Madejski's comments to BBC Radio Berkshire

[Vision]

speculate to accumulate... as people keep on saying: if we had paid out another £5M or so and bought a decent midfield player we probably wouldn't have got relegated and incurred a £22M loss.

He's already speculated to accumulate. You may have noticed the 25k seater stadium and Premiership football we experienced for the last 2 seasons that were unthinkable 17 years ago.. At the same time he's more than likely made himself a fair few bob personally. He's just not prepared to speculate to the levels it requires to genuinely establish yourself currently in the Premier League, something he's been saying ad nauseam for the last 2 years and evidenced by the fact that the club is actually (albeit at a pretty inflated price) up for sale.

I really don't see what your point is really. Should Graeme Murty give back some of the money he's earned off the back of being associated with us over the last 10 seasons?

[rfc58]

The limit being what? 8th in the PL perhaps?

Because at the moment we seem to be following pretty much the same path that took us to those giddy heights.

And as I said before, if the path we are on does take us down that very successful path of a few years back, I will say I was totally wrong in having doubts, we could "what if" until May, and in May we will see what our destiny will be.

But to mention 8th in the PL I think highlights my point sir, we had the perfect opportunity to move on, build on that success, likkle ol' RFC was everyone's favourite club, we played football as it should be played, and to hear the club say we "cannot attract players still" I found somewhat hard to believe.

8th two seasons ago was great, but time stands still for no man, you need to adapt/move on etc, and i think, as I have stated before, our short sightedness at the top level made "moving forward" that much harder.

[brendywendy]

but we were never going to be able to build on our 8th place last season, the only way was down from there, played a part in our relegation im sure

[Wycombe Royal]

Do you think if the club had been a little more speculative whilst in the top flight we might still be there ?

I don't really care and that isn't the RFC way. I said at the time of relegation that it didn't really bother me too much.

But you should care, as my train of thought is not designed simply at seeing Rooney and co at Mad Stad.

The long term future of this club has/had a bearing on our PL survival.

I mentioned before, when you drove around Reading, you saw kids wearing Reading shirts, and the more that support the club now and financially in the future, the better the club will be.

JM stated that we have lost, what was it 22M ? from relegation, so that deficit puts us on a sticky wicket to say the least.

It may not be "the RFC way" but when certain situations arise, any good business has the flexibility to adapt.

Madejski is all about this club having a sound financial footing for the long term. That will not be achieved by throwing money around at players. No matter what we spent a club like Reading would have got relegated sooner rather than later. THat's just the way it is. Look at what Fulham, Middlesbrough, Bolton spend - yet they still end up in a relegation battle most seasons and they are arguably bigger clubs than we are. I don't want Reading to be in a Premiership relegation battle each season, that would eventually drive me away from watching them. It was boring last season, and I would rather (hopefully) be involved in a promotion battle in a lower division. The glamour of the Premiership doesn't interest me at all and until the playing field is levelled (although it is unliekly that it ever will be) and we can seriously have a chance of regularly competing in the Premiership then the odd season of earning lots of money is fine by me.

[brendywendy]

THat's just the way it is. Look at what Fulham, Middlesbrough, Bolton spend - yet they still end up in a relegation battle most seasons and they are arguably bigger clubs than we are

cmon!
theres not even a case to put in that argument
they ar bigger clubs, by some way

[rfc58]

Wycombe - I see your point, last season was depressing as it goes.

My only worry is, as a club we have two choices for the immediate future, one is to remain where we are in the CCC as our budget seems to be more comfortable there, or go for promotion again.

But as someone asked last week, if we did go back up, do you believe the club would accept last season was (potentially) avoidable, and we'd attack the league in a different way.

If we would simply try and "survive" on the same principles, them what is the point in going up, in life, its not a crime to make a mistake, its a crime to make it twice.

[brendywendy]

whys it a mistake
almost every other small club established in the premiere league did so after a period of yo yoing. where they took the cash, reinvested in their infrastructure and playing staff each time, and grew themselves that way.

how would we, the teeniest of tinys do it another way , bypassing that stage totally.

[PLASTIC PIG]

THat's just the way it is. Look at what Fulham, Middlesbrough, Bolton spend - yet they still end up in a relegation battle most seasons and they are arguably bigger clubs than we are

cmon!
theres not even a case to put in that argument
they ar bigger clubs, by some way

'Boro are a much bigger club than us & always have been. Bolton you could argue have some heritage but not a huge fan base & given that they've established themselves in the Prem probably are bigger than us. But Fulham!!! oxf*rd right off They are a tin pot little club who would still be struggling in League 1/2 if it wasn't for Al Fayed (you could say the same about us but at least Madejski hasn't completely bankrolled us). They still have no support, they're ground is shit & once they get relegated you watch them fall. They have no foundation whatsoever.

[rfc58]

whys it a mistake
almost every other small club established in the premiere league did so after a period of yo yoing. where they took the cash, reinvested in their infrastructure and playing staff each time, and grew themselves that way.

how would we, the teeniest of tinys do it another way , bypassing that stage totally.

Its all if's and buts, as we will never know what might have been.

I think it will cost us more to a) get us back up, and b) get us in the PL.

I personally think we were three players away from a middle/lower finish last season in the PL.

Three players could equate to say 12-15 million, at a guess for proven players, and i think they would have made the difference.

If we were to use the money as you said to re-invest, I'd agree with you totally, but it seems that we can't afford to re-invest in anything other than bargain basements.

[Wycombe Royal]

THat's just the way it is. Look at what Fulham, Middlesbrough, Bolton spend - yet they still end up in a relegation battle most seasons and they are arguably bigger clubs than we are

cmon!
theres not even a case to put in that argument
they ar bigger clubs, by some way

Someone would have had a go if I hadn't put the world "arguably" in.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't

[Wycombe Royal]

Wycombe - I see your point, last season was depressing as it goes.

My only worry is, as a club we have two choices for the immediate future, one is to remain where we are in the CCC as our budget seems to be more comfortable there, or go for promotion again.

They are going for promotion again and they will try and do it they way they did it before. It is the way they know and they know it works.

[brendywendy]

and theyre still bigger than us.

they entered the Football League in 1907 and had to wait over 40 years before securing their top division place, spending three years in Division One before returning to the Second Division. Fulhams second spell in the First Division was much more successful. Johnny Haynes, who made 594 league appearances for the Fulham during 1952 and 1970 earned himself 56 England International caps, helped Fulham survive at the top flight for the period of 1960s. Fulhams legendary figures Bobby Moore, George Best and Rodney Marsh were signed by the club in the mid-1970s, but their combined talents could not bring about a return to the main stage.

they sound bigger to me

[rfc58]

Wycombe - I see your point, last season was depressing as it goes.

My only worry is, as a club we have two choices for the immediate future, one is to remain where we are in the CCC as our budget seems to be more comfortable there, or go for promotion again.

They are going for promotion again and they will try and do it they way they did it before. It is the way they know and they know it works.

It works to a degree Wycombe.

But tell me this, if we did go back up say in the next couple of seasons, and had a top half finish again, that summer would you say the last "battle plan" was the way to go, or a modified version ? where we invest in proven players who may cost more, but may enhance the chances of staying up, and may prove less of a risk than un-known foreigners like Fae.

I am not asking the club to bid for 10M players, but I think we can push the boat out a little more than we did, it won't guarantee success, but it will enhance it surely ?

[Royal Rother]

I don't think anyone would disagree with the thought that a little more investment would have increased our chances of staying up.

And the season after we get promoted again, if we spend £15m, then it would be right to say that £20m would give us a better chance of staying up....

[brendywendy]

THat's just the way it is. Look at what Fulham, Middlesbrough, Bolton spend - yet they still end up in a relegation battle most seasons and they are arguably bigger clubs than we are

cmon!
theres not even a case to put in that argument
they ar bigger clubs, by some way

Someone would have had a go if I hadn't put the world "arguably" in.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't

i know

but talking to some of our fans, they actually believe it

[Wycombe Royal]

Wycombe - I see your point, last season was depressing as it goes.

My only worry is, as a club we have two choices for the immediate future, one is to remain where we are in the CCC as our budget seems to be more comfortable there, or go for promotion again.

They are going for promotion again and they will try and do it they way they did it before. It is the way they know and they know it works.

It works to a degree Wycombe.

But tell me this, if we did go back up say in the next couple of seasons, and had a top half finish again, that summer would you say the last "battle plan" was the way to go, or a modified version ? where we invest in proven players who may cost more, but may enhance the chances of staying up, and may prove less of a risk than un-known foreigners like Fae.

I am not asking the club to bid for 10M players, but I think we can push the boat out a little more than we did, it won't guarantee success, but it will enhance it surely ?

I would have liked to see us invest more than we did, but I would have liked to seen it invested in young players with a big future ahead of them as they are the ones that you are more likely to be able to recoup your money.

And calling Fae an unknown foreigner is not quite true - he was a current international player playing in the same team as Didier Drogba and had a very good reputation but he just didn't work out.

[rfc58]

I don't think anyone would disagree with the thought that a little more investment would have increased our chances of staying up.

And the season after we get promoted again, if we spend £15m, then it would be right to say that £20m would give us a better chance of staying up....

But Rother, with the current management and "train of thought" can you see the club changes its idea's, or do you think they firmly believe the last "path" would work next time around ?

[brendywendy]

theyve admitted their approach was flawed already

[rfc58]

Wycombe - That school of thought is without doubt the best way both short term and long term to succeed, but you will need some proven older players to calm the pups in a crisis, and more importantly, learn off in training.


This running a team malarky is a piece of piss, right I am off to start a thread, Coppell and JM can oxf*rd off, I am doing it from now on !

[BR2]

Wycombe - I see your point, last season was depressing as it goes.

My only worry is, as a club we have two choices for the immediate future, one is to remain where we are in the CCC as our budget seems to be more comfortable there, or go for promotion again.

They are going for promotion again and they will try and do it they way they did it before. It is the way they know and they know it works.

Who said we are going for promotion again?
I thought from what the chairman said we are just battling to survive what with all those massive ground improvements etc.
Trouble is you people just don't understand what it takes to run a club blah,blah,blah.
The chairman sounded on the point of suicide when the ITV money disappeared-Lord knows how he will feel in 2 years' time when the Sky money runs out.
One thought-do you posters reckon that we will be the first club ever to refuse promotion because the prospect of the financial aspect of life in The Premiership is just too daunting?