Reading chairman Madejski agrees £40m takeover by Russian tycoon. If true wonder why he didn't buy the skates?
I'd imagine because Reading is currently sitting in a playoff spot, and probably has limited debt, while Pompey is a long way from competing and has loads of debt. Zingarevich is an interesting fellow...his father is rich, but he was last seen (as a 23 year old) with an investment group that was to purchase a fairly significant portion of Everton, only for the funds to fail to materialize.
It's the difference between buying something in a box, opening the box and removing the item, looking at it and reassuring yourself that you have bought something useful and buying a label for a box that somebody else owns, and when you open it, the box is empty.
I'd guess the guy has chosen Reading because they are a well run club with good prospects, a newish stadium, good infrastructure and a comparatively small debt. In their current state, Pompey will find it hard to find a buyer with the club's best interests at heart unfortunately.
When Markus bought us he said some lovely things, but he also said we were a bargain. Pompey could never be regarded as that. It's a poisoned chalice. The only reason to buy them would be out of love and surely that person (if he exists) would have come forward before now. They are a big enough catchment area to support Pompey Mark 2, but surely their present incarnation is doomed.
Oh, I get it now. I had misread this thread. When I saw that it was entitled, "Reading not Pompey", I thought it was a fairly obvious statement about the Level of literacy amongst the residents of Portsmouth. I can see now that it is a different thread, although as others have pointed out, a statement of the fairly obvious.
Reading are set-up nicely for investment. Nice, new stadium and good training.youth facilities, whereas at Pompey, they have none of that and still owe money to creditors and, unbelievably, to HMRC.
Talking about literacy, if a comma had been placed after the first word, there would have been no doubt as to the meaning, as in... Reading, not Pompey. Even Reading. Not Pompey would have been fine. On forums, it is often the sloppy use of literacy and grammar that leads to misunderstanding [I'm not specifically finger pointing, Lamballana]. OK, I'll now climb down off my Make The Effort And Save The Grammar soapbox and talk about Reading and Pompey As I understand it, one of the reasons why the young [crikey, only 29..!] Russian tycoon bought the club was because he was educated in Reading and attended matches, so comparing Reading and Pompey FC doesn't really come into it. It's clear that Portsmouth FC needs a John Madejski type of owner though. One who will be there for the long haul, and bring about change through careful financing and a steady hand. I expect Pompey supporters have had enough heartache by now and would even accept a relegation if it meant stability thereafter. Madejski has been utterly brilliant for the Royals and will leave them in far better shape than when he took over. Hats off to him, though no doubt he'll be slightly more comfortably off as a result. I wonder if they'll change the stadium name..? While watching the Reading highlights on TFLS, I found myself slightly baffled at the decision to allow Hull City's goal. When did that new offside directive come into play..?
