Reading (H)

[Leyther_Matt]

25 minutes ago, RUREADY2ROLL said:

They have opened another block in SSL but tickets so called ‘sold’ seem to have come available around the ground

Wish I had a quid for every time I’ve posted on here that an unavailable seat isn’t necessarily a sold seat 

[Traf]

23 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Wish I had a quid for every time I’ve posted on here that an unavailable seat isn’t necessarily a sold seat 

Would you have more money than if you got a pound for every time someone says we should have signed Alfie May?

[radcliffe white]

23k is decent however considering the price, our position & that reading are bringing 1300 we should really be packing the place

still time I guess 

Edited March 28, 2024 by radcliffe white

[Tonge moor green jacket]

It's third division football. 

Nowt wrong with 23k.

[Lostock Whites]

It's so rare to see us have fans in the south stand, it will be great to see fans there regardless instead of it just being empty. 

The club just released more blocks and a whole load of other seats this morning and can see that they're already being snapped up.

Win tomorrow, still 4 days to go, should be our biggest gate of the season.

Teams around us like Burnley, Blackburn, PNE, Wigan could only ever dream of having potentially 25,000 turning up for 3rd division home game.

 

[Casino]

only wigan and blackburn could fit 25 in and i'd agree its unlikely either would get that many

id say burnley doing well might get 25 in division 3 if the ground was big enough

[Johnnyrotten]

1 hour ago, Lostock Whites said:

It's so rare to see us have fans in the south stand, it will be great to see fans there regardless instead of it just being empty. 

The club just released more blocks and a whole load of other seats this morning and can see that they're already being snapped up.

Win tomorrow, still 4 days to go, should be our biggest gate of the season.

Teams around us like Burnley, Blackburn, PNE, Wigan could only ever dream of having potentially 25,000 turning up for 3rd division home game.

 

Last time Blackburn were in L1 they finished 2nd on 96 points and averaged 12,173.  For some balance, I'm assuming their S/T prices weren't very attractive and it was one of them periods they'd fallen out with the owners.  They did get 27,600 on last day of season v Oxford.

 

[Leyther_Matt]

28 minutes ago, Casino said:

only wigan and blackburn could fit 25 in and i'd agree its unlikely either would get that many

id say burnley doing well might get 25 in division 3 if the ground was big enough

2019/20 Burnley only averaged 16,000 in the Premier League

Must say credit to them that they’ve not been in the third tier since 99/00 when they averaged 12,937

[gonzo]

Reading on the verge of a takeover?

 

[Dr. Feelgood]

3 hours ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Wish I had a quid for every time I’ve posted on here that an unavailable seat isn’t necessarily a sold seat 

I've just searched. You'd have £6. Minus tax.

Where're you going ?

[tomski]

My season ticket seat wasn’t for sale till I asked for it. Was perm greyed out. Oooooo.

[Big E]

23 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Reading on the verge of a takeover?

 

Think so they mentioned it on the guardian football weekly podcast last week

[Big E]

1 minute ago, tomski said:

My season ticket seat wasn’t for sale till I asked for it. Was perm greyed out. Oooooo.

The chosen ones can always find a way 

[FrancisFogarty]

39 minutes ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

I've just searched. You'd have £6. Minus tax.

Where're you going ?

Too much time on your hands.

The pair of you.

[FrancisFogarty]

47 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Reading on the verge of a takeover?

 

What no tennisers?

[frank_spencer]

1 hour ago, gonzo said:

Reading on the verge of a takeover?

 

4 day weekend means it won't be confirmed til after we play them Lincoln can suffer the new owner bounce.

[Casino]

1 hour ago, Leyther_Matt said:

2019/20 Burnley only averaged 16,000 in the Premier League

 

it holds 22?

if it held 30, id expect a much larger average, if only cos away teams would take more and the big games would attract

similar to the reason your boys at the DW do OK

[FrancisFogarty]

2 hours ago, Leyther_Matt said:

2019/20 Burnley only averaged 16,000 in the Premier League

Must say credit to them that they’ve not been in the third tier since 99/00 when they averaged 12,937

I'm not checking, but I'll wager crowds were higher early on, then as they realised they were shit as a Prem club crowds dwindled to average 16,000

[Wanderlust]

Comments from the Reading fans -

Quote

I've taken a few days to process the situation and I still feel a little uneasy about the group who have supposedly been given exclusivity. I haven't read the past ten or so pages, so some of this may have come up already.

If it is Chiron Sports Group, their website notes they're funded by Apeiron Investment Group and Infinitas Capital - who both appear to be private investment/venture capital groups. These sort of groups are purely focused on getting a return on their investment within a short time period (typically 3-5 years) and have short term objectives for this reason. If they get us promoted within a couple of seasons, I imagine we'd be up for sale instantly.

There's a reference to IPO expertise, which I can't imagine would be suitable for a club of our size.

The website has a huge amount of corporate jargon which doesn't say anything. Typically that suggests a complete absence of any meaningful information.

One of the two primary people listed on their website (Sam Helmy) is listed as being an investor in Leyton Orient - which could be problematic, due to rules of shared ownership. That said, he's also noted as being a 'buy-side advisor' for the takeover of Bristol Rovers - so he may not be directly involved.

A takeover of this sort will likely bring short term stability, which is what's needed in the current situation, but I'm not convinced by the medium-to-long term goals of the group and I feel we'd be at risk of financial issues again should be venture capital groups decide to stop investing (as it appears they are the ones with the money).

I'm far from excited by this group.

Shades of FV????

Quote

The facts of the matter these days is that anyone looking to invest into a club is not doing it as a 10+ year master plan (at least not at our level), they will be in it for a max of 5 years with the plan to sell it on for a profit. That's fine and if they are driven by profit, they will need us to be successful.

Quote

The sweet spot is rich enough to invest well, but not so rich they can afford to piss it all away and it not matter to them. You want them to need success so they will take their decisions on how to invest seriously.

Quote

Add to that we have a footballing side of the business in place that has shown it can build a competitive team without spending a penny on fees - given we can't for at least 12 months, that is a selling point for any prospective owner.

Quote

True, although that encourages high risk, high reward decision making. That was the issue with Dai. Had we got promoted in 2021, he would've likely made a profit on the club. His massive gamble didn't pay off though and we're suffering with the impact of that gamble.

But as you point out, there's basically no-one who's interested in longer term projects when it comes to non-Premier League football.

Quote

Yeah don't get me wrong - at this stage, anything is better than staying with Dai and going bust. But I'm not sure that on paper they're going to turn us into the next Brighton ... but then beggars can't be choosers.

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Right now I think we'd all be happy with being the next Rotherham.

Quote

If they can turn us from a loss making disaster into a profitable business that has real sale value inside 3 to 5 years I shall be reasonably content. The strong implication is that we'd have to have a successful team for that to happen - and that sounds good.

Quote

A John Madejski or a Steve Bloom is incredibly rare. We're still lucky to have had SJM; our profile, facilities and recent PL history is mostly down to him and means we still have plenty of interest from buyers even in our current state.

Mostly, you get big egos, sportswashing, property developers looking at real estate assets and investors hoping they can generate a profit. If we're getting the latter of those, I'll definitely take that over the others. I'd much rather people experienced in sports trying to grow us for their own financial gain over another egotistical billionaire treating us like some expensive toy to play around with and then discard. We'll probably never have a benevolent billionaire who wants to make us into the next Brighton just because it's good for the town. These guys don't grow on trees.

 

[tomski]

A Steve Bloom😂

[Wanderlust]

We'd have taken almost anyone at one time, just to exist. They haven't yet sunk as far as we did though.

[Burndens Bogs]

Wigan only get 12k if there’s plenty of away fans.

They might aswell just fuck off to Leigh Sports Village

[FrancisFogarty]

No, they've a bit to go yet.

I can still remember the real sickness I felt during that last day before FV stepped in. The sickness is all that I remember.

 

[Ratwhite]

23k+

Family Day

Must Win.....

You know the drill..........🙄

[Wanderlust]

9 hours ago, FrancisFogarty said:

No, they've a bit to go yet.

I can still remember the real sickness I felt during that last day before FV stepped in. The sickness is all that I remember.

 

Tell me about it - hours from oblivion, Bury down the pan, bile in my guts, anger, frustration, a sense of loss. I even remember debating whether I could bring myself to support another team and realising I couldn't, resigning myself to a future of non-league and attempted impartiality. Fucking horrible, the Anderson period.

The upside (as it turned out) is that I feel for supporters of other clubs that have to go through anything like what we went through and that whoever you support, it's a life sentence.