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Reading chairman John Madejski has taken some stick in the press after reports that he wanted to sell Reading because he could not compete financially with the big clubs in the Premiership. He is reported to have complained, 'I would love to stay [as Reading chairman] but I just don't think I could afford to. It is obscene that everything is so darned expensive.' Given that Madejski reportedly has a £350m fortune gained from enterprises like Auto Trader, putting him joint 174th in the Sunday Times, his comments did not attract much sympathy. However, now he is complaining that he has been misrepresented in the media which is something else he will have to get used to in the Premiership. John Madejski has hit out at reports he is desperate to sell up and quit Reading Football Club. He had revealed in the Reading Evening Post in April that he would consider selling the club after 16 years at the helm, if a rich benefactor was willing to take over. But he has rubbished suggestions that he will quit the club as soon as possible due to the astronomical costs of Premiership football. Madejski said: 'Stories that I want to quit now are just not true. I read the reports and they varied in inaccuracies. A lot of it was nonsense and I am certainly not desperate to sell at all. I have always said that if there was someone who wanted to come in and take over then I would consider selling, but that is somewhere down the line.'
It has been suggested Madejski has been in talks with various businessmen keen to jump on the football bandwagon. Among those rumoured to be interested are Iranian media tycoon Kia Joorabchian, who has also been linked with a take-over of West Ham, and John Gray, who owns the lap-dancing chain Spearmint Rhino - as well as several unnamed moneymen from the Far East.
Madejski admits: 'I can't afford to carry on forever, but I plan to be here this season and I could be here a lot longer than that because I will not just sell to anyone.'I don't want to sell to a consortium and anyone I consider needs to have plenty of money. I have not spoken to anyone about buying the club because no-one has come out of the woodwork and shown any interest at the moment. I suppose there are bigger and more famous clubs than ours.' In his 16 years at the club, he has transformed the Royals who used to play in a ramshackle ground at Elm Park which reflected the third division south status which was once their highest aspiration. The area is one of the most prosperous in England and was once targeted by tycoon Robert Maxwell who planned to merge Reading and Oxford United to create Thames Valley Royals who would play at Didcot.
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