TAKEOVER *NOT* CONFIMRED

[rabidbee]

I was in the town end at EP, with another 4000 die hards.

Wasn't the Town End the away end?

[rabidbee]

But why wouldn't you just go to Stockport or Tranmere?

This is something that's close to my heart.
It must be so, so tempting just to follow the "big boys" in urban areas like Greater Manchester. I have a lot of time for folk who actually choose to forego the United's, City's and follow the Stockport's, Orient's, Tranmere's, Port Vale's, Rochdale's of this world. One of my customers, a very old boy in Lower Earley still regularly travels up to watch his lifelong love, Oldham Athletic.
I feel that people like that are my brethren, as in the early 1970's this nobber used to photograph and note down the numbers of locomotives at Reading General, and on a Saturday morning those days, platform 5 was always very well populated with those spending a mere 25 minutes or so on a train for the choice of Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, et al. That same Saturday afternoon, I was in the town end at EP, with another 4000 die hards.

There is a whole ecosystem of fans
Last weekend Plymouth Parkway played Swindon Supermarine. Both teams had die hard fans who had chosen their team rather than the bigger ( but hardly glamorous) teams in their city/town.

I was gutted Bracknell missed out in the play-offs last year, as I would definitely have made the effort to see them at Twerton Park, maybe even at Chippenham and Weston. I haven't seen a Bracknell match for almost 30 years. Not sure I can drag my family to Southern League matches.

[Tinpot Royal]

I was in the town end at EP, with another 4000 die hards.

Wasn't the Town End the away end?

Yes it was

[Clyde1998]

The Athletic estimates their revenue will hit c. £20m this season due to the US presence and sponsors that the TV series has generated. That's a mid table Championship budget. If they can hit those sort of levels, promotion from L1 is definitely achievable, but probably beyond them next season given the bulk of the squad was national league recently.

If they are up at £20m revenue, then they can get to the Championship. That's somewhat more than we were getting in the Championship.

Just reading the Athletic article now and it suggests their most recent sponsorship deals with United Airlines and SToK Coffee Brew came into effect in July of the current financial year. I wonder what the typical sponsorship is for a team of Wrexham's fanbase? I wouldn't be surprised if it was ten times lower than what Wrexham are getting.

[Crusader Royal]

I was in the town end at EP, with another 4000 die hards.

Wasn't the Town End the away end?

Yes it was

Only once segregation became a thing.
I have been to games when the Tilehurst End was the away end (official) and where everyone was just mixed in. Some games the South Bank was pretty much the away end !

[Crusader Royal]

This is something that's close to my heart.
It must be so, so tempting just to follow the "big boys" in urban areas like Greater Manchester. I have a lot of time for folk who actually choose to forego the United's, City's and follow the Stockport's, Orient's, Tranmere's, Port Vale's, Rochdale's of this world. One of my customers, a very old boy in Lower Earley still regularly travels up to watch his lifelong love, Oldham Athletic.
I feel that people like that are my brethren, as in the early 1970's this nobber used to photograph and note down the numbers of locomotives at Reading General, and on a Saturday morning those days, platform 5 was always very well populated with those spending a mere 25 minutes or so on a train for the choice of Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, et al. That same Saturday afternoon, I was in the town end at EP, with another 4000 die hards.

There is a whole ecosystem of fans
Last weekend Plymouth Parkway played Swindon Supermarine. Both teams had die hard fans who had chosen their team rather than the bigger ( but hardly glamorous) teams in their city/town.

The missing point of this post is surely that the match was played at HUNGERFORD - or are we meant to guess that from the poster's name?!

It wasn’t the ‘point’ at all. An interesting aside perhaps. There were Plymouth fans who had travelled up for a home game played 180 miles from their own ground but the point was that they follow Parkway not Argyle. Like fans at lots of London clubs opt for Harrow, Dulwich, Hanwell, Clapton etc rather than Sutton, Wimbledon or Orient let alone Fulham, West Ham or Chelsea !

[WestYorksRoyal]

The Athletic estimates their revenue will hit c. £20m this season due to the US presence and sponsors that the TV series has generated. That's a mid table Championship budget. If they can hit those sort of levels, promotion from L1 is definitely achievable, but probably beyond them next season given the bulk of the squad was national league recently.

If they are up at £20m revenue, then they can get to the Championship. That's somewhat more than we were getting in the Championship.

Just reading the Athletic article now and it suggests their most recent sponsorship deals with United Airlines and SToK Coffee Brew came into effect in July of the current financial year. I wonder what the typical sponsorship is for a team of Wrexham's fanbase? I wouldn't be surprised if it was ten times lower than what Wrexham are getting.

Without sounding harsh, it can't last. How many people live around Wrexham to sustain it? The publicity their owners are generating is in its nature fickle and short term; Hollywood doesn't have a long attention span.

Their involvement can give them some golden years and leave them in a much better position when they finally leave, but long term I don't see how Wrexham can sustain a Championship team in the same way we can't sustain a Premier League club.

Population, geography and being a "big club" doesn't win you games and you will always get teams overperforming and underperformed these factors. But in the long term, they matter.

[themwasthedays]

Several games immediately spring to mind when talking about the South Bank being the 'away end'; Millwall, Pompey, Villa, & 'shared' with numerous others

[Snowflake Royal]

The Athletic estimates their revenue will hit c. £20m this season due to the US presence and sponsors that the TV series has generated. That's a mid table Championship budget. If they can hit those sort of levels, promotion from L1 is definitely achievable, but probably beyond them next season given the bulk of the squad was national league recently.

Midtable? It's top end Champ. Not many clubs can beat that without parachute payments

[Crusader Royal]

Might the fact that IIRC there is a minority shareholder of the club be an issue ?
Doesn’t one of the Thai’s still have some holding ?
Obviously Dai can’t sell their shares and if a new owner wants 100 % of the club then the small shareholder has a bit of a ransom situation.
I can’t remember the rules on acquiring a company, IIRC if you are buying more than a certain % of the shares you have to offer to buy the rest but I don’t think a small shareholder can be forced to sell.
I guess you could do what SJM did and change the structure of the club so the small shareholders own shares in a defunct company.
It may be a total red herring but just wondered if it might be something adding to conversations.
And it is RFC not REP that I’m thinking of.

[Tinpot Royal]

Wasn't the Town End the away end?

Yes it was

Only once segregation became a thing.
I have been to games when the Tilehurst End was the away end (official) and where everyone was just mixed in. Some games the South Bank was pretty much the away end !

Which is was as far back as I can remember (first game in 1989)

[Franchise FC]

Might the fact that IIRC there is a minority shareholder of the club be an issue ?
Doesn’t one of the Thai’s still have some holding ?
Obviously Dai can’t sell their shares and if a new owner wants 100 % of the club then the small shareholder has a bit of a ransom situation.
I can’t remember the rules on acquiring a company, IIRC if you are buying more than a certain % of the shares you have to offer to buy the rest but I don’t think a small shareholder can be forced to sell.
I guess you could do what SJM did and change the structure of the club so the small shareholders own shares in a defunct company.
It may be a total red herring but just wondered if it might be something adding to conversations.
And it is RFC not REP that I’m thinking of.

I may be out of touch with this but i seem to recall there’s a compulsory purchase option when a particular ownership threshold is reached
It may be that I’m confusing that with the compulsory offer if a certain level is reached

[Sutekh]

Yes it was

Only once segregation became a thing.
I have been to games when the Tilehurst End was the away end (official) and where everyone was just mixed in. Some games the South Bank was pretty much the away end !

Which is was as far back as I can remember (first game in 1989)

You used to be able to pay 50p(?) or something to walk through to the South Bank from the Town End and that was late 70s/early 80s so segregation didn't strike me as much of a thing at EP until the mid 80s when suddenly fences and Bristol City fans appeared.

[Sutekh]

This is something that's close to my heart.
It must be so, so tempting just to follow the "big boys" in urban areas like Greater Manchester. I have a lot of time for folk who actually choose to forego the United's, City's and follow the Stockport's, Orient's, Tranmere's, Port Vale's, Rochdale's of this world. One of my customers, a very old boy in Lower Earley still regularly travels up to watch his lifelong love, Oldham Athletic.
I feel that people like that are my brethren, as in the early 1970's this nobber used to photograph and note down the numbers of locomotives at Reading General, and on a Saturday morning those days, platform 5 was always very well populated with those spending a mere 25 minutes or so on a train for the choice of Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, et al. That same Saturday afternoon, I was in the town end at EP, with another 4000 die hards.

There is a whole ecosystem of fans
Last weekend Plymouth Parkway played Swindon Supermarine. Both teams had die hard fans who had chosen their team rather than the bigger ( but hardly glamorous) teams in their city/town.

I was gutted Bracknell missed out in the play-offs last year, as I would definitely have made the effort to see them at Twerton Park, maybe even at Chippenham and Weston. I haven't seen a Bracknell match for almost 30 years. Not sure I can drag my family to Southern League matches.

Yes that was annoying esp. if they'd managed to hang onto to their lead at home to Weston in the first mach of the season instead of conceding a 96th minute equaliser they might have made it as Champions but instead got bogey team Truro (Bracknell have lost every single game against them (P6 L6)) in the play offs.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Only once segregation became a thing.
I have been to games when the Tilehurst End was the away end (official) and where everyone was just mixed in. Some games the South Bank was pretty much the away end !

Which is was as far back as I can remember (first game in 1989)

You used to be able to pay 50p(?) or something to walk through to the South Bank from the Town End and that was late 70s/early 80s so segregation didn't strike me as much of a thing at EP until the mid 80s when suddenly fences and Bristol City fans appeared.

The Town End became designated away fans only in early 1980's, when the first fences were put up following issues and pitch invasions with Bristol City as above, and Portsmouth also caused a number of problems in 1977 & 1979. A few years later the stand nearest the town end (A stand I think it was) was also designated away.

[under the tin]

I was in the town end at EP, with another 4000 die hards.

Wasn't the Town End the away end?

Very Early seventies, pre-segregation.
I can remember a game vs. Sheff Weds around that time, can't be exact about the date, but I remember their star player was called Roger Wylde. By kick off there must have been 1500+ of their fans singing under the tin. in the South Bank.

[LUX]

Dec 1976, just before Xmas iirc. Evening match.

Other teams that completely took over the Southbank in those days were Pompey twice, Oxford and, perhaps surprisingly, Northampton.

[Brogue]

Dec 1976, just before Xmas iirc. Evening match.

Other teams that completely took over the Southbank in those days were Pompey twice, Oxford and, perhaps surprisingly, Northampton.

Swansea were the worst weren’t they? completely destroyed the Oxford road. Causing thousands of pounds worth of improvements. It was them that spray painted Reading west bridge over the occy road I’m sure.

[South Coast Royal]

Wasn't the Town End the away end?

Yes it was

Only once segregation became a thing.
I have been to games when the Tilehurst End was the away end (official) and where everyone was just mixed in. Some games the South Bank was pretty much the away end !

In my early days we would swap ends depending upon which way Reading were kicking.

[Lower West]

Might the fact that IIRC there is a minority shareholder of the club be an issue ?
Doesn’t one of the Thai’s still have some holding ?
Obviously Dai can’t sell their shares and if a new owner wants 100 % of the club then the small shareholder has a bit of a ransom situation.
I can’t remember the rules on acquiring a company, IIRC if you are buying more than a certain % of the shares you have to offer to buy the rest but I don’t think a small shareholder can be forced to sell.
I guess you could do what SJM did and change the structure of the club so the small shareholders own shares in a defunct company.
It may be a total red herring but just wondered if it might be something adding to conversations.
And it is RFC not REP that I’m thinking of.

I may be out of touch with this but i seem to recall there’s a compulsory purchase option when a particular ownership threshold is reached
It may be that I’m confusing that with the compulsory offer if a certain level is reached

There maybe a shareholder agreement in place. Minority shareholders often protect themselves against being bulldozed by a majority shakeholder.

The US consortium may well have an interest in acquiring the land next to the ground. To achieve a return on their investment. The football club itself holds just under a 25% stake. Far more complex set of negotiations going on behind the scenses. With many vested interests.