football is evenly distributed, which again isn't true. During the World Cup, YouGov ran a survey which showed only 19% of people in Britain are 'very interested' in watching football, with a further 20% fairly interested. People in Southern England were less interested than in any other area - aside from Wales.

I don't know if there are any firm estimates as to how many people support each club, but there's basically no correlation between size of 'catchment area' and average attendances over the past decade.

True.
Just look at London. South of the river, there's Palace, and not a lot else. By the "catchment" metric, they should be getting attendances to rival/exceed Dortmund.

[Forbury Lion]

Dai will be lucky to get even £30m for us with the last few posts in mind

He may opt to keep a non-majority shareholding which he can then cash in on when the new owners turn things around and double the value of the asset.

[Forbury Lion]

A few years back someone estimated the population which has each Football League club as their closest: link. We had the third largest population with us as their closest club.

Perhaps if we severe the transport links to London on match days it will help keep football fans in town.
All the London clubs are easily accessible to the people of Reading and the surrounding areas, many Reading residents work in London anyway so (pre-covid) their rail season tickets for commuting to work give them free weekend travel to get to games.

There is great potential for Reading, it's just needs to be nurtured. My first Reading game was at age 11 when my younger brother got free tickets after some community thing at his primary school, they've more than made their money back from me over the past 30+ years.

[ReadingGlasses]

Just look at London. South of the river, there's Palace, and not a lot else. By the "catchment" metric, they should be getting attendances to rival/exceed Dortmund.

There's also Millwall and Charlton, although Palace definitely attract more support than either.

Catchment areas are funny things. My local non-league club, Bromley, have a massive one in theory. There's no league team in the borough, and you have to spread out as far as Palace, Millwall and Charlton until you hit another one. However, while they do get decent enough attendances for their division, it's nothing out of the ordinary. They haven't managed to tap in to that potential. Presumably league standing is more of a factor.

[blythspartan]

Just look at London. South of the river, there's Palace, and not a lot else. By the "catchment" metric, they should be getting attendances to rival/exceed Dortmund.

There's also Millwall and Charlton, although Palace definitely attract more support than either.

Catchment areas are funny things. My local non-league club, Bromley, have a massive one in theory. There's no league team in the borough, and you have to spread out as far as Palace, Millwall and Charlton until you hit another one. However, while they do get decent enough attendances for their division, it's nothing out of the ordinary. They haven't managed to tap in to that potential. Presumably league standing is more of a factor.

Funnily enough, I watched The Bromley Boys last night. It was a cracking film and will make me look out for their results.

[Loafer]

i think a violent protest is in order here

ripping up seats in the stadium, digging up the turf, throwing sandwiches and chocolate bars at the board, setting cars on fire

just some light stuff to shit them up

[Clyde1998]

Just look at London. South of the river, there's Palace, and not a lot else. By the "catchment" metric, they should be getting attendances to rival/exceed Dortmund.

There's also Millwall and Charlton, although Palace definitely attract more support than either.

Catchment areas are funny things. My local non-league club, Bromley, have a massive one in theory. There's no league team in the borough, and you have to spread out as far as Palace, Millwall and Charlton until you hit another one. However, while they do get decent enough attendances for their division, it's nothing out of the ordinary. They haven't managed to tap in to that potential. Presumably league standing is more of a factor.

Catchment areas don't take into account the other factors which determine which club people support: family, friends, size of club, history of club, ease of getting tickets, ease of following the club, area someone grew up, level the club plays at, etc.

If we use ourselves as an example: someone from Basingstoke is geographically closer to Reading than Southampton, but may be more likely to support Southampton due to a combination of the various factors.

Club supported tends to be static for most people who regularly watch football too - so once a person supports a team, they're no longer available to won over by another team.

[Winston Biscuit]

i think a violent protest is in order here

ripping up seats in the stadium, digging up the turf, throwing sandwiches and chocolate bars at the board, setting cars on fire

just some light stuff to shit them up

Whoa whoa whoa. What type we talking here?

[sputnik]

slices of terrys chocolate oranges

[Loafer]

slices of terrys chocolate oranges

never

shit ones like caramacs

[72 bus]

i think a violent protest is in order here

ripping up seats in the stadium, digging up the turf, throwing sandwiches and chocolate bars at the board, setting cars on fire

just some light stuff to shit them up

Sounds great mate, but we both know your missus won't let you out for it.

[morganb]

i think a violent protest is in order here

ripping up seats in the stadium, digging up the turf, throwing sandwiches and chocolate bars at the board, setting cars on fire

just some light stuff to shit them up

The guys and gals from Select Car Leasing are totally behind this idea