How a holiday in Tampa made John Madejski a millionaire

A visit to America opened John Madejski's eyes to the potential in advertising used cars. With £2,000 he launched his first magazine; now he's the millionaire owner of a football club.

Owning a football team is a classic way to lose money. Owning one in a recession can be an even better way to haemorrhage cash. "Which is why I'm jolly delighted that we've already sold 12,000 season tickets," says John Madejski, the 67-year-old owner of Reading FC. "In another few months time, we mightn't be so lucky." Now in the Championship (first division), if anyone can take them back to the Premiership, he can. After all, he rescued the third-division team from receivers in 1990.

The Berkshire-bred millionaire has come a long way since his early days selling advertising space in the Reading Evening Post. It was a holiday in Tampa in Florida in 1976 that set him on the road to success. He found a local magazine selling cars, complete with pictures of each model for sale. "I just said wow. This is dynamite." Polaroid photographs had just hit the market, "filthy, dirty, mucky things", he says. "But they were revolutionary. You could take a photo and just develop it in front of your eyes the beauty of it was that you could take a picture of your car and put it in the magazine. There was nothing like that in the UK."

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Jody Clarke

Jody studied at the University of Limerick and was a senior writer for MoneyWeek. Jody is experienced in interviewing, for example digging into the lives of an ex-M15 agent and quirky business owners who have made millions. Jody’s other areas of expertise include advice on funds, stocks and house prices.