Madejski offers bleak view of club finances
Sportsdesk • Published 26 Aug 2011 14:30
3 Comments
ON THE day Reading fans demanded to see some new signings, Sir John Madejski hit back with a sobering update on the club's finances.
Saturday's woeful home defeat by Barnsley led to calls of 'spend some money' from the Royals faithful eager to see their club reinvest the cash made from this summer's massive sales back into the squad.
Leading striker Shane Long and skipper Matt Mills moved on for huge profits, netting the club around £10 million in transfer fees.
But it appears only a small portion of that will be given to manager Brian McDermott who this week landed Mills' younger brother Joseph from Southampton plus defender Kaspars Gorkss from Queens Park Rangers.
Nevertheless, the issue of where the money has gone is dominating radio stations and fans' websites, with the debate cranked up a notch after Tuesday's Carling Cup exit to League One Charlton Athletic.
Madejski said: "Everyone is frustrated no more than me, the manager, the board and the fans.
"I don't know where you will find this money from. We have budgets we work to and there is a bit of scope for some more deals before the transfer deadline."
Long is reported to have moved to West Brom for around £7 million, while Mills' transfer to Championship rivals Leicester City was worth around £4.5 million.
Royals also raked in £7 million a year ago by selling Gylfi Sigurdsson to Hoffenheim, while successive FA Cup quarter-final appearances and a trip to Wembley for the Championship play-off final under McDermott boosted the club's coffers.
However, Madejski insisted: "These sums of money broadcast in the media are nothing like the actual figures. If you look at our wage bill you will realise.
"I have never taken money out of the club, ever, nobody has. But football is a very expensive game. We have a lot of players and we cut our coat according to our cloth.
"The point is we run this club properly. There is no big cauldron of money because it's a very, very expensive business to be in.
"If you look at our figures you will see that keeping the show on the road, with all the expenses involved in football, you will see there's no heap of cash waiting to be spent.
"But we're doing our best for the club under the circumstances and we will keep doing that."
Long netted 25 goals for Reading last season and supporters want to see those goals replaced. However, so far there is no indication that McDermott will sign a new striker before the August 31 transfer deadline.
However, Madesjki declared: "The reason Shane Long left is he's a Premier League player. Had we got promoted to the Premier League he would be playing for Reading, but we didn't.
"But all this talk about how much money we got for him is a load of balony. We didn't get anything quite like what people think.
"I'm not allowed to say what we got for contractual reasons, but it was nothing like the figures being bandied around in the media.
"We need things like that (FA Cup runs) to boost the coffers but there isn't some secret hoard of money, it just isn't there I'm afraid.
"Every year we struggle like mad just to keep the show on the road."
Perhaps even more sobering for fans is that despite tight budget constraints, Royals may fail to break even this year.
"It's difficult to tell because we're in the middle of things," explained Madejski. "But I'd very surprised if it was (breaking even) quite frankly."
And, for Madejski, the issue harks back to the problem of players' wages being too high.
"Footballers are paid an extraordinary amount of money, that's why football is struggling not only in this division but the Premier League and everywhere else," he suggested.
"I'm sure that's going to change now, and we can't wait for Financial Fair Play to be brought in, as was decided in the last conference.
"Until then we will have to do the best we can. People are working hard here to square the rubicon, but there's no fat on the bone."
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 26 Aug 11
Have your say. Post a comment on this article.
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woodleyroyal
Unregistered User
Aug 26, 14:47
Report commentGood work reading chronicle only a week behind every other paper
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Yes 7
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JazzyT
Unregistered User
Aug 26, 16:11
Report commentAnd so if we didn't get £7mill for Siggy, £6Mill for Long and £4.5 for Mills - why did we let our players go so Cheaply Sir John? Why not hold out for the money they are worth! Look at Longs goals - McDermott has already said that to get an international who will score 25 goals a season too replace long will be around £6.5Mil plus - so why didn't we sell him for that much!
Someone is lying - i understand the extras such as appearances etc - however if he is worth 6.5 - you should of held out to get what he is worth so we can rebuild!
Good to see you invest in 2 defenders - not if we can get Le Fondre the fans will be happy!
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Martin
Unregistered User
Aug 26, 16:33
Report commentI think what SJM was suggesting is that while we sold Mills for 4.5 or whatever, some of that has to go to agents, some of that (perhaps) to Donny for a sell on clause and possibly even some of it to the player to pay off his contract or a loyalty bonus or some sort of tosh - I don't know how these things work, but I suspect that was more what SJM was alluding to. We may have sold him for 4.5, but I doubt we actually received 4.5 in the pocket.
Recommend? Yes 4
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