Reading (A) match thread - Jan 13th

[andy jones]

37 minutes ago, Conrad said:

I would imagine if Reading were kicked out of the league, one less team would be relegated this season.

Yes that's what I am thinking. 

In all honesty it's the only fair way on all clubs to do this and it is the only way to financially hurt the owner.

He would be left with the cost of a football stadium and no income.

Paying redundancy to all employees (including players)

Repaying any loans and ST monies.

He would I assume put the club into Admin. 

Would it then be possible within the law for a case against the owner to result in a prison sentence should he step into the UK?

Yes I am making a lot of assumptions and jumping a lot of bridges but in my mind until the EFL actually acts to stop rogue owners then it will always be so.

 

Perhaps a EFL Trust Fund needs setting up whereby every match ticket includes a percentage of the cost going directly into the Trust Fund. 

Then when a club owner is 'relieved of his assets via the above measures' the National EFL Trust Fund is then used by the trustees for the fans to take over the ownership of the club using the '50% plus 1 share' system as used in German football.

Enabling the club fans to seek commercial shareholders but retain overall control.

At the end of the day the club fans via the Trust Fund, that has their money in it,  then become a family supporting each other and protecting their assets, their own football club, from greed ridden, opportunist owners.

In this way all EFL club fans would be supporting Reading (and the fans of any other club that has a rogue owner) to survive and re-launch as a '50% plus 1 shareholding' club.

This is how we, the fans, bring sanity back into EFL football.

 

[darren1810]

On 11/01/2024 at 21:31, Rodge said:

Darren did you know it’s bus replacement service from Stoke to Stafford on Saturday

Only just seen this mate but thanks. Yes we got a coach to Stafford. 

 

[steauavaliant]

No they haven’t.

[steauavaliant]

Seems the Police could or should have taken steps to prevent the protest as the aim was to get the game abandoned.

[Wrex]

3 minutes ago, steauavaliant said:

6 minutes ago, steauavaliant said:

Seems the Police could or should have taken steps to prevent the protest as the aim was to get the game abandoned.

And who would have paid them to do so? Not Reading's owner that's for sure.

[Trumpingtonvale]

1 hour ago, andy jones said:

Just wonder what the league table would look like if the EFL kick Reading out of the league and null results of all their games already played. 

Think we’d drop one place and be 4 points off the relegation places, the same if we had lost yesterday. Only Wigan would leapfrog us.

 

 

[CambridgeDon]

The nub of this issue is the vexed problem of unsuitable owners, which has blighted football for over 30 years or so since the setting up of the premier league. 

For those with the time, here are two articles.

The first is an excellent piece first published two years ago by the Guardian's David Conn, distilling the history and the repeated attempts by the Premiership and other self-interested parties to thwart any change, which is now going to be imposed on them by legislation thanks to the Fan-Led Review led by Tracey Crouch (known as the Crouch Review).

Crouch review a genuine landmark for football with possibility of real change | Football | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

The second, also by a Guardian journalist, Paul MacInnes, sets out the historic decision to set up an independent regulator to ensure the review's recommendations can be implemented. This is the first time that the lobbying by football's financial interests has been defeated.

UK government to introduce legislation to create independent football regulator | Football | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

There is still a long way to go to ensure that unfit and improper owners can be drummed out of the game but perhaps, just perhaps, this is a better start than anything that's been achieved previously. Football's vested interests will fight hard to emasculate the regulator and the fan led Football Supporters Association will need to continue their fight.

So let's wish them well in what is going to be a hard battle on behalf of genuine fans across the country.

 

[steauavaliant]

And who would have paid them to do so? Not Reading's owner that's for sure.

The taxpayer, just like for any other policing e g just stop oil protests etc etc

[The French Connection]

3 hours ago, Brian Johnson said:

People claiming that they did not know what was going to happen that are using the internet, social media & forums like OVF, have truly had got their heads buried underneath the sand.

It was mentioned on the first few pages of this thread.

If it was 'known' and a certainty why did the Vale turn aup and play 16 minutes?  If our Club 'knew for certain' they would not have sold tickets.  Why didn't you tell everyone, say the day before the match,  "NOBODY GO TO READING, THE GAME IS GOING TO BE STOPPED BY THE READING FANS, AND WONT BE FINISHED".  FFS! 

[Quart]

Reading fan here in peace.

Firstly total respect to your fans in the ground  clapping us and singing against our owner - we are not stupid we know travelling to games / tickets etc all cost money and I do get why people are frustrated with the game being abandoned.

I do want to correct a couple of things mentioned here though. Dai took us over days before we played in the play off final - us getting there was nothing to do with him.

Since he come in he has spent upwards of 200 million, on players, building the training ground etc. Fans may wonder what there is to complain about, but all this money has been wasted so badly and threatens the existence of our club. He’s close friends with the “super” agent Kia Joorabchian (look him up), this has seen us sign countless average players on stupid money with only one person benefiting, definitely not the club - at one point we were paying 200% + of our turnover on wages alone. A few years ago we were offered several million from Brighton Moore, our owner saw him as a “lucky star” and offered him a ludicrous 4 year contract on 35k plus a week. This theme continues, the good players we do have Dai refuses to sell, their contracts eventually expire and we get nothing for them.

We no longer own our stadium (he sold this to another company in his name and charges us 1m a year to play there), we’ve been under transfer embargo’s for 3+ years and we are still under embargo from paying any sort of fee for a player till January 2025. Rumours of our players being on high wages are simply not true, the EFL have had strict restrictions on what we can pay wages wise for a long time now. 

 

Dai has simply got bored because his little play thing didn’t go how he wanted, he’s now refusing bids for the club, selling the only assets we have, this money won’t go into the club it will go to Dai as he try’s to recoup some of the money he has so badly wasted. We are the 3rd football club Dai has owned, the other 2 no longer exist.

As for the action yesterday, we’ve tried marches, sit ins, tennis balls, they all do their thing but things are so bad now we have no choice. As football fans there’s very little we can do to bring attention to the mess we are in, unfortunately only the most disruptive of protests get attention in the national media, it’s a last resort, after getting a game abandoned there’s not much more we can do.

As for how the club handled it, I agree it’s bad, we’ve been told countless times to “respect our football club” by people who are no more than just puppets to the owner, could the stewards have cleared the pitch? Probably, but there were stewards there who I’ve seen working there for the 20 years + ive been supporting them, they’ve no doubt had wages not paid, and are very aware they will also be losing their jobs if the club goes under, I don’t blame them for doing nothing other than making sure it was largely peaceful. 
 

I expect the game will be replayed - I just hope we continue to exist as a football club for that to happen.

[The French Connection]

The taxpayer, just like for any other policing e g just stop oil protests etc etc

I'd rather the Police investigated the Tory Donors getting huge PPE Contracts, then recirculating some of the proceeds back to the Tory Party.

[philpvfc]

1 hour ago, steauavaliant said:

14 hours ago, bobbymanc said:

Not on the pitch. That's a criminal offence.

This Govt has also taken away the right to protest peacefully. In the street or anywhere else.

A peaceful protest that doesn’t threaten others is permitted. Big protest went ahead in London so to answer your statement again, the Govt have not taken away the right to protest peacefully, read your own statement.

[darren1810]

Having spent maybe 150 quid in total I can't agree with those who say ' you knew the risks '.

What right minded fan visiting a new stadium following Vale would decide not to go because there might be issues? 

We've seen this so many times at different clubs. An abandoned game this early is a first.

Agree with everything Smithie has said re stewards and Policing. The protests could of been handled so much better given the prior warning. Even something akin to a raised baton as a posture might of made a few think twice. I guess though it could then of got ugly. 

I shall be emailing Reading for my train fare and match ticket refunding whilst acknowledging I'm peeing in the wind. 

 

 

[Santa]

48 minutes ago, darren1810 said:

Only just seen this mate but thanks. Yes we got a coach to Stafford. 

 

FYI for anyone getting a train into Stoke for next Saturdays home game, it’s replacement buses again next weekend. 

[Brian Johnson]

49 minutes ago, The French Connection said:

If it was 'known' and a certainty why did the Vale turn aup and play 16 minutes?  If our Club 'knew for certain' they would not have sold tickets.  Why didn't you tell everyone, say the day before the match,  "NOBODY GO TO READING, THE GAME IS GOING TO BE STOPPED BY THE READING FANS, AND WONT BE FINISHED".  FFS! 

The warnings were their but it's only now you choose to listen FFS