When January Comes

Anton Himself…

So why does a young entrepreneurial son of a Billionaire buy a football club?

Did he buy Reading FC to make money? Possibly, but he already has the money being the son of a Billionaire Russian Oligarch and owning several other businesses. Did he buy Reading FC to “pull the birds? “. Probably not, after all he’s married to a beautiful super-model already. So why did he buy The Royals?

Maybe because he just wants the status of being a 'Premier League' owner within the Super Rich community, like some of his Russian peers? To me this seems the most logical. So assuming Reading FC is more for Kudos than profit what options are in front of Anton if he is to keep his ‘Premier League’ status?

January Signings...

Who wouldn’t like to see the world’s top players playing week in week out? Playing for your team while you're hanging out with your buddy’s drinking Champagne.

Realistically were not going to be 'Chelski' but it’s so damn clear there needs to some serious purchases if we’re going to compete at this level and stay in this league. As so many fans have written blogged and tweeted we know what’s wrong and what’s right with the team just as much as Anton and Brian. His options are simple. Spend cash and hope we stay up or not spend cash and hope we stay up.

Management Change

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. – Albert Einstein.

Is Anton really a big fan of Brian? Nobody really knows other than himself. Through the media (mostly Reading FC official news) a pictures been painted of a happy respective relationship between Anton, SJM and Brian. Maybe this is the case. But is Anton going to leave his ‘Premier’ status in the hands of Brian and Gibbo?

On the basis of logic and Einstein’s quote, the chance of 100% of the management and coaching staff being in place come end of January are slim. If we don’t see Brian going we may see the addition of a higher-rated first team coach to help provide different playing and training options? A return of Wally Downes perhaps? Wholesale changes don’t guarantee anything but perhaps an alternative perspective of playing styles and coaching methods isn't going to hurt? Maybe Anton has a few of his own ideas, after all we don’t know who’s whispering in his ear? If it looks like were heading south whats the harm in changing it all now?

Investment Gamble...

So Zingarevich….where’s the dough?

Who the hell are Thames Sports Investments? A fund held in Gibraltar, managed by Swiss finance services with alleged money from Russia? Are RFC as rich as we hope? Truth is we don’t know, we just assume there's loads of cash available through the 'Investors'.

If he doesn’t invest were going down. If he does invest we have a chance of staying up but were also burdened with a higher wage bill and the continued financial pressure becomes greater.

If we stay up, Anton’s promised investment in the Stadium to increase capacity. Guestimated costs to increase East Stand by 8000 could be around 15 million. Will the PL money pay for this or would TSI need to re-mortgage? We just dont know, but the money needs to come from somewhere. We don’t know TSI’s agenda or source of funding. If TSI is real investment fund then they need to show profit. Fingers crossed were just a mickey-mouse toy fund with play money rather than a serious managed fund. Either way, investment is the only way Anton will keep his Premier League status.

All the choices Anton has come down to how much cash he really wants to throw at it, and how much he wants his Premier League kudos....only Mr. Zingarevich himself can answer that question... we wait with bated breath. Role on January.

Twitter: @aidysmith