Sunday, 22 January 2012

All questions, very few answers


A weekend is a long enough time in football on the pitch; build up to the game, pre-match talk, the match itself, post-match reaction from the manager, TV analysis, Sunday press analysis and then Monday press analysis. Throw in an off the pitch story and it suddenly gets an awful lot longer. And madder too.
It was only announced around 48 hours ago through Reading Football Club’s official website that a previously unheard of company is in the preliminary stages of gaining a significant stake in the club. Blogging in reaction to that announcement, this writer guessed that it would be a while until any further news came out about this investment and it was a while; less than a day.
Since then, two further statements have come out of the club, numerous speculative news articles and countless pages of discussion across the Internet.
Cutting through the speculation, let’s establish the facts as they are at this stage.
Fact number two; Sir John Madejski will stay on as Chairman until at least 2014 and will be Life President once he steps down from the Chairman role. Madejski, therefore, will still have a role in the running of the club until 2014.
Fact number three; the main points to the partnership have been outlined and an agreement signed with regard to these from all concerned parties. The deal is scheduled to be completed by the end of March 2012. Until that point, there is no obligation for the persons involved in TSI to be revealed.
Fact number four; TSI will provide limited funds (although it is not stated in what form these funds will be given; loans? Donations? etc.) for Brian McDermott and Nicky Hammond to strengthen the squad this transfer window.
These are the sum total of the facts we know thus far; essentially, what the original statement on Friday night told us. However, there is an awful lot more to the story than the mere facts. Using nothing more than a cynical eye and no insider knowledge, here are what appear to be the assumptions about the takeover circulating around the media and Reading FC messageboards.
Assumption number one; the man behind TSI is Anton Zingarevich, son of a Russian print businessman who was educated to university level in Reading and who was part of a wildly unsuccessful attempt at providing investment for Everton Football Club. Very little information is available on the man and his previous with Everton as a manager of the Fortress Sports Fund might well suggest there is more to the group than Zingarevich but that is also speculation.
Assumption number two; TSI will take a 51% stake in the club, costing £40 million, and so become owners of the club. Like ‘assumption number one’, the prevalence in this assumption seems to come from a short Daily Mail exclusive published on Saturday (subsequently picked up by no other national media outlet but both Reading-based newspapers) but makes logical sense as any new in investor would presumably want majority ownership.
Assumption number three; as is the case with any takeover, rumours about big spending immediately begin springing up, linking anyone and everyone with the club. When the most concrete rumour is a loan deal for an ageing centre forward, fans speculating about big money deals (this transfer window anyway) would appear to be wishful thinking. What kind of investment fund would pump millions of pounds into an operation that they aren’t even owners of yet? A small good-faith payment is feasible but anything in the millions, at this stage anyway, is surely unrealistic? Whilst the fun of takeover talk is built on Championship Manager-style spending, some realism must be taken into consideration, particularly when the identity of the prospective owner is still pending, let alone his wealth.
Assumption four; I’m as big a defender of the way Madejski has sought a buyer over the last five years as anyone. After 20 years+ at the club, he was always likely to want to sell to the right people to continue the superb work that he has done for the club and the town also. However, as has been documented, the last few years have been difficult for Sir John so perhaps his desire to sell has increased thus loosening his ideals for a new owner.
Essentially, straight-up fact-wise, we know very little more than what was said on Friday night, aside from the stage in negotiations Reading Football Club and TSI are. The rest is largely conjecture and speculation on conjecture. It’s very much impossible for any supporter to make a judgement on the proposed takeover based on the facts we have at hand right now. But that won’t stop anyone doing just that, myself included.
This Tweet might well lead to some more concrete information tomorrow but it only raises further questions. How are the Daily Mail getting so many stories on Reading now? If Zingarevich is the sole member of TSI, how has he gone from being a student with only his father’s money to spend to being able to buy a majority stake in a Championship club inside six years?
All things considered, it’s an exciting time to be a Reading fan but an equally confusing one.

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