Sshh! It's how we operate.

[Thaumagurist*]

We should be spending 5/6 million which we can EASILY and I stress EASILY afford after the last two seasons of player sales which is over 15 million. As it stands, we've spent nothing- again.

You conveniently forget the wages. We need to budget for that and that does seriously bite into the income the club receives.

[Snowball]

You should really get a grip and consider what it all once was.

How many years in those lower leagues watching kick-abouts in the mud

A fabulous stadium, great pitch, excellent training facilities, a superb academy, two years in the top flight, many years in the second flight.

And all this done on an economical model that makes Reading a strong, reasonably "safe" club.

Look what has happened to the Scottish Prem when the TV money went.

What will happen if the TV money ever dries up? Which clubs will hit the skids then?

[Alan Partridge]

You should really get a grip and consider what it all once was.

How many years in those lower leagues watching kick-abouts in the mud

A fabulous stadium, great pitch, excellent training facilities, a superb academy, two years in the top flight, many years in the second flight.

And all this done on an economical model that makes Reading a strong, reasonably "safe" club.

Look what has happened to the Scottish Prem when the TV money went.

What will happen if the TV money ever dries up? Which clubs will hit the skids then?

That's a bit like the Only Fools and Horses episode where they build the nuclear fall out shelter, just in case the world ends.

[FiNeRaIn]

We should be spending 5/6 million which we can EASILY and I stress EASILY afford after the last two seasons of player sales which is over 15 million. As it stands, we've spent nothing- again.

You conveniently forget the wages. We need to budget for that and that does seriously bite into the income the club receives.

Not really, it peanuts comapred to what the clubs made in the last 3 years- absolute peanuts. Season tickets are down because people are fed up with the lack of investment in the side and lack of ambition shown. This will continue to drop unless the club show the fans they are ambitious and want to be successful.

And snowball, like I said, im not interested in what we once were---football has changed MASSIVELY. Your point is meaningless. You can't keep using that as an excuse.

[Sun Tzu]

Or perhaps the members of the Doomsday Cult who's leader told them to give away all their worldy goods because the world was about to end.

Of course they obeyed.

And of course the world didn't end.

[Snowball]

And snowball, like I said, im not interested in what we once were---football has changed MASSIVELY. Your point is meaningless. You can't keep using that as an excuse.

Be grateful for what you have which is brilliant.

Hope for more but be realistic.


Southampton, Leicester, Wednesday, Charlton, Bradford, Barnsley, Luton, Bournemouth, Newport.... so many clubs have struggled in the "new era" and it won't be long before some finally go out of business. The brief of every club should be to be solvent End of. In fact it's only football that gets away with illegal trading. What, say, Southampton did, would be a criminal offense in normal business.

[Thaumagurist*]

You conveniently forget the wages. We need to budget for that and that does seriously bite into the income the club receives.

Not really, it peanuts comapred to what the clubs made in the last 3 years- absolute peanuts.

Are you really sure about that? Are you really an expert on Reading's finances - do you really know how much profit Reading makes? I would imagine that Reading's wage bill is in excess of something like £3m. And that's not peanuts. And even with Doyle, Hahnemann, Murty and a few others having left, the wage bill is still not peanuts.

[FiNeRaIn]

You conveniently forget the wages. We need to budget for that and that does seriously bite into the income the club receives.

Not really, it peanuts comapred to what the clubs made in the last 3 years- absolute peanuts.

Are you really sure about that? Are you really an expert on Reading's finances - do you really know how much profit Reading makes? I would imagine that Reading's wage bill is in excess of something like £3m. And that's not peanuts. And even with Doyle, Hahnemann, Murty and a few others having left, the wage bill is still not peanuts.

Wrong again, how many big earners do we have after hunt goes, handful at best. Another 2 mill which we won't see invested and another big earner off the wage bill.

[warrpp]

I would imagine that Reading's wage bill is in excess of something like £3m

i hope that was a typo

accounts apparently showed wage bill in premiership was around the £32 million mark

alledged to have halved on return to championship...so roughly £16 million a season now

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

we still have a player on £1m a year, so we would do well to have a wage bill of just £3m, some folk need to get real with reality.

[FiNeRaIn]

I would imagine that Reading's wage bill is in excess of something like £3m

i hope that was a typo

accounts apparently showed wage bill in premiership was around the £32 million mark

alledged to have halved on return to championship...so roughly £16 million a season now

I would imagine that Reading's wage bill is in excess of something like £3m

i hope that was a typo

accounts apparently showed wage bill in premiership was around the £32 million mark

alledged to have halved on return to championship...so roughly £16 million a season now

Abolustely rubbish figures, plucked from the air.

[tee peg]

Did I read somewhere that Hunt is on £30k per week

[Ian Royal]

I would imagine that Reading's wage bill is in excess of something like £3m

i hope that was a typo

accounts apparently showed wage bill in premiership was around the £32 million mark

alledged to have halved on return to championship...so roughly £16 million a season now

I would imagine that Reading's wage bill is in excess of something like £3m

i hope that was a typo

accounts apparently showed wage bill in premiership was around the £32 million mark

alledged to have halved on return to championship...so roughly £16 million a season now

Abolustely rubbish figures, plucked from the air.

Premiership wages taken from the accounts actually.

[warrpp]

of course, some people refuse to accept that we didn't pay "peanuts" in the prem or now

just wouldn't tally with their views on our finances

even when confronted with the official accounts, which are reasonably easy to come by

unless of course, we were claiming our wage bill was £32 million in the premiership, but were actually paying nothing like that.......yeah....that'll be it

[Terminal Boardom]

Did I read somewhere that Hunt is on £30k per week

I read that somewhere as well.

[warrpp]

EP claimed that

[Southbank Old Boy]

of course, some people refuse to accept that we didn't pay "peanuts" in the prem or now

just wouldn't tally with their views on our finances

even when confronted with the official accounts, which are reasonably easy to come by

unless of course, we were claiming our wage bill was £32 million in the premiership, but were actually paying nothing like that.......yeah....that'll be it

Our overall wage bill was still in the bottom 3 or 4 in the Prem

32m is a lot of money, but its all relative

[Arch]

I think it's pretty close to a certainty that our current wagebill alone exceeds our total revenue excluding parachute payment and player sales. That's not a sustainable model.

[Southbank Old Boy]

I think it's pretty close to a certainty that our current wagebill alone exceeds our total revenue excluding parachute payment and player sales. That's not a sustainable model.

I doubt it

The wage bill was slashed by 40% when we came down. Since then we got rid of most of the top earners leaving just Harper and Hunt on the biggest contracts

I dont see why you would exclude the parachute payments from our income either. Its guaranteed money into the coffers afterall

[Sun Tzu]

I think it's pretty close to a certainty that our current wagebill alone exceeds our total revenue excluding parachute payment and player sales. That's not a sustainable model.

I doubt it

The wage bill was slashed by 40% when we came down. Since then we got rid of most of the top earners leaving just Harper and Hunt on the biggest contracts

I'd guess our revenue dropped by at least that amount though.....

I dont see why you would exclude the parachute payments from our income either. Its guaranteed money into the coffers afterall

The club would seem to be working on the basis that we should exclude at decent chunk of that money from our income from THIS year to avoid falling into the trap of a lot of clubs who have assumed they would get promotion within two years, didn;t and suddenly found themselves up the proverbial creek without a paddle, You could argue the money should be gambled / invested on a shit or bust attempt to get back to the land of funny money. You could also argue the other way.