Anyone For Chinese?

[DaveBanana]

Does all this activity in the transfer window indicate that the Chinese takeover is completed?!?

...or that it's a last twist in a desperate attempt to get promotion cash. But hopefully the former!

[Woodcote Royal]

Is there a club that loves being "Undisclosed" more than us

No insider knowledge from me but I'm finding it increasingly difficult not to smell a rat here.

The scousers insist we stumped up £3m+ for a centre half who has barely kicked a ball in years. We've had a £2m bid for a striker rejected today on top of several other impressive loans which in turn was on top of lucrative new contracts for players some of us thought would have to be off loaded for free in the summer.

All this while being £60m? in debt as we wave goodbye to the last of the parachute payments

Would you lend a club like this £10m

I can't see how all this stacks up unless Tiger and his mates are bigger gamblers than we ever would have guessed or, as suggested above, the takeover deal is at least done in principle and/or has been kept under wraps until the window closes.

The fact the club has so much previous for pleading poverty just adds even more weight to the conspiracy theory.

[Ian Royal]

Is there a club that loves being "Undisclosed" more than us

No insider knowledge from me but I'm finding it increasingly difficult not to smell a rat here.

The scousers insist we stumped up £3m+ for a centre half who has barely kicked a ball in years. We've had a £2m bid for a striker rejected today on top of several other impressive loans which in turn was on top of lucrative new contracts for players some of us thought would have to be off loaded for free in the summer.

All this while being £60m? in debt as we wave goodbye to the last of the parachute payments

Would you lend a club like this £10m

I can't see how all this stacks up unless Tiger and his mates are bigger gamblers than we ever would have guessed or, as suggested above, the takeover deal is at least done in principle and/or has been kept under wraps until the window closes.

The fact the club has so much previous for pleading poverty just adds even more weight to the conspiracy theory.

The club hasn't really pleaded poverty under the Thais. It may have talked about how it can't spend big, but that isn't huge spending these days.

For all the scousers saying £3m, there's others saying £2m over 4 years. You can't trust the figures bandied around in the media.

[Woodcote Royal]

Factor in all the wages and agent fees for the new players from this window plus the new contracts and this is a huge outlay for a heavily indebted Championship club looking down the barrel at no parachute payments next season.

Whoever sanctioned this knows a lot more than they've told us.

Not that I'm complaining, BTW.

[WoodleyRoyal]

rare agreed with woodcote

[Sutekh]

You have to gamble in this situation. We're in a really good position to at least rake in some premium dosh in reaching the play offs, let alone the megamillions for the privilege of losing to the big six in the PL regularly, so to not try an maximise the chances of pulling it off is daft - esp as the commitment for three of the signings is just for the rest of the season.

As to the deal itself, well I suspect that that will take time to conclude one way or he other as no doubt negotiations are ongoing to reach a deal that the PL/FL are happy with as well as the club which no doubt involves a lot of restructuring the financial organisation behind it all.

[Ian Royal]

Factor in all the wages and agent fees for the new players from this window plus the new contracts and this is a huge outlay for a heavily indebted Championship club looking down the barrel at no parachute payments next season.

Whoever sanctioned this knows a lot more than they've told us.

Not that I'm complaining, BTW.

The wage budget we already had certainly, but Grabban and Oxford are just loans aren't they? It's the long term contracts *coughWilliamsPogrebnyakDrentheRoberts* that kill you.

[RoyalBlue]

I'm not really sure who owns/finances/runs the club at present but they really did us proud in the transfer window.

[Maneki Neko]

im happy enough we managed to get a few players in, but im not entirely happy about increasing the clubs debt by another 10 million to do so


fair oxf*rd if it pays off, but....

[maffff]

Had this DM'd to me on twitter earlier from today's Sun

Reading's future remains in limbo despite a busy January transfer window.

Dai Yongge and Dai Xiu Li have loaned Royals a seven-figure sum while awaiting takeover approval - helping to cover the £3.75million signing of Tiago Ilori and loans for Jordon Mutch, Lewis Grabban and Reece Oxford.

Reading must repay it if the Chinese takeover fails but a source claimed there is "a long, orderly queue" of potential buyers.

[Hound]

Sounds about right. If this takeover doesn't happen I'd expect another one along shortly. Reading is in many ways a prime club for a foreign investor

[Z175]

Sounds about right. If this takeover doesn't happen I'd expect another one along shortly. Reading is in many ways a prime club for a foreign investor

Really? I mean I really hope so. But I think the list of charitable foreign billionaires who aren't fraudsters or money launderers is a short one - and most of them do more worthy things than fund footballer's lifestyles !

Wasn't the choice last time between some Thais with no money who wanted our car park and some "Americans" who were cover for a certain individual to remain on the directors payroll for 1m per year?

And even if I was a billionaire looking to become a millionaire I'm not sure I would buy Reading with £75m of debt before you even start as opposed to pretty much any other club in the Championship? Any club with bigger debt than that is a much bigger one.

My fingers are well and truly crossed for the Chinese money launderers...

[Ian Royal]

Sounds about right. If this takeover doesn't happen I'd expect another one along shortly. Reading is in many ways a prime club for a foreign investor

Really? I mean I really hope so. But I think the list of charitable foreign billionaires who aren't fraudsters or money launderers is a short one - and most of them do more worthy things than fund footballer's lifestyles !

Wasn't the choice last time between some Thais with no money who wanted our car park and some "Americans" who were cover for a certain individual to remain on the directors payroll for 1m per year?

And even if I was a billionaire looking to become a millionaire I'm not sure I would buy Reading with £75m of debt before you even start as opposed to pretty much any other club in the Championship? Any club with bigger debt than that is a much bigger one.

My fingers are well and truly crossed for the Chinese money launderers...

Our debt isn't especially huge compared to other clubs I don't think and the key is it's mostly owed to the owners rather than third parties. We've got a good catchment area, the ability to upgrade the stadium, we're well positioned in relation to London and airports and we've got a good (relative) recent history of competing at the top of the Championship / getting promoted. Plus we're actually up for sale / extra investors.

Are we hugely more attractive than many other clubs? Probably not, but we're still at least the equal of most Chump clubs who might be available.

[genome]

im happy enough we managed to get a few players in, but im not entirely happy about increasing the clubs debt by another 10 million to do so


fair oxf*rd if it pays off, but....

It's a gamble, and if we go up, fair fooks as you say. I mean, being £73m in debt isn't that different from being £83m in debt...

[Hound]

Obviously I have no real insight into a perspective owner but Id imagine the location would be very key

Reading's likely to be one of the most successful town/cities over the next couple of decades, close to London and Heathrow, great transport links. As mentioned potentially huge catchment of relatively well off people.

You could buy a at worst solid champ club, at best promotion contenders for a price which would would dwarfed by the cost of a prem club

We're probably as an attractive a club as any at the moment if they really do have the money to invest and wipe out the debts etc. There's obviously a ridiculous amount of money knocking about in China at the moment, and they are trying to expand the game there. Buying an English club would fit into that

[winchester_royal]

I don't want to alarm anyone... but Chris Samuelson is currently sat in the hotel bar

[winchester_royal]

I don't want to alarm anyone... but Chris Samuelson is currently sat in the hotel bar

Image doesn't seem to be loading to here's the link:

https://ibb.co/cTsOWF

[Nameless]

You would imagine he keeps close to any club involved in possible takeovers, it's how he earns his living. It would probably be odd if he didn't have a client sniffing around in case the Chinese deal goes wrong. Not sure whether that would be a good thing or not, would be interesting to see an analysis of deals he has been involved in and their success or otherwise a couple of years down the line...

[winchester_royal]

Nigel Howe cam over and gave him a warm handshake a few minutes ago and now they've disappeared off together.

Wouldn't be at all surprised if he's involved in a separate takeover bid and tbh for me this points towards the Chinese deal being dead in the water

[sandman]

Nigel Howe cam over and gave him a warm handshake a few minutes ago and now they've disappeared off together.

Wouldn't be at all surprised if he's involved in a separate takeover bid and tbh for me this points towards the Chinese deal being dead in the water

Watch you don't fall.