Reading no longer 'lonely place' with Zingarevich on board

Anthony Smith • Published 27 Jan 2012 15:30 0 Comments

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Royals chairman Sir John Madejski is relieved to share the burden with Thames Sports Investment

SIR John Madejski feels Reading Football Club is not such a 'lonely place' with new owners Thames Sports Investment on board.

Madejski has had to bear most of the financial brunt over the past two decades. But he can no longer provide the funds required to make Royals genuine contenders for promotion back to the Premier League.

As a result, Madejski is ready to sell 51% of the club for £25 million to Russian tycoon Anton Zingarevich.

And Madejski admitted: "I've been saying for donkey's years that if someone was out there who could take the club forward in the right way, we would be interested in speaking to them.

"We can't do better than this deal. They don't want to start meddling the club and they want to carry on running the club the way it has been run.

"We're going to have some help, and boy do we need it. It will be fantastic for the supporters, for me and everyone who works at Reading.

"It is certainly the best news I've had all year."

And the 70-year-old added: "I definitely feel it is not such a lonely place to be now. It's all fallen on my shoulders in the past and quite rightly so. But now I can hopefully share the burden.

"But we haven't concluded the deal yet which is why I'm hesitating to say too much because if it doesn't come off we will be left with egg on our face."

Thames Sports Investment hope to tie up the deal by the end of March. When that happens Madejski will continue on as chairman until at least 2014, though he will no longer be majority shareholder.

When asked if it would be difficult to hand over the reins, he insisted: "Not at all. I've been doing this job 21 years. I've been proud to have been chairman, we've had good times and bad times, though gladly more good than bad.

"But there comes a time when you have to move on, although I'm not moving on. I'm delighted to continue as chairman and it's nice to carry on the same ethics we've always had here.

"The big difference now is we can strengthen the squad without having to sell our crown jewels."

And Madejski believes the shift from the old to the new reminds him of the move from Elm Park to the Madejski Stadium in 1998.

"When fans get used to the idea of new owners they will start relaxing and embracing it," he said. "It reminds me slightly of when we moved to Elm Park to the Madejski Stadium.

"There was great furore but it settled down quickly and I think this is exactly the same.

"People cry out for ambition and now we've got it."

But Madejski also stressed: "They're not going to go at this like a bull in a china shop. They respect how the club is run and the views of those people who run the club.

"They are shrewd people. They are not going to start throwing money around. They're not going to be reckless and the ethos of this club will continue.

"If anyone thinks they are going to throw money around like a drunken sailor then forget it."

It appears there is mutual respect between Madejski and Zingarevich despite a 41-year age gap.

In fact, it was Zingarevich who insisted Madejski carried on as chairman for the next couple of years at least.

TSI's Chris Samuelson said: "If Sir John and Anton hadn't got along, this deal would not be happening.

"Anton insisted that Sir John Madejski stayed, he couldn't escape us.

"He's here until at least 2014 then it's up to the chairman. After that he becomes life president so we're going to see him around fort a long time yet."

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