Reading FC

Jimmy Kebe: "You have to ask the owner if he wants to spend any money in January to make the team better otherwise there is nothing to expect."
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Kebe questions Zingarevich's Reading FC ambition

By Jonny Fordham
December 18, 2012

Jimmy Kebe has questioned Reading owner Anton Zingarevich's investment in the team.

Rock-bottom Royals are being haunted by the spectre of relegation after spending less than £5million in the summer – despite standing to pocket at least £90million following promotion.

And Kebe, who hit out following Monday’s embarrassing 5-2 defeat to Arsenal, has launched a scathing attack on the club’s hierarchy for leaving manager Brian McDermott high and dry with a Championship squad.

Listen to the Jimmy Kebe interview with Jonny Fordham here

When asked if Anton Zingarevich and Thames Sport Investment (TSI) were to blame for the club’s sorry situation, Kebe didn't hold back. He said: “You should ask (Anton), but I think he has the money anyway.

“It’s not the manager who decides who he can buy or not. Right now we are in big trouble so you should ask if (Anton) wants to spend any money to make the team better so we can compete in the Premier League.

“Someone bought the club last season. We won the Championship – so surely we need to add decent players?

“We have some good players, but it wasn't enough and we knew it. “People will talk s*** about us like we are s*** and the manager needs to leave, but that’s bulls***.

“We’re behind the manager and we are trying our best. There is no miracle in football.

“We are all trying our best and you have to ask the owner if he wants to spend any money in January to make the team better otherwise there is nothing to expect.”

Follow Royals reporter Jonny Fordham on Twitter here for all the news as it breaks

No-one is giving Royals any hope in their survival battle and after losing six on the spin McDermott's men travel to play champions Manchester City on Saturday (3pm kick-off).

Six points separates Reading from safety, but with just one top-flight victory in the current campaign, they need to start picking up wins if they are to not be cut further adrift in January.

Last season Royals went on a purple patch as they won 15 of their last 17 of the season to lift the Championship title.

A similar kind of run is now needed if they are to consolidate their status in the Premier League.

“People need to remember what we did last season because it is easy to be behind us when we win every game - but now it is very tough,” Kebe added.

“Now we will see if there are real fans behind us or not. We’re bottom of the table and you can see straight away that we are in big trouble.

“We are trying to do our best, but let’s be honest - we look like a good Championship team.

“We are a good Championship team trying to compete in the Premier League – that’s it.

“For me we should have brought some decent players during the transfer window.

“Don’t get me wrong, I like my team-mates and we are working hard for each other and we brought some good players – but there is a big difference between being in the Championship and the Premier League.

“There is nothing to expect if you don’t spend any money to make the team better. Right now we are trying to fight our best and we won’t give up – but there is nothing to expect.

“We will see in January if we get some decent players.” And Kebe, who made a goal-scoring return to the side in Monday’s defeat to Arsenal, is also relieved to have recovered from a groin injury to be back in action.

He added: “I’m glad to be back to try and help the team. It wasn’t easy being out for a few weeks.

“I’m fit, but need more training as I was out for just over a month.

I’m happy to play and score, even if it was a tough evening for us.”

Related Audio Clips

Jimmy Kebe

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Well Done Jimmy, it’s nice to know that someone at Reading FC has the balls to tell the truth. I do not think Zingarevich has any money of his own. As Mr Madejski owns 49% of the shares he can legally prevent the club from borrowing money to fund purchases that he does not approve of. To any football fan, its embarrassing to have your team at the bottom of the league particularly after the ambitious statements that were made when the chairman sold 51% of the club.

The Commentator
21/12/2012 at 08:43

the russian owner spend more money on his missus than reading fc,he bought the club on the cheap ,took 6 months to complete ? show us the money ?

dickemery, caversham
20/12/2012 at 01:34

The answer is they are all culpable - Zingarevich, Madejski, McDermott, Hammond and the excuse we have for players.

ALL of them.

And what is most disappointing is that they have all totally misjudged the mood of the fans.

Nobody gives a toss how we have punched above our weight and how far we have come in 3 years, all everybody sees is the gross mis-management of a golden opportunity, that, however it may have come our way, is being wrecklessly thrown away.

Big P, Reading
19/12/2012 at 19:55

Cat and Hat

Clicked on your link about the finances last time and that tells me we made nearly £12m EBITDA and over £14m EBITDA in the Premier years (that's effectively profit before a theoretical player value amortisation). That contrasts to a loss in most Championship years. That tells me it is worth investing to make sure we stay in the profitable Premier League not the costly Championship. If we were turning in that sort of profit, surely we could have spent some more of it, investing in other player assets, in order to secure survival? And yet we are repeating the same mistakes now...

nbrfc, UK
19/12/2012 at 18:41

Michael Duberry's Defensive Coach you have hit the nail squarely on the head once again. McDermott has to take a lot of the blame for this season's dismal failings (his poor transfer dealings and disastrous tactics warrant that). However, he is not the only one to blame and it is very wrong that the owner, Chairman and DOF seem quite happy to leave him out alone, exposed in all of the justified flak that is flying around. JM even gave his customary parade in front of the TV cameras a miss on Monday night!

I really wish that just for once a Reading Manager would stand up for himself and say that he hasn't been given the necessary financial support to stand a reasonable chance of succeeding in his job, rather than just carrying the can.

Jonny, It's time to start asking some searching questions of JM and Anton to establish whether McDermott was given the funds that he said he needed over the summer or whether he was forced to work with less.

HARB
19/12/2012 at 17:22

As the day has gone on, the more I have loved Kebe's "rant"!

I want to send him a Christmas present! Do you think the club would forward it to him if took one down to the stadium!?

I've also now got a vision of Guthrie and Kebe tearing up Friar Street this Saturday!

Ahhh the Premier League: "Dream the impossible dream" LOL!

Fishlips
19/12/2012 at 16:33

I am not a JK fan. He is far, far too inconsistent for my liking and lacks the basics (e.g. unable to cross a ball with any degree of consistent accuracy). In addition he has become "Sicknote" in recent times and has contributed very little to the cause this season. For these reasons I'm surprised that he has come out publicly with what we as supporters have been saying for a long time. The only reason I can think he has behaved in this manner is because he wants out or doesn't want to play. I'm sure neither his manager nor his employers will congratulate him for his comments and he has certainly not helped his team mates in the fight against relegation. I'm sure many will disagree with my remarks but imagine if a player came out with something similar at Man U- I'm sure SAF would never pick him again and he would be out of the door in no time. Will be interested to see what happens in the near future.

askan
19/12/2012 at 16:10

Smiffy, Reading

I'm not suggesting in any way that RFC should do a Portsmouth or Leeds but in view of the extra revenue they are getting they should be more ambitious in the transfer market. Stoke, for example have improved their squad every year by re-investing a decent proportion from the Sky money, etc. What have we done recently? Sold our best players and hoped that Championship players can step up a level. Investment in the team has always been an issue, I've supported Reading over 40 years and it has always been the same. The fact that our record transfer fee is around £2.5m says a lot about the ambition of the club. Reading is a big town, has a very large catchment area and should be capable of sustaining a premiership club

HenleyRoyal, Reading
19/12/2012 at 15:44

CatAndHat, Will you please desist !

There is no place for reasoned points based on facts on this portal.

Everybody knows that the club didn't spend because everyone connected with the club is shoving money down the back of their sofa, and this year's crop from the money tree has failed.

ray northstander
19/12/2012 at 15:40

Fair play to Kebe, for having the bottle to say that! I reckon he might be spending Xmas round Danny Guthrie's house :o)

That's if he doesn't get taken out by a hitman first!

I guess the two smugest people at the club Mr Howe and Mr Hammond are plotting how to spend the Millions that AZ has promised them in January.

Artful Dodger, Wokingham
19/12/2012 at 15:27

The trouble with Reading is that they are still run like a small-time club. We seem to have learnt absolutely nothing from our previous Premiership campaign, ie not significant investment in the team! Brian McDermott went public weeks before the season started saying that he was satisfied with his signings and that he got all the players he was after. Now he is saying we didn't invest enough. There always seems to be an issue when it comes down to investment. I find it amazing that you get comments like "we don't want to go down the same avenue as Portsmouth and Leeds." We're not saying we have to spend ridiculous amounts, just a sensible amount of the revenue for being in the Premiership. We own the ground, have revenue coming in from London Irish, have the Berkshire Conference Centre and Hotel (which are meant to help the club financially). I really do question the ambition of this club P----d off fan

HenleyRoyal, Reading
19/12/2012 at 15:22

The club does not 'pocket' £90m. That's a theoretical maximum including several years of parachute payments, so much of it is money not paid this year at all (which we will need to pay future wages of any players hired if we do get relegated, so we should not even consider spending it now). Even this year's Basic Award is paid in arrears, the Facility Fees are paid in arrears some time after the matches have been on TV, and the Merit Award payment can only be paid after the season ends and the final positions are known.

Clubs get money from three funds: the Basic Award Fund, the Facility Fees Fund, and the Merit Award Fund, all coming from the UK TV contracts. Half of the money goes into the Basic Award fund, divided equally (plus reduced shares for parachute payments). A quarter goes into the Facility Fees Fund, paid to home and away clubs in live matches and highlights. The overseas broadcasting contracts, the title sponsorship money, (national) radio broadcasting contracts and commercial contracts are simply divided equally between the clubs, some going into parachute payments as well.

The Premier League does not actually publish the full amounts received from all sources. We do know the amounts announced for the UK TV contracts, so you can work out some of the figures. Sky and Setanta bid £1.782bn for three years, overseas rights are about £1.4bn. Of course Setanta dropped out and were replaced by ESPN, I don't think their bid for the remainder of that contract was ever publicised. Barclays pay £82.25m over three seasons for title sponsorship.

Player wages far outweigh the transfer fees. See http://t.co/i9K1jmaD for how the finances worked out last time. In 2007/8: £33.7m in from TV revenue; £33.1m out in wages.

CatAndHat
19/12/2012 at 15:15

Exiled - Ignore RBC. Just remember, his main pleasure in life (possibly his only pleasure) is outlandishly pompous whinging about other people he accuses of, er, whinging. His lack of self awareness is pretty impressive.

Better a 'keyboard warrior' than a serial brown noser.

The whole point is that BM refuses to address his mistakes and that JM and AZ have been, to put it kindly, rather misleading with their statements.

You can't spot either of them, or Hammond with a telescope at the moment. Although, they're more than happy to leave BM alone in the firing line. Now that is a lack of support.

Michael Duberry's Defensive Coach
19/12/2012 at 14:57

I don't know who wrote this open letter, but it states pretty much how I feel.....

http://www.thetilehurstend.com/2012/12/18/3781118/an-open-letter-to-brian-mcdermott?

Southbank Dave
19/12/2012 at 14:34

'Keyboard warriors' whining. As a supporter for over 50 years, and a season ticket holder when I lived in the Reading area, I have every right to voice my opinion. I travel to as many away games as I can in Northern England and Reading and that takes money and time. I have every right to criticise the owner, manager and players if I don't think their commitment or performance is up to it. In a game dominated by vast sums of money - including inflated matchday prices, it is difficult to influence. This is one way in whcih we can have our say and it is a voice that should be heard if players and managers on salaries vastly superior to most supporters are not giving their all